THE HAUNTED GENERAL STORE

We’d lived in Melbourne all of my life, but at the age of 17 my parents decided to have a ‘Tree Change’ and we moved to a tiny country town in North East Victoria.  After six months or so I got myself a job at the local General Store; a very old heritage listed building.



On my first day of work the owners Peter and Michelle left me to do the lunch orders out in the back kitchen.  As I got to work cooking up burgers and chips, I got the distinct feeling that I wasn’t alone.  I felt eyes on me and looked around.  But no one was there and I was alone.  I shrugged off the feeling and got back to work.  After 10 minutes or so I felt someone nudge me in the upper arm.  It was so hard that it kind of shoved me sideways a bit.  Again, no one was in the old kitchen with me.


The next day I was serving at the front counter and heard the bell at the door tinkle.  I looked over by no one had gone in or out.  I shook off the creepy feeling and continued working, thinking to myself that I must have imagined it.


Later that same week I was stacking shelves while Michelle served customers.  Once the lunch rush was over Michelle asked me if I’d seen or heard anything ‘strange’ since I’d started work there.  I told her about being shoved in the kitchen on my first day, and hearing the bell at the door chime for no reason.  Michelle smiled and nodded while I spoke.  She then went on the tell me that since they’d bought the place five years earlier both she and Peter had had many different experiences, all of the ghostly kind.


For example, sometimes the shop’s door handle would turn and the door would open, but no one would come in.  The bell at the door would ring by itself.  Old-fashioned floral perfume could sometimes be smelled at different spots in the shop and at different times of the day.  Everyone who’d worked there had felt a presence in the kitchen, with many being touched, nudged or shoved.  Footsteps could be heard walking over the creaky floorboards when no customers were in the shop.  Things would be moved around the shop from day to day, including stock on shelves, cooking supplies and even the small tables and chairs moved around in the ‘cafe’ section of the shop.  Voices could be heard coming from the back store room, but on one would be in there.  The lights would sometimes flicker and go dim then bright again at different times of the day and for no apparent reason.


Over the next two years that I worked at the General Store I experienced all of those things  –  and more.  I never really felt scared or in any danger at any time  -  but it certainly was creepy and I’ll never forget it.


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Story submitted by Karly Stevens