Week 9 Story: The Back Room

        In one of the small plains of Oklahoma, an old woman dwelt in a dilapidated shack. Every person who lived in the area knew her to be a cannibal. They spread rumors of how those who enter her shack never depart. Youths were told stories of her stealing away bad children in the middle of the night. Her reality was far from their tales. She was once a beautiful woman with a kind husband and wonderful children. 

        One night, long ago, they were all murdered. Bandits broke into their home, gathered them together in the back room, and slaughtered them. No one was near enough to hear their screams. The woman's soul was unable to pass into the next world due to the hate and terrible violence of the crime. Her family passed on, but she was trapped there. Part of her curse to remain among the living was her inability to reenter the room where she died. She could not even set her family to rest in the ground. The bodies of her loved ones rotted slowly and their blood dried onto the floor and walls.

        No one would  keep her company due to the rumors of those living in the area. She was very lonely and unhappy. One day, a priest stood at her door and asked for shelter. She tried to turn him away, assuming he was there to taunt her like others. He plead with her for shelter, and she agreed. He must not have heard the warnings and stories of her distant neighbors. They talked and laughed with one another for quite some time. She had forgotten how it felt to have the company of another. Her soul was warming. She thought she might tell him the truth and ask for his assistance in crossing over. He was a priest after all. If anyone knew how to go about it, surely it would be him.

        The fire in the hearth burned low, and she got up to get more wood.  Before she stepped outside, she glanced at the closed door of the back room. Worried her guest might peer in and see the gory scene, she warned him not to enter the other room. Of course the priest's curiosity got the best of him, and after she left, he looked into the room. Great fear seized him and sent his feet running from the shack. The ghost saw him fleeing and knew what had happened. She chased after him, begging him to stay, asking him why he had looked in the room. He would not listen. She stopped her pursuit and returned home where she wept for herself and her loneliness.

Image Information: Old Woman, Source: Pixabay

Author's Note: In the original story, a priest stumbles upon the home of a goblin/old woman, although he does not know this. He asks for shelter and she reluctantly takes him in. They chat for awhile and then he is instructed by the goblin to not peer into back room. Curiosity gets the best of him and he find the bodies of the goblin's victims in the room. He just barely escapes. 

I didn't understand why the goblin would have refused him shelter at first if she intended to eat him. Why was she kind to him if he was her intended victim? I wanted to turn this story into a simple misunderstanding. I wanted the old woman to be innocent of the alleged crimes which would make her actions more reasonable. I'm not happy with the story's sad ending for my ghost, so I may alter that later.

Bibliography: "The Goblin of Adachigahara" from Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki, link to the reading online.