Our room was on the third floor of the bed and breakfast facing north. While we didn’t have a clear view of the ocean, the beautiful little town of Mendocino lay before us.

The room had clearly been part of the attic at one point, but the old house had been renovated and now our half of the top floor had its own bathroom and fireplace.

Since our arrival had been fairly late, Kelly and I quickly unpacked and ventured out to find food. A light fog drifted about the quaint buildings and appeared to gather around the old fashioned street lamps. We entered one of the restaurants established in a house from the 1800’s and were immediately greeted by the friendly staff.

Our waitress was chatty and filled us in on all her little town had to offer. Dinner was a fully enjoyable event. Only one odd moment passed. I had my eyes on the baked salmon I was devouring when she asked my wife where we were staying. When Kelly replied, the following silence made me look up. Our waitress’s face held almost no expression. “Oh, that’s nice”, she finally replied, now looking a little uncomfortable.

But a second later the smile was back and she smoothly changed the subject.

It was a bit odd, but quickly forgotten. After finishing, we walked down Main Street, looking in at other diners and the local bar.

Upon returning to our room we prepared for bed. The fireplace was already stocked with paper, wood and a quick-light starter. I put a match to it and soon had a good blaze.

While Kelly completed her routine, I looked out the window across the town. The top of the volunteer fire department was plainly visible and it brought back memories of our last visit seven years earlier. The two of us had gotten away to celebrate our five-year wedding anniversary and as we walked the charming little streets, an alarm sounded.

Before you knew it, young men were showing up in cars, on bikes and by foot. They were the volunteers answering the call. As it turns out, someone had tried climbing down one of the cliffs down to the sea that surround Mendocino on three sides and became stuck. The volunteers quickly lowered a man down and helped him out of his jam.

What a perfect little town, I thought to myself.

We climbed into bed and were asleep in no time thanks to the feather mattress topper and crackle of the fire.

Sometime during the night I awoke. The fire had died away to orange embers and moonlight shone in though the windows. I carefully slid out of bed so not disturb Kelly and began piling wood on top of the glowing coals. I was really enjoying the luxury of a fireplace in the bedroom and wanted to take full advantage of it.

Small flames appeared and while I watched they spread and grew, enveloping the other fresh logs. Their mesmerizing dance drew me in. Blue flames gave way to yellow tops licking upward. Shapes wiggled and moved within them. I fancied seeing the shape of a woman shifting with the flow of the fire. Then I could see a baby in her arms being gently rocked. Their features became more distinct as the warmth of the fire washed over me. As the figures became clearer, facial features grew distinct. The mother rocked the child and her gaze turned toward me.

You have heard someone say about another that they have a fire in their eyes. Well, of course in this case her eyes were fire and they were encapsulating. I looked deeper into them and they sparkled back at me. Burning irises locked onto mine. It was unlikely that I could have turned away even if I had wanted to. We held our gaze as warm air circulated around me. Then… I heard my name.

John… John! The words floated about, but I was looking at the only thing that mattered at that time, the figure in the fire – what? I was being drug back along the floor and seconds later a pillow beat me about the head.

A blanket was pressed over my face and only then I began to feel nerve endings all over my head scream out. The pain intensified and I yelled aloud.

My senses regained, I sprung to my feet and scrambled into the shower. I screamed again as I fumbled with the handle, finally bringing a flood of cold water down on my burned scalp and face. Doors opened throughout the house and footsteps pounded the stairs en route to my room. A key jiggled in the lock to our room for a moment and then the door flung open. The bathroom door and shower door were also open and turning my head I could see behind Kelly’s frightened face, four bewildered tenants and the absolute horror stricken owner of the Inn.

The next morning the owner and his wife paid a visit to my hospital room. They listened intently as Kelly described waking up during the night and finding me on hands and knees with my face completely inside the fireplace. She had pulled me out and doused the flames eating my hair and skin, but much damage had been done. My hair, eyebrows and eyelashes were gone, I had lost most of the vision in one eye and suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns on my face and scalp.

The question from all three of them was, what on earth was I doing? Of course I had no answer that made sense, but told them about my experience of lighting the fire and seeing a woman and baby made of flames. It sounded crazy. I knew it, and expected them to treat me as if I had gone out of my head.

But instead, the owner’s wife began to cry. It was clear by their demeanor that more was on their mind than just my sanity. Kelly and I pressed them and the owner’s wife told us this:

“Several months ago we had a guest in stay in the same room you were in last night. We didn’t know anything about him, but he seemed nice enough. Well, the next morning the cleaning girl found him dead in the bathtub. It seems that he had a fire in the fireplace. Then at some point, after it was really blazing, he got the ice bucket, filled it with water and doused the flames. Then he broke the stem off of a wine glass, went and sat in the bathtub and cut his wrists. And the stem of a wine glass isn’t a very good cutting tool, so he really had to saw at his arms before they bled enough to kill him.

“That’s the first time we ever had something like that happen and it really shook us up. The police came out and did their investigation, the mess got cleaned up and we had our room back. We only have six rooms to rent out and so, as wrong as it felt, we went back to renting it out just like any other room.

“The very next person to stay there also killed himself in that room, but in the most bizarre way. He stuck his head in the fire just like you did and left it there until it killed him. We found him the next morning after the fire had gone out, his body all stretched out, but his head was just a blackened skull! It was the most horrible thing I have ever seen.

“We started thinking that the room was cursed. That the whole Inn was cursed! I swear we didn’t know what to do. The cops and our friends told us it was just a coincidence and we were being silly. But we didn’t care. I locked the door and we didn’t let anyone in the room for months.

“Then, two weeks ago, we opened it back up. Money had been getting tight and after so much time had passes the idea of a curse seemed to be just dopey superstition. We rented it out last week to a couple from San Diego. I tell you, I stayed awake that entire first night they were here, just dreading what the dawn might bring.

“But thank god! The next morning they came down stairs as chipper as newlyweds. They claimed to have slept fine and had no problems whatsoever. We thought the horrible nightmare was behind us.

“However, they never lit the fire. You were the very next guests. We reported it to the police after the ambulance carried you off to the hospital. About three hours ago, one of the detectives called us back and told us something they should have said months ago. It turns out the man who threw water on the fire and then cut his writs in the bathtub was on the run. One night he ground up sleeping pills and put it in his wife’s dinner. After she had gone to bed and was sound asleep, he poured gas all over his house and burned to the ground. His wife and infant daughter died in the flames.

“I bet the very next time he lit a fire was at our Inn. He must have seen his wife looking back at him and it scared him so badly he cut his wrists.”