Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Two days later, after winning Matthew’s grudging clearance, Brent and Travis headed toward the site of the Walter Brothers’s wreck. Helene had agreed to meet them there.
Brent fidgeted on the drive to the site of the circus train crash.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Travis prompted. After all the ghosts he and Brent had sent packing, the fairly routine banishment didn’t seem like it should set his partner on edge.
Brent didn’t seem surprised that Travis had picked up on his jitters, since he vibrated with nervous energy. “I’m edgier than usual, and I’m not sure why.”
Travis shrugged. “Listen to your intuition. Is it worried that we don’t know enough about the hunt, or something else?”
Brent took a deep breath and paused as if silently asking himself that question. “I’m wondering what riled up the circus train ghosts and whether it’s tied into whoever is trying to kill hunters.”
“You think it’s a setup?”
“Could be,” Brent replied. “Didn’t you question it, coming up now after all this time?”
“Yeah. I think we need to be extra careful,” Travis said. “Maybe get some of the friendly ghosts to scout the area and see if there’s someone else around.”
“It’s daylight, so that should keep the vampires away, if they’re involved,” Brent noted. “Although I guess they could always send in their minions. Think Ike will show up?”
Travis snorted. “He hasn’t bothered to so far, although I’ll never turn down help.”
Brent pulled up his case notes on his phone, even though Travis knew he had read them over multiple times.
“The Walter Brothers circus wasn’t a big outfit.
Back then there were plenty of second-string shows that crisscrossed the country to entertain the smaller cities, like the one that was in New Castle. ”
“The train lost its brakes on a long hill, and there was a curve at the bottom,” Travis recalled from his research. “Some of their cars were heavier than normal trains, which probably didn’t help. The engine made it around the bend, but the other cars went off the tracks.”
“Most of the performers survived,” Brent noted, checking his phone. “Unfortunately, a lot of the horses and exotic animals were killed or injured. A Bengal tiger got loose and scared a lady who was milking her cows. She ran away, and the tiger killed the cows.”
“That’s actually documented,” Travis replied, shaking his head. “But people claimed to see parrots and lions and even a few kangaroos for years afterward.”
“Not too many native kangaroos in this part of Pennsylvania,” Brent agreed with a chuckle, then sobered as he looked back at his notes.
“The train’s brakeman died in the wreck, and the coal tenders, along with some of the circus people.
The people were buried in the closest town cemetery, and the animals were buried in a pit dug near the wreck site. ”
“Yeah, I read that. Which makes me wonder about the haunting. If the people were properly buried on sacred ground, then who are the ghosts?” Travis asked.
“Most of the reports talk about people seeing horses and zoo-type animals, like lions and bears,” Brent replied. “Although there have also been stories about a headless man in a train-worker’s jumpsuit walking the old rail line at night with a lantern. The legends say he’ll kill anyone he catches.”
“Yeah, but the records don’t say anyone was decapitated,” Travis pointed out. “The brakeman was crushed, and the other train crew who died were burned by the boiler and coal fire. The circus performers were thrown from the car and died from the impact.”
Travis drummed his fingers against the steering wheel.
“For a lot of crashes, I’d guess that the ghosts were restless being buried so far from home.
But for the performers, the circus was their home.
They moved around all the time. The train belonged to the circus, so I’d guess the same was true for the crewmen. ”
“Helene said some of the survivors came back every year for decades to commemorate the wreck,” Brent said. “I found an article about it. In the first couple of years, they even had elephants lay a wreath at the marker by the accident site.”
“That must have kept the locals entertained.” Travis chuckled.
“If I read the account right, the railroad re-routed a section of the track to flatten out the hill and make the curve less sharp. They never admitted any fault for the wreck, but since they had to fix the track anyhow, I guess they decided it was a problem waiting to happen again the way it was.”
“About those commemorations,” Brent said. “From what I could find, the ghost sightings started after the ceremonies ended. Maybe the ghosts got angry that people stopped coming, but the story faded, and the survivors got old and died.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time ghosts didn’t want to be forgotten. I also wonder whether or not there were items left behind from the wreck that tether the ghosts to the area,” Travis mused.
“I can see things being overlooked in the original cleanup,” Brent replied, “but in all the years afterward, I’d think curiosity-seekers would have found anything of note.”
“We’ve seen it before, anchors don’t have to be large,” Travis said.
“Bits of metal, something from the circus itself…ghosts are bound to the oddest things. And the accounts from the time say that the townsfolk who came out to see what happened walked away with souvenirs of the wreck, any of which could be a ‘ghost beacon.’”
“The sightings have become more frequent in the last few months…not surprising considering the anniversary of the wreck is coming up,” Brent pointed out. “No one’s gotten hurt yet, but the interactions are worrisome.
“At first, people who were walking the trails said they heard a train whistle, then a crash, and the sounds of frightened horses,” he continued. “Then a few months later, there were reports of glimpsing exotic animals in the woods, only there weren’t any tracks or evidence of living creatures.”
Travis nodded. “Then there were new reports of ghost horses running across nearby roads, and a woman in white wandering in the woods where the tracks used to be. And even though the railroad changed its route, the people I talked to said that there are crews that will do everything they can to avoid working that run, because they say it’s bad luck. ”
“Even on the new route, there have been more accidents and fatalities than usual,” Brent said. “Railroaders are superstitious, and it’s already dangerous work. Once a route gets a reputation for being unlucky, the story sticks.”
“And if someone, or something, is souping up monsters to draw out hunters and attack them, it sounds like perfect bait,” Travis pointed out.
“That occurred to me.”
“I didn’t think we’d actually start hauling even more stuff to a ghost hunt, but here we are,” Brent said as he and Travis unpacked the trunk of the Crown Victoria.
“We haven’t usually needed to watch for human and ghostly dangers at the same time, or tigers,” Travis pointed out.
Travis powered on the MEL meter, an instrument that scanned for unusually cold spots, looking for where the circus haunts might be lurking.
“The ghosts of a couple of deer hunters and hikers are here,” Travis said. “I asked them to help us keep an eye out for intruders.”
“Getting anything from the circus ghosts?” Brent asked.
“I’m picking up energy, but not sentience.” Travis spoke slowly as if he needed to think through his response. “Not real close, but definitely along the old rail line. I don’t know whether they haven’t noticed us yet, don’t care, or just hope we’ll go away.”
“Or we haven’t crossed into their territory,” Brent said. Ghosts could be oddly particular about such things.
They heard a car approaching and shifted their stance to block the newcomer’s view of their trunk, then relaxed as they recognized the driver.
Helene pulled in and parked. “Good morning,” she greeted as she joined them. “Ready to meet some ghosts?” She carried a black crocheted bag and wore charms Travis recognized as powerful protection symbols.
They left the cars behind and hiked the rest of the way, with Brent watching for cold-spot signals while Travis and Helene kept an eye out for manifestations.
Travis glimpsed shadowy forms in the distance as the sensor pinged. The ghosts knew they were there and were waking up.
“They’re trying to figure out why we’ve come,” Helene said quietly. “The ghosts are in a lot of turmoil. That’s new. Something’s gotten them riled up.”
The closer they got to the site of the wreck, the stronger Travis felt the ghostly presence and the uncomfortable itch of dark power. “I agree. Could someone have planted a talisman or worked magic to make the ghosts angry?”
She closed her eyes to focus. Brent and Travis stayed close, protecting her and scanning the tree line for threats.
“Definitely dark magic,” she said a moment later as she opened her eyes and looked around them. “Powerful, but fairly new. Not the kind of spell a novice witch could work.”
Travis and Brent exchanged a glance. That means we’ve got a strong rogue mage, or the Sinistram is up to something.
“If you and Travis work together, can you break it?” Brent asked. “I’ll keep watch.”
Helene considered for a moment. “I think we stand a chance. Just remember, the ghosts never really left this place. They just went to sleep for a while. Whatever tethered them is still providing an anchor.”
Brent put his hands on his hips and turned in a circle, trying to see the land the way it had appeared in the old photographs of the train wreck.
“How do you find their anchor after a hundred years?” Brent mused. “Souvenir hunters and history buffs have been over the area time and again, and they probably carried off anything portable.”
Travis stood in a spot where he could still make out the depression from the long-ago rails. “Then we look for something they couldn’t carry off.”