A Haunting in Hollis

3 children crept into the gloomy basement of their grandmothers old, distressed home. Creaking steps, dark foggy air and the light switch didn’t work. But they were too curious as to what was in that black treasure chest. “I bet it’s money,” said the boy. “I bet it’s golden jewels and gems,” said the girl. The oldest laughed and said, “I bet it’s a dead BODY!“ As the younger two screamed, the oldest touched the chest. It began to rattle. They all leaped back. The middle child was brave and flung it wide open. To their surprise, all that was inside was a girl doll and a toy rotary phone. They all laughed, went upstairs and started to play with the toys. Being mischievous kids, they cut the dolls hair until it was bald, scribbled with marker all over her face and took out her stuffing. The boy screamed “let’s throw her in the pot!” They all agreed and took the toys outside to the monumental statue that has a pot at the top, which still stands from centuries ago. After three attempts, the boy was able to successfully get the doll and the phone into the pot. "Yes!" they cheered! Not a moment passed when suddenly 6 fire truck sirens were blasting and tires came screeching to a halt in front of their very own eyes. Firefighters came rushing to the children. “Where’s the fire, where’s the fire?” They screamed, shaking the children’s shoulders, checking for burns. “There is no fire,” said the oldest, visibly shaking and scared. “A little girl called and said there was a fire, you better not be pranking us!” said the fireman. “We aren’t Mr. fireman, we aren’t,” said the boy, crying. It was that moment, we instantly knew the doll had used the toy phone to call FDNY. When the fire department left, the young boy climbed the tree to get the doll out of the pot. It was EMPTY. Just dirt and leaves. 

The thing is, we were very mischievous that day.  Right before we went into the basement, we had been playing with fire in the attic. A piece of paper caught fire and we panicked, fearing it was going to burn down the entire house. We felt extremely guilty and really sad for what we did. The doll had played on our biggest fear that day and had gotten her revenge. Till this day, there are creeping sounds as if someone is walking through the house and we periodically hear small laughing sounds.

Years later, I told my daughters and nieces the story.  The video below shows what happened.