There was a show in the late 60's called
Father Knows Best.
This story proves this to be wrong in
a devastating way.
A Father's Mistake
by Ichazod
Elizabeth Cromwell, she lived in these parts in the 1920's. She was the daughter of a wealthy widower named James Cromwell, A stern man who was very protective of his daughter. While she had many suitors, none met the approval of her father. It is said that he was so protective of her that she would never be allowed to marry. this was of no concern to her until the day she met a handsome young man who worked at a store her father owned. It was love at first sight the day young Randolph Nicholls eyes gazed up and saw the face of Elizabeth. After a brief courtship ,Randolph asked her to marry him. She told him that her father said she was never to marry, Randolph took her hand and placed a ring upon it and told her that nothing could keep him from marrying her. That night Elizabeth came home and found her Father sitting in the parlor in his favorite red velvet chair smoking a cigar and drinking scotch as he often did in the evening. Even though she could tell that her father was drunk, she reluctantly told her father of the engagement, he flew into a rage and dragged Elizabeth upstairs and locked her in her bedroom. As Elizabeth cried, he shouted through the door that he was going to find Randolph and tell him that they could never be married. As her father left the house, he did not notice that his cigar was smoldering on the red velvet chair. Apparently it had fallen there when he dragged Elizabeth to her room.
Randolph was quite surprised when Mr. Cromwell suddenly walked into his rented room at the local boarding house. He shouted that there was no way he was marrying his daughter and also that he was fired. As Mr. Cromwell left, he threw a hundred dollar bill at Randolph's feet. As he bent down to pick it up, they both were startled by the fire wagon rushing by. They both ran out into the street as they both heard one of the firemen yell that the Cromwell mansion was on fire.
When the two men arrived at what was left of the mansion, Randolph asked where Elizabeth was. Mr. Cromwell fell to his knees and started sobbing, I locked her in her room before I came to see you. Randolph new that his beloved Elizabeth was gone, he too started sobbing and ran away.
Mr. Cromwell had what was left of his daughter cremated and placed into a golden urn that he kept in a glass cabinet in his new home he had rebuilt where the other had burned down. In the cabinet beside the urn was the engagement ring she was wearing that night , one of the workers had found it while clearing away the debris from the property.
Exactly one year after the fire as Mr. Cromwell sat in his new red velvet chair that he had bought to replace the one that burned up in the fire, he was smoking a cigar and drinking scotch. Just as he had been doing before Elizabeth had come home that night one year ago. As he sat there gently sobbing, he heard a woman's voice softly whispering. He got up and went to the room where his maid was sleeping, he pushed the door open and told her to be quiet. She was fast asleep, she awoke and told him that she was not making any noise. As he stumbled back to his chair, he heard the whisper again. It seemed to be coming from everywhere, a light breeze swept through the room. He felt a chill run through his body as he looked at the glass cabinet where his daughters ashes were and saw her reflection in the glass. He looked all around the room and saw nothing. As he looked back upon the glass cabinet, he saw the reflection slowly fade. Just as the image faded, he heard a voice say, "Why Daddy?" and just then the urn began to rattle and the ring beside it moved. He began screaming, which awoke the maid. She came out and told him that she could not stay here tonight and that she would stay the night at her sisters and return in the morning. As she left, Mr. Cromwell was still screaming and yelling. He kept repeating that it was all his fault.
As the maid walked away from the house, she was startled as she bumped into an unshaven man standing in front of the house under a street lamp with tears in his eyes. While she did find this to be strange, her only concern was to get away from the house. When she returned the next morning, the house was burnt to the ground and Mr. Cromwell was dead.
Look for more pages to be added .
If you like what you see here don't hesitate to send
Ichazod an e-
This site was produced using Netscape Composer and is best viewed
at 800x600 resolution.
BizarreMagick.com© 2002
No part of this site may be reproduced
without the express written consent of Tory Parker.