overheard at the manor, a ghost post

I stash away all kinds of paper keepsakes; artsy cards, tickets from

treasured occasions, handwritten notes from dear friends, quirky

quotes ripped from magazines. There are boxes and boxes of my

precious ephemera, stuff anyone else would consider trash, tucked

into cubbyholes at the manor. Yes, my name is Willow and I am a

magpie. Or, maybe just a hopeless romantic? I know, you're

thinking pack rat, but I much prefer magpie.

Anyway, last week, I was sorting through one of my prized

collections and discovered several old paper perfume samples sealed

in cellophane, saved from my old retail days, some 30 years ago. I'm

not sure exactly why I kept them, but I don't always have a rhyme

or reason.

Just for fun, I tore open one of the packets of Nina Ricci's L'Air du

Temps, doubting any scent remained. Although, I never wore this

perfume, I was immediately transported back in time. It reminded

me of someone I knew. I'm not sure exactly who.

"Hey, they still smell! But different. Old and kinda mellow." I held

it out for WT to take a sniff.

"Gosh, it smells musty like the ghost perfume, I smelled again last

night, when I got up to pee."

Every so often, there is a strong scent of perfume in a certain spot

in the master bedroom at the manor, just between the door to the

bath and the bed. It's only detectable on occasion, late at night,

usually between 3:00 and 5:00, at times so powerful, it wakes me.

It's not a familiar scent, and it certainly isn't one I wear. It has a

uniquely aged, mellow quality, just like the old sample I opened,

yet deliciously pleasant, and mysterious.

Several years ago, a woman stopped by the house, and introduced

herself as being married to one of the grandsons of the elderly lady

who died at the manor. We invited her in and showed her around.

It had been years since she had been inside. Among many

fascinating things, she told us the master bedroom was once a guest

bedroom, and before it was remodeled in the late 1970's, there was

a hidden window seat, where the family cremation urns were kept.

This particular window would have been in the exact spot, just

between the door to the bath and the bed, where the unusual scent

often occurs, very late, in the still of the night.

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For more posts on the ghosts of Willow Manor, click [HERE].