Page 12 of Haunting Salem

“Ever heard of a devil’s triangle?”

“Threesome, right?” Owen grinned. “When there’s a guy at each end of a girl and they high-five each other?”

I pulled a face, not sure if I was disgusted or amused. Jack and Nolan snickered beside me while Lucy rolled her eyes. “No.”

“Oh, well, then no. I don’t. Sorry.” Pink tinged Owen’s cheeks and I huffed out a laugh.

“It’s all good, Owen.” I patted his hand on the table. “A devil’s triangle is usually where strange shit happens. Like the Bermuda Triangle, for instance. Anyway, the graveyard where the actress was found leaned against, frozen solid, is parallel to The House of Seven Gables museum we’re also investigating Halloween night. Add in the boat accident not more than fifty feet from the back door of the home, plus where Elizabeth Paul killed herself and we have not only creepy coincidences, but a devil’s triangle.”

“Speaking of ‘spooky,’” Lucy said, brushing her hands off. “Being inside the witches house/museum is a bit unnerving.”

Lucy and Owen had first dibs on the place, and I was kind of jealous. But, it was also important we researched the area before we went into any of the locations. I wanted to make sure we weren't walking into a setup. It was something I'd seen one too many times on some of my favorite paranormal shows. I still remember the episode Grant and Jason walked into a bar to investigate only to find out it was all a hoax. The establishment owners were pranking everyone with holographic mirrors and sensors. Though I never thought I would be in the position I am today, I always told myself to be vigilant.

“What happened?” I grabbed a fry and slid it through the three melted cheeses.

“It wasn’t so much what happened,” Owen said. “It’s what didn’t.”

“I always expected to turn around and someone would be behind us.” Lucy shrugged, taking a drink of her coffee. “Or like that sudden rush of adrenaline when you think someone is running up on you... Crazy right?”

I knew that feeling all too well. Some mediums say it’s an intimidation thing, others say the spirit is trying to get someone’s attention, others say it’s how the spirit manifests. I think it is a combo of both intimidation and trying to garner a person’s attention. “Not at all crazy. You should see some of the stuff spirits will do for a cheap thrill.” I chuckled. “What else?”

"Well, the curator took us up the small staircase, and let me tell you, that will give you vertigo fast." She took another sip of her coffee. "Then there was the attic."

“The stairs didn’t bother me as much as the attic did,” Owen added. “It’s odd.”

Another adjective to describe the house.Interesting.“Can you describe what you mean by odd?” I hedged, hoping he’d give me something to work with for tomorrow night.

“Again, being watched, but from the floor. Almost as if someone sat in the middle of the room just to watch the comings and goings.

Look at Owen, using his intuition. “Could be.” I nodded. “Anything else?”

“Yeah,” Lucy said, digging in her jacket pocket. “I caught this.” She placed her digital recorder on the table and hit play. For about twenty seconds there was nothing but dead air, then a guttural scream crackled and vibrated from the small speaker on the device. The sound was filled with agony and terror. I’d only heard that kind of scream once in my life—I’d made it. “Owen and I didn’t hear a thing.”

“Where did you record this?” I said, pointing to the device.

“The kitchen where the giant fireplace is,” she replied. “The curator had just finished telling us about how the women would drench their skirts in water so that they didn’t fear catching fire while they cooked. Some weren’t so lucky and burned to death.”

“I like.” I rubbed my hands together then sat back as our food was brought out. “We’ll continue our discussion after we chow down.”

The food was delicious. Ohmigod. The burger melted in my mouth the minute I bit into it. I swear all of us experienced a foodgasm right there at the table. Thankfully, everyone in the place was paying more attention to themselves than us and didn’t hear our collective groan. By the time I finished eating my burger—the one I inhaled apparently—I was stuffed and happy. But, we still had work to do.

I wiped my mouth with my napkin then cleared my throat. “Okay, so tell me, how much time are we going to have in each location once we start investigating?”

Lucy beamed. “Well, since the sun sets sooner here, we will have approximately eight hours to explore the area. That includes answering questions and small histories about the location. We’ll also need to have small clips of you speaking with the curator or manager of the property to get some insight on the place and what they or guests have experienced then cut scenes of the equipment going up. You get the jest.”

Yeah, so a little over five and a half hours for all of the sites. Not long enough to become too comfortable, yet still enough time to capture activity. “Got it.”

“We can do the setup the morning of the show and have it dubbed in for the live broadcast,” Nolan said. “It’ll save us time and give us a chance to study the locations.”

I agreed.

Jack pulled a floor plan of The Seven Gable House and the Witches House/museum up and began marking certain areas with x’s then he turned the screen toward us. “I believe this will be the best place to set up for the locations. We’ll have the optimal coverage with a little overlap for each place. Since the reports are light on ghostly sightings information, we’ll have to go with gut and what Simone sees.” Then he retrieved photos of the outdoor sites. “These are a bit trickier. Since we’ll be outside, we’ll have to get creative with our shots, but it should be doable.”

A grunt of approvals went around the room.

“For all the hype about Salem and these places...” Lucy frowned. “I mean, energy pours from every surface in this town. What the fuck? Why isn’t there more?”

More? “Um?”

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