Terrified! by James Neptune

The journalist had heard the two stories of the people who lived in the old manor. They were found, literally with white hair as well as in a catatonic state. He did not believe it and spent the night himself in the manor. He too, was found with white hair and also in a catatonic state. Don Jackson had heard about this case and decided to check out the facts. He had learned the names of the two people and found they had died of health issues. He looked up the journalist and was informed the man had been institutionalized for the past year.

Jackson took a trip to the institution and was thinking the journalist was making this up. He asked a family member if he could tag along for a visit. "Sure, but he never speaks. He just lies there staring at the wall." Jackson went into the room and saw the man with white hair staring at the wall. He looked like he was in his 70s, but was only in his 30s. Jackson asked questions about the incident but was ignored. Jackson tried everything to get the man's attention but to no avail. "As I told you, he is this way all the time. He sleeps, eats some food and then stares at the wall. I don't know what he saw as he and the others never spoke of it. His health is failing like the others and he probably will not be alive within the year."

Jackson left the hospital with a little doubt in his mind of the story. He knew where the manor was and decided to contact the owners about spending the night there. He would bring his equipment and an assistant to see if there was anything to the encounters. "Mr Jackson, I have maintenance people work in the manor during sunny days. If it is dark or raining, they won't go in there. Still, they have done enough to keep the place in good shape and have not reported anything strange there. I also only go in there with them and only during the day. I don't know if I believe anything of what happened, but I really don't want to see if it is true." The owner told Jackson to be careful and made sure to have him and anyone else who spent the night sign waiver forms for liability.

Jackson wondered if this was all show and had his best assistant go with him to the manor. "We are going to set everything up and wait until the nighttime. I did meet that poor sap and he didn't appear to be faking anything, but this could be a way to sell tickets for people to spend the night here." The assistant shrugged and went about setting up the equipment for the night. The whole manor had cameras and sensors to take the temperature of the air and every other detail for study. If there was anything supernatural going on, it would show up.

Jackson and his assistant retired to the master bedroom and waited for something to happen. It went very dark in the manor at night as few of the lights worked. The maintenance workers made sure windows and roofs didn't leak, but nothing was done about the lights or comforts since no one lived there. The manor had been very quiet and Jackson wondered if anything would happen. He was going to go to bed in the next few minutes when they both heard a loud boom.

Jackson and the assistant could not find any source for the noise and went back to the room. The instruments had not registered anything abnormal either, so they both decided it was the pipes in the house settling. Another loud boom was heard as well as footsteps heading their way. Jackson had a worried look on his face but figured out it had to be a prank. He then opened the door to the shock of his life.
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"Hello? Mr Jackson? Are you still here?" The owner had not heard from Jackson and it was now in the afternoon. The Sun was shining in the manor and it everything looked OK as they walked up the stairs. The owner called out the names to no answer until he arrived at the master bedroom. The door was open and when the owner walked inside he saw Jackson and his assistant staring at the door in a catatonic state. They both had aged twenty or so years and their hair was snow white. Both men were taken to an institution where they never spoke again.

The instruments were looked at by experts and nothing out of the ordinary was found. None of the cameras worked so no images were ever seen by anyone else. There had been stories of one camera actually having some footage shot, but it was so terrifying it was never released. To this day, Jackson is in a catatonic state and stares at a blank wall. His assistant has since died of health problems. No one has ever been able to explain what any of the individuals saw.