A Little Side Trip

While most of my WIP takes place in Asheville, NC, the hero and heroine take a spontaneous trip to Beaufort, SC.

For my husband & I, Beaufort is our “home away from home”. We go each year during our anniversary. It’s just as magical as Asheville, and is the perfect place for Paisley & Anson to get better acquainted—or is it?

Their time there is over-the-top crazy. I’m writing those scenes now, so I’m anxious to be there in a week.

As far as my own experiences there? wonderful….and scary.

Watching dolphins swim by from our balcony,eating decadent shrimp, walking the quaint streets and lounging on a beautiful beach is what we always experience there. But as well….ghosts.

Our first time there we rented a small cottage, which had been an old home that was beautifully remodeled. It was tiny, but a job well done with the décor. It was cute as a button…that is until bedtime.

We couldn’t sleep. We could feel it.  Both of us. A presence.

We ignored it, since we weren’t there to spend all our time in the cottage. Then one night we went to the only movie theater in town to watch The Dark Knight.

I felt it as soon as we entered the place, but I shrugged it off. It wasn’t welcoming, and it made me feel like we should leave. It never went away and the feeling of doom-that something horrible was going to happen  made me drag hubby out as soon as the movie was over. Unfortunately, the feeling followed us back to the cottage and added to the presence there.

There would be no sleep that night!

I caught glimpse of a little girl—nothing foreboding, sad mainly, but we just couldn’t shake the weejeebeejees!

OK, so our first time there was distracted by that experience, but we loved the area and booked a different cottage the next year. That cottage is the one we always stay in and we LOVE it! Simple and has a wonderful vibe (due to the great owners!)

But, during our next trip we once again decided to go see a movie. There it was again—that dark feeling. I could barely contain myself during the movie and in my head was screaming, “we need to go now!!”

I gritted my teeth and held onto the chair arm until the end of the movie, but once again, I made my hubby run out of the place with me! It was hard to shake the feeling , but at least we had a peaceful cottage awaiting us.

I did ask a local about the theater and her reply—

“You kidding me? That place is haunted and locals don’t go there!”

Someday, I’ll dig into the history and see if I can get some answers. From now on, if we want to go see a movie, we’ll drive to one of the nearby towns. 

I’ll be posting about Beaufort for the next few weeks.  Ghosts or not—we LOVE it there!!