Ann! She’s back!’ Sarah cried and ran towards the door. ‘Stop!’ shouted George Martin, but it was too late. The door opened and a strong, cold wind blew out all the lamps, leaving the room completely dark. Sarah heard someone walk across the floor, and the door of the big cupboard opened and shut. When she lit the lamps again, she saw something that looked like the bottom of a woman’s dress caught under the cupboard door. Sarah was frightened and asked one of the men in the bar to open the cupboard. As the man pulled open the cupboard door, George Martin screamed and ran out of the bar into the street. Out of the cupboard came a small human shape, dressed in clothes that looked wet. No one saw its face, but everyone felt a freezing wind as it passed through the bar and into the darkness outside. The next person to see George Martin was a young boy, who was coming home from fishing at the lake. He said he saw the young gentleman running towards the water, looking very frightened. He broke a branch off a tree and started to feel around in the water with it. After some minutes, the branch hit something and a strange sound like a scream came from deep in the lake. George Martin covered his cars with his hands and started to scream also. As he did, the boy saw a human shape come out of the water and chase the young gentleman away into the trees. The boy ran and called the police. They found the body of Ann Clark at the bottom of the lake and under a tree was George Martin’s knife, covered in blood. He was guilty of murder, of course, and they hanged him five weeks later. After that, everyone knew it as Martin’s Lake, although it’s dry now. And, do you know,’ said old John Hill, ‘that even now no one will sing that song in this village. People say it’s unlucky.
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