Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

?Per haps,? they said w hen pr essed, ?The dead had begun a slow climb back up
the mountain to the last scene of a life past lived.?
Denholm was unable to pay them enough to r etur n. He had hear d the cr ies too
w hen inspecting pr ogr ess at the site. Like Lucky Le?Ap, he was not a super stitious
man. He found many r easons other than the pur gator ial wail of lost souls for the
noises he himself could hear.
Ther e w er e far ming accidents, w ild animals and the sound of w ind thr ough the
tr ees that may account for the many str ange noises that w er e to be hear d car r ied
upwar d to an ar ea w ith so many cur ious featur es. The men r emained unconvinced,
never theless, and w ould not r etur n to w or k. Finally, a day ar r ived w hen Denholm
stood alone one mor ning at the site. Not even the sound of an appr oaching tr uck
could be hear d.
It was ear ly mor ning and the clouds below the mountain top gather ed, r ising
fr om the for est until they finally spilt over the pr omontor y. They dr ifted not unlike
a r olling fog, until Denholm, the casino and the mountain top itself w er e encased in
the passing cloud. It was a cur ious and beautiful exper ience to stand inside a cloud,
one of natur e?s hidden magical exper iences. It was scenes and exper iences of this
sor t that had tempted the fir st ow ner s to build r ight her e, w her e such phenomena
might enchant cr ow ds w ith their money, to the spectacle.
It was her e on that day that Denholm fir st saw a ghost. It walked str aight towar d
him and was dr essed in a fine blue jacket, stitched and embr oider ed in the
decor ative manner favour ed by the Fr ench of a bygone age. He was solid and
confident and str ode thr ough the cloud as if usher ed onstage at a lavish tr agedian
play. As if tr anspor ted ther e by a cloud all his ow n, simply to meet at this time and
in this place.
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