Ghost Story: A Sudden Storm, Part Two

Winnie lived over one hundred years ago and was by all accounts a great beauty. Only one photograph exists of Winnie and it has been carefully stored away at the local historical society. No copies exist and it is generally thought of as bad luck to gaze upon her face. She was a bright, effervescent, glowing, and kind girl. In life. In death, she is a dark, sinister, and vengeful storm.

Winnie had fallen in love with one of the Miller boys—whose name has been forgotten—and he had fallen in love with Winnie, too. The happy couple patiently waited for Summer to end so they could be wed in the fall. As the season wrapped its warmth closer to the community, someone else was feeling the cold of bitter jealousy…

Nathan, according to legend, was an outsider and as history records him, a murderer. He had his eye on Winnie since he first saw her the previous Summer when he arrived from wherever he came. It’s known that Nathan had sought and found work with a barrel maker and took up housekeeping in a back room of the building that is now the local auto repair shop.

Watching Winnie from afar became an obsession for Nathan. Day in and day out he pined for the beautiful young woman who always wore pristine white dresses and freely smiled to anyone who crossed her path. When news of Winnie’s engagement reached Nathan’s ears, his heart froze; in his mind, she belonged to him. All summer his love of the girl evaporated and was soon replaced with hatred. How dare she walk about with her held high like she wasn’t the disgusting piece of filth she was, and all in white no less? White was for the pure, and in Nathan’s mind Winnie was not fit to wear anything but slatternly red.

And red she would wear…

One fine afternoon, Winnie was paying a visit with her fiancé and future in-laws, completely unaware that Nathan had followed her. It was to be Judgment Day. Winnie and her future husband had planned a picnic, to dine al fresco by the little brook in the woods just beyond the barn.

Nathan had other plans and stalked the couple down into the forest, waiting while Winnie and her beau settled in. In a flash Nathan slashed the young man’s throat and pounced upon the speechless Winnie. It was brutal. But in a panic at his own actions, the murderous man fled the scene thinking he had finished them both off. It is said that he paused briefly trying to decide what to do when Winnie stumbled up from the woods, her white dress dyed red with her own blood. Nathan had ruined the object of his hatred, yet she lived…

He looked on as Winnie pressed her escaping insides back with her hand; where he had savagely scalped her hair was oozing red into her blinded eyes; and although her face was split wide open, she managed to let out a deafening cry as the sky opened and the thunder clapped. It is said that Nathan began to run back to town, but dropped dead on the spot before Winnie herself crumpled to the ground.

Today, the thunder roars as clouds come rushing down from the hills where the Miller farm sits quietly. The people of this quaint area know that Winnie is coming for a visit, and if she couldn’t be happily wed in life she would take vengeance on those who might. Over the years sudden breakups, spoiled weddings, and even deaths of one or both of the betrothed have been blamed on the hapless Winnie.

Which is why the rings get hidden, breath gets held, and everyone waits for the storm to pass.

So what about the spot by the barn? Well, if you happen to find yourself looking for a fright, and are not afraid you might drop dead (for that is what they say happens if you look upon her), Winnie herself can be seen stumbling out of the woods right before a storm, cursed for all eternity with a long held vendetta…