My father has lived Aspen, Colorado for over 20 years during the ski season, November to April, as he is an avid skier. I lived in my father’s house for a year and a half in 1990/91 when I was working at a gallery in Aspen, but had no experiences except for being extremely uncomfortable in the downstairs area. Recently that changed. 作为一名滑雪爱好者,我父亲每年都会在滑雪季节(每年的11月到来年的四月)搬到科罗拉多州的阿斯彭(译者注:科罗拉多中西部的一座城市,为一流行的滑雪圣地)居住,如今在这里已经居住了20多年。他的这座房子,我只是在1990年到1991年间住了一年半,其时我正在阿斯彭的一家展览馆工作,在此期间除了对这座房子的楼下部分感到极其不舒服外,也没有什么特别的感受。不过,最近这种感觉可不同了。
I am married now and my husband, son and I went to visit my father over the holidays. My brother, his wife and his 3 children were visiting as well and were already there. My father’s home is a two level, 4 bedroom house in Snowmass Village. It was built in the 70’s and he is the second owner. I know nothing about the first owner. There are two bedrooms downstairs with a full bath, a workout room, a laundry room, and a sauna room/ski storage area. The house is built into the side of the mountain, so there are no windows for the downstairs bathroom, workout, laundry and sauna room. The windows for the two bedrooms are not as expansive or bright as the rooms on the floors above so it can appear pretty dim in the rooms down there, especially the second bedroom furthers from the stairs and closest to the other dark rooms. 如今,我已结婚生子,那是在一个假日,丈夫、儿子还有我来到这里看望父亲。而我弟弟当时跟他妻子和他的三个孩子也正好来看父亲。这座房子地处聚雪山庄(Snowmass Village),建于上个世纪70年代,共有两层,四间卧室,我父亲是这座房子的第二任房主,而对于第一任房主我一无所知。楼下有两间卧室,一个厕所,一间健身房,一间洗衣房,此外还有一个桑拿间和雪橇放置区。这座房子在建造时是傍山而建,所以底层的厕所、健身房、洗衣房及桑拿间都没有窗户,漆黑一片;而两间卧室的窗户跟楼上的比起来也是又小又暗,所以下到这里就会觉得昏暗迷蒙,暗淡无光。
It is also important to note that since I lived there in the early 90’s, my father acquired an old music organ that he said was a gift from a business associate. It is very, very old and I was told that is was originally from Connecticut, it used to be in a church and it is from the1800’s. It’s not very attractive and I was told that my mother refused to have it in her house so my father put it in his Aspen home as he thought the organ was great. He put the organ in the second, darkest bedroom where it dominates the room. 此外关于这房子,还有重要的一条需要说明,自从90年代我在这儿走后,父亲就弄到了一把风琴,据他自己说是由一个生意伙伴送的,这架风琴已经是非常非常旧了,据我所知它最初是来自康涅狄格州,可追溯到19世纪,并且还在教堂使用过。这把风琴看上去并不是很惹人喜爱,据我了解母亲就拒绝把它放到自己的房间,因此父亲只好把它带到了位于阿斯彭的房子,因为在他眼里这把风琴可是价值不菲。父亲把它安顿在第二间,也就是最黑最暗的那间卧室,在这里,它默默地统治着这间房子。
When my father has guests in the downstairs area, whoever is there first always takes the first and brightest bedroom. Nobody ever wants the second bedroom unless they have no choice. Because my husband, son and I were the last to arrive, my brother’s daughters were in the room first but were moved from the second bedroom to the upstairs bedroom while our nephew and our son took the sofas upstairs. My husband and I were then given the second room with the organ. That night, both my husband and I were very tired from our trip and we went to bed exhausted. 如果我父亲有客人来访需要住在楼下时,不管是谁只要是先到者,总会选第一间明亮的卧室,没有人希望住到第二间,除非他别无选择而于我们一家就来的比较晚,我弟弟的女儿从楼下第一间卧室搬到了楼上的卧室,我儿子和外甥睡在楼上的沙发上, 而我们两口得到的便是那间由风琴守候的第二间卧室。那天晚上,丈夫和我由于长途劳顿,上床时都已经是精疲力竭了。
I had drunk a lot of water earlier as it’s important when coming into the mountains from sea level or a lower altitude not to drink alcohol but instead drunk a lot of water to stay hydrated and to help acclimate to the high altitude. So with all this water in my belly, I found I had to get up a couple of times in the night and use the bathroom. The lights were off in the bedroom and the door was shut making the room very dark indeed, but still I could see a little bit. It was my second trip to the bathroom, maybe around midnight, and as I went to the bedroom door, I glanced down and saw a cat waiting to get out of the room. My father has no cats, has never had cats as he is allergic to them and as far as I know there has never been a cat in that house, EVER. I could see the cat was striped and looked gray and white and maybe a little brown. It appeared motionless but was gazing at the door the way animals do when they want to get out but are being very patient about it. I thought I was dreaming and kept looking at this cat, rubbing my eyes, looking back down at it but it remained. (Now it is important to the story that I mention that we also had brought our dog and he was asleep in the room with us and as far as I know, he was not awake) 在这之前,我喝了不少水,因为这样就能够在进入高海拔山区不至于脱水,同时还能有助于更快的适应高原反应,但喝酒是不行的。所以,我肚子里全是水,在夜里我不得不频频起床上厕所。卧室里的灯是关着的,紧闭的房门使整个房间更是漆黑一片,不过,我多少还是能够看到点。大约在半夜,那是我第二次起床去上厕所,当我向房门走去的时候,向脚下瞥了一眼,突然看到一只猫伏在那里,它正等着出去。但是我父亲没养猫啊,由于对猫过敏,父亲是从来不养猫的。而且据我所知,在这所房子里也没养任何猫,从来就没有过。但是,我确实看到一只猫,全身布满斑纹,看上去是灰白色,似乎还有点褐色。它在那里一动不动,只是目不转睛地注视着房门,它的姿势就是动物们在想出门时所摆出的那种姿势,不过,这只猫显得非常得耐心。我以为自己是在做梦,注视着这只猫,我揉了揉眼睛,再看了一下,它还在那里。(现在我需要提一点,这对整个故事很重要,我们过来时把我家的那条狗也给带来了,它就跟我们睡在同一房间,不过据我所知,这只狗一直酣睡在那里)
Finally, after staring at it for a few moments, I decided the cat really must be there and it really wanted to go out so I was going to let it out, so I opened the door. I watched, fully expecting this cat to come walking out into the hallway, but instead my dog bounded out as if he were chasing this cat, which of course, now wasn’t there any longer. 我又注视着它端详了片刻,最终确定那里就是有一只猫,而且它确实就是想出去,于是,我便打算将它放出去,打开了房门,我看着它,满以为这只猫会走到走廊里去,但它还在那里,倒是我的那只狗在我开门时跃了起来,好像是要去抓这只猫,这时猫一溜烟的跑了。
That could have been the end of the story, but the next morning, my husband, (who doesn’t believe in ghosts or the afterlife) mentioned he wanted to speak to me about something while we were making the bed. He made me promise not to tell anyone while we were visiting because he did not want to get laughed at for something he doesn’t even believe in. He went on to tell me that around two in the morning he had suddenly woke up and found the room filled with mist or smoke. He thought this was strange and then he said he could make out the head of a woman at the foot of the bed, hovering in all this mist. At first he thought this woman was me, so he asked if I was alright. He said he nearly had a heart attack when I groaned softly next to him. (I had no memory of him asking me anything, but I guess I was asleep). 故事到此也许应该就结束了,但是在第二天早晨收拾床时,我丈夫, 一个从来不信鬼神、不信阴府来世的人,说他想告诉我点事。他还让我发誓在逗留的这段时间内不要告诉任何人,因为他不想被别人因为自己从来不相信的东西而取笑自己。接着他告诉我,大约在凌晨两点左右,他突然惊醒,发现房间里烟雾弥漫,觉得很奇怪,然后他接着讲,在床尾处他竟发现有一个女人头飘在烟雾中盘旋。起初,他以为那个女人是我,于是他就问了一句:“你没事吧?”,也就在这时,他说自己差点就心脏病发作,因为他听到我就在他身边,轻轻地朝他哼了两声(不过我倒没记着他问我什么事,我想我那时睡着了)。
Anyway, he was startled to find that I was lying next to him and that it wasn't me at the foot of the bed, so he began to really try to see who it was. He told me it was difficult at first to focus because he didn’t have his contacts in, but as he took a good look, he could see there was no body, just a head. Even though his vision wasn’t as clear as he would have liked, he made an effort to see who was there and said he could make out a woman’s head that was quite skeletal and appeared to have a lot of make-up on, lipstick and eye make-up, he said, VERY made up. The woman’s head seemed to have long hair and some kind of big hat that has a sash that goes over the top and ties underneath the chin. He said the head started floated up over the bed, over my side of the bed rather than his side of the bed, but he said, she seemed to be looking right at him. He said when it got towards the headboard, it suddenly vanished. He said he was so freaked out that he just tried to go back to sleep, trying to forget what he had just seen until he finally did fall back asleep. 不管怎么说,当他发现我躺在他身边,而在床尾的那个不是我时,着实被震惊了,于是他开始仔细端详起这个人到底是谁。开始时由于他没有戴隐形眼镜,很难看清,但是当他看清时,发现是一个人头在那里,没有身体,仅仅一个悬浮的头在那里。尽管此时这位“无神论者”看的没有平常那样清楚,但当他努力看时,还是能够识别出那就是一个女人的头,瘦削的脸庞,看上去似乎还化着厚厚的浓装,擦着口红,打着眼影。“妆化的非常浓”,他说。这颗女头好像还留着长发,带着一顶大帽子,帽子上带着系带,就系在女头的下颌处。这颗头开始在床的上空飘浮起来,而且还是偏在我这边,开始向床头慢慢的漂移过来,但眼睛却直勾勾地盯着他,突然,就在这时,头不见了。这时的这位无神论者,据他自己说,是惊恐不安,只想能够快点入睡,努力忘掉刚才看到的那一幕,这种惊悚余悸一直持续到他再次入睡。
The next day, I kept my promise to him about telling the others about the head, but I mentioned seeing the cat to my sister in law and my nieces as a cat isn’t as scary as a floating head. My nieces then confessed that while in that room, they always felt as if they were being watched and our son, who was later in that room after my brother and his family left and before we told him about the head, said he felt as if he was being watched as well. 第二天,我遵守我的诺言没有向任何人提起这颗头的事,不过我还是将我夜半遇猫的经历告诉了弟妹和外甥女,毕竟这没有那颗飘浮的人头那么恐怖。而外甥女此时无忌地说当她们在自己那间屋子里时,老感觉是有什么在一直盯着自己,在我弟弟全家走了以后,我儿子就搬到了她们房间,他也说好像是感觉到老有什么在一直看着自己,而这时我和丈夫都没有告诉他关于那颗头的故事。
For the rest of the visit, nothing else happened. After our visit, my sister in law and I had a talk and tried to figure out where these ghosts were coming from and we guessed that maybe they were attached to this old organ. My father doesn’t have much history on it except for what I mentioned earlier in the story. My theory is his business partner gave it to him because it creeped him out and he wanted to get rid of it. My father said it is a very valuable antique and now wants to leave it to me some day since I was asking questions about it. (I didn’t tell my dad about what I had seen, as he does not believe in ghosts and I didn't want to freak him out) I told him thanks but I really couldn’t accept it and I told him he should donate it to a church or something. I don’t want to hurt his feelings, but I don’t want it!! 不过在接下来的这段时间里,倒是什么也没发生。在看望结束后,弟妹和我又谈论起这件事,努力想找出这鬼到底是从何而来,据我们猜测,鬼也许就附在那把老古董的风琴上。其实我父亲对这把风琴的历史没有多少了解,他所知道的就是我在故事开头所提到的那几点。据我猜测,这位生意伙伴之所以将这把风琴送给我父亲,那是因为这把风琴也曾经让他惊悚过,因此他想摆脱掉这把风琴,于是就送给了我父亲。而我父亲还把这风琴说成是价值不菲的古董,说是将来哪一天还要留给我,因为他发现我对它一直是非常好奇,老是问这问那(我并没有告诉父亲我所看到一切,因为他也不信鬼神,而且我也不想让他担惊受怕)。我向他表达了我的谢意,但是我着实无法接受这份礼物,我劝他可以将风琴捐给教堂之类的组织。我不想伤害他的感情,但同样,我也不想得到这把风琴!!