OXFORD HOUSE

Tale from A.M. Moir

"When I was young, my church made an annual fall retreat to a place called Camp Quinipet on Shelter Island, New York, a little island between Long Island's two forks, Quinipet is a colony of old mansions bought by the Methodist Church for use by retreat groups, one of which, Oxford House, was believed to be haunted. When I was about seven, some teenagers told me the legend.

It was said that a rich family lived there back in the 1800s and had one child. One night the parents went out and left the kid with the babysitter, Mary Oxford. Late at night she suddenly heard the kid crying uncontrollably, and then...silence. Alarmed, she slowly climbed the stairs. When she got to the top, she discovered the child splattered all over the place. Before she could gasp, she saw the shadow of a man with a hatchet cast on the wall by the oil lamp. When the parents came home, they found the body and decapitated head of Mary Oxford hanging from an attic window.

A different source told me an alternate version in which there was a fire on that fateful night, and, trapped in the attic, Mary looked down and saw the devil, who offered to catch her if she would become his. They never said what her decision was, but...

One year when my dad and I went to look at the house, as heaven is my witness, there were hoofprints burned into the side porch, under the attic. There were three cresent-shaped prints leading up to the door. I know this sounds incredible, but I offer you this: You can take it from a twenty-four-year-old naval officer with a very good education and a pair of good eyes. I don't know what it was, and I'm open to other-than-supernatural explanations, but there you have it. Unfortunately, I can offer no photos of Oxford House, as it was torn down and carted off, every last piece of red-painted wood." -A.M. Moir