The Spooky House in Perugia, Italy

It’s August of 2004, and I am in Perugia, Italy. I have been informed that I must look for another place to stay, because I can no longer stay there. It has been only less than two weeks and I know no one, and I carry with me two enormous suitcases. I am at the bus stop thinking where to go, and I only have 300 euros in my pocket. I want to cry, but crying will not solve my problem. I am thinking what to do, and I hate myself for carrying so much with me.

Out of nowhere, a girl comes next to me and asks me where I am going. I have no idea what to say. I tell her the truth though, that my aunt informed me that I can no longer stay with her and I must go find myself a place. She only informed me two hours ago. The girl is kind enough to offer to keep my luggage at her pub while I looked for a place to stay. Now really, what options I have, I think to myself and laugh. My aunt treated me like a

stranger so I might as well just trust this good hearted woman, who is a stranger, because I have nothing to lose anyway.

Currently, I like my look, I believe it is elegant and looks attractive. I am slim with long brown hair, all the way down to my tail bone. I am wearing a tight pink top with a pair of white trousers, and a belt hanging down on my right side of the hips. Heels are a must! However, with these two big suitcases, I look like a joke. I decide to keep my luggage at the pub.

While walking on the old streets, the chocolaty scent of Bacci Perugina reminds me of how hungry I am. Just then, a charming Italian man begins driving a convertible in circles around me, and he screams, “Dove vai bella?” (Where are you going gorgeous?) I think the whole situation is hilarious! I left the house at 10 a.m. and it’s almost 4 p.m. now; I am hungry and devastated because I still haven’t found where to sleep, yet this man on the street shouts after me and thinks am gorgeous.

I am in a phone booth holding the newspaper and looking at the rents section. I think I must have been in the booth for at least one hour. I am calling and either no one answers or the person at the other end is telling me the place in the ad is no longer available. There was one number I didn’t call and I didn’t want to call. It is a strange rent offer announcement, but it’s the final one.

I think I am the only one who called that number because I am so desperate to find a place. The ad goes like, “Rent room in an antique house. You are not allowed to cook or eat in it because you will stink up the place.” Well, after reading it so many times, I decide to give it a try. I tell to myself that I had no time to cook or didn’t know what to eat yet, so it will not be a problem.

At the other end, a man answers and seems to give himself more importance than he actually had. We decide we could see the house in 30 minutes.

I am in front of the door now. Besides the old streets in the historical center of Perugia, this house had something special and mysterious. Shyly, I knock at the door as per the instruction given by the owner, three times with the round door knock. At the same time, I am telling to myself to run before is too late!

An old man with a white beard and glasses opens the door. Very creepily dressed, and nothing in his outfit matches. He has trainers, gray sport trousers, and a brown long neck pullover. On top of his head he has a brown leather cowboy hat.  He then smiles at me, thinking probably he will scare me out. What he doesn’t know is that after today morning, nothing can shock me more. Here he is introducing me to the house as if the house is alive and spirits are living there. I have to admit the entire house looks a bit creepy. He starts at first with the basement of the house, but he first tells me not to touch anything because I might disturb the old spirits of the house.

Wow, I am amazed. It is a large antique library with old books, maybe hundreds of years old and covered in dust. I see names of all the Italian writers like Dante Alighieri with Divine Comedy and Boccaccio with Decameron. I have to admit it feels as if spirits are living in the library, but it is a good vibe, nothing negative. He then shows me the kitchen. The furniture is very old with a big dark wooden table eaten by moths in the middle, and on the table is a white melted candle; here again he emphasizes on the fact that I can’t cook or eat in it. From there we enter the red salon and he shows me the green table. The reason why he names it red was because of the red painted walls that are covered in dust, and the dust is so thick that the red has become darker. I am told here I can enter sometimes, only when invited.

Finally he decides to show me the rooms for rent. On the way up, the stairs are squeaking. There is so much dust that I can see it floating around. A scary colorful mask is hanging on the wall and a wheel on the corner of the stairs with some other creepy instruments as decoration. On my way up to the top he told me I can clean my room if it pleases me, but I can’t clean the house because I will annoy the spirit of the house.

The rooms are as creepier as the house I think to myself. When I think it can’t get any worse than this, he shows me the roof top room where his aunt died, and tells me he can often see her having tea with her sisters in the white salon. He manages to make me shiver a bit, but I was so desperate to have a place to sleep that I couldn’t care about the spirits. When I tell him I want to take the room, he is shocked.

He then tells me it is not for rent. I tell him that I have no place to stay tonight and since I came all the way to see the house, and I listened to all his stories, he has no choice but to let me stay. The old man tells me that he is looking for someone to be the master of the house, to hold the spirits down and someone who will let him know what the spirits tell him. Out of nowhere, the man’s son appears and tells me smiling to ignore his dad and that he is just an old man, he likes you and will let you stay plus I will convince him too.

I don’t know what happened that day or what the reason was behind it. There is a reason for everything in life, and when something is meant to happen, God will lead you towards it. It is like walking and thinking you have no purpose but you know that you are going in the right direction even though things seem not to be right. That old man had an immense impact on me without knowing.