Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
I'm Ben, and welcome to the show.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Where you and I gather around this campfire to hear some of our fellow campers scariest experiences. Whether you're a new or returning camper.
[00:00:16] Speaker A: I'm happy to have you.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Dating is hard enough, but it can be especially precarious when you accidentally end up on a date with a ghost.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: Tonight we'll hear a story sent in.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: By Laura, a camper who tells us about her experience at the notoriously haunted restaurant in New York City. One if by Land, two if by Sea now, without further ado, do you want to hear a ghost story?
[00:00:44] Speaker A: I almost canceled. Blind dates are awkward enough without adding a haunted restaurant into the mix. But my best friend, Mara was insistent. It's romantic, she said, grinning as she slid her phone across the table, showing me his photo.
Candlelit, Good wine, a little history.
Come on, the ghost thing is a selling point, right? She wasn't wrong. One if By Land, Two if by Sea was supposed to be one of the most haunted restaurants in New York, a place where glasses tipped over on their own women's earrings mysteriously vanished and the ghost of Aaron Burr's daughter Theodosia was said to still wander the upstairs dining room. So, against my better judgment, I said yes.
But now, as I sit at the dimly lit corner table, I regretted it. His name was Jake. On paper, he was perfect. Tall, clean shaven, charming in a way that felt like he had practiced it in a mirror. The kind of man who probably calls himself a hopeless romantic but had a dating app full of half hearted good mornings and never followed up dinner plans. Still, he was polite and handsome. Mara would never let me hear the end of it if I left early.
Have you ever been here before? I asked, swirling my wine.
Jake leaned back in his chair, smirking.
Yeah, a few times. My ex loved it, thought the ghost stories were sexy. I smiled, but something about the way he said X made my skin feel tight.
The waiter, a thin man with deep set eyes, arrived at this point with our entrees, moving with a practiced efficiency that made me wonder how long he had worked here. He sat down. Jake's plates first, then mine, then paused. His gaze lingered on me just a bit too long. Are you okay, miss? I blinked. Yeah. Why? The waiter hesitated, glancing at the empty chair beside me.
No reason, he murmured before turning on his heel and disappearing into the kitchen. I tried to shake it off, but a cold prick from the side of the empty chair and next to me ran down my side.
I noticed that halfway through the dinner, the air in the restaurant shifted. The restaurant's warmth turned stagnant, heavy, as if the candlelight was struggling to breathe. And then I felt this. Long before I heard it. A whisper. Close. Too close, right in my ear.
Don't go home with him.
I froze my fork halfway halfway to my mouth. Jake noticed this awkward pause. Something wrong?
I forced to laugh. I thought I heard something. He grinned too, largely. Oh, don't tell me you're one of those people who actually believe in the ghosts of this place.
I forced a smile again, nodding my head now, but my hands wouldn't stop shaking.
I finished dinner and excused myself to the restroom. I wanted to splash some cold water on my face.
Don't go home with him.
The voice was so clear, almost familiar. I checked my reflection. Lipstick slightly smudged, but there was a shadow just over my shoulder. Wait. I turned around, but there was nothing. Just an empty bathroom. The soft flicker of candles and bouncing off the walls.
I exhaled, shaking my head. I was psyching myself out.
When I got back to the table, Jake was gone.
His chair was pushed back, the napkin neatly folded, the candle flickering. His half empty wine glass sat there exactly as it was before.
I looked around, scanning the restaurant. There was no sign of him. The waiter was gone too.
I pulled out my phone to text Mara, but I had no signal. No wifi. Nothing.
Then the whisper came again. Run.
The glass on the table shattered in front of me. I stumbled back. No one in the restaurant reacted. No heads turned.
And that's when I saw a woman standing at the far end of the dining room table, the only one looking at me. She was barely there. She was wearing an old fashioned dress. Her gaze locked onto mine, urgent, pleading.
She lifted a hand and pointed toward the front door. I ran and the front doors swung open on their own, as if there was somebody there standing guard, waiting for me to let me out.
I didn't stop running until I was outside, down the street.
The street was quiet and there was no sign of Jake anywhere outside the restaurant either.
I dug out my phone. I finally had service. I called Mara. She picked up on the second ring. Jesus. I was about to call you. Mara. He left. Or disappeared. I don't know. Something weird just happened. There was a long pause and all she said was, who? I squeezed my eyes shut. Jake. My date.
There was another pause.
Babe, mara said. I never set you up with Jake. The ground beneath me felt unsteady. What?
You said no. Remember? You were supposed to meet me at the bar tonight. Remember? No, no, no, no. That wasn't right. No I checked my messages again. Every text I had sent about the date was gone.
No text confirming dinner, no picture of Jake, nothing.
Like the whole thing had never happened.
But there was a wine stain on my sleeve from when his wine glass shattered. Somewhere deep inside, I knew the ghost in the restaurant wasn't warning me about Jake.
She was warning me about myself.
[00:07:01] Speaker B: Thank you, Laura, for allowing me to share your story. This is horrifying. I don't really go on dates anyways, but.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: But I think this would kill the.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: Dating world for me if it happened to me. I hope you're recovered from this.
[00:07:18] Speaker A: But with that, I will leave you.
[00:07:19] Speaker B: I will leave you all here for the night. I am just so glad to have you all as campers on this journey. Please keep sharing the show with anyone you think might like these stories or someone you're just trying to scare.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: And if you want to check out.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: This month's bonus episode about the St. Augustine lighthouse, head over to patreon.com do you want to hear Ghost Story until next time.
