Horror at the Haunted House by Peg Kehret Read Free Book Online Page B

winds, moans in the night, and fleeting apparitions in the Clayton mansion. Local people, many of them jealous of the Clayton family’s wealth, gossiped that Lydia Clayton’s ghost was still guarding her worldly treasures, even after death.
    The reports of hauntings continued for several years, with Caroline the main victim. Caroline, already jealous of her pretty predecessor, complained bitterly to Samuel that Lydia’s spirit refused to leave Clayton House. More than once, Caroline tried to pack the Wedgwood away in storage, hoping that Samuel wouldn’t miss it. He always noticed and insisted it be returned to its original shelves.
    Caroline never had children and when she suffered a miscarriage, she told Samuel that it was caused by a fall she took as she fled from Lydia’s ghost. Since no one witnessed the fall, there was no proof of her story, but Samuel, who longed for another child, decided to have Lydia’s coffin dug up and burned. He intended to put Lydia’s cremated remains in the Wedgwood and told Caroline, “She loved those dishes more than she loved me. She wants them in death, just as she always wanted them in life.”
    Caroline, however, refused to have Lydia’s remains in the house and so Samuel gave up the plan.
    Reports of ghost sightings continued to plague Samuel until his death from smallpox in 1895. He often blamed Caroline for the hauntings, saying that if she had allowed Lydia to be cremated and her remains placed in the Wedgwood, the ghost would quit haunting Clayton House. Caroline also died of smallpox, just a week after Samuel.
    Years later, Samuel’s great-grandson developed a passion for Wedgwood. “In particular,” the book said, “Edward Clayton was fond of a new Wedgwood line called Fairyland Lustre. More than once, he declared that his great-grandmother, Lydia, would have liked the brilliant colors and the imaginative scenes.”
    Ellen reread that paragraph three times. Even though the pieces in the collection were dated, it had not occurred to her until now that Lydia Clayton lived long before the Fairylustre was made. If Lydia had never owned any of it, why would her ghost care about it now? Why did the hands push Ellen toward it, as if she wanted to be sure Ellen noticed it?
    Whatever his feelings about Lydia’s ghost, Samuel Clayton kept his promise about the Wedgwood. In his Last Will and Testament, he made sure his heirs would honor Lydia’s request, as well. He left the mansion to his son, Paul, on condition that the entire Wedgwood collection must stay right where it was.
    Paul not only followed his father’s command, he perpetuated it in
his
will, and his heirs did the same. Samuel’s great-grandson, Edward, was the last of the Clayton line. The book didn’t say so, but Ellen knew he was the one who left the mansion to the city, to be managed by the Historical Society. Ellen wondered if the gift had specified that the famous collection of Wedgwoodbe kept or whether the Historical Society had made that choice.
    After Samuel and Caroline died, there were no further reports of a ghost. The gossips of the time decided that it wasn’t the Wedgwood Lydia wanted, it was her husband. The writer of the book agreed, claiming that, with the death of her husband, Lydia’s restless spirit was finally at peace and her ghost was gone forever.
    Ellen turned to the copyright page of the book. It was published in 1945. What had happened in the decades since then?
    Were there other, unreported ghost sightings? Too bad no members of the Clayton family were still alive. The people who had lived in Clayton House would be the logical ones to see a ghost, if she appeared. But if Lydia’s ghost had been seen, surely there would be some mention of it in newspapers.
    Fleeting apparitions, the book said. It was a perfect description of the reflection of the woman in the mirror.
    Ellen asked the Historical Society woman if this book was the most recent publication there was about Lydia