Clanking of chains! That’s the real sign of a ghost! Especially if the ghost story is coming from any time before 1900. Wailing, clanking chains those are the classic ghost sounds found in the good old ghost stories, of a time-gone by. Primarily, because chains are not really around that much in our everyday life, I think. Not so relatable.
It all started when Athenodorus of Athens, in the first century, decided to rent what was reported to be a haunted house. Sure he knew it was haunted; did he care. It was cheap, in bad condition (probably because it was haunted) and he rented it anyway, because it was affordable. Classic beginnings of a good ghost story.
The story is documented by Pliny the Younger who was a Roman philosopher. He wrote:
‘There was formerly at Athens a large and handsome house which nonetheless had acquired a reputation of being badly haunted. The folk told how at the dead of night horrid noises were heard, the clanking of chains which were louder and louder until there suddenly appeared the hideous phantom of an old man who seemed the very picture of abject filth and misery. His beard was long and matted, his white hair disheveled and unkempt. His thin legs were loaded with a weight of galling fetters that he dragged wearily along with a painful moaning; his wrists were shackled by long cruel links, while ever and anon he raised his arms and shook his shackles in a kind of impotent fury. Some few mocking skeptics who were once bold enough to watch all night in the house had been well-nigh scared from their senses at the sight of the apparition and what was worse, disease, and even death itself prove the fate of those who after dusk had ventured within those accursed walls. The place was shunned. Placard ‘To Let’ was posted but year succeeded year and the house fell almost to ruin and decay.
Athenodorus had an interesting first night in his newly rented home. He sat up late working, as was his custom. Presently he heard a chain rattling. The sound grew closer, until suddenly the gruesome Phantom of the old man stood before him. The ghost beckoned with his finger, but Athenodorus, demurred, indicating he was preoccupied with his work. The ghost then shook his chains even more persistently; he wanted the philosopher’s attention. So, the philosopher got up, took his lamp and followed the ghost. The ghost led him outside to the garden, where he pointed to a spot and then poof vanished. The spot was marked and then the renter decided it was time to go to sleep, and he slept undisturbed.
The next day, according to Pliny, he went to the local magistrates and told them what had happened. Digging commenced at the spot in the garden, and a human skeleton with rusted chains still Shackled to the bones, was uncovered lying close to the surface, not deep in the ground. The remains were given a proper burial, and the house was ritually purified. According to Pliny the haunting and the bad luck at the house came to an end.
