My Home

From: SHUNT@ucis.vill.edu
Story type: Ghost
Location: Unknown
Source: Form Submission

Exactly one year ago, my husband and I moved into the home of my late grandparents. It sat on the market for about 1 1/2 years, during which time my uncle rented it to a man that worked for him and the man's family.

When we realized we could buy the house, we were elated. I loved the house for sentimental reasons, not to mention that it is quite large and offers many perks for a house in the city.

Anyway, odd things have happened over the past year, and it has me pretty spooked. My grandparents lived there for about 25 years, and prior to this, the house was occupied by the family that built it (around 1910). So for about 50 years a different family lived in the house - a family of which we know nothing about. I feel that this is important...I just have the gut feeling that it the odd "stuff" that is happening is being "caused" (?) I know it seems crazy - by these previous owners.

Last spring (I'd say late April-early May), my husband, dog and I were sitting in the living room watching tv. The main staircase to our second floor is located in the dining room, and archways connect the l.room, d.room, and kitchen (staircase info will be important later). As we were sitting there, a strong stench of flowers permiated the room. It just descended into the room. One would think it would be a pleasant smell, but it was "off" - the scent was very strong, and it seemed like there was a hint of something rancid mingled in. I said nothing, because I thought my husband would think I was losing it. I looked at him, and he was just staring at me. "Do you SMELL that?!" he asked. At that point I got scared because he is not the type to react so strongly to unimportant stuff like that. Rather than coming through the front windows, it seemed to come from the opposite direction - the dining room. As quickly as the smell came into the room, it vanished. Our house sits on a fairly narrow, busy street, and although we have a front yard, we had no flowers blooming at the time. There isn't any field nearby with flowers that would send such a strong waft of "perfume" into the air. Anyway, we thought it was pretty wierd, but let it go at that.

A few weeks later, our dog (a Boston Terrier) sat down in the archway between the l.room and d.room and started barking and growling. Ok, my dog RARELY barks, and when he GROWLS I can be sure that there is something going on. At first we were laughing at him ('cause he's so cute!), but when he would not stop, I started to get all goose-pimply and scared. This went on for what seemed like an eternity. Finally my husband picked him up and carried him into the d.room and did a "walk-through" to show him there was nothing there. The dog kept growling into the s/w corner of the room. Finally he stopped.

Nothing went on until around Halloween. We were planning our first big party, and I admit I went a little gung-ho with the decorations. I even borrowed this orange plastic pumpkin decoration (the kind you put over an electric candle) from my mom, and had it on the sideboard between the two windows of the d.room (right near 'the corner'). Like I said before, there is only one staircase leading up to my second floor. Every night, it is a chore to gather up the dog, set the alarm at the foot of the stairs, and then go up to bed. I carried out this ritual one night, which now included unplugging the tacky pumpkin light (which just happened to fill the d.room with a creepy orange glow - perfect for getting into the Halloween mood!). Anyway, the hallway leading to our bedroom runs above the d.room, and there is a banister all along the hallway. That night I got up to go into the washroom (located at the top of the stairs, opposite end of the hallway from my bedroom). As I came out of the washroom to go back to bed, I saw an orange glow along the staircase wall below. The tacky pumpkin light was on. I was completely paralyzed with fear. I ran into my bedroom and just laid there, going over it and over it in my mind. There is NO WAY I would not have noticed the light on, because, as I said before, I have to stand on the landing to set the alarm, etc.

Around the holidays, another thing scared me in that hallway. Again, one night I went into the bathroom. As I came out, I got right to the foot of the stairs, and someone yelled "move". I thought it was my husband yelling at the dog (for a little dog, he sure hogs the bed!). But it didn't sound like it came from the direction of the bedroom. It had no direction at all, if that makes any sense. Once again, I bolted into the bedroom. but this time, I turned the overhead light on and yelled at my husband. "Why did you just yell???" He said he did not yell at anything. Not to mention that my turning the light on woke him out of a deep sleep. I then thought maybe he didn't realize that he yelled at the dog, maybe he was half asleep when he did it. But the dog was fast asleep at the foot of MY side of the bed. I was so terrified. It did not sound like someone groggily mumbling in their sleep, and it did not have the muffled sound of someone on the other side of a door. It was right next to me...all around me.

Ok, fast forward to last week - when things really started to scare me. We have one of those metal/wood gates that we keep between the d.room and the kitchen, b/c we keep the dog out there when we're not home. Sometimes we stretch the gate at the bottom of the dining room steps so the dog can't get up there unattended. On this occasion I put the gate at the bottom of the steps just to run up there for a minute while I got a sweater. I got to the top of the steps and "SLAM!", the gate fell over. No big deal, I just hadn't secured it (by pushing the wooden arm down to apply pressure to the sides). It just seemed really loud when it fell, like it was forced over. The next day, I was getting ready to dye my hair, but was kind of spooked in the house (my husband was out), so I wanted to use the bathroom on the first floor (just off the kitchen). But of course all of the shampoo and stuff is in the 2nd floor bathroom. I run up there, grab the stuff, and come back down, bringing the dog with me. I put the fence up, PUSHED THE BAR DOWN (thus adding pressure and securing the gate), and started to walk to the bathroom. "SLAM!" Someone kicked the fence. That is the only way I can describe the sound. Anyone who has one of those fences knows what I'm talking about. I walk back through the kitchen to examine the fence. Still pressurized between the two walls of the archway, THE LOWER RIGHT CORNER OF THE FENCE IS TIPPED INWARD - kicked in. I was freaking out at this point. I called my husband at his brother's house and told him to come home (futile, I know - being card night and all). So I tried to forget how scared I was, and went in to do my hair. I got all finished, and came in the l.room to watch tv. I put the gate back up after going through the archway. I get to the archway b/w the d.room and the l.room, and "SLAM"! down it goes again.

The next night, my husband is home and we're in the l.room. I run out to get a drink, and come back in and put the gate up. It falls down again. For some reason I got really angry (I think I was just sick of being so freaked out) and said outloud, "*!&@ enough with the gate already!!" and instantly felt stupid, wishing I'd never said anything. This was last Thursday night. Later that night I had the worst nightmare I have ever had. In the dream, I was with three girlfriends from work. We were all in my house, and I swear, it was as vivid as any waking moment. Strange things kept happening to scare us, but we could not figure out what it was. Then, my one friend Janet said, "look, there's a little man". We came around the corner, and standing there was a man(?) about 5'2". He had one leg up against the wall, James Dean-style. He had on a flannel shirt and blue jeans. If you have ever seen the "Children of the Corn", you know who Malachy is. Do you remember how you could not tell his age? Like he could have been 12 or 30? That is what this person was like. He had that evilness about him like Malachy. And I was the only person who seemed to sense this. I had the intuition that he was a farm worker - I dont know why. He had a tool (a long pole like a broom handle with a tiny, curved knife on the end of it). Just as soon as he pulled this out from behind him, he brandished it towards me and jabbed it into my upper thigh. I looked down, put my hand to the wound, and brought up blood. I said, "You STABBED me!!" and he got this quasi-sad look on his face, like he was sorry. But then he brought it up again and was ready to do real harm. I sat straight up in bed, and felt icy fear in my stomach, and was instantly nauseous. I woke my husband up and REFUSED to let him fall back to sleep. I know this seems like just a vivid dream, but it was unlike anything that I have ever dreamed before.

I have the irrational belief that he is the "thing" in the dining room, and my lashing out at the gate incident made him mad. Like he was saying, I'll play around in there if I want. I think that at some point in the first fifty years of that house, someone (the little man?) died, and they held the viewing right in that dining room (didn't they used to have such things right in people's houses back then?) - thus the flower stench, and all the other goings-on. All I can say is, it has me on edge (to say the least!!)

Thanks for listening.
Sue Hunt
shunt@ucis.vill.edu