Seven Little Souls

Seven little children, seven little souls, their initials engraved on the headstone of the grave; the weather-beaten, neglected, forgotten grave containing the remains of the children of one family all dying around the same time, but before their parents.
  Folklore tells of a tragic event in the mid 19th century when a cottage near the estate of Llanbedr Hall was on fire and as a result the seven little children perished.within that cottage.
  Almost a century later a school head teacher came upon the property which was for sale, although completely without most basic living requirements the teacher felt such an affinity with the cottage, bought it and gradually made it into an unsophisticated but comfortable little home in which to bring from Liverpool her, mostly deprived, young pupils in order for them to experience the countryside of North Wales.

Those were memorable visits but the most remarkable happenings were of the spiritual kind. The teacher and her friend were sitting just outside the open front door when the sound of a whimper was heard - they listened carefully as it became louder and more distinct, turning then into the heartfelt weeping of a child who appeared faintly sitting at the foot of the stairs. This greatly disturbed the two women who since then often heard in the silence of the night the distant screams of a baby.
  On other occasions the teacher sensed the presence of a very distraught man who once, apparently, crept into bed with her. She felt his touch, she perceived his torment, but the bed and the room were empty except for herself.
  Fortunately the visiting school children never seemed to be susceptible to the supernatural phenomenon within the cottage and the surrounding area, especially as the occurrences usually involved children in distress, as in one of the most agonising incidents the adults experienced.
  It was a warm summer evening  and there was a slight sound of tinkling bells, then sweet voices carried by the breeze, singing and giggling; then very vague, almost imperceptible, ghostly figures of children. They chased, they danced until one cried out and the once joyful sounds quickly turned into fearful screaming which gradually subsided into painful, horrendous sobbing and a low, wretched, collective moan as the figures faded away into the distance.
  The grief and sorrow of that experience clung to the witnesses of that scene for a long time to come; in fact it still lingers.