6 More Days 'Til Halloween... Silver Shamrock

The building that I work in is haunted. The structure has been standing for well over 50 years. Back in the 1950’s, it was a dance hall where people would gather to dance to a live band. Back then, the fire safety standards were not as strict as they are today. All the doors on the building opened in to the hall rather than opening out towards the outside. One night, a fire broke out and several people, 16 of them I think, mostly women, were trampled and burned to death while trying to escape from the burning building.

Since then, the hall has been rebuilt and is now a bingo hall. It’s up to current fire code standards. There is no trace left of the tragedy that took place there all those years ago. If you ask the cleaning crew though, they’ll tell you that there are some strange goings on in the building. They come in at around 6:00am when there is no one else is around, and they see and hear some strange things. They talk of ashtrays flying off tables at them, the smell of lavender perfume mysteriously floating through the air and of a woman singing in one of the ladies rooms when no one is in there.

I sometimes come in after the cleaning crew has left, but before anyone else has arrived and I’m alone in the building, all by myself. I must say, there are some weird things that go on in there from time to time. The ghosts, as I call them, like to get into the lights and make them flicker and I’ve also heard strange sounds that sound like voices.

One of my jobs is to change the little light bulbs behind each number on the bingo boards when they burn out. This week, on Monday, one of the lights was out behind the number 6. So, I replaced it and moved my ladder on to the next board and changed a few bulbs there. Then, thinking I was done, I put the ladder away only to discover that the same number 6 had burned out again. So, I got the ladder back out and changed it again. The next morning, on Tuesday, the same number 6 was burned out again. Coincidence? I think not. I think the ghosts are screwing with me because it’s Halloween. Even in bingo, B-6 is still the number of the beast.