Ghostly Musician Disappears After Painting Returned

A ghostly painting has been returned to the Heale house by Alan Smith, who says he saw the woman in the picture for many years before it was returned.  The ghost painting depicts a woman sitting at a piano dressed in a flowing yellow gown and looking over her shoulder.  After the painting was returned, the ghost apparently stopped appearing.  Was there something to the painting that allowed the woman to finally pass on?

Ghosts are often thought to be the remnants of humanity’s history that we carry with us.  What they lack in physical substance, they more than make up for with the chilling notes in our psyche they play as they appear at the end of a hallway or at the foot of a bed.  Are these beings conscious still?  Or is their consciousness somewhere between what we would recognize and something else?

The woman in the painting is depicted in Edwardian style with a yellow gown sitting in front of a modest piano.  With her hands on the ivory keys of the old instrument she seems wistful, perhaps longing for some long lost love or a return home.  Smith, the man responsible for returning the painting, said the woman had appeared at night walking down the corridors until the painting was returned – at which point she stopped appearing altogether.

It’s not unusual for paranormal entities to appear attached to a physical object, although the exact nature of the spirit’s relationship to an object is not well understood. 

Paintings and pieces of jewelry in particular are notorious for having ghosts attached to them.  The infamous “hands resist him” painting caused quite a stir when it was put up for auction online and bidders reported strange happenings occurring even when a digital copy of the image was displayed on their screen.  And of course who could forget the terrifying story of the weeping boy painting which was discovered in the wreckage of a number of burned houses and buildings?

But there didn’t seem to be anything nefarious about this woman idly playing the piano.  The Mail Online shared that the spirit was often accompanied by the works of Chopin.  Indeed, in the early 1900s, when the painting was apparently commissioned Chopin was still a popular and strong musical force in many houses.

The mysterious figure in the painting was linked to the tragic story of Mrs. Bell, a woman who had previously lived in the mansion.  After facing bankruptcy, the woman lost everything at the hands of her creditors.  Among the items lost were her piano and a painting showing her seated and looking over her shoulder.  With the painting returned, apparently the ghost of Mrs. Bell found peace and no longer will be making appearances or playing music at the house – something the current tenants actually miss.  They even tried to contact her using an old ouija board with no success.