The Haunted Circus (Part 1)

Good morning!  Welcome back to a normal Friday post.  I’m hoping to get back into the schedule of Mondays and Fridays and maybe get some more stories in the middle on Wednesdays.  Let me know what you think!  All I know is that I want to write more.

This is a start of another long story so I hope you are ready.  I put a lot of heart and soul into this story and a lot of thought went into it.  And just to give you a heads up, each part is going to be 1500 words or more.  So this is a very long story.

This story is labeled as Paranormal.  So grab a blanket, get comfortable, and get ready for a long story.  Enjoy!

The Haunted Circus (Part 1)

Simon Norch looked in the mirror and let out a sigh.  He thought he looked funny, dressed in all black; he had such fair skin and almost white hair, the black made him look like he was trying too hard.  He thought he looked like he was trying to impress the emo crowd. He shook his head and snickered. Mostly, he was trying to not be seen while doing something possibly illegal.  He had been planning this for a while and he wasn’t going to back down now.

There was a knock on the door.  Simon turned, he wasn’t expecting anyone tonight.  “Come in?”

The door slowly opened and a face came through the door.  “You going somewhere tonight?”

Simon relaxed.  Christopher was one of his roommates and one of the only people who understood what he did for fun.  “Dude…you know what I’m doing tonight. I’ve been talking about it for weeks now.”

“Oh!”  Christopher smacked his forehead.  “Of course. I forgot you were going to the circus tonight.”

“It’s not just a circus.  It’s a haunted circus. It’s freeing a spirit that has been trapped in the same circus for almost 100 years.  I have to try to talk to her and see if I can figure out what happened.”

Christopher chuckled.  “Do you really think you can free this spirit?  It’s been forever since this chick died.”

Simon grabbed a black baseball cap and fit it to his head.  He turned toward his bookshelf and took the handle of a briefcase before laying it on the bed.  His fingers slid against the locks, unlocking it so he could check the contents. An EMF reader, a camcorder, night vision goggles, holy water, salt, a wooden stake, and a thermal thermometer.  Simon slammed the briefcase shut and locked it. He looked back at Christopher. “Just because she died doesn’t mean she died fairly. I want to figure out who killed her and try to show the world who the killer was.  That’s the reason I enjoy doing this in my spare time. I want to find the truth.”

Christopher leaned against the doorframe and smiled.  “That’s why I like you Simon. You are always looking out for other people and trying to find the truth.  That’s awesome.”

Grabbing his keys off the dresser, Simon was ready to go.  He picked up the briefcase and walked toward the door. He stopped in front of Christopher.  “I always want to find the truth. It’s just something that comes with being a criminology major.”   Simon pushed past Christopher and walked down the stairs to the front door. He opened it, waving goodbye to Christopher as he slipped out into the darkness.

The air was cold and crisp at 9 pm.  It was very clear outside, perfect for doing some investigating.  He looked up to the sky to see there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, he hoped that helped in his investigation.  Simon walked to his Chevy Malibu, opening it and sliding into the front seat. He set the briefcase on the passenger seat and turned on the car, ready to go on his adventure.

As Simon drove out of the city, he thought about this investigation.  He was visiting the haunted Wilson circus to try to talk to a ghost. The circus stopped almost 50 years ago because too many patrons were complaining about seeing a ghost.  There was a murder in 1926 at this circus. Her name was Alice Elizabeth Hewitt and she was only 22. She was one of the dancers who had only been with the circus for a few months; no one knew what happened to her and her body was never found.  Her family had so many questions that weren’t answered and Simon really wanted to be able to give the family the answered that they deserved. The other dancers said Alice had kept a diary, but the diary was never found. Other paranormal investigators had visited the site but no one was ever able to come up with some evidence, causing the family to be quite discouraged.  But Simon was different than the other investigators; he wanted to bring them hope.

After an hour of driving and contemplating the case he finally arrived at the circus site.  He pulled up to the site and parked his car before getting out and quickly locking it. The wind picked up as he stood next to his car, blowing his jacket up and almost blowing his hat off.   Simon looked up at the disheveled tent; it was a miracle that this place was still standing after being closed for so many years. He was sure that teenagers had tried to destroy it but the tent was somehow still pretty intact.

Simon slowly made his way toward the front of the tent, trying to be respectful of Alice and the circus.  He set his briefcase down and opened it, grabbing his thermal thermometer. He quickly turned it on and did a reading.  67 degrees. Simon checked the weather app on his phone. 67 degrees. Oh good.  This is working just fine.  Now, let’s see if we can talk to Alice.

He set the thermometer down and slowly stood up.  “Alice. My name is Simon Norch. I am a paranormal investigator and I want to find who killed you to give your family answers.  Can you hear me?” Simon listened carefully, but all he heard was the wind whistling around him. He nodded. “Okay, maybe you can’t hear me outside.  I’m going to go inside the tent to see if I can talk to you. Would that be okay?” Simon listened again but still only heard wind. He slowly moved toward an opening in the tent.  He ducked inside and felt a chill.

Inside the circus tent felt eerie.  The only light was from a large cut in the top of the tent, revealing the bright moon in the dark night sky.  It felt like there should’ve been 1000 people sitting in the audience watching girls dance, lions jump through flaming hoops, and clowns juggle bowling pins.  There were plenty of benches for audience members, but most of them were broken or graffitied on. The circus ring was still there, mostly intact, but still disheveled.  

Simon walked into the center of the ring, standing where a ringmaster would stand to conduct the circus.  He quickly pulled out his EMF reader and turned it on; the clicking started right away, flipping through radio stations faster than one could by hand.  Simon slowly turned in a circle, observing the entire room. “Alice. It’s me, Simon. I am here to get information about who killed you. Is this a good room to speak in or should I go somewhere else?”

He listened to the EMF reader, trying to find anything in the readings.  Dress—ing—dress—room—.  Simon nodded.  “You want me to go to the dressing room?  Is that correct?” Nothing came over the reader except the sound of flipping channels, so he turned it off.  “Okay. I will find my way to the dressing room. Thank you.” Simon picked up his briefcase and made his way out of the ring.

Walking out of the ring, Simon made his way to the back of the circus tent and through the very dusty curtains into the back of the stage.  There was a lot of items that had been destroyed, except for one door. A door that had the word DANCER on the door. “Is this the place you want me to go?”  Simon listened to see if he heard anything. He shook, a chill moved through his entire body. He whipped around and saw nothing. “Okay Alice. I’m going to go into the dressing room.  If you need to tell me anything else, let me know.” Simon reached out for the door and pushed.

Inside the room, everything was pretty intact.  There was a vanity and a stool, a shelf with 9 mannequin heads on it with various head wear, 3 chests, and a rack with dresses in various colors.  Everything seemed like it had been untouched, except for the vanity which had two drawers missing. Newspaper clippings and photos hung on the walls, but that was about it.

Simon looked at everything in the room.  It felt very cold, and he didn’t know where to start.  “Alice…is there something I should start with?” Nothing.  Simon nodded. “Okay. I’ll see what I can do.” He set his briefcase on the vanity and opened it.  He pulled a pair of gloves out of his jacket pocket and snapped them on as he walked over to the first chest with a lock on it.   Simon snickered. “I didn’t know they had locks back then. Too bad I like to preserve everything and I don’t carry bolt cutters with me.”  The lock had a four digit code. The second box had lots of shoes inside: dance shoes, clown shoes, even ringmaster shoes all in one box. The last trunk had a 3 digit lock on it.  It was very old and rusty, but Simon was able to turn the numbers on it.

Simon stood up in the middle of the room as he tried to take in anything and everything in that room.  “Where do I start? How do I start? Try to keep everything intact, don’t break anything. Maybe I should just take notes and see what Christopher has to say.”  Simon reached into his back pocket and grabbed his phone. He pressed the home button to open it and looked at the battery percentage. 25%. He looked at the time.  “2 am! How have I been here for that long? I better hurry up and get home.”

Methodically, Simon went to each item in the room and took multiple photos.  The locks, the trunk the lock was on, the shoes in the box, the dresses, the vanity, the shelf, all the photos, and the newspaper clippings, all photographed so Simon could look over it later.  He gathered up his things and started to leave the dressing room. “Alice. I’m leaving for tonight. But I want to come back tomorrow. Would that be okay?” Yes.  Simon turned around as fast as he could to see nothing behind him.  “Was that you Alice? It’s okay that I come back tomorrow?” Nothing.  Simon nodded as he turned back to the door. “All right Alice. I will talk to you tomorrow.  Have a good rest of your night.” Simon found his way out of the circus and back into his car.

And with a final goodbye, Simon started on his long trek home.