It was a terrible storm that ripped through the sky. Bolts of lightning lit up the cloud filled sky, and pearls of thunder roared across the empty sky. At the most secluded area of town, an old mansion erupted from a dark and densely overgrown yard. Inside the cavernous old mansion, an old lady who had shunned her friends and family for many many years. A single massive lightning bolt struck the front yard of the house.
The following morning, the old lady’s servant found her sitting bolt upright in her four poster bed, her eyes wide open in terror. Her old heart had given out during the storm. Doing the decent thing, the servant attempted to lay the old woman back down and close her cold staring eyes. But no matter how hard the servant tried to close the old woman’s eyes there was no success. Every time the servant closed the old woman’s eyes they sprung open again immediately. The servant tried for nearly an hour before giving up and calling the old woman’s family. Nearly an hour past before the old woman’s daughter arrived, along with her husband. They also tried for nearly an hour to get the old woman’s eyes closed but again they sprung open every time, before giving up. Suddenly the servant had an idea; the old woman had a small collection of solid gold coins. The servant hurried and fetched two of the coins, and used each coin to weigh down the eyelids of the old woman.
Two days later the old lady was buried. It was a brief ceremony as the bulk of the old ladies family refused to attend. As the coffin was lowered into the cold ground the priest handed the coffin over to the gravedigger. As the gravedigger watched the priest and family walk away slowly, he made a show of shoveling the dirt back into the grave. It was only once everyone was out of sight and a slight drizzle had set in over the graveyard, that the diggers curiosity was aroused. He had heard that they old lady’s eyes had been covered by thick and heavy gold coins. His curiosity was overwhelming as he brushed away the fine layer of dirt from the top of the coffin. The gravedigger used his shovel to pry open the coffin and slowly opened the coffin. The old lady lay in the coffin dressed in a brand new dress, her jewelry gleamed in the light, and a pair of golden discs lay on the woman’s eyes. The gravedigger quickly grabbed the cold golden coins and shoved them into his pocket. The coins felt overly heavy as he closed the lid and hurriedly began shoveling the dirt into the grave. Almost twenty minutes passed before the grave had been filled.
As the gravedigger threw the last shovel full of dirt onto the grave, he could feel a pair of eyes burning into his back. Raising his shovel he twisted around in the rain. Calling out he looked for the owner of the eyes. An eerie silence echoed around him, not a soul was visible in the graveyard. Reassuring himself that no one was there, the gravedigger collected his shovel and hurried along the weed encrusted path to his small shack at the back of the cemetery, all the while the two gold coins jangled and clanked together in his pocket. Once the gravedigger was inside his shack, he took the coins out of his tattered jacket and hid them in a small steel strongbox hidden under a loose floorboard under his bed.
That night, as the gravedigger was sleeping fitfully under his slightly moth eaten blankets. Suddenly the two coins that he had hidden began clinking together repetitively getting louder and louder. Suddenly through the darkened gloom of the shack, a mournful voice called out…..who took my coins. The gravedigger sat bolt upright, clutching the blankets to his chest. In the dim light a pair of ghostly eyes stared unblinking at him. The voice called out…..who took my coins….. the mournful voice spoke the coins rattled in the strongbox.
The coins rattled again, louder this time. The floating eyes looked at the gravedigger huddled in his blankets. The voice echoed again, louder this time….wwwwwwhhhhhooooo toooookk my coins…. A terrible storm began whipping up outside the small shack. Rain pounded on the tin roof, but was drowned out by the rattling of the coins booming out from the small strongbox….wwwwwhhhhhooooooooo toooooook my coins, the voice wailed again. The gravedigger became more and more frightened…
Suddenly the door to the shack burst open, sending a blast of cold rain laden air ripping though the shack. The voice called again…..Wwwwhhhhhhoooooooo toook mmmyyyyy coins…. The man looked at the glowing eyes and screamed over the sound of the rattling coins…. I did…….
Three days later the priest found the dead body of the gravedigger sitting bolt upright in bed, hands clenched in a white knuckled death grip on the blankets. The gravediggers eyes were wide open in a look of sheer terror
