In the 1980's I used to live in the city of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Back then I was a drinking man and used to spend a lot of time in a bar called Finnigan's. The music was usually great Irish Folk and the draught beer tasted good. I had made friends with one of the performers, a folk artist by the name of Bill Root. One night, during one of his break's, we sat a table in a dim corner of the bar. It was Bill's last night in this gig and he was heading out to Saskatchewan the next day. As usual he gave me one word "ghost".
Now, you see, we played a game. Every time he came back to play at Finnigan's, I would have to tell him a story that I made up from a word that he gave me when he had been there before. If he liked the story, I got a free pitcher of draught beer from him. I got a lot of free pitchers of draught beer. In fact, we were just polishing off the last free pitcher. This was around the time I was doing some storytelling in local schools and on the sidewalks of Downtown Kingston for tourists.
Well, when Bill returned a month later, I had the story ready. At one of his breaks I told him of the "Haunted Table of Finnigan's". I made it all up one night while sitting alone at one of the tables in a dim corner of the bar. Bill loved the story! In fact, a number of people, including the bar owner had listened in and really enjoyed it. In the week and months that followed, the bar owner had me tell it to various patrons in return for - you guessed it! - a pitcher of draught beer.
Several months later, I started a new job where I was one of two men working amongst a whole bevy of ladies. At coffee breaks the other fellow and I often sat quietly, listening to the ladies chat. We both felt that we were a bit out of place there. But some of the ladies decided to make us feel more welcome. One asked me if I had a favorite pub or bar. When I replied yes, that I liked going to Finnigan's, she indicated that she too attended the place. Then she asked if I had ever heard of the haunted table in Finnigan's and if I had ever seen the ghost. She, of course, had never seen it, but had a friend who had a friend who had heard the whole story from the guy who had seen it. And -you guessed it - I was that guy. No, I did not enlighten her about that fact or that I had made up the story.
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