Kamis, 07 Juli 2011

Black Aggie

When Felix Agnus put up the life-sized shrouded bronze statue of a grieving angel, seated on a pedestal, in the Agnus family plot in the Druid Ridge Cemetery, he had no idea what he had started. The statue was a rather eerie figure by day, frozen in a moment of grief and terrible pain. At night, the figure was almost unbelievably creepy; the shroud over its head obscuring the face until you were up close to it. There was a living air about the grieving angel, as if its arms could really reach out and grab you if you weren't careful.

It didn't take long for rumors to sweep through the town and surrounding countryside. They said that the statue - nicknamed Black Aggie - was haunted by the spirit of a mistreated wife who lay beneath her feet. The statue's eyes would glow red at the stroke of midnight, and any living person who returned the statues gaze would instantly be struck blind. Any pregnant woman who passed through her shadow would miscarry. If you sat on her lap at night, the statue would come to life and crush you to death in her dark embrace. If you spoke Black Aggie's name three times at midnight in front of a dark mirror, the evil angel would appear and pull you down to hell. They also said that spirits of the dead would rise from their graves on dark nights to gather around the statue at night.

People began visiting the cemetery just to see the statue, and it was then that the local fraternity decided to make the statue of Grief part of their initiation rites. "Black Aggie" sitting, where candidates for membership had to spend the night crouched beneath the statue with their backs to the grave of General Agnus, became popular.

One dark night, two fraternity members accompanied new hopeful to the cemetery and watched while he took his place underneath the creepy statue. The clouds had obscured the moon that night, and the whole area surrounding the dark statue was filled with a sense of anger and malice. It felt as if a storm were brewing in that part of the cemetery, and to their chagrin, the two fraternity members noticed that gray shadows seemed to be clustering around the body of the frightened fraternity candidate crouching in front of the statue.

What had been a funny initiation rite suddenly took on an air of danger. One of the fraternity brothers stepped forward in alarm to call out to the initiate. As he did, the statue above the boy stirred ominously. The two fraternity brothers froze in shock as the shrouded head turned toward the new candidate. They saw the gleam of glowing red eyes beneath the concealing hood as the statue's arms reached out toward the cowering boy.

With shouts of alarm, the fraternity brothers leapt forward to rescue the new initiate. But it was too late. The initiate gave one horrified yell, and then his body disappeared into the embrace of the dark angel. The fraternity brothers skidded to a halt as the statue thoughtfully rested its glowing eyes upon them. With gasps of terror, the boys fled from the cemetery before the statue could grab them too.

Hearing the screams, a night watchman hurried to the Agnus plot. To his chagrin, he discovered the body of a young man lying at the foot of the statue. The young man had apparently died of fright.

The disruption caused by the statue grew so acute that the Agnus family finally donated it to the Smithsonian museum in Washington D.C.. The grieving angel sat for many years in storage there, never again to plague the citizens visiting the Druid Hill Park Cemetery.

Big Liz

The Master of the plantation was a firm supporter of the Confederate President and had committed to send as much food as he could to the Southern army. Things were going well at first, until the Yankees began attacking the Master's supply lines. The Master suspected a traitor among his slaves, and soon discovered that the Yankee spy was a slave-woman named Big Liz. She was a behemoth of a girl who could pick up two full-grown pigs, one under each arm, and cart them over to the slaughterhouse without assistance. If he confronted her directly and she fought back, she would take him to pieces.

So the Master came up with a different plan to rid himself of the spy. He approached the giant girl and asked her to assist him with a special task. He told her that President Jefferson Davis had entrusted him with a large chest full of gold. To keep it out of Yankee hands, he wanted to bury the chest where it would never be found. The girl's eyes gleamed when she heard this false report. The Master knew she was already planning to betray the existence of the chest to the Yankees.

The Master made Big Liz carry the heavy trunk several miles out into the swamp land and asked her to dig a deep hole for the trunk. He sat at his leisure while she worked and strained for hours against the muddy ground, which kept oozing back into the hole. When the slave girl was completely exhausted, the Master decreed the hole to be large enough for his war chest. Wearily, Big Liz dropped the shovel and pulled the heavy chest down until it lay at her feet. Then she started to climb out of the deep hole. But the Master barred her way, and Big Liz gazed up at him in sudden fear as he loomed over her. "Traitor! Yankee spy!" The Master hissed. "There is only one path open to a traitor."

The Master swung his sword at her, and the sharp edge of the blade cut cleaning through the slave girl's neck. Her head went rolling away into the tall grass as her body toppled across the chest. The Master heaped dirt over the chest and the body of slave girl who had betrayed him. Briefly, he considered finding her head and burying it in the pit with her body, but it was too dark to go wandering in the dangerous marshland, and he knew that scavengers would make short work of the head when they found it.

As the Master walked toward home through the dark swamp, he became aware of a prickling sensation at the back of his neck, as if someone were watching him. The Master walked faster as clouds obscured the light of the moon. The Master's teeth chattered as a breeze cut through him like the sharpened blade of the sword at his side, and his straining ears picked up the sound of footsteps on the path behind him.

The Master was filled with a terrible, superstitious dread of demons and witches and ghosts. He broke out into a panicked run, fleeing up the path as fast as his legs would carry him. To his relief, he saw the lights of his house rise before him, and knew he was home.

As he rounded the back corner of his house, he was confronted by a massive, dirt-encrusted figure that glowed with blue fire. The smell of rotting leaves and marsh grass filled his nostrils as his eyes raced up and up the tall creature, until they rested on the stump of its neck, where a head had resided only an hour before. Then he heard a chuckle from the creature's side, and he saw the phantom's head tucked under her arm.

The Master stumbled backward, gabbling desperately in fear as the ghost placed her head upon the ground with one hand and grabbed the collar of his shirt with the other. The murdered slave girl snapped the Master's neck in two and dropped his dead body to the ground beneath his bedroom window. Then Big Liz gathered up her severed head and vanished into the darkness.

They say that on the anniversary of her death, the ghost of Big Liz still may be seen roaming the swamp lands near her old home. Anyone foolish enough to walk near her grave will be driven away by the phantom, which to this day still defends the place where the Confederate chest is buried.

Army of the Dead

A laundress, newly moved to Charleston following the Civil War, found herself awakened at the stroke of twelve each night by the rumble of heavy wheels passing in the street. But she lived on a dead end street, and had no explanation for the noise. Her husband would not allow her to look out the window when she heard the sounds, telling her to leave well enough alone. Finally, she asked the woman who washed at the tub next to hers. The woman said: "What you are hearing is the Army of the Dead. They are Confederate soldiers who died in hospital without knowing that the war was over. Each night, they rise from their graves and go to reinforce Lee in Virginia to strengthen the weakened Southern forces."

The next night, the laundress slipped out of bed to watch the Army of the Dead pass. She stood spell-bound by the window as a gray fog rolled passed. Within the fog, she could see the shapes of horses, and could hear gruff human voices and the rumble of canons being dragged through the street, followed by the sound of marching feet. Foot soldiers, horsemen, ambulances, wagons and canons passed before her eyes, all shrouded in gray. After what seemed like hours, she heard a far off bugle blast, and then silence.

When the laundress came out of her daze, she found one of her arms was paralyzed. She has never done a full days washing since.

Amber

Oh, you hear the stories about how dangerous Ouija boards are, but hey—it’s just a game. Mary waited until midnight to begin our little game, and the four of us—Sarah, Jessie, me, and, Mary, started by asking all kinds of silly questions.

It was a strange-looking board, covered with letters and symbols. There was a plastic pointer that was supposed to move across the board at the behest of the spirits. The instructions called it a planchette.

Around one thirty in the morning, the planchette suddenly froze in Mary’s hand. It wouldn’t move, no matter how much we pushed and pulled.

Mary turned her frightened blue eyes toward me. “I’m not doing it,” she said, lifting her hands. I grabbed the planchette myself and tried to push it around, but it was fixed to the board.

Suddenly, a kind of electric shock buzzed through my fingers. I gasped and tried to pull my fingers from the planchette, but they were stuck. Mary and Jessie both tried to pull my fingers away, nothing helped. The other girls stared with wide, round eyes, as the planchette came alive under my fingers—which were still fixed to its surface—and began to move.

“Help.” The words spelled out under my hand. “Help me. Help me.”

The planchette kept moving back and forth between the h – e – l – p continuously, until Sarah cried out: “Who are you?”

“Amber.” The board spelled. “My name is Amber. I am eight years old.”

“What’s wrong?” Mary asked. Her face was so white all the freckles stood out like darkened age spots.

“Water. Danger. Help. Scared.” The words spelled out as fast as my hand could move.

“Call 9-1-1,” Mary cried suddenly. “Quick. Amber is in danger.”

By this time, Sarah was gasping into the phone. Then she hung up the phone. “They wouldn’t listen to me,” she told us, almost in tears.

At that instant, my hand was suddenly free from the planchette.

“She’s gone,” I gasped,

“See if you can contact her again,” Mary said urgently. “We need to know if she’s okay!”

I picked up the plastic planchette again. “Amber, are you there?” I asked softly, afraid of what might happen.

After a long pause, it moved slowly across the board and spelled out the words: “Too late.” And after another long pause. “Water. Flood. Drowned. Mobile. Alabama.” The planchette stopped.
I knew that Amber was gone.

None of us got much sleep that night. In the morning, we rushed through breakfast and then looked up the Alabama news on the Internet. None of us were surprised to read that there had been flash floods the night before. I read the names of those who had died in the flood. One of the victims was an eight-year-old girl named Amber.

Jumat, 04 Februari 2011

ROMEO AND JULIET



In the town of Verona there lived two families, the Capulets and the Montagues. They engaged in a bitter feud. Among the Montagues was Romeo, a hot-blooded young man with an eye for the ladies. One day, Romeo attended the feast of the Capulets', a costume party where he expected to meet his love, Rosaline, a haughty beauty from a well-to-do family. Once there, however, Romeo's eyes felt upon Juliet, and he thought of Rosaline no more.
The vision of Juliet had been invading his every thought. Unable to sleep, Romeo returned late that night to the Juliet's bedroom window. There, he was surprised to find Juliet on the balcony, professing her love for him and wishing that he were not a "Montague", a name behind his own. "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Romeo was ready to deny his name and professed his love. The two agreed to meet at nine o-clock the next morning to be married.
Early the next morning, Romeo came to Friar Lawrence begging the friar to marry him to Juliet. The Friar performed the ceremony, praying that the union might someday put an end to the feud between the two families. He advised Romeo kept the marriage a secret for a time.
On the way home, Romeo chanced upon his friend Mercutio arguing with Tybalt, a member of the Capulet clan. That qurreling last caused Merquito died. Romeo was reluctant no longer. He drew his sword and slew Tybalt died. Romeo realized he had made a terrible mistake. Then Friar Lawrence advised Romeo to travel to Mantua until things cool down. He promised to inform Juliet.
In the other hand, Juliet's father had decided the time for her to marry with Paris. Juliet consulted Friar Lawrence and made a plot to take a sleeping potion for Juliet which would simulate death for three days. The plot proceeded according to the plan. Juliet was sleeping in death.
Unfortunately, The Friar's letter failed to reach Romeo. Under the cover of darkness, he broke into Juliet's tomb. Romeo kissed the lips of his Juliet one last time and drank the poison. Meanwhile, the effects of the sleeping potion wear off. Juliet woke up calling for Romeo. She found her love next to her but was lying dead, with a cup of poison in his hand. She tried to kiss the poison from his lips, but failed. Then Juliet put out his dagger and plunged it into her breast. She died
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST




The rich merchant not only has three daughters but also three sons who have little to do with the story. All the girls are good looking, particularly the youngest who becomes known as Little Beauty. The sisters are vain and jealous of Beauty who is by contrast modest and charming and wishes to stay with her father.

All of a sudden the family loses its money and is forced into a poorer lifestyle which makes life more difficult all around and exaggerates the differences between Beauty and her sisters. Beauty and the three brothers throw themselves into working for their new life while the sisters are bored. The father takes a trip in the hopes of regaining his wealth, and the older sisters demand he bring them expensive garments. Beauty asks simply for a rose.

The father is unsuccessful in his attempt to regain his wealth and in despair, wandering in the forest, is trapped in a snow storm. He comes upon a seemingly deserted palace where he finds food and shelter for the night. In the morning he wanders into the garden where he sees the perfect rose for Beauty. Upon plucking it, a hideous Beast appears and says that for his thievery he must die. The father begs for his life and, the Beast agrees to let him go if one of his daughters will take his place. If she refuses, then he must return to die himself. The Beast gives him a chest filled with gold and sends him home. This treasure enables the older daughters to make fashionable marriages. On giving Beauty the rose, her father cannot help but tell her what happened. The brothers offer to slay the Beast but the father knows that they would die in the process. Beauty insists on taking her father’s place, and so she returns with him to the Beast’s palace where he reluctantly leaves her.

In a dream Beauty sees a beautiful lady who thanks her for her sacrifice and says that she will not go unrewarded. The Beast treats her well; all her wishes are met by magic. He visits her every evening for supper and gradually Beauty grows to look forwards to these meetings as a break to the monotony of her life. At the end of each visit the Beast asks Beauty to be his wife, which she refuses although agreeing never to leave the palace. Beauty sees in the magic mirror that her father is desperately missing her and asks that she might return to visit him. The Beast assents on the condition that she return in seven days, lest he die.

The next morning she is at home. Her father is overjoyed to see her but the sisters are once again jealous of Beauty, her newly found happiness and material comfort with the Beast. They persuade Beauty to stay longer, which she does, but on the tenth night she dreams of the Beast who is dying. Wishing herself back with him, she is transported back to the castle where she finds the Beast dying of a broken heart. She realizes that she is desperately in love with the Beast and says that she would gladly marry him. At this the Beast is transformed into a prince, the Father joins them at the palace and the sisters are turned into statues until they own up to their own faults.

The Prince and Beauty live happily ever after because their "contentment is founded on goodness."
CINDERELLA

Once upon a time

, there was a young girl named Cinderella. She lived with her step mother and two step sisters.
The step mother and sisters were conceited and bad tempered. They treated Cinderella very badly. Her step mother made Cinderella do the hardest works in the house; such as scrubbing the floor, cleaning the pot and pan and preparing the food for the family. The two step sisters, on the other hand, did not work about the house. Their mother gave them many handsome dresses to wear.
One day, the two step sister received an invitation to the ball that the king’s son was going to give at the palace. They were excited about this and spent so much time choosing the dresses they would wear. At last, the day of the ball came, and away went the sisters to it. Cinderella could not help crying after they had left.
“Why are crying, Cinderella?” a voice asked. She looked up and saw her fairy godmother standing beside her, “because I want so much to go to the ball” said Cinderella. “Well” said the godmother,”you’ve been such a cheerful, hardworking, uncomplaining girl that I am going to see that you do go to the ball”.
Magically, the fairy godmother changed a pumpkin into a fine coach and mice into a coachman and two footmen. Her godmother tapped Cinderella’s raged dress with her wand, and it became a beautiful ball gown. Then she gave her a pair of pretty glass slippers. “Now, Cinderella”, she said; “You must leave before midnight”. Then away she drove in her beautiful coach.
Cinderella was having a wonderfully good time. She danced again and again with the king’s son. Suddenly the clock began to strike twelve, she ran toward the door as quickly as she could. In her hurry, one of her glass slipper was left behind.
A few days later, the king’ son proclaimed that he would marry the girl whose feet fitted the glass slipper. Her step sisters tried on the slipper but it was too small for them, no matter how hard they squeezed their toes into it. In the end, the king’s page let Cinderella try on the slipper. She stuck out her foot and the page slipped the slipper on. It fitted perfectly.
Finally, she was driven to the palace. The king’s son was overjoyed to see her again. They were married and live happily ever after.