The house I grew up in, from birth until I joined the Navy at 18, always made me uncomfortable. There didn't seem to be anything unusual about the house itself, it is even a little plain, nothing really much to talk about, though I know little of its history. However, as early as I can remember, I always felt unfortable being alone in any room of the house, even when in sight of somebody in another room. When I was about 5 years old, I would sit in my attic bedroom (which I shared with two brothers) watching TV while everyone else was gone at school. While watching it, I would swear I could see something looking like little black fingers of flame flickering behind my brother's headboard (of his bed), which was just a couple feet to the right of the television. Whenever I would look directly at it though, I could see nothing unusual. I tried to convince myself that it was my imagination, but I usually got nervous and would go back downstairs.

One day, when I was about 7 years old, I headed up to the attic bedroom and heard voices from the bottom of the stairs, and thought my brother left his AM radio on. I headed up the stairs, and as my eyes came above floor level of the attic, I could see a picture on the black & white TV and still hear voices. On my next step, and a blink of an eye, the picture and sound instantly vanished. Knowing that the picture should have shrunk to a bright dot in the center before fading away, and knowing that the top of the television would be warm if it was indeed on, I decided to investigate. I felt the top of the TV and it was cold, clearly I had imagined the whole episode, though I didn't hang around in that room much that day.

5 more experiences to follow.

-Rich Duerr (Richduerr@AOL.COM)

From: richduerr@aol.com (Richduerr)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Growing up with ghosts: Experience 2 Part 1
Date: 4 Jun 1995 20:26:15 -0400

We had often heard floorboards creaking in the rooms (especially at night), and were always told by my parents that it was "the house settling", which we accepted for a while. Eventually I was moved to another bedroom, just downstairs from the attic bedroom (my bed was right next to the door). As the days & nights passed, I began to notice a strange pattern that took place every night. It would start with a creak in the attic floor, then another on the attic steps near the top, and again near the bottom. Then the attic door would make a slight cracking sound (as if lightly pushed upon), then on the ultra-squeaky board near the head of my bed--just a slight little squeak. Then my door would make a cracking sound, then a sqeak out in the hallway, and lastly on the steps headed toward the living room. This would occur every night just after midnight (not kidding) and would occur in the reverse order after 2 a.m.The sounds did not go by in rapid succession, they moved quite slowly, perhaps even a bit slower than a very old person would be walking. Until I got moved to another bedroom (the only one I didn't feel nervous in) at age 16, I never got a decent night sleep waiting for this apparent thing to pass through the room.

These noises did not only occur at night when almost everyone is asleep (they were just more noticeable), and they did not always follow the same pattern. One night, I was lying there awake and heard a couple squeaks coming from the floorboards in the attic. They were light and far apart, not at all like the heavy and close together sounds of one of my brothers getting out of bed and walking across the floor. Suddenly I heard the sound which sounded like a smal AA battery (something small, cylindrical and heavy) fall to the floor, roll across the bare wood part, and down three steps. Then, total silence.

(SORRY, had to break it here due to E-mail troubles)

From: richduerr@aol.com (Richduerr)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Growing up with ghosts: Experience 2 part 2
Date: 4 Jun 1995 20:26:24 -0400

The two older brothers beds are at the extreme other end of that room and could not have knocked something over in their sleep, far across the room near the steps (we're talking over 20 feet). The next day when both brothers were in the living room, I asked them if they had knocked over anything during the night, anything that could have rolled down the steps, and had they found anything lying on the steps in the morning. My mom heard me ask the question and said that she had heard it also, and assumed that they had bumped into something while headed to the bathroom. They said that they had not bumped into anything. and didn't see anything on the steps.

Sometimes, I would be sitting in the living room by myself, reading a book and hear a floorboard squeak in the same room. I would try to ignore it, though when you've witnessed some strange thing happen you become suspicious of every sound you hear. Sometimes we would be sitting in the living room and hear a couple dishes in the kitchen cabinets clink together, or hear the sound of something falling over in the next room. Yet when we look around that room for anything that might have fallen, everything is in its proper place. Rarely (though it did happen a few times) we would find something fallen over, but with no indication as to its cause.

4 additional episodes to follow

Rich Duerr (Richduerr@AOL.COM)

From: richduerr@aol.com (Richduerr)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Growing up with ghosts: Experience 4
Date: 4 Jun 1995 20:26:27 -0400

One evening, my sister and I sat on the couch in the living room, she was reading the newspaper and I was reading a paperback. We both noticed movement off to our right and looked over to see a closet door open FULLY, all by itself, silently. This was most unusual because the door was usually stuck closed. It also dragged on the carpeting (because the door wasn't trimmed when carpeting was installed) when you did open it, this allowed it only to be opened 3/4 of the way.

We knew we had just witnessed the most clear display anyone had seen that there was indeed something in the house. I got up and inspected the door and closet found nothing unusual. Great force was necessary for me to get the door closed, because of the carpeting, and the hinges squealed loudly while doing so. It took a couple bumps with my shoulder to get it closed into its frame again. On top of all this, the screw on the door handle was missing, meaning that when you try to turn the knob to unlatch the door, you had to push the knob downward somewhat (so it could grip the shaft) while turning it. If you turned it too far, the the knob would slip and the door would re-latch with a loud snap. Furthermore, the latch assembly and the door hinges needed oiling and squeaked loudly when turning the knob or opening the door. Yet when the door opened by itself, it opened COMPLETELY silently.

Something interesting to note about this closet, is that it is only about six to nine inches deep, and apparently was the front door at one time. I did not think of that when this event occurred, but more recenly I remembered having noticed the faint outline of a doorway on our front porch, and asked my mother why it was there. She said that the front door was located in that position before the newer front porch was added, and that it had been filled in and a new doorway was installed to match the porch. Though they filled in the outside to look like the rest of the house, the inside doorway was left there as a small closet. This is the same closet whose door opened all by itself.

2 more to follow

--Rich Duerr (Richduerr@AOL.COM)

From: richduerr@aol.com (Richduerr)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Growing up with ghosts: Experience 3
Date: 4 Jun 1995 20:26:27 -0400

One Christmas Eve around 7:30pm, we were having our annual family gathering and the living room was quite crowded. I decided to sit on the floor next to my mom (sitting in her recliner). It was quite noisy as there were two conversation taking place at once, each with several participants, however, I was not in either one. As I often did, I sat there listening to both conversations, waiting to hear something interesting.

Suddenly, I heard a noise off to my left, in the dining room (which was dark because the light was off), it was just a little noise that got my attention for a moment. My attention returned to the conversations, though I was feeling a little strange. Then I noticed movement off to my left and looked to see that the hanging planter was swaying gently (as if caught in a draft or lightly bumped). I thought that to be odd, but I returned my attention to the conversations. Suddenly I felt this cool draft on my back and my neck, and felt my hair being lightly brushed against. This sent a chill down my spine, and I looked to my right and saw the other hanging planter suddenly begin to lightly sway.

I had enough, I wasn't going to experience anything else that night unless someone else did too. I got up, crossed the room, and sat between my to older brothers who were also sitting on the floor.

3 more more experiences to follow

--Rich Duerr (Richduerr@AOL.COM)

From: richduerr@aol.com (Richduerr)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Growing up with ghosts: Experience 5
Date: 4 Jun 1995 20:26:37 -0400

One other occasion made all others pale by comparison. I sat with my mom as I waited to depart for school (I was about 14) and watching the "Today Show". It was just another typical weekday morning, all my brothers and sisters were all at work or at school, and my dad was asleep upstairs (we could hear his loud snoring from the living room).

Suddenly, we saw something to our left, we both turned to look, and saw a styrofoam picnic cooler, that had been in the kitchen, flying throught the air. We saw it enter the dining room from the kitchen, as it flew a strangely downward curving path (not natural looking at all). It hooked downward from about 4 feet from the floor, and suddenly forward, lodging itself under a dining room chair.

We gaped at each other for a second, then I hopped up and quickly checked the kitchen to see if anybody could have somehow been there, but as I knew, nobody was there. I even checked all possible avenues of escape, but the back door was locked and the bathroom was empty. Nobody else was home anyway, and there is no way anyone could have been there without us hearing them.

I know others may wish to experience a ghost, but I swear to you that I hate it. Nothing scares me more than something that is not alive wandering through the house. None of my friends understand why I never get homesick, but I never want to go back to that house, even for a visit. Even now I suffer. The other night I tried to write this, and left a shirt hanging near the window. In the middle of writing, a sudden breeze blew and caused the shirt to move. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw it move from the corner of my eye, but sure was relieved to see what it was. I occasionally have nightmares about these experiences, and they always involve objects suddenly moving, or pages of a book turning all by themselves, only I am the only witness. This was always, and apparently still is my greatest fear, being alone when these things happen. When you are with someone else, its not so scary, you know you are not going nuts and that others will believe you when you tell them. However, when you are alone and suddenly witness evidence that you are not COMPLETELY alone, that something not-alive is with you, its quite scary.

1 more to follow.

--Rich Duerr (Richduerr@AOL.COM)

From: richduerr@aol.com (Richduerr)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Growing up with ghosts: experience 6 Pat1
Date: 4 Jun 1995 20:52:47 -0400

One night when I was about 15 years old, I was lying in bed (wide awake as usual), dreading the beginning of the series of creaks and cracks that made their way from the attic through my room, and down toward the living room every night. Suddenly, it started with the usual creak on the attic bedroom floorboards, then another closer to the top of the steps. Then the slight cracking sound as if someone were lightly stepping onto one of the steps. Then as usual, another sound near the bottom of the attic steps.

I waited, expecting to hear the sound of the attic door (which was only about three feet from my bed) to make its usual cracking sound as if someone were pressing firmly against it. Then something happened which I didn't expect, and which began to make me very nervous. That something was silence. The pattern was suddenly broken, the sounds made their nightly succession down from the attic, but stopped at the bottom of the attic steps this time.

After what seemed like several long minutes of silence (time has a way of slowing down when you're scared), suddenly the silence was broken by a scratching sound against that door. It sounded like fingernails scratching at the door. I was totally petrified, nothing like this ever happened before, and I really wanted to wake up my brother who was sleeping soundly in the other bed, but I figured he would think I was nuts, so I just listened. As the scratching continued, I tried to think of ways that might scare it off. I always tried to pretend to be asleep whenever those sounds would pass through my room, so I decided to act like I was waking up. I started tossing and turning making plenty of noise, but the scratching would only stop momentarily, then continue.

Part 2 follows:

From: richduerr@aol.com (Richduerr)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Growing up with ghosts: Experience 6 part 2
Date: 4 Jun 1995 21:02:18 -0400

Part 2:

I tried clearing my throat a few times figuring that if I didn't scare it away, at least it might wake my brother, who might also witness the scratching. Neither worked. The scratching continued, and my brother continued to sleep deeply. By now my heart was pounding so hard that I thought I might have a heart attack, my chest ached and my stomach felt queasy, and I was sweating profusely. Still, the slow scratching continued at the door just a couple feet from my head. I gathered my courage and decided to sit up in bed (eyes tightly closed) thinking that the sudden movement might chase it away. It did stop for a minute, but then started up again. Next, I decided that I would have to sit up, pause long enough for anything there to disappear, then turn and face the door with my eyes closed (again to allow anything there to disappear), then slowly opening them. The scratching continued, so I finally decided that I would have to go over and open the door, though my biggest fear was the possibility that something might be there. It was bad enough I had to witness a door apparently opening by itself, and a picnic cooler flying through the air, and the squeaky boards and the clanking dishes in the kitchen, the only thing I was more afraid of is actually seeing this thing.

I went over to the door, looked all around the outside for anything that might be causing it and found nothing. I then grabbed the handle and slowly pulled the door open. As soon as I started pulling open the door the scratching stopped. I looked all around the inside of the door, assisted by the streetlight outside shining into the doorway. I could find nothing unusual, but I figured if anything had been there, be it an animal, or something else, I probably had scared it away and could expect to get some sleep. My heart rate started to return to normal and I started to relax, confident that my suffering was over for the night, but after a couple minutes the scratching started again.

Part 3 follows

From: richduerr@aol.com (Richduerr)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Growing up with ghosts: Experience 6 Part 3
Date: 4 Jun 1995 21:03:13 -0400

That was enough for me, I got out of bed and went all the way to the basement where my dad was drinking beer and messing around with his Radio Shack TRS-80 computer. He knew something was wrong but didn't ask, and I didn't tell him what had happened, I just hung out with him down in the basement until after 2:00 am before going back to bed.

Strangely, after that night I never heard the succession of floorboard squeaks coming down from the attic or going back up. In fact, I never saw or heard anything strange again. I waited for until a month had gone by, then started asking the others if they had seen or heard anything in the past month, and nobody had. For the next three years before I joined the Navy and moved out, I never saw or heard anything strange again, and I haven't heard from the others about any more incidents.

Please feel free to E-Mail me if you have any comments or questions.

Rich (Richduerr@AOL.COM)