Paranormal Story Archives
February 2001 – Page 18

The Judge's Ghost
by Margaret K.

In 1959, we bought a lovely old home built in 1894 for a local judge and his wife. I had heard that the judge had been an alcoholic and had died in the home, but didn't believe such silly small town gossip. The first night we slept there, not having time to set up the bed, we were too tired to work more, so went to sleep on the mattress in the bedroom floor. I fell into a deep sleep immediately. I have no idea of the time, but I was suddenly awakened by a tapping on my left elbow. I shoved, thinking it was my husband, then felt it again. I turned over, looking straight ahead and saw a pair of brown men's pants. I looked up thinking it was a prowler, and saw a man looking down at me. Since we didn't have shades or curtains, I could see clearly by a street light on the corner. He had on a brown suit, jacket opened with a white shirt, brown vest and a gold watch chain across an ample paunch. He had gray hair, full gray mustache, blue eyes and small metal round glasses. He looked very pleasant, as he stared down at me. I called my husband's name and elbowed him. He didn't wake up, but then my friend disappeared. I didn't get much sleep the rest of the night! The following day a friend who had lived in the neighborhood for many years came down with a bouquet of flowers from her yard; she had lived 1 block down for many years. I told her what I had seen. She said, "It sounds just like Judge Hadley, except for the mustache, I had never seen him wear one, and many is the dinners we shared in that dining room," pointing through the pocket doors toward the dining table.

A while later I saw her again, she said, "Guess what? The judge and a group of friends went to Canada on an extended hunting trip. When he came back he had a luxuriant mustache, which he didn't keep long as Bertha did not like it, my skin crawled for you." Still later, I had to go to the Masonic Lodge to make a delivery. On the walls were pictures of Past Grand Masters, which I paused to look at. There was my man (sans mustache) with a gold plaque on the frame with his name and dates of his tenure.

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