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THE CEMETERY MAN
This still sends chills down my spine, just recollecting
it, but I thought I would share it, regardless of how
unbelievable it sounds (because if it wasn't my own
experience, I'd be somewhat hesitant believing it myself).
This happened in the summer (I don't recall exactly which
month) in 1999, when myself and two friends of mine had
decided to visit Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, to take
some photographs. It's one of the most famous and beautiful
cemeteries in the city, and many of Chicago's most famous
citizens are buried there.
After arriving there, in the early afternoon, we
had decided to split up, and would meet up again in an hour
in front of the chapel near the main entrance.
It was a brilliant sunny day and the hour quickly flew by
as I took many photos with my digital camera of several of
the elaborate tombs and monuments. As I headed back down
the path to the chapel, I saw my friend Brian a ways up the
path. Beside him was an elderly man, in gray, sort of
stooped over, walking with a cane. I could see his mouth
moving, but it didn't appear Brian was paying any attention
to him, which was odd, because Brian is the sort of guy who
will listen to anyone, even someone like this total
stranger.
Brian kept walking towards me, a couple steps
ahead of the old man, not even looking at him, but as soon
as he saw me smiled and asked how my photo-taking went.
I looked away for only a brief moment, but the elderly man
with the cane next to Brian was gone, nowhere in sight. I
put my hand over my eyes to block the sunshine, and scanned
for him, over the sprawling cemetery but couldn't find
him.
"Who are you looking for?" Brian asked. "Jeff is right over
there". Our other
buddy was coming up another path between two tombs, about
20 feet away.
"That old guy who was talking to you. He was there, then he
wasn't." I said.
"What old guy?" asked Brian.
"What do you mean? The elderly man with the cane. He was
talking to you, but you were ignoring him."
Brian looked at me like I was nuts. At the same time Jeff
came up and said hi.
"Jeff, did you happen to see that old man next to Brian,
where he went to?" I asked.
He shook his head, "I just saw the two of you guys talked
when I came around the corner, why?"
"I saw an old man, walking alongside Brian towards me down
that path over there, and this man was talking to Brian,
and he just kept walking along, like he was completely
ignoring this poor old guy." I explained.
"There wasn't anyone around me the whole time I was coming
up the path," Brian insisted. "I didn't see or hear anyone."
I was really creeped out then. Who was the old man who had
so much to say but wasn't heard or seen by his companion on
the path? Why did I see him? Was he real or was he a spirit
of one of the hundreds of people whose final resting place
was at Graceland?
I still have no idea, but he looked very
real to me, wasn't transparent, and didn't seem to be
floating, but rather shuffling along, with his cane, on the
path. Both Brian and Jeff thought I was seeing things, or
it was the light playing tricks on my eyes, but I know what
I saw, and I still remember every detail like it happened
yesterday.
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