At the beginning of May I was offered what is to me, a dream summer job. I'm working in my town's museum, giving tours, working with the artifacts, that sort of thing. Absolutely perfect for a history lover like me. The museum is three small buildings. The first building is very small, just one room. It has a few displays to do with the towns sporting history, the first settlers to the area and all our books and archives. It is also where the computer and phone is, so that is where I normally work when there aren't any visitors.
The second building is the barn. This is one big room that is full of old farm equipment and horse racing equipment. The last building is the most popular part of the museum and my personal favorite. It's the log cabin.
The cabin was built in 1860 and had families living in it for the next hundred years. We have it set up so it looks like a typical farm home from the 1880s. To enter you go through the back kitchen than up a few steps into the main room. To the right of the main room are two small bedrooms. On the left is the staircase that goes to the attic, which is one large room that is filled with displays of old clothes. This building was where the strangeness started.
Since the museum is so small I work alone, unless a big tour comes through. On my first day I was walking through the buildings, acquainting myself with all the exhibits, so when people had questions, I would have answers. I went up to the cabins attic. There I was hit with a powerful smell of horses. It was like I had just walked into a stable. After five or ten seconds the smell disappeared, and was replaced by the ordinary museum smell. I looked around to try and find where the smell came from and found, thrown over the back of a chair, an old blanket that was used for people riding in horse drawn carriages about 120 years ago. I picked it up and took a sniff, since it was the only thing even vaguely horse related in the building. But it only smelt of old cloth. Well it was a strange thing, but I had work to do so I put it out of my mind.
A few days later I was again in cabin, sweeping the main room, trying to make it pretty for the days guests when BANG BANG, something began to pound on the front door. Now, the front door is bolted from the inside, and only opened on days when there's a big tour. There is a window beside the door so I could see if anyone passed. I opened the door, but, of course, there was no one. This happened again a few minutes later, and again there was no one. By this point I was getting spooked so I started looking for anything that could account for the noise, tree branch, construction, giant squirrel, anything. But I couldn't find a single explanation.
On another day while I was walking past the barn I heard people talking inside. Thinking it visitors had come in without me seeing I went in to check. Completely empty. Later that same day I was in the back kitchen when I heard footsteps in the main room. Now, there is no way anyone could have gotten in there without passing me. Torn between fear and curiosity, I went in to see what was going on. There was no one in the room, but I saw woman's feet at the top of the stairs going into the attic. She had on dark shoes and a long dress. I followed up the stairs, but when I reached the top the room was empty. Fear overcame curiosity and I ran down the stairs and back to the office where nothing strange ever happens.
Since then I haven't seen anything. I do, however, occasionally hear light footsteps, the swish of a dress, and murmured conversations. I am working in the museum until September, and can't really say if I hope to see more of the ghosts and learn who they are, or if I hope it all quiets down. I guess time will tell.
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