The Fire Lady
Stacey, NC, USA
October 2005
This story was told to me by my grandma. This was several years ago, so I will try and remember everything she told me.
When she was a young woman she worked in a mill. She told me that on lunch breaks everyone would gather in the basement where the furnaces were. This was where the men and women would "court". She said that when one of the men had to open the furnace to put more fire in, for this is how the mill was heated, he told everyone to step away because the fire would flame out when the door was open. His girlfriend moved back against the wall and when he opened the door, flames shot out and caught her on fire. She immediately ran out the door and down to the river that was next to the mill, and jumped in. She drowned.
My grandma's brother and his girlfriend were sent to the womans home to gather her belongings because they were to be picked up by her family. The first night, they both decided to stay because it was late and they were tired. My uncle slept in an upstairs room and his girlfriend slept in the downstairs room. At some point in the middle of the night my uncle got up to get a glass of water. He went downstairs in the kitchen and then he heard something behind him. He turned around and he saw a woman walking down the steps in a white gown carrying a candle. It was the woman who was killed in the fire. He just stood there in fear and watched her. She walked into the room where his girlfriend was sleeping. He immediately went back upstairs and got into bed.
The next day he didn't say anything to his girlfriend because he was afraid it would scare her and she would leave him alone to finish packing her things.
Nothing happened the rest of the day and that night they decided to stay once more because the family was to pick up her things the next day. They wanted to be there to help.
Once again my uncle got up in the middle of the night. Mostly because he was curious to see if he would see the lady again. Sure enough, she did the exact thing as the night before, and as he was standing at the sink, he heard her. He turned to find her walking down the stairs again in the same white gown, only this time she was holding a burning lamp in her hand. He stood and watched her go into the same room where is girlfriend was sleeping. This time he went to the door and knocked. No answer. He opened the door slowly and saw the lady standing over his girlfriend just looking at her smiling. She then looked at my uncle and smiled, nodded her head and was gone.
The next day they were waiting for the ladies family to arrive my uncle told his girlfriend about seeing the woman. She was a little scared but told my uncle when she woke up both mornings all she could smell was a burnt smell. She just put it off as her imagination. She now feels that the lady was there and wanted to thank them for helping her family gather her things.