Calico Mary, you like to sew.

[Noz]

This is one of my favorite local stories.

 

A friend who had been successful in a business far above what he should have and made a ton of money. To the point that it really was no longer significant to him.

He and his wife had a daughter that had married and had a small girl child. The friend’s wife was a seamstress of some skill and enjoyed making beautiful clothing for the little girl. The only problem is that they lived a hundred miles or so away and she didn’t get to see them as much as she would have liked so she put pressure on her husband to buy a house near the grandchild.

He did. They purchased a stately old “mansion” (read pretty old home). Grandma for all practical purposes moved into the old house permanently. Since her husband was a hunter and hunted the world it was a good situation.

The Grandma settled in and began an elaborate new dress for the child. When she finished it she laid it out on a bed in the old house so that the little girl would find it when she visited in a couple of days. The day before the visit the Grandma changed her mind and decided it would be more fun to wrap the dress as a present for the little girl to open. She went to get the dress and found it on the floor and very dirty as if someone had worn it to play outside. She of course was very angry although she could not visualize how anyone could have gotten in to the house to do such damage to the dress. She decided that her best course of action was to attempt to clean the dress and if that were not possible, start over. The cleaning did work and with a little mending everything was good.

The little girl was delighted and wanted to watch her Grandma sewing so a small rocking was purchased and installed in the sewing room. The little girl loved to sit in the rocker, talk to Grandma and look down a long hallway to the bedroom area of the house.

All of this worked well because the husband had discovered Africa and over the course of a year or so had booked several safaris.

Some days later the Grandma was again alone in the house in the evening and was working in the sewing room. She became aware of a small light near the bedroom area. She attempted to focus on it and determined it looked like a candle flame.

The woman related later that she felt no fear what-so-ever so she simply said “Hello”

The flame/candle moved closer to her so she began talking to it as she would a girl child that her emotions were telling her was there until the flame reached a point in the hall where it’s light was overwhelmed by the room lights.

She told the vacant area where the flame had been. ” If you are the one that played in my grand-daughter’s dress and got it dirty, why don’t you sit in her chair and we’ll talk about it.”

In a moment or so the chair began to rock.

She told the rocking chair that if the presence wanted to wear her grand-daughter’s clothes, it was all right as long as she did not get them dirty.

The woman continued to talk to the chair and the chair continued to rock for a period of time. Then the chair stopped and she saw the candle flame slowly going away down the hall until it disappeared.

The woman said later that she felt a warm pleasant feeling as if she had been visited by a friendly neighbor.

She did not have a visitor for quite a while until she was again working in the sewing room in the evening and felt like she would like company. She turned toward the hallway and said: “You can come set with me if you like.” She immediately saw the light coming toward her and the same scene as before was re-enacted. This time when the chair stopped rocking the woman told the presence that she did not have to wait for an invitation, she could come anytime she wanted.

Instead of the light disappearing the woman felt what she took to be a small hand touch her hair.

From then on, until the husband died and the house was subsequently sold, the woman and the presence spent several pleasant evenings working on garments for the grand daughter.

Unlike many such events, there is no claimed family ghost, violent death or any other explanation offered.

[Calico Mary]

ok....I am SO not putting a rocking chair in the sewing room!!

 

but cool story...