The Wedding Dress

As the movers drove off, Susan entered her new home - an old Victorian-style house, with drafty windows and creaky floors. The house had been purchased in an estate sale at a bargain price and she had fallen in love with it. A good coat of paint was needed and quite a few repairs, but it was all hers.

Deciding to do some exploring, Susan made her way upstairs to take a look around. It had been a couple of months since she had seen the house. When Susan reached the top of the stairs, she stumbled upon a door she didn’t remember seeing before. Realizing it must be the attic, she pushed open the door to reveal what was hiding in this forgotten room. As she flicked on the light, disappointment soon set in. All she discovered was a couple of empty boxes and a broken chair stacked in a corner. Not much to clear out up here she thought. Just a little vacuuming and dusting needed. As she was turning to leave, Susan spotted something in another corner. Hanging from one of the beams was an old lace wedding dress, covered in cobwebs and no longer white. She couldn’t understand why someone would leave it hanging there.

Susan was getting curious, wondering who the dress had belonged to but decided to leave it for now and head back downstairs to do some unpacking. As she made her way towards the door, it slammed shut and she let out a scream. Susan tried with all her strength to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Panic began to set in as she said to herself, “What the hell is happening here?” Luckily, she had her cell phone and frantically called her friend, Jackie, to let her know she was locked in the attic. Jackie arrived a little while later and when she tried the door, it opened with ease.

“What happened Susan?” Jackie asked.

“I don’t know. The door wouldn’t open,” Susan replied, more than a little shaken. “I just couldn’t get out and take a look at this,” said Susan pointing to the wedding dress.

“That’s pretty creepy,” replied Jackie, already making her way out the door. “Let’s get out of here.”

Once downstairs, they chatted for a bit and Jackie left a short time later leaving Susan alone again. She began to do some unpacking to try and get her mind off the attic.

Unable to shake the strange event, Susan proceeded to do some investigating into past owners of the home. Given the age of the house, it took her a little while to find out who lived there previously. After some research, Susan realized that the wedding dress must have belonged to a woman by the name of Margaret Allen. Margaret lived in the house from 1905 until 1949 with her husband, George, until his death.

As she continued to investigate, her curiosity soon turned to shock and sadness. Susan discovered that Margaret had gone mad after her husband had committed suicide. She had found his body hanging in the attic. Margaret ended up in a mental institution, where she died in 1955.

Susan knew an old home like hers would have some history, but she never thought anything this tragic would have occurred. She concluded it wasn’t going to ruin her time in her new home. “I’ll just go up to the attic and remove the wedding dress,” she stated. Hauling up a chair with her, she propped it up against the door so she wouldn’t get trapped in again. As she made her way over to where the dress had been hanging, she was horrified to see that it was gone. All that hung there now was a noose, swaying back and forth. A shiver ran through Susan as she stumbled and raced towards the door. Realizing she wasn’t alone in the house, she bolted down the stairs, grabbing her purse and car keys, running from the house, never to return.