By Mark L.
This story takes place a long time ago in the Balkan region of Montenegro. This supposedly happened on the outskirts of Ulcinj up in the mountains where many people once lived, but now there are little to no people living in the villages up in the mountains. This is one variation of the story, which was told to me by my Aunt.
Four friends Zef, Gjergj, Marku, and Anton were sitting in a local tavern in Ulcinj one night, they were drinking Turkish coffee. The four young men usually went to the tavern once a week, usually on Fridays. They would eat, drink, and socialize. Zef was just talking about an old man who had just died. The old man's name was Gjon Hoxhaj. It was said that Gjon was a very irreligious man, though he claimed to be of the Catholic faith, he rarely went to pray in the church, and he was a very mean and bitter old man, he beat his wife frequently, and was nasty to anyone who tried to talk to him. Zef went on with the story and said that Gjon died because one night there was a bird that laid its nest near the edge of a well, and Gjon saw the nest and went over to the well and grabbed the nest and threw it to the side. And as he was throwing it, he lost his balance and fell into the well, and drowned. Gjon died because of his mean and stubborn mentality, he was eighty-seven years old.
When Zef was finished telling the story, Gjergj, Marku, and Anton made the sign of the cross. Zef said, that his death was an Omen, there were eggs in the nest, and Old Gjon killed the chicks for no reason, he killed them because he wanted to inflict pain on some poor creature. That is why he died. Zef said that he was buried in the Church yard a few weeks ago. Then Anton started to say that he was riding on horseback near the cemetery one night, and all of a sudden his horse just stopped in its tracks, and the horse began to buck a little, and the horse started make noises, the horse was frightened, but Anton couldn't figure out what it was that was scaring the horse. As Anton was trying to calm his horse down, he began to hear chirping noises, it sounded like bird chicks. And then he looked over into the cemetery and saw a figure in the distance, the figure looked like a hunched over old man. And Anton shouted, "I can see you, who goes there?" and the figure suddenly disappeared. It left Anton in total shock, the horse soon calmed down, and the chirping stopped. Anton then came to the assumption that he has just seen a ghost. When Anton was finished telling his story to the other three, Zef and Marku said "You have seen the Ghost of Gjon Hoxhaj, It had to be him why do you think you heard the birds chirping?"
Anton didn't deny the fact that he saw the Ghost of Gjon Hoxhaj, but Gjergj soon broke silence and told Anton that he probably drank too much Raki that night. Then Anton said to Gjergj "I know what I saw, and know what I heard"
"If you don't believe in Ghosts then you shouldn't have a problem going there in the dead of night to prove us wrong?" Gjergj said.
"Of course I wouldn't have a problem, but why would I do that it's a waste of time" Zef replied.
"Prove your man enough and do it." Gjergj answered.
"Fine I'll do it, and prove that you guys are drunks with a childish imagination!" Zef replied.
"Okay, here is what you have to do, at midnight go to the grave of Gjon Hoxhaj, and stick a knife into the soil that covers Gjon's coffin, to mark your presence, and prove you were there, and in the morning, I'll walk to the cemetery and look for the knife!" Gjergj answered.
"Challenge accepted, I'll go tomorrow night."
The men finished their Coffee and went home and went to bed. When the morning came and the men awoke to tend to their farm work, it was the same routine every day of the week accept for Sunday because that is the Sabbath day for Christians, and rest must be taken. As the hours past Gjergj knew his time to prove that he has no fear of ghosts was drawing near. When he was finished with his work on the farm, he took a few hours of rest. After finishing his dinner, he looked at his pocket watch, and saw that it was 11:30 P.M., Gjergj then put on his trench coat, and took a lantern with him. He had the knife in his pocket. Outside, it was a moonlit night. Gjergj went to the barn and got on his horse, and rode away. Riding on the side of the mountain, he was getting closer to the cemetery, and the horse was walking slowly when he saw the Crucifix on top of the Church tower begin to appear, he was close to the cemetery, and when he got to the gates of the cemetery and tied his horse up to the fence, Gjergj took his knife and lantern and walked into the Cemetery.
Gjergj wasn't sure where the grave of Gjon Hoxhaj was. So he slowly walked through each row of graves with his lantern close to the tombstones so the names could be visible. It took Gjergj a while to find it but soon enough he found Gjon's grave, Gjon's grave read "Gjon Hoxhaj, 1815-1902" Gjergj knelt to the floor, and put the lantern down. He then took his knife out and stuck it into the ground. A few moments after he stuck the knife in the ground, the candle in his lantern mysteriously blew out, and there wasn't even a breeze. Gjergj began to get a little nervous. As Gjergj went to get back onto his feet, halfway up he felt something tugging the bottom of his coat. Gjergj made the transition from being a little nervous to completely terrified. He began to scream on the top of his lungs. Gjergj was being grabbed by the spirit of Gjon Hoxhaj, his hand was coming out from beneath the dirt, and grabbed Gjergj's coat, Gjergj began to hear chirping noises, the same noises that Anton had heard when he was riding near the cemetery one night. Gjergj was overcome by his encounter with the ghost of Gjon Hoxhaj, and unfortunately Gjergj died on the spot, he had a heart attack. He was literally scared to death.
When the sun began to rise, Zef walked to the cemetery to try and see if Gjergj kept his word. When Zef walked closer to the cemetery he saw a horse tied to the fence. Zef was confused a little. He entered the cemetery and began to search for the knife that Gjergj stuck into the ground. As Zef walked deeper into the graveyard, he soon found Gjergj laying in front of Gjon's grave. Zef went over to Gjergj. He saw that Gjergj's face was completely pale, and his eyes were open. Zef knelt down and put his finger under Gjergj's nose to see if he was breathing or not, and Zef didn't feel any air coming out of his nose, and he finally came to the realization that his friend Gjergj, was dead. A tear ran down his face. He got back onto his feet and looked over Gjergj's body, and made the sign the sign of the cross. Zef saw that the knife was driven through the fabric of Gjergj's trench coat, which caused him to get stuck to the ground, because Gjergj accidentally pinned his coat to the floor with the knife which caused him to get stuck. Nothing was really grabbing Gjergj, It was the knife that got him stuck. Was it Gjon's spirit that caused this divine intervention to happen?
