When I was 3

By: balletrocks121314@yahoo.com

It started when I was about 3. I asked Dad were Mom went because I wanted to ask her if she could make me some potatoes, since that was my favorite thing to eat and I was hungry. He told me that she's in the basement doing laundry. So me being my over-the-top happy self went to the basement steps and started to go down slowly. (I couldn't go down normal because I was always scared I would fall on my face so I would go down backward on my hands and knee's.) I got to the third step and stopped to look between the steps and see in my Mom was in the laundry room. I was just sitting there watching her fold the clothes when I felt something push me. I caught my balance and tried to ignore it, but I was scared. Then it pushed me again and I fell. We have about 14 steps to go down before we can step onto the concrete floor, so it was pretty far to fall for a little 2 year old. When whatever it was pushed me over the edge I felt something cradle me and rock me back and forth like a leaf. I felt strangely comforted. Then I got to the bottom, it sat me down and told me "It's ok, everything's fine. Go to your Mom." I remember turning around, smiling, and trying to see if anything was there. But sadly there was nothing. I ran to my Mom. When I was 4 I woke up to hearing something calling my name. I looked around my room, but nothing was there. I then looked out my window and there where 3 shadows looking at me and moving around. I screamed for my Dad to come see them. When he came running into my room they were gone. I told him what I saw and he said he would go scare them away. When I was 5 I NEVER went in the basement alone. If I ever went down there alone things would fall over from the other side of the room, I would get very cold and I would get the feeling like something was watching me. I was afraid if I was down there to long it would come after me. This fear lasted until I was 11.  When I was 6 I started seeing faces around my bed, I would get a cold chill, (Which is very hard to get because I have a Hot Water Bed) and then I would close my eyes saying it was just my imagination and go back to sleep. When I was 9 my I was talking to my Mom about ghosts and the different things I've seen. She told me that when she 1st accepted the Lord (My Family is Christian) She saw this freaky figure. It had no arms or hands, no legs or feet, and it looked almost as if it's eyes where glowing. It had some hair, but it was mostly bald. It had a small braided beard, and it was squinting. She also said it looked like an old man. She said it was coming to her like it wanted her to stop praying, so she prayed even more, then it turned into dust and flew out the window. Then I talked to my Dad about it and he told me that when he was younger he was walking to the kitchen to see his Mother. Then something grabbed his feet and tried to pull him under the mattress. He said that he tried to scream but no words came out, Then his Mom looked through the door way and it let him go. This made me very scared. Then when I was 12 my Parents told me about the old barn. (We live right in front of a horse farm) The store was that there was the farmer, his wife and their daughter that lived in the old farm house. Their daughter was doing something and ended up getting herself put in a wheel chair. Her Parents felt sorry for her and bought her a horse. She loved the horse so much, and when she got better she rode the horse everyday but it died unexpectedly. She went into a deep depression and was walking in the prairie (My front yard). She laid down and died. The mother got so depressed that her daughter died she soon died in the same prairie. Later the husband got depressed and stopped feeding the animals in the barn. The animals got so hungry they started eating themselves. He just stayed in his chair and died. The daughter died in our front yard, the mother died in our orchard, and the father died in the house. When I was 14. (The age I am now)I still see faces around my bed. My aunt died a few months ago. My nephew, Eric, is a police officer and was testing out his new camera. He took a picture and he saw a face on the window. My family thinks its my Aunt, I think it’s just a reflection because the 'face' is to wide.   2 weeks after the wake, I returned home. I woke up one morning to my dog howling like crazy, but I just stay in bed. 3 days later I wake up at like 4 in the morning to get a drink, I was to lazy to go down stairs so I went in my brothers room because he always keeps drinks and other goodies in there. I come back out and close the door, I look through the hallway to my parents room because in my head I'm thinking "Oh great, here comes mom..." I see this figure looking at me from my Dads dresser. It was about 5' 2" and its hair was shoulder length. It walked over to the doorway and waved at me, then it turned around and walked over to my mother looked at her, came back over to me, smiled and waved at me, and walked down stairs. I was standing in place the whole time until it walked down the stairs, then I went over to the stairs and looked down but it wasn’t there. I also had a dream about my Aunt being a ghost.

A Dead Bride

By:  mechatronix.karachi@gmail.com

A Dead Bride used to come in dream!! In India my mother’s grand father bought a house there was a big garden and Takhat was already kept there by former owner. After shifting there my mother’s aunty (Phuphi) who was just 7 or 8 years old , she slept over it and saw “a bride wearing red bridal dress and heavy gold jewelry was running so fast and was being chased by a man and a hindu pandit with bald head and a single long queue, who had a sharp knife in his hand as they wanted to kill her suddenly the bride stopped due to a blocked lane” Aunty woke up and so scared about the dream but after few minutes she forgot about it but surprisingly the next day when she slept again there the dream repeated it self, now she told all that to my mother’s grand mother, their maid was very sensible she said that there must be some thing wrong let me sleep there if I see the same then Molvi sahab should be called. The same happened as expected the maid also saw “a beautiful bride who was dressed up like Muslim brides, got out of breath but still running madly in order to safe her life” My mother’s grandfather called Molvi sahab , he recited Quranic verses and instructed to dig the ground out then as expected a crumbly skeleton of a bride wearing red bridal dress but all of her jewelry had been snatched. Supposed her as a Muslim girl my mother’s grand father and other people offered her last prayer & buried her in Muslim graveyard then just for checking the maid again slept over there but now she slept peacefully as the bride got the peace by disclosing about her murder and as she couldn’t safe her life so her last wish came true to be buried in Muslim graveyard for this she used to come in dreams. 

CAPITAL PLAZA HOTEL IN TOPEKA KANSAS

By:  fmoseley2003@hotmail.com

I WAS AT A MEETING FOR HOSPITAL UPDATES ON 5010 BILLING/AN ALL PAYERS MEETING. WE HAD ROOM 309 WITH DOUBLE FULL BEDS.  I HAD THE FIRST BED BY THE BATHROOM TO MYSELF.  I READ MY EBOOK UNTIL 12:45 AM.  MY TWO ROOMMATES WERE ASLEEP BY THEN.  ONE IN THE NEXT BED AND THE OTHER ON HER BLOWUP MATTRESS BY THE WINDOWS.  I HAVE TROUBLE SLEEPING IN HOTELS AND THIS WAS NO EXCEPTION.  THE ROOM WAS STUFFY AND HOT, EVEN THOUGH WE HAD TURNED THE THERMOSTAT TO COLD AND THE FAN ON HIGH.  I HAD ALL THE LIGHTS TURNED OFF BECAUSE I CAN'T SLEEP WITH ANY KIND OF LIGHT ON. I WAS TOSSING AND TURNING, TRYING TO GO TO SLEEP WITH THE COVERS PUSHED DOWN AT THE END OF THE BED.  I HAD MY BACK TO THE EMPTY SIDE OF MY BED USING ONLY ONE PILLOW.  I COULD SEE AROUND THE ROOM DUE TO THE LIGHT COMING THRU THE CURTAINS, IT WAS A GREY GLOOM WHERE I COULD SEE MY ROOMATE ON THE BED NEXT TO ME.  MY ROOMMATES WERE SLEEPING QUITE SOUNDLY, SNORING AND SUCH.  I EVEN HEARD THE PERSON SNORING IN THE ROOM NEXT TO US, THEIR BEDS HAD TO HAVE BEEN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WALL FROM OUR HEADBOARDS. I WAS CURLED IN A FETAL POSITION FACING MY SNORING ROOMMATE THINKING THAT I JUST MIGHT NEED TO PULL THE SHEET UP, DUE TO FINALLY FEELING COLD.  THEN I FELT SOMETHING ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BED AND REAL FAST SOMETHING TROTTED PAST MY BACK UP TO MY PILLOW, WALKED ACROSS ABOVE MY HEAD ON MY PILLOW AND AS I TURNED TO LOOK A BODY LIKE A CAT WITH A TAIL THAT BRUSHED MY FACE,(OH MY GOD!) JUMPED DOWN TO THE FLOOR BETWEEN THE BEDS.  I ACTUALLY SAW IT JUMP TO THE FLOOR IN THE GREY GLOOM COMING FROM THE CURTAINS IN FRONT OF ME.  I FROZE AT FIRST, THINKING , OH MY GOD THERE IS A CAT IN THE ROOM. I LAY THERE AND SQUINTED AT THE FLOOR BETWEEN THE BEDS LOOKING FOR THIS CAT? ANIMAL? THING THAT HAD SCARED ME. WELL, WHILE I WAS LOOKING AT THE SPACE BETWEEN THE BEDS I FELT SOMETHING IN THE BED BEHIND ME.  FIRST OF ALL, LET ME TELL YOU, THESE BEDS DID NOT SINK IN WHEN YOU GOT ON THEM.  THEY WERE USING SOME KIND OF MATTRESSES THAT YOU DIDN'T ROLL INTO THE MIDDLE IF SOMEONE ELSE GOT INTO BED.  I FROZE, TOTALLY IN FEAR BY NOW, ALL THE HAIR STANDING UP ON MY BODY WITH MY MUSCLES FROZEN AND TWITCHING, READY TO LEAP RIGHT UP OUT OF THAT BED. A BODY LAY WITH ITS BACK UP NEXT TO MINE AND IT HAD TO HAVE BEEN A MAN.  I FELT WARMTH ALL ALONG MY SHOULDER BLADES TO MY HIPS WERE WE TOUCHED.  I KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE WHEN MY HUSBAND DOES THAT AT HOME. THIS PERSON WAS BIGGER THAN ME.  I FROZE AT FIRST TRYING TO COMPREHEND WHAT WAS HAPPENING.  I DID NOT FEEL THREATENED AND ACTUALLY WAS ENJOYING THE WARMTH DUE TO THE ROOM HAD FINALLY GOT COLD ENOUGH FOR ME TO WANT TO PULL THE SHEETS UP BEFORE THE CAT CAME ALONG.  THE REALITY HIT ME AND I WAS OUT OF THAT BED AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.   I TURNED ON THE LAMP BETWEEN THE BEDS AND LOOKED AT THE BED AND NO ONE WAS THERE.  I LOOKED ALL AROUND FREAKED OUT, ADRENALINE GOING A HUNDRED MILES AN HOUR.  I WENT TO THE BATHROOM TURNED ON THE LIGHT LOOKED UNDER THE COUNTER, IN THE SHOWER.  NOTHING.  MY ROOMMATES STILL SNORING FAST ASLEEP.  IT WAS 3 SOMETHING ON THE CLOCK BETWEEN THE BEDS.  I DID NOT WANT TO GET BACK INTO BED, BUT I DID, TOTALLY FREAKED OUT.  I FINALLY TURNED OFF THE LAMP BETWEEN THE BEDS BUT LEFT THE BATHROOM LIGHT ON SO I COULD SEE AROUND THE ROOM.  I LAY THERE SCARED TO DEATH TRYING TO RATIONALIZE WHAT HAD HAPPENED.  THE INCIDENT MUST HAVE ONLY TOOK LESS THAN A MINUTE, BUT I STILL LAY THERE PETRIFIED TRYING TO RATIONALIZE WHAT HAPPENNED.  I FELL ASLEEP BECAUSE THE NEXT THING I HEARD WAS MY ROOMMATES  WAKING ME UP BECAUSE MY CELL PHONE ALARM CLOCK WAS GOING OFF AND THEY DID NOT KNOW WHERE THE ALARM WAS COMING FROM, IT WAS IN MY PURSE ACROSS THE ROOM.  I HAD FORGOTTON TO TURN OFF A 4:26 ALARM TO GET UP TO GO HUNTING FOR DEER SEASON THAT ME AND MY HUSBAND WERE DOING TO GO BUCK HUNTING EARLIER IN THE WEEK.  I DID NOT GO BACK TO SLEEP AT ALL AND WHEN WE WERE ALL SHOWEREED AND WAITING TO GO TO THE MEETING I TOLD THEM WHAT HAPPENED.  ONE ROOMMATE BELEIVED ME, THE OTHER SAID I MUST HAVE BEEN IN THAT IN BETWEEN DREAMSTATE AND IT NEVER HAPPENEDI DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO BELEIVE, IT ALL SEEMED SO REAL.  THAT EVENING AFTER MUCH JOKING ABOUT MY NEW BEDMATES JOINING ME AGAIN, IT IS NOW AFTER MIDNIGHT AGAIN AND I AM STILL FREAKED OUT, IN THE SAME BED, SAME POSTION FACING THE OTHER BED NOT GOING TO SLEEP.  I LEFT THE BATHROOM LIGHT ON ALL NIGHT AND EVEN THOUGH MY ROOMMATES SNORED AND SLEPT MY BODY LAY THERE FROZEN WITH FEAR, ALL THE HAIR STANDING UP ON MY BODY AND SO FROZEN MY MUSCLES WERE TWITCHING.  I DID NOT DARETURN ALL THE LIGHTS OFF DUE TO MY BODY ACTUALLY TELLING ME THAT WE WERE SURE TO HAVE ANOTHER INCIDENT IF I DID.  I WAS GLAD TO LEAVE THE NEXT DAY.  HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD AN EXPERIENCE IN THAT HOTEL SIMILIAR TO MINE.  I DO NOT THINK I DREAMED IT.  MY BODY OBVIOUSLY DID NOT.  IT WOULD NOT LET ME RELAX TO GO TO SLEEP.

Clarification on St. Michael's College..

By:  Michael.Ticehurst@vtmednet.org

I was a security guard at St. Michael’s College from 1987-1996.  The theater is in the Fort Ethan Allen area and it  is called Herrouet Theater. St. Mike’s owned purchase the this building along with the Old Chapel and the NPR building that were on either side of it.  It can still be found on their campus map on North Campus.  The nun’s name that haunts this building was Sister Sarah, and she died on stage in this theater during the 1960’s.  Many have seen her on the second floor as she used to sew costumes in a room up there that had a window that would look out the front of the building.  According to people that worked at St. Mike’s who knew her, she was fond of peering out the window(s) to see how many people were attending the performance(s) when they had plays and movies in this building.  On several occasions, I checked this building for a variety of reasons and I was with other SMC personnel.  During my employment we have encountered Sister Sarah either peering through the front window or walking in the theater, but could never really identify her. All we saw was a figure.  On one occasion in particular, I was with the a custodial manager at 3:00am as he assisted me that night.  It all started because the front door was ajar and I needed some backup before entering the building to check it out.  After determining that the door had been left open due to a performance they had the night before, we just needed to make sure everything was in order before we left.  When I had walked down the main center aisle of the theater my flashlight went dead suddenly and at the same time I could hear what sounded like a woman singing.  It wasn’t upstairs, it was clearly in front of me but distant.  I called my friend (the custodial manager) to assist because I could barely see the stage without my flashlight and when we  both approached the stage in the dark his flashlight died too.  We clearly heard a woman singing from the stage area, but wasn’t sure whether it was a radio left on or whether there was actually someone on or below the stage.  Since we had no way of seeing, we went back to the lobby where we turned on every light in the building so we could investigate more thoroughly.  Once the house lights were on, the singing stopped.  Needless to say, it scared the s**t out of me and we left promptly after we determined there was no one down there. Note also, our flashlights  worked perfectly outside

the building, and it was warmer outside than inside that building.  I did my very best NOT to go in this building again, especially alone.  Also one other thing.  The pentagram on the floor of the attic was in Joyce Hall (all male freshman dorm).  The floor is made of concrete not wood and it is still there to this day.

Disneyland Railroad Haunting

By:kcg1026@aol.com

Hello my name is Christian  and I have a story to share about a haunted attraction at Disneyland.  Disneyland Railroad:  Legend says that the Fred Gurley locomotive number 3 is the most haunted locomotive on the Disneyland railroad not only because she is the oldest locomotive of the fleet but also due to a disturbing incident that happened during the mid 1960s when engineer Harley Ilgen suffered a fatal heart attack when operating the Fred Gurley locomotive through the Grand Canyon diorama.  Shortly after his death, many cast members have noticed strange activity going on with the Fred Gurley locomotive.  On a cold winter's night, both cast members and guest would sometimes see an apparition of a ghostly white figure in the Cab of the Fred Gurley locomotive when no one was in the cab.  On some evenings as Fred Gurley slowly steams through It's A Small World, the bell of the locomotive has sometimes been known to ring on it's own without the hand of the fireman pulling on the tether.  And when stopped in a station, the bell of the Fred Gurley has been known to  ring on it's own without the work of a mortal fireman.   Fred Gurley  was Engineer Harley Ilgen's favorite locomotive, and rumor has it that Harley will come along for the ride and ring the bell of his favorite locomotive to make his presence known.

Incident

By:   spongebobrocker222@yahoo.com

i am currently a student at the Detroit Job Corps Center here in Detroit Michigan Formally known as the Metropolitan Hospital currently it is used as a government training program and houses dormitories for the studentsthere have been many incidents here at some of the incidents include hearing high heels on the 4th floor. staff has reported seeing a lady in white walk in and out of rooms on the 4th floor. filing cabinets draws will fly open on the 2nd floor. the first floor has creepy feelings (use to be the morgue) . also another staff reports: working late one night while the students was home on break i had left the lights on on the wing because i was cleaning the rooms. well i had to run down to the 2nd floor to get some more cleaning supplies upon my return i found that all the lights on what we call "Cwing" was turned off and there was only 2 staff working the building that night. another staff report hearing doors open and close they look and no one is there also an incident that a staff member was on the 2nd floor and it was her and another staff member well she was scared and asked that the male staff member sit with her on the floor til she was done well all the sudden she hears the office chair on the third floor sound like someone sit down and rolled across the room she thought that the male staff member had left she went in the lounge and found him passed out asleep.

My Brush with the Unknown

By:  scubasteve26@comcast.net

I don't like recounting this experience because it gives me the chills to think about it but I would be interested to hear of any similar experiences.  This occurred over twenty years ago but I remember it vividly.  It was late at night and I was waiting for my husband to get off work.  I felt him get into bed with me so I started talking to him.  When he didn't respond I rolled over to find no one there. I felt the bed move when I thought he was getting in with me.  I was frozen in terror.  Paraylized with fear, I couldn't move until my husband actually did arrive home.  I lived in this old house until it was torn down to make a turning lane.  No explanation could ever be found for this occurrence.

My Grandad The Hero in Life and Death

By:  DJONES1987@mail.com

Hi I was reading the stories on here and i felt like I could write and tell of the one and only ghost encounter i have ever expierianced. it was not scary but i was rather entriged as to why it visited but i did find out  its rather long so please bear with   here goes.  i was about 10 im now 24  it happened in walsall in the UK   i lived with my mom and dad.  my dad was a long distance lorry driver and i never really saw him as he would be gone for days it was on this night in 1998 that he was away.i was in bed and at around 11pm i heard my mom in her bedroom talking to someone i being only 10 and missing my dad i thought that he had phoned even though i had not heard the phone ring so i got out of bed and walked to my door and my mom was defanatly talking to someone although i cannot recall anything that was being said i dont even emember if she was talking english as i didnt understand it. my moms room was next to mine so  walked out of my room . i opened my moms door to be met by a man he didnt turn to face me or even acknowledge i was there just carried on talking so i looked around the door and my mom was sitting up in bed with a smile on her and didnt notice i was there like the man she carried on the convasation with him. still i could not understand what any of them were saying.. i was kinda freaked out normally my mom would pat the bed and tell me come get a cuddle. anyway standing by this man i felt happy and safe so i thought i would leave them to talk and went back to bed i fell straight to sleep. in the morning my mom was cooking breakfest and i asked her who the man was that was here last night she said what do you mean so i explained the night before. she asked me what he wearing and i said dark brown/green army uniform and what i would now know as a cpl's hat and uniform with short brown hair very tall and skinny. she said that it was my grandad that i had never met so i was kinda upset that he hadnt even said hello to me and that he had left without meeting me i asked my mom what they were talking about and she said grown up stuff. so i left it a few days then i asked her and my dad why my granddad didnt talk to me and they sat me down mom got a photo and asked me if that was the man i had saw i smiled and said yes and when i was by him i felt happy it was then my mom told me that he had died 2 months before i was born fighting  on the other side of the world i was shocked as he seemed so real when i saw him and i could hear him talking.    nothing else was said apart from that before he died he said he couldnt wait to meet me and hold me.  i wish i had known what he was saying to her, a couple of weeks later my mom passed away in my arms.after getting over my grief and thinking about this incident over 14 years i no that the night my grandad came it was to tell my mom that it was her time to go and he would be waiting for her and that is why she was smiling cuz she got to be with her dad again. not all ghosts and spirits are bad some. and my grandad was an amazing man when he was alive and when he was a spirit..

My Story

By:  mruffner2148@yahoo.com

Athough I am fascinated by spirits and stories of the like, I never really wanted to experience it firsthand. My boyfriend and I went to stay in cabin that was built before 1820. We were asleep the first night when he was awaken to footsteps coming up the stairs. He went so far as to grab a weapon to protect us and waited to see a head emerge from the top of the steps. That head never appeared. The footsteps stopped and he went back to sleep. I never heard them.  We came back home and went about our business. I have lived in my townhome for 11 years and absolutely nothing has ever happened here. I decorated for Christmas and hung a bell on the doorknob in the basement. As my 2 daughters and I were wastching tv one night, I heard the bell ring. I asked my older daughter if she heard that and she said 'yes, it's the bell in the basement'. The cat was beside us and there are no drafts. It's a heavy bell. The next occurance was a week or so later. My boyfriend was asleep on the couch when I came home from work. It was about 2 am. We chatted and as he was falling back asleep, I heard the bell again. I thought he had fallen asleep and was disappointed that he missed it. But when I said 'did you hear that?' he sat up quickly and said 'Yes! I didn't realize what I was hearing'. Again, my cat was next to us. The third thing that happened was that our tv shut off on it's own the other day. The girls and I were watching it and suddenly it just flipped off. The remote was actually in another room. That could have an explanation but they bell cannot. Although, our tv has never shut off on it's own. I don't know if spirits can follow you but the whole thing sure is odd. Just thought I would share what happened with us. Thanks so much!

MY TRUE GHOST EXPERIENCES!

By:merrsd36@cs.com

My first encounter with a ghost was at the tender age of four years old. There were heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. I frantically yelled out and said who is it? And the invisible being just halted on the creaky step and then continued coming down the stairs I sprinted to the front door and stood on my tippy toes to unlock the two bolted locks. And raced up the street into the arms of my babysitter. And when she asked me why I was outside. I simply told her that I was happy to see her. And I could never tell a soul what I had experienced till I became an adult. (The memory of that experience still remains very vivid!)At that young age...I had a very strong feeling that I was not alone in that house. (E.S.P.)Afterwards more strange things started happening....I started seeing black blobs of shadows glide across the doors, seeing full body outline forms of a man in black and wearing a cap, a woman sitting on the coffee table with long hair and starring at the window. This took place in the old house we live in now. And there is something that really freaked me out sometime ago...I could not shake the feeling I had of being heavily watched/starred down. As I walked up the stairs, I turned around and saw two tiny red bright eyes looking up at me. And it was faceless!  And I would say the height was that of a small child 3-4 years old. After that experience I have not seen the faceless red eyes. I have questioned myself over and over....Was it a small child or something else (The devil/demonic?).  I could go on and on about my ghost experiences....I have kept a log of what I have experienced and will write a novel about my true haunting's. To share with others that have experienced something strange or stranger than me. I remind myself that I am sane after I see, smell or hear something that is out of the ordinary. And then I would humor myself and say oh, it's you again visiting. I can feel when I'm not truly alone and I guess that is a good thing for having a built in alert system.  On my vacation sometime age...I took some pictures and this particular photo was of the moon night and the palm trees and the ocean. After I had the photos developed I discovered that what I was looking at were two define body misty forms. walking in the ocean. I titled it: The Ghost Lady & Companion.  I  sent a friend a copy of the photo for confirmation and he agreed that, it was a ghost mist in my photo.  Ms.Carlson  I just wanted to share with you my true ghost stories and I would like to say again....I am a firm believer in ghost due to my experience encounters with them!

Phantom 33 in Nazerath PA

By:   Labbpups@rcn.com

I and another person where in route at 2:30 am in the morning, in a truck to go north for a delivery. The weather was raining, thunder, lighting. As we passed the Stockerton exit heading north ,we noticed something up ahead us. We drove up on the object faster than expected. We noticed it was a tractor trailer crossing the highway directly in front of us. There was no road or cross over there to the south bound side. We had the same reaction, getting ready for an impact. The closer we got ,the more detail we can see ,like the ribbet in the trailer the tires the entire trailer, the color and type of tractor. We were ready to collide when we passed right threw it. Our hearts pumping in adrenalin, We both knew what happened and what we saw. A phantom rig. We called it the phantom 33...

My Apartment

By: karenreese2010@yahoo.com

March 1989  Ridgecrest, California  I found a great apartment in Ridgecrest, California. It was a brand new complex in 1989. I looked at a ground floor apartment, perfect for me and my three young children, and signed the lease. It was so clean and new, I felt certain that we were the first ones to live in it. Our furniture and belongings would be arriving later, so the first night in our new home we had just a suitcase and a diaper bag in an empty place. I emptied the suitcase and left it open in the middle of the living room floor for my kids, then aged 11 months, 2 and 3 years old, to climb on and play. I was smiling at my daughters as they play. I could see my middle child across the room with a baby doll and my youngest as she sat by the suitcase playing with a rattle. Suddenly a toddler size hand came out from under the small space of the suitcase top, grabbed the rattle out of the baby’s hand, smacked her with it quite hard, dropped it into her lap and disappeared back under the suitcase top. The baby began to cry right away. I picked her up to comfort her and said, “Nicky, you come out from under there right now! You’re in big trouble!” Both of my daughters were in full view, so I assumed the small hand belonged to my little son.  Every hair on my body stood up when his voice answered me from behind, way down the hall, in the bathroom. So whose hand was that under the suitcase top? I slowly lifted up the suitcase top with my foot as I peered underneath. Nothing was there. I started to feel myself panic. What had I seen? I definitely saw the little hand. It grabbed the rattle from the baby. Hit her with it. Threw it down and disappeared back under the top of the suitcase. The baby had a red mark on her thigh and cried. It really did happen. I told myself that I was just tired and imagining things and it was time to get some sleep.  Around midnight, I was awakened by the sounds of footsteps outside our apartment in the gravel. It made me feel creepy because my apartment was on the very end next to open desert. I peeked out the window. I could hear the footsteps loud and clear, pacing back and forth in the gravel, but I couldn’t see anyone. The footsteps were going from the back of the building, down the entire length of the apartment, to the front.  I went to a different room and looked out that window. Still, I could hear the footsteps, but absolutely no one was out there or even in the vicinity. I went from window to window until I had checked from every angle. The steps had the sound of a large man wearing work boots and continued until around three in the morning. This went on every single night without fail the entire time that we lived there. Pacing, pacing.  Other strange little things would go on all the time. Sometimes I would feel a child tug on my shirttail, only to turn around and see no one there. Sometimes I would hear children playing in the bedrooms when all three of mine were with me in the living room. I knew it was paranormal, but this was a brand new apartment. The manager said we were the lucky first ones to get to live in it. How could there be a history if no one had lived here before? I couldn’t quite figure the puzzle out.  One day, a few weeks into our new place, we had all the windows open and the kids and I were playing and having fun together. I thought I could smell something burning, but I wasn’t sure.   Plus, all the windows were open, so I couldn’t be sure of where it might be coming from. The smell became stronger and then black smoke started pouring in my sliding glass door. I ran outside and looked up, the black smoke was coming out of my upstairs neighbors apartment. I ran back into my place and dialed 911 and reported that the upstairs apartment was on fire. Then I ran back outside with the kids. The other neighbors started coming out to see what was going on and then we discovered that it wasn’t a true fire. My neighbor had fallen asleep with food on the stove. I dialed 911 back and apologized profusely, I hadn’t meant to call in a false alarm, I was so sorry, I thought it was a fire. The dispatcher was very nice and told me not to worry, it’s better to be safe than sorry, but the fire dept had to continue in to be sure everything was alright. So, anyway, the scene cleared and my new neighbors invited me in to laugh about it and introduce ourselves.   Shortly after, my son came to me and said, “Mommy, there are two men at the door who want to talk to you. And they have briefcases and badges.” I thought, “Oh no! They’re going to arrest me for calling in a false alarm!” I walked to the door and these two men were FBI agents and they asked to come inside. As we sat down in the living room, the one agent asked if I had made any changes to the thermostat on the water heater. Thoroughly confused now, I replied that “no”, I had not adjusted it, that I had actually never even thought to look at it. He smiled and said that was great and asked if he could photograph the water heater and the bathtub. I said “Sure” with a completely lost expression and he said, “Perhaps I should explain. We are doing a you with her boyfriend and two young sons. One night while she was at work, the boyfriend immersed the two year boy in the tub full of scalding water. He died of his injuries.” So finally I knew the missing piece of the puzzle. We weren’t the first ones to live there. It had a history, a short but a horrific one. I think perhaps the footsteps were residual of the boyfriend who may eternally pace back & forth out there after killing this innocent baby boy. Who knows?!