Ghost Stories

Chess Game

I have always had afascination with the paranormal and when I meet someone new, oneof my standard questions is, "Have you ever had anythingreally weird happen to you?" You would be amazed at some ofthe answers I've gotten to that question.

Back in 1982 I was at Fort Leonardwood in Missouri for BasicTraining. I shared a room with seven other guys and lights outwas at 8:30 p.m. every night. One evening when everyone wasgetting ready for bed I asked the standard. I got a bunch ofstrange looks and somebody asked, "What do you mean?" Ireplied, "You know, like ghosts or Big Foot or UFOs; stufflike that?" Most of them replied with, "No," andsomebody said, "Go to sleep," so I did.

A few hours later I was awakened out of that sleep by PrivateWyngard. Wyngard had the bunk closest to the door and he hadwaited for everyone to fall asleep before approaching me. Iasked, "What do you want Wyngard?" And his replystartled me. He said, "You asked that question earlier and Iwaited until everybody fell asleep to tell you because I didn'twant anyone to think I was crazy." This introductorystatement immediately caught my attention and I was instantlywide awake. I inquired, "What happened?" and he relatedthe following story:

Wyngard lived with his parents before joining the military. Asyou walk in the front door there is a set of stairs that leaddown into the basement, and on one side of the basement was hisbedroom. One day in the summer, right around twilight, he was athome by himself. His parents were playing bridge. His brothersand sisters were with friends. His friends were busy, and therewas nothing good on TV. He was so bored that he made up a game toentertain himself. The only problem was it turned out to be morethan just a game.

At the bottom of the stairs was a stereo rack. On the top of therack Wyngard had a chess board with the usual black and whiteplastic pieces. Wyngard's boredom led him to create an imaginarywar between good and evil, all recreated on the chess board. InWyngard's mind, all of the white pieces represented the forces ofgood, while the black pieces represented the forces of evil. Thewhite king was God and the black king was the devil.

In Wyngard's little war, the forces of evil were laying waste tothe forces of good. He would pick up a black piece and use it tosend a white piece flying off the board. Finally it got to thepoint where the white king was the only piece for good left andit was completely surrounded by the pieces of evil. The coup degras came when he pick up the black king and lowered it slowlyover the head of the white king.

Just before he could complete the move, the board began shakingviolently and in one sudden motion all of the pieces flew off theboard. At the same time, a blast of hot wind came screaming downthe stairs, knocking Wyngard off his feet. This terrified Wyngardbecause he always made sure the door at the top of the stairs wasclosed. At this point he scrambled out of the house and waited inthe front yard until his parents got home. Then he gathered upthe pieces and the board and threw them all away.

Wyngard told me he also believed in ghosts because of anotherexperience he had. His grandma lived with the family but wasbedridden and critically ill. During her life she had a favoriteyellow dress that she wore that she hadn't been able to wear foryears because of her sickness. She eventually died and was buriedin the dress.

For the funeral, Wyngard's younger brother and sister weren'tallowed to attend the services because his parents thought itmight traumatize them. They were both young enough that theydidn't really know their grandmother since she had been ill eversince they were born. The night after the funeral, the childrenawoke, came to the breakfast table and stated, "Guess what?Grandma came to see us last night?" The parents replied,"How cute? What did she want?" The children exclaimed,"She told us that everything was all right and she showed usher pretty yellow dress."

Sometimes you don't need to experience something firsthand tofeel the truth of it. The look of intensity in Wyngard's eye ashe shared these stories was a witness to me that he reallybelieved the things he related. There are many questions outthere.