I recently received a card from my former landlady. It was a rather sad note, actually the tone was that of a goodbye note. Her health had taken a very sharp downturn about three years back (specifically her mental health). To quote her, "my mind is not what it use to be and I feel that I must write to you now while I can."
The note brought back a very eerie memory. On the day I moved out, she proceed to tell me the tale of the ghost which she claimed occupied my apartment. This was quite a shocker as you can imagine as this was the first time that she had spoken of this spectre.
It seems my landlady had heard voices of an angry little girl coming from my apartment. This little girl seemed very concerned about her lost pet, a black cat named Whiskers. Whiskers could not be found despite her best efforts and inspite of her rising frustration.
My apartment was one of four that were partitioned from a century's old house . The first owner of this house was a prominent Hamilton family. This couple and their 3 year old daughter lived here for a few years at the turn of the century before a tragic house fire forced them to move. The little girl was known to have a black cat. However, the blaze had consumed most of the first floor and sadly, the family pet was never found.
Co-incidently, there had been a fire in this same house about ten years ago. The blaze started in the basement and spread to the first floor. That same space which had been my apartment for the past three years. My landlady claims she first heard the voices of the little girl after the post-fire renovations were done.
I had never met the previous tenants of my apartment. Did they hear the cries of this little girl searching for her long lost cat? My landlady had an explanation for why I had never seen or heard of this phantom. Naturally, it had to because of Chaos, my own little black cat. Perhaps the little girl felt reassured that her long lost black cat had been found and no longer wandered the house crying for it.
Now that I have moved to Milton, I wonder about the couple who took over my lease. Had they a pet cat? If not, had they seen or hear this little girl? Would she return again now that there was no longer a cat in the house?
