Ghost Story

 

This story goes back 10 years for me, but it is actually much, much older than that.  I will just tell it the way I remember it.  My memory is pretty bad so if you are reading this and I have miss stated anything, please let me know.  I am not trying to disrespect or stir up any old spirits.

When I started working at Quiksilver 10 years ago no body had to tell me there was a ghost in the building.  I have always been a little bit fascinated by the spirit world and I feel like I am pretty in tune with it.  There is a certain smell about a place that is haunted and there is surely a vibe.  The old building that resides at 363 Main in Park City has a strong hint of both of those things.  I have never been afraid of the spirit that lingers in that building, but she has always had a way of letting you know when you are not welcome.  The upper level of the building is set up as a home.  There is a kitchen, a bathroom and several bedrooms.  We always just used it for our back stock and office area.  But there was one bedroom of the house that you would often walk into and the hair on the back of your neck would stand on end...  there was always a strange, unknown presence in there.  It was definitely somebody else's territory!

So back to the beginning.  Like I said, it was no secret that there was a ghost in the building.  All of the employees knew it and even some of the customers would mention it.  My friend Casey, who was managing the store at the time, started to refer to the ghost as "Scary Carrie."  We thought the name was fitting and kind of funny too.  We had many unexplainable things happen around there.  One time a customer came in and was talking about how he knew there was a ghost in the building and just then one of our props, a ukulele fell from the top shelf, far above any ones reach.  It had been sitting there for months untouched... pretty creepy.  Another time a full length mirror cracked from top to bottom (Leslie, that is your story to tell) Another time someone said they went up to the office and the chair at the computer was spinning there was no window open and nobody else had been in the office at the time.  There have been many other strange and creepy things happen over the years, I wish I could remember them all.  As for me, I have always felt pretty safe there.  I even spent many nights alone there.  Although, I didn't ever sleep real well with all of the creaking, unexplainable breezes, and the feeling that I wasn't really alone, but I was, for the most part, comfortable there.  

My memory fails me as I try to remember how many years had gone past when we finally learned the story behind "Scary Carrie"  But here it is as best as I can remember.  One day when Casey was working (I can't remember who else was there) a man came in and asked if he could take a look around.  He wanted to go upstairs.  We rarely let anyone up there who was not an employee.  He continued to tell her his Great Aunt had lived and died there...  and her name was "CARRIE"        SCARY!!!     As it turned out, that bedroom that made our hair stand on end, that was her bedroom and that was where she past away...  

Several years later Quiksilver did a full remodel on the store and a clean up on the upper level.  One of our HR ladies who came in town to help us hire and train new staff is kind of a trippy, cool lady.  She does palm readings and taro cards and is into that kind of "voodoo" stuff, whatever you want to call it.  Whether you believe in it or not, it is quite interesting to hear what she had to say.  She brought in a pendulum to find out where the spirit is most active. She walked all through the building... downstairs there was a little action, upstairs was more, but when she went into Carries bedroom that was when it really went crazy.  And when she finally made it to the closet in that room (I have to admit I have only stepped foot in there a handful of times because the feeling is overwhelmingly unwelcome) that is where she saw the most action. It was crazy to have someone come in who did not know all of the stories and just reassure all of our intuitions about the spirit who lived there.  Well, she also read taro cards for Carrie to find out why she was lingering and the cards read that she had died very depressed with a broken heart and she was still hanging on to the memories in that building.  How sad.  Our friend then did a sage ritual (supposed to help the spirit move on) and she had us put up a picture of Carrie (above) that she got from the Park City Historical Society... that was supposed to help calm her spirit. ( I don't know why)  After all of these things Carrie's presence was less overwhelming and unexplainable things happened less often.  But there is no doubt that her spirit still lingers there.  

Just this week Quiksilver has moved out of that building and I have been up there helping to clean the place out.  It is sad for me to say goodbye to that building.  It have spent many great years there and have SO many memories there.  In a way it is the closing of a chapter in my life.  And I have been feeling really bad for Carrie.  I feel like after all we have been through with her we are leaving her to start all over.  But then again, maybe that will be fun for her.  I am sure she will have a really good time freaking out the new owners.   Now that I think about it, our time spent there is just a small fraction to her many years, maybe it was just time for a change...