Ghost Story #6: A Friend's Deceased Mother

While I was writing Maryland Ghosts: Paranormal Encounters in the Free State, my Uncle Bernie sent me more than 30 stories from throughout his life in the form of hand-written letters. After Maryland Ghosts was first published in 2012, and featured most of his Maryland stories, we turned his remaining letters into an unpublished collection to share with family and friends called The Haunted Letters: True Tales from a Ghost-Storied Life. Here is another one of my favorite stories from that collection:

Roanoke, Virginia (Roanoke County), 1993

An unusual thing occurred while visiting an old friend of mine, Joe Ed Philips, who is now deceased, at his 900-acre farm in Roanoke, Virginia.

His mother had been deceased for years. Her nickname was "Mud." Joe Ed could not pronounce the word "mother" as a young child, so "Mud" was close enough and the name stuck!

I was unpacking in my bedroom, which had been his mother's room at one time. I heard heavy footsteps in the attic, and shared this with Joe Ed before dinner.

I had taken steamed lobsters for our dinner, and Joe Ed and his girlfriend made an extraordinary grouse pie and a huge homemade blackberry pie. This was two years before I met Debra, so I traveled alone for the visit.

That night, after this great dinner, we all turned in for bed. I hadn't been sleeping long when I heard heavy footsteps again in the attic…then, a little later, in my bedroom.

I had a pistol and flashlight by my side. The moon was bright and shined nice soft light through the window, the kind that only the moon can create. I could see no one, but the heavy footsteps continued and stopped at the end of the bed I was in.

I turned on my flashlight to be sure no one was playing a trick on me, as Joe Ed had a great sense of humor. There was no one there and suddenly, the end of my bed levitated off of the floor with a jerk, and stayed off of the floor for about five minutes.

Finally, the bed settled back down to the hardwood floor with a thud.

I told Joe about the experience the next morning over breakfast. Joe Ed said it was probably just "Mud" checking out who was sleeping in her old bed…

–B.W.M.

"A Friend's Deceased Mother," copyright 2019 Bernard W. Masino and Amelia Cotter (first appeared in The Haunted Letters: True Tales from a Ghost-Storied Life, 2013)