I nodded at her over the desk. "I'm Lou. What can I do for you?"
"You do ghosts?"
"I do ghosts," I said. "Happens in a lot of libraries."
"You were recommended to me. My son owns a haunted house, and I wanted to find out how to go about researching it."
"Oh, sure. I have a handout about this, actually. I can print you a copy."
"I'm especially interested in finding out the history behind it."
"Yeah, I can help with that," I said. "I'd suggest a trip to the courthouse, and then back here to look up obits. Is it local? There may already be some research done on it."
"It's local," she said. "But I'm not telling you where."
"That's fine, but if it's a building deemed historic, there may be a Historic Resource Survey Form---"
"I'm not going to tell you."
"Okay."
"He took a photo, and there were tons of orbs in it," she said.
I hesitated. "Well, orbs generally aren't very reliable," I said. "They tend to be dust or moisture...."
"No, the place is really haunted," she said. "I'm very sensitive. I have, you know, abilities, and I can tell."
I was absolutely not going to get into a discussion about bullshit psychic abilities. I said,"I'll get you the handout."
I went back to my desk and sat down. As I was bringing up the printout, someone said,"You find my phone yet?"
I looked up. It was the thin guy in white, the insane guy I hadn't seen in a while. I'd hoped he was gone for good.
"Nobody's turned anything in to the Lost and Found," I said. "I'm sure your phone's not here."
"I don't want some terrorist getting it," he said. "You know how you can tell who's a terrorist? They got beady little eyes."
"Uh...."
"You should throw out everyone with beady little eyes."
"I'm pretty sure that's both illegal and logistically difficult."
"I've got the feds working on it," he said. "They're gonna find my phone."
And he retreated to a distant corner of the library to sit down. There should be a limit to how many nuts I have to deal with in one day.
"Lou? Somebody here for you." Mel came into the back room while I was pouring my coffee into my Bigfoot travel mug.
"It's not the whacko in the white robes, right?"
"No, this guy looks normal."
I walked out to the desk. My friend Bill the Photographer was waiting. I said,"Oh, hi, Bill. You're here about your new place."
"I am," he agreed. "My wife and I want to know who built it, and when."
"Let's start by taking a look at the Sanborn Maps," I said.
I led him into the PA Room and pulled out the big maps, setting them on the table. "There, see---That's your place. So we can date it at least back to 1901."
"Cool."
"Hey, Bill....You do drones, right?"
"Yeah, I fly one around."
"You ever see one with a purple light? I saw something, a purple light in the sky, a while back near the Jay Street Bridge."
He thought it over. "Could be. I've never seen a purple one, but you can customize them. Mine has two red lights and two green lights. Where'd you say you saw it?"
"Near the Jay Street Bridge. North end."
"Hmm. Could be. Most of them have a GPS inside, that won't let them enter an airport zone. You can customize it, though, remove the GPS even though it's against the law. But that's far enough away from the airport that it's possible. I guess this doesn't tell you anything much."
"More than I knew," I said. "Thanks for that. Every little bit helps."
I was sitting at my desk and working on a program when she walked in. A woman---Thin, young, dark hair.
"Hi," she said. "Do you have a minute?"
"Sure," I said. "Pull up a chair."
She sat down. She said,"My name is Marissa. I took one of your tours a few years ago. A haunted tour in October? It was great. It basically changed my life. "
"Oh, sure, I remember that one. A talk about a ghost in church changed your life?"
"Well, it made me really think, I learned so much about the area. I have something I needed to ask you about....You seemed to be the right person."
"What can I do for you?"
"I wanted to ask you about something," she said. "A couple of nights ago, I was out walking on the dike. I saw something....I can't figure it out. You study aliens, right?"
"Well, I follow up on UFO sightings, yes."
"I saw a purple light in the sky," she said. "It wasn't a plane."
I stared at her.
"You saw it, too," I said.
"You, too?"
I nodded. "Back in June. Tell me what you saw."
"A purple light in the sky, about nine thirty. Kind of squiggling through the sky, over the river."
"I think you and I saw the same thing," I said. "And I can't explain it, either."
"What can we do?"
"I'm going to keep looking into this, Marissa," I said. "And I promise you, I'll figure out what it was we saw."
I got to work.
It was a warm day out. I turned up the air conditioning in the library. Everything I needed was a few feet from my desk. I began rolling my chair around, doing the research. I had my new shirt with the little alien head on it. Somewhere outside, someone was playing music.
I'm all grown up
But somehow, it feels like I'm pretending
Visions of my younger years, they are buried
But the scenes that play inside of me, are impending
They are never ending...
I checked UFOs In Pennsylvania, a book stashed right behind my desk. No help there; it had some good sightings in it, but mostly Kecksburg. Better than UFOs Above PA, though. I looked at the newspaper indexes. UFO sightings in Lock Haven from 1952 and 1967. Neither one exactly resembled what I'd seen, though the 1967 one was closest.
Where, where, where, where, where are you?
You don't have to look out that window, anymore.
You can just come back to yourself, you can come back to this world.
Where are you? Tell me who heard you. And where are you?
Calls to the local airports, military bases, and any hospital with a helipad yielded nothing. You'll have this. So, ruled out historic incidents, ruled out legal flights....Atmospherics.I got online to check for atmospheric conditions, and got a little excited for a moment when I discovered a purple light called STEVEs, but the video I found didn't look like what I'd seen. Cool, though.
Such a quiet secret, it hurt too much trying hard to keep it.
Oh, and I looked up to you... I wanted so much to believe in you.
I wanted so much for you to believe it me.
Oh I tried, I tried.
I flipped through one of the library files on the paranormal---We have them. They're usually tucked away in a drawer upstairs, but we have them. Nothing on UFO sightings, but I found one of my own articles.It was about LHPS, about the time we'd made an appearance in a local coffee shop. Way back when we were just starting out. Me, Theresa, Millie, Kara....All standing together in the front of the room, teaching coffee drinkers about investigating with the rain and the traffic outside.
I looked at that one for a long time.
Where, where, where, where, where are you?
You don't have to look out that window, anymore.
You can just come back to yourself, you can come back to this world.
Where are you? Tell me who heard you. And where are you?
I sat in the living room with Millie, Lacy, Kara, Ashlin, and the two new prospects, Spencer and Julie. The Lock Haven Paranormal Seekers.
"I'll give the new client a call," Kara said, making a note. "What's the date on the Flemington tour?"
"August seventeenth," I said. "It's not exactly an all-hands-on-deck situation; Millie and I can handle it. It's a fundraiser for Millbrook."
"How about the Highland Cemetery one?" Lacy asked.
"September seventh," I said. "I'm working out the logistics on that; it's coming together pretty nicely. I'll make a run up to Highland sometime soon, and scout out the area."
"I think we're going to need another meeting to plan this one," said Kara.
I said,"By the way....The Spiritual Seekers are breaking up."
"Really?" asked Millie.
I nodded. "Saw it on their page. First they seem to have had a falling out, and they've announced the team is no longer together. Couple of them seem to have gotten with a team from out in Northumberland, near Highway Fifteen."
"Aww," said Ashlin.
"Northumberland can have them," I said. "I always knew we'd outlast those bastards."
"I don't know," Ashlin said,"I was getting a few laughs out of them. I expected them to stick around a little longer, at least."
I leaned forward and asked Julie and Spencer,"Do you guys have any questions?"
They glanced at each other, the way couples do before answering anything, and then shrugged. "No," Julie said,"You guys have explained things pretty well."
"Anything else, before we break up?" Millie asked.
"Yeah," I said. I stood up. "Something I gotta say."
I took a step, turned around. "You guys....I been going through some stuff this summer. And I just....Look. You guys....You're my best friends in the world." I turned and faced them all. "And....I know....That I am not the easiest person in the world to care about. So.....Thank you. That's all."
I sat down.
"Yes, you are," said Millie.
"Hey, I've known you for like an hour," said Spencer,"And you seem pretty cool to me."
I smiled at him.
"You sure that's it?" said Kara.
I nodded. "Yeah."
You have to wonder about your lifestyle choices when you spend half your time running around in old cemeteries. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, necessarily, just that it's not something you tend to do after, say, accounting school.
I walked across Section J, top of the hill, middle of the cemetery. Looking down over the hill, I could see William Piper's mausoleum, with the Piper Cub carved in the stone. I gave a rueful smile. The sun was going down, and I was getting a sense of what it would look like for the fundraiser.
I turned and looked to the north, and I saw it.
The purple light---The same one I'd seen back in June. It was north of me, toward the Susquehanna River. And it was moving slowly east.
I bolted after it.
I ran diagonally across Section J, leaping over gravestones as I moved. It was going slowly, but in the sky, so it was outdistancing me. I darted around the stone of Thomas Stewart, then tripped over the Schnell monument and rolled on the grass, hurting my wrist. I got up and kept running, crossing the road.
The light was heading east, out away from the cemetery. I dug in my pack as I ran, sliding my camera out. I dropped the rest of the pack. I ran past Soldiers' Circle, past Dewitt Clinton, past Henry Shoemaker. I stopped behind Peter Meitzler's statue and aimed the camera.
The purple light was out over the river, on the east end of the city. With my aching wrist, I held the camera and hit the button.
The light lowered and disappeared. I stood, breathing hard.
But this time, I'd gotten a picture.
"So," Kara said,"You gonna tell me now?"
"Tell you what?" We were in her car, driving in the dark. I was wearing my LHPS uniform; we'd just come from the latest meeting.
"Tell me what's been bothering you. You haven't been yourself lately. The whole team has noticed."
"I was hoping you guys wouldn't see that."
"Good luck on that. You gonna talk?"
I sighed. "I have spent most of this summer feeling very alone, Kara."
"Why is that?"
"....I saw something, Kara."
"Uh-huh?"
"A purple light. It was in the sky near the Jay Street Bridge. I can't explain it, and I've been investigating it alone all summer. I haven't had anyone to talk to about this."
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"I didn't think you'd be interested."
"What gave you that idea?"
"When I brought up investigating UFOs, you guys immediately voted it down."
"Lou. We'd have helped you. All you had to do was ask. All we said was that we didn't want to publicize that we're now investigating other things. We never said we wouldn't help you. If you need us, we're there."
"It didn't feel like that."
"We'd have helped. You're so independent sometimes that you forget that. When one of us needs help, the others come running. You know that."
I sat in silence.
"What are you going to do now?" Kara asked.
I looked our the window.
"I'm gonna find out what it was."
I walked across the playground, picking up litter. After over a decade, the local playground called the Tiger Den had been opened to the public, due to the campaigning of a city councilman. Because I lived nearby, I'd volunteered to help lock up the place at night.
I clicked the lock shut and put my Bigfoot multitool keychain in my pocket. My bike was in the alley. I climbed on, and looked ahead down Kite Alley.
There it was again, this time coming out of the mountains by....I did a quick mental check....Castanea. The purple light. It was blinking now, flickering. It began to curve, slowly, looping around and heading roughly northeast.
I rode after it. I'd almost expected it this time.
I kept it in sight as I biked down Bald Eagle Street to Liberty, and then north to Water. The light was still going. I saw it go down and out of sight near Jay Street, but as I hit the bridge, I had a good guess where it was going.
I biked into Riverview Park.
There was a woman sitting under the pavilion, on one of the picnic benches. She had a large black bag at her feet. I got off my bike and walked over to her.
"Did you see it, too?" she asked.
I looked her over.
"See what?" I said.
"The light. The purple light. What do you think that was? You're that paranormal guy from the papers, right? Want to check it out together?"
I glanced at her, the bag.
"Thanks for your e-mail," I commented.
"What?"
"You wrote the initial e-mail reporting this thing, right? You planned all this to get my attention. Well, you've got it."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm betting if I look inside that there bag, I'll see an illegally modified drone with purple lights. You've read my columns, right? Probably saw the PA Wilds column about the UFOs, which gave you the idea. You got my attention by sending me an e-mail describing your sighting, then chose the right time and place to get me to spot it, too---You wouldn't have much trouble figuring out when I'm downtown on a tour; I advertise hell out of that. You made sure I'd see the purple light, and then let me run around half the summer investigating it."
"And you found it," she said. "Now that I've met you, I'd love to work with you. I want to help research the paranormal, too."
"Not interested."
She looked shocked.
"What? Why not?"
"I don't encourage hoaxes," I said. "Not ever. A hoax casts a bad light on all paranormal investigation. I already have partners....And they'd never fake a sighting."
I turned and walked to my bike. She called,"Wait!"
I got on my bike, and rode away.
"So the whole thing was a hoax," said Biz.
I nodded. "Just a hoax. One desperate woman trying to get my attention."
"Boy. You sure know how to pick 'em."
"I picked nothing. I'd have been happy to skip out."
Our weekly family dinner was over. I was doing the dishes, Biz leaning on the counter next to me. Michelle has bailed and was watching TV in the other room. Tif and Paul were at the table, playing a game entirely of Paul's devising. It seemed to involve a chess board, dice, and at least one Monopoly piece.
"So how you feeling about that?" asked Biz.
"You know, I hate hoaxers," I said. "I should be pissed off. But somehow, I'm not. I'm okay about it. I solved the mystery. This summer, I did a lot of UFO stuff. I went to Virginia, Maryland, and Kettle Creek. I turned fifty. I'm okay."
I glanced out the window, looking up at the darkening sky.
"You seem like you're doing pretty good."
"I am. And you know what? I think I want to write a book. I don't even know if I'll publish it, but I want to write it. I mean, I'm fifty now, and I may be able to put together something more than just short newspaper articles. During this whole thing, I read at least two books about UFOs, and one was definitely crap. I can do better. I'm gonna write about all the stuff in this area."
"Well. That's cool."
"I'm also working on another piece for the Pennsylvania Wilds," I told her. "The UFO article kicked off a flood of reports, but I'm a bit worn out on UFOs after all that. I'm gonna see if I can stir up something else."
"Yeah? Like what?"
I grinned. "I'm thinking the Jersey Devil."
Biz laughed.
"I'm doing okay," I said. "I'm....You know, I'm at peace."
Paul looked up from the table.
"It's getting dark out now, Daddy," he said. "The alien signal is on!"
"Let's go on alien patrol, then, little man," I said. "Grab the flashlights." I pulled on my black cap with the alien patch on it, and he got his pink one. "Get my equipment!" We headed for the front door. "Let's do this thing! If we don't get out there, the aliens win!"
