Shop's Apparitions

Ghost Story About Apparitions Witnessed in an Old Store
by Ruth G.

The shops of Hartville were having a Christmas in July sale in 2005. My friend and I thought, "Cool! Let's go!" I was hoping to pick up a few ornaments. Totally unsuspecting, this is what happened:

We were in the upstairs of the first shop when I saw a beautiful lady, maybe in her late teens or early twenties. She was dressed in an 1800s ball gown of pale blue with her black hair done in ringlets. She told me it was her dressing room and asked me if I liked it. I couldn't see the room as she evidently saw it, so I did not answer her. I actually thought I was imagining it.

At the second shop I visited, I encountered a lady who I thought could be from the 1930s. She is the most difficult to describe. She had short, blonde hair with curls at the end. Her outfit was gold in color. She acted as though she were rich and definitely DID NOT want me there, touching her things. She gave me a cold stare but did not speak to me. I avoided her and went to the back of the store.

I could see a kitchen area, none of the stuff on sale was there. There was a violent fight going on between a man and a woman. He seemed to have her up against an appliance and was choking and hitting her. I guess I got a little too close, because I felt the breeze go across my cheek as he apparently slapped me. I got out of that building fast! When my friend came out of the store, I explained to her what was happening. Thankfully, she didn't think I was nuts!

My friend was behind me when we walked into another shop. I stepped up the step and ran smack into a man! I stepped back real quick and stepped on her. He was a rather portly man in a green suit with a green-checked vest. He also had a green bowler hat on his head. He pulled a pocket watch out of his vest pocket and looked at it. I understood that this was his shop and he welcomed us to look around. I could see the candy sticks on the counter, cigar boxes behind the counter, it was like stepping back into the past, well, almost!

The last shop I had an experience in was very muddled. It was very crowded and everyone was in a hurry. I got the sense it may have been a train station, bus station, or maybe a restaurant? The only spirit I saw, and not very clearly, was a woman who brushed past me, pushing me out of her way, pulling a little girl by the arm. I related these last two events to my friend as they happened, since I was now sure she would not call the little men in white! She found it fascinating. I know I do, too.