Page 6 - John R. and Bessie MacLeod: Stories of Their Old Home

ISSUE : Issue 12

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1975/12/1

a storm door and there was a big hook, heavy hook on it. I put the hook on the storm door. I shut the door and I put the yale lock on it. well, this dog, this german po? lice dog was down in the kitchen. We just got upstairs and I put my foot across like that • I was opening the laces* well holy jumping God* We thought the side of the house came in* And this went through the house, same as you took a 1700 pound horse and went right down through the hall, right down into this old kitchen. Mv mother- in-law said to me, "John R., there's somebody in." "I'll tell the world there's somebody in. I'll go down." Her grandfather's tool chest was over in the attic; lit? tle wooden mauls in it they used to have long ago to drive pins* I went over and got this maul, boy. She followed me down with the lantern. Looked at the door. Same as I left it. Same as I left it* There was a little place underneath the stairs there. Opened that* I went underneath that and I searched it* Searched every inch of the house • well, the old kitchen you couldn't get in there; I had it all boarded up. We searched every bit of down below • nothing. Went upstairs back. I just set on the bed boy. Bessie: The little dog* John R*: Oh, the dog* Yes. The dog came upstairs. And he was so scared he went to get in the bed and he hit his head in the bed and he jumped back and he drove and he went underneath the clothes. And he stayed there. Well, we went upstairs. And Mr* Man went through* And he took the same thing goii% out with him* Bessie: Yeah* Came through the dining room, down the hall* He just like a horse that would have iron shoes on hira* And the house shook, just shook* The bed shook. I was sitting on the bed and the bed shook ?Aien he went through the two doors. Went right back the way it came. That's a true story. John R,; Anyway, one night, this MacNeil came over. Aw, they all knew we were hear? ing things in the house. And MacNeil came over and this night we were talking. And this man came in the door. I guess he was 6 foot 4 if he was 1 inch. And he filled the door. He just filled the door there, coming into the dining room* And he was there and he was staring right at me* He had this long slicker on right down to his ankles* And he had his slicker all closed up* And he had two straps and two brass big buckles for those straps to go into to keep it shut* And he had a cap on him • I'd say it was a captain's hat • with a great big badge in the front of it. And he stood there for about 20-25 minutes in the door and I was watching him. And MacNeil jumped from his chair and he went over behind the stove* And I was watching the man, see would he move. And whatever happened I took my eyes off the door, I went to look at something and I looked back and there was no man. So MacNeil wouldn't go horae a- lone. And the lantern was on the table there and he went and he lit the lantern and I told him I wasn't going over there* It was as bright as day outside* "You're com? ing," he said* And MacNeil's a man not scared of nothing* So, I had to go with him. Walked along the road • the lantern between us • to his place. I put him in the kit? chen* I left the lantern there and I walked home. Somebody would have thought I was crazy with a lantern, the night as bright as day* Went to bed. And that was it. Bes? sie: That was it for that night. (Were you scared going back that night?) John R.: I wasn't a bit scared* I'm not scared of nothing* (You didn't really think this man would hurt you*) John R*:I was hearing it so much, so often, you see, I was hearing the walking and the going in the house.*** John R*: That barn was about as far as this trailer from the house* I came home from Margaree with a load of hay* I go in the threshing floor • open the threshing floor 6 Months on the Best Seller List 18 Weeks Number One Memoirs of a Cape Breton Doctor byDcCLMacMillan We will be happy to'mail the book Anywhere in the World $7*95 STONES in Baddeck- CAPE BRBTC??<*S MAGA2INE/6

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