Urban Myths Collection, Mihaela Bogdan [learn to read books .TXT] 📗

Since the beginning it must be said that around The House of Jean Troianos-Hostel for elder people ”Saint Nicholas” from Braila City, or rather "The Ghost House", as the locals named it, floats a real mystery. The building, a real architectural monument, dominate the narrow Ana Aslan Street. Although this area of the city is rich in monumental buildings, The House of Jean Troianos is, on the far, the most beautiful. Built in art deco-style, the building has a luxurious architecture, is exuberant, like a symbol of capitalist success in the inter-war period.
  More, all call it ”The Ghost House”, and its legend, that has shaken the locals before the first world war, is now alive.
  It is said that the first owner of the house, in fact the one who built it, was Nicolachi Mavrocordulas, a wealthy exporter of corn. The story, that circulated by whisper, says that the merchant, crazy jealously, would have killed his wife and buried her in the walls of the building. Then he would be left permanently in Greece. The house was put on sale, and buyers, excited by such a ‘jewel’, appeared immediately. But after a few weeks, the building was on sale again.
  New owners appear, but not even now the house doesn’t let itself too much time inhabited, all leaving as they came. The sale-buy history repeats, which determine the neighbors ask themselves what is wrong with the house. And where you can find out the best in reply about what’s happening in a house, if not the servants?
  So, when they were questioned, the servants told that at night Voica, the murdered wife of the merchant, is showing herself in the manor’s rooms.
  The legend began to catch the outline and move into all the city, such as the fearful locals avoided going near that building. For years the building was not inhabited, later to become, briefly, the financial administration. But, predictably, the direction already decided, in the end that the building was not conducive to the development of such activities. However, before the offices move, nobody knows what reason, the old trim of the house was destroyed.
*
  Braila City, at the time when it was a cosmopolitan city, when you can do business with the largest corn trade in the entire Europe. Among the many merchants who come in the city’s port, in order to make money, it was counted Nicolachi Mavrocordulas. The speculations on his fellow merchants have let them out of business.
  The original Greek, Mavrocordulas was a 60 years old, burly, with black beard and imposing man. He was calculated in business, but his passion was hunting. It is said that he would give up his corn trade business in favor for the hunting. His hunting trips were long through the wild zone in Braila City.
  So, in a winter, he went to hunt foxes. A snowstorm, as there are only in Baragan, made the Greek to take shelter in a small farm. The Greek merchant found here his happiness. Or maybe his unhappiness. He fall in love with the farmer’s daughter, Voica, a very beautiful young woman. Her hair was blond, almost as a winter fox’s fur and her shinny blue eyes would made even a bright summer sky jealous.
  As the tradition says, the merchant had to buy Voica from her father with a lot of money, put her in a sled and departed happy with his new wife. In honor of Voica, whom was beautiful like a goddess, Nicolachi build a fabulous mansion.
  A rich merchant, and his wife ... a lovely fairy tale. This story couldn’t last.
  Even their close friends were jealous of their romantic union. A day before the couple’s first anniversary, Nicolachi invited all their neighbors and friends at a party in his house. A handsome young man appeared uninvited and introduced himself as a newcomer in the neighborhood. He shook hands with the host and asked him:
  -May I have a dance with the lady of the house? his eyes were staring at the young woman’s face. He never seen such beauty before.
  -Of course, my dear boy! Nicolachi answered with a smile.
  -Surely this doesn’t bother you, my love? Voica asked her husband with a worried voice.
  -Of course not, dear. What harm could this boy do to you? And besides I’m having an interesting conversation with our next-door neighbor, so you go get busy.
  After his wife start dancing with the newcomer, his neighbor tolled him with a grin on his face:
  -This youngster kept his eyes on your wife since the moment he arrived here. Looks like you have a serious competition now!
  -Don’t be foolish sir! Nicolachi laughed.
  -I don’t mean to interrupt you gentlemen, but your maid told me yesterday that your wife has been dating this fellow for some time. So he isn’t a newcomer at all; a close friend’s wife intervened. This is what you get if you marry a woman that could be you daughter!
  And then she returned at her husband, leaving Nicolachi on dark thoughts. ”Could it be true, that she is unfaithful towards me?” he asked himself while looking at his wife laughing with the young man.
  The next day he told his wife that he was leaving for a while. He loaded his shotgun and went with the sled on the road. It was a cold winter night, just like the one when he first saw Voica. After few hours of strolling, he decides to return home and see what his wife has been doing all this time.
  The house was empty, all the servants went home, but on a bear rug near the fireplace his wife, Voica was sleeping in the young man’s arms. All his friends stories about his wife became true. But the noise he made when he came a few steps forward, awaking the two lovers from their romantic dreams.
  Voica start crying and begging her husband for forgiveness:
  -Please, please forgive me my love. I promise to you I’ll never do it again. This is the last time I’ll ever see this man!
  Her lover run into the hall but the doors were locked. And then he heard a gun fire. When he returned to the room, the Greek was waiting for him and killed him too. Voica was already laying dead on the bear rug.
*
  Since that night, nobody seen the owners of the house again. Some say the Greek went back to his country and after some time he committed suicide.
  In 1957 the house becomes home for the retirees, what is today. In 1985, after some repairs were done to the house, the repairmen discovered a skeleton buried in the basement. This news hasn’t been given to publishing because of the communism censorship. Moreover, the research on the identity of the skeleton didn’t even took place. The coroners only said that the bones belong to a 30 year-old woman and her skull had a small hole in its forehead.
  Was it the merchant’s unfaithful wife?
  Few years later, the mass-media showed to the locals some strange appearances in the ”Ghost House”. It appeared in the news papers and T.V. the statements of the elders that were living in the Saint Nicholas Hostel. They said, with huge fear, that during the night, they can hear strange noises and in some rooms a beautiful woman appears, and she cries for mercy. That’s probably Voica’s spirit.
  It is known the fact that the ghost, spirit or whatever is the energy, the soul of a person who died and remained blocked between the land of the living and the land of the dead. Many specialists say that in some cases those people suffered a terrible death and they haunt only the places they’ve died or lived in until the end.
  The meetings between Voica’s ghost and the inhabitants were confirmed by the ex-director of Saint Nicholas Hostile, saying that he heard in many nights of the 20th day of every month two loud noises, as they were fire shots.
  Today, the ghosts and the elders are quiet, everybody’s minding their own business in the hostile. Priests and psychiatrists were brought to make peace between the inhabitants, dead and alive and succeeded.
  The legend of the Greek merchant and the ghost house were the subject of ”The son of Monte Cristo” novel, written by Theodor Constantin. The writer tells about a family that lived in the haunted house and, after he soled the book, he went to Switzerland for good.
  The weird part starts when I found out that Theodor died long before the heirs came from Switzerland to reclaim the house, which lead to the story of the son of Monte Cristo, this never been considered as a story no more.
  Maybe the legend of the Greek merchant isn’t a legend at all and Voica’s soul still haunts their house. I am not sure if these things are true or not, because I didn’t find the real version of the couple’s story on the Internet and people in Braila City aren’t scared of the house any more.
  Still, when I walk by the left side of the house to get to my college, I have the strange feeling that someone is unhappy. I don’t know for sure, because I’m half asleep since my courses always take place early in the morning.

An old adage says: ”It is impossible not to find a way, when even a blind man found Braila City”.
Some locals believe that this saying was born because Braila City was the only port city at the time, so it was the only way open to trade towards Danube, and the other seas. Others believe that there is a legend which says that in this small town on the Danube, a blind boy was born.
  Although he was able to take care of his own, despite his blindness, his parents never left him out of their sight. During his entire childhood, they were always near him, trying their best to make their only child’s life happy and safe. One day the boy shared his biggest dream to his parents, to go on his own in the search of a streaming water.
  Being scared that their son might get in trouble or get hurt, they told him to forget this dream and stay home with them, where he can be safe from all the dangers from outside. But one night, when his parents were sound asleep, the blind boy managed to pack some things and food, and left the house without a sound.
  He did so because he was almost