Department Store

Wasn't long after the Little Old Lady incident I headed down to Sydney where I got a great job as clerk in a big flashy department store (name withheld). It was an old building built in the mid 1800's. Now, where my office was located was away from everyone else in a small pokey office, no bigger than, say, a bathroom. Above the office were empty offices (I'll get to these offices soon) and a room across away from my office that had the fax machine, photocopier and a storage room.

My workmate had the week off so I had the room for myself. Already, barely one week in the job, something strange happened. First I kept seeing this "man" in a grey boiler suit watching me from the corner of my eye. Each time I would turn around, the "man" was gone. I didn't take much notice. Then stuff would disappear, and I would hear "voices" in the empty rooms. This was in my first week and I wasn't going to tell anyone just in case they thought I was a loony. I would also hear a phone ring, an old telephone bell or people walking up and down the hall and yet there would be no one there.

I finally worked up the courage and told Linda, the chick I was working with *sigh* and she looked at me and said: "You heard that, too?" So, thank God I wasn't the only one. I have been seeing the man for ages just standing there with his hands in his pockets that he became a part of the furniture, so to speak. Then I would smell cigarettes, yet no one was allowed to smoke in this area, I would smell perfume I didn't recognize (if you worked among women and you were a single 20 year old, you would get to know the perfume these women wore), hear whispering next to me. It all came to head one evening on a cold, wet July.

My boss asked me (why me, I don't know) to do some overtime. Cool, I thought, extra cash to get drunk and see some decent bands. So I nodded and said "yeah, sure why not, got nothing else to lose."

I did the usual boring rubbish, typing this, typing that blah blah blah. It was roughly 9pm and I decided to take a break. I decided to go upstairs to check out the old, empty offices. I climbed those stairs (creepy music if you please) and stood in the hallway. I had a torch (flashlight) for my way home so I flicked it on and walked down the hall. I tried one of the rooms and the door opened. I stepped in. I was suddenly overwhelmed by this feeling, as if I just walked into a room full of people. I felt they, whoever they were, didn't want me there and were waiting for me to leave. It was an electric feeling so I backed out and closed the door. I walked up the hallway and found a ballroom. Back in the 20's and the 30's they used to have ballroom dancing during lunch time. I don't know why but they did but, to my horror, I saw a man and a woman both dressed in the 1930's clothing both dancing to music clearly only they could hear.

Man, I ran like hell and did I run. I was shaken up but I finished my work. After that? More strange things started to happen. I was standing in the lift when it stopped mid floor and there was something in the lift with me because when I finally got out, something grabbed me by the elbow that had me screaming. I stumbled out with the Big Boss and more Big Bosses standing there looking at one of their employees fighting off whatever was attached to him. Yep, I could go on but I won't but that scared the hell out of me!

The man in grey I found out was the original owner and my office was his office.

Yourghoststories