Grey Lady

In my town there's always been a certain legend about the 'grey lady', I have no idea how or where it started but it's always scared the crap out of me since I live about ten minutes away from the manor where the legend is based. There's a lot of stories set around that particular place but this one had always struck me, more so now that I've aged because I miscarried about four years ago. Anyway, the legend says that this woman was trapped in a fire that burned down the house roughly 200, maybe even 300 years ago. In that fire, a lot of people burned to death - many slaves, many noble people, and the grey lady. The one person that survived was the man who owned the estate and his name has slipped my mind, but from what I know from books, he was a horrible man who held a grudge. His wife, the grey lady, had been sleeping with a serving boy and was having his child. Prior to her affair, she'd had multiple miscarriages with only one successful child. Apparently, the owner found out and burned his estate to the ground... with everyone in it.

So yeah, that's pretty much your average urban legend. But me and my boyfriend are urban explorers, and lets just say we couldn't help but explore this place (if you were wondering, it was called Haden Hill House, look it up). We managed to get in late at night, which I was amazed at, but nevertheless we got in and explored. It was a pretty basic night, until my boyfriend, jokingly, told me to enter the original bedroom and do the curse. No doubt you've heard of idiots saying to go to a mirror in the dead of night and say "Bloody Mary" three times, right? Yeah well since I was a kid, we've been told that saying "Grey Lady I've got your baby" three times in the mirror at night will provoke her spirit. It seemed like a good idea seeing how this was the room where she was apparently trapped, and being the fool I am, I did. My boyfriend left, and I was in the room on my own, in front of a replica mirror. I took a deep breath, feeling utterly normal, but a little cold, no doubt because of the lateness. I did it. I said those words, over again, three times. I looked into the mirror after I was done, and saw nothing. Something inside me though, felt... strange. The room grew tense and even though I was alone it felt crowded, I felt a burning sensation wash over me. The door opened slowly, creaking. The air around me was heavy, suffocating, and I blacked out. About twenty minutes later I woke up back in my house, with my boyfriend sat in the other room. Without knowing what had happened, I walked into him, and asked. He said I collapsed for no reason, and that wasn't too worrying because I used to collapse as a kid, but what did worry me, was that when I collapsed I was burning up, and I felt... I don't know, I just felt something touching me everywhere.

Whilst in the shower... I found marks on my legs... hand prints, that looked like burn marks, and I was confused. I didn't believe in ghosts or the supernatural (the only reason I was scared of the story was because even though I was skeptic, it's always better to be on the safe side, am I right?), so I decided I was being paranoid.

A week later, I went to the doctor with terrible stomach pains, apparently I was pregnant! I was so happy and overjoyed that the previous week's collapse wasn't even playing on my mind. At all. The troubles only started happening when I went to have my scan, when I was about 24 weeks gone.

The scan didn't show up very clear, and that wasn't too bad. I brushed it off, being my first child, I was just happy! But I began to have horrible dreams, nightmares that made me wake up, covered in sweat. My boyfriend and I had painted the nursery by this point and there was a rocking chair and crib in there, so I'd usually go in, to calm down and relax. The third time I had these dreams, though, I went in there and the window was open. As the wind came through the window it sounded like whistling but as I listened closely I could hear something in the whistles... screams, baby rattles... Nevermind, I told myself, I thought I was paranoid as per the norm. I sat on the rocking chair, rubbing my belly, feeling quite sick. That was normal though, right? That was normal. Telling myself this made me feel worse, and I ended up barfing in the bathroom. That was just the beginning.

The next night? I woke up at about four in the morning, all my windows were open and the mirror in the bathroom had been cracked. I told my boyfriend and he told me not to worry, so I tried not to... but I went into the nursery. The cot? Dismantled. The rocking chair? Rocking in the very center of the room. Again, the windows were open. I heard a creaking up the stairs, and I believed it was my boyfriend. Turning as the door opened, I felt relief to see him. But... it... it wasn't him. It was a woman with long scruffy black hair, large eyes circled in black and something covering the bottom of her face covered in buckles. I shut my eyes as tight as I could, knowing I was seeing things. I opened my eyes... that... the woman was closer to me, her nose almost pressing mine, her eyes seemingly staring into me, not at me, into me. Apparently I blacked out again.

These things didn't happen again, until three weeks later. I miscarried with seemingly no cause. That was the bad thing: there was no identified cause. To this day I still blame the grey lady, but everyone says I'm mad. I didn't mention, did I? I'm now under constant supervision, constantly hearing those creaks, that scream. Every now and again I feel like I'm burning and when I wake up the next day, there will be that familiar burn mark on my leg. I only recently discovered that the grey lady didn't die in that fire. But her husband found her the next day, alive with severe burns, and he sent her away to an asylum because she'd tell everyone what she knew. He had her tongue cut out, so as she couldn't tell people. And that's all I was able to learn about the vague legend. Please... don't ever try to summon the dead, because it always leads to bad things... even now, years after, I hear her. At night, if I look into the mirror I see her, grabbing at me, holding my mouth tight as if she wants me to stay silent... I'll see her pale face and blackened eyes in the water... and I just can't tell you how mad I feel... I know it's not there... I hope.