This story a part of the True Ghost Stories page on Obiwan's UFO-Free Paranormal Page. Please do not copy or distribute without permission from Obiwan and/or the original author!
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 1997 22:09:00 -0800 (PST)
To: guestbook@ghosts.org
My parents bought the house just out side of East Palestine Ohio in the early spring of 1969. It sits on about two acres and is a typical turn of the century farm house. It is surrounded by massive maple trees. It had a big kitchen, dining room, a palor with a bay window, a bedroom and a bath downstairs. The stairs leading to three upstairs bedrooms is between two walls and entirely enclosed.
It was a sound house in need of mostly cosmetic repairs which included remolding the kitchen, laying carpet and painting. My brother had already married. My sister Joyce and I slept upstairs and my parents downstairs.
It started slowly with noises that could be explained or shrugged away. Since the house sits closely to a heavily traveled two lane highway, it was very easy to blame some strange things on the traffic. Slowly but surely, things began to happen that couldn't be explained. I heard my name called on two seperate occasions. Joyce spent only one year in the house before going away to college. When she left, leaving me alone upstairs, sleeping became a challange!
The most obvious problem was the stairway leading upstairs. Every night, something would run up and down the stairs. If it would have stepped on the top step, I would have seen it from where I lay in my bed but it never did. Instead it would turn and run back down only to turn around and run back up. It went on all night long almost every night! At first, I was terrified! Then annoyed and finally, disgusted. I even tried catching the ghost in order to get a look but I was never able to catch her. I say her because the footsteps were light and fast. I thought I could hear the brush of long skirts on the uncarpeted stairs. I never saw her.
However, Joyce had more serious problems. Every night, before she left for college, she woke up screaming her lungs out insisting that something was leaning over her bed. My parents thought it was a "teenage" thing. I knew better.
One night, I heard a board in my bedroom floor squeek. It took a lot of weight to squeek that floor board and I guess that's what woke me up. And the minute I woke, I knew I wasn't alone. I could feel a presence in my room. I was instantly terrified! It..what ever it was..had never come into my room! It paced around. I was frozen with terror. Finally, the pacing stopped and I started screaming! I didn't sleep in my room for three weeks after that but apparently, I scared it as badly as it scared me because nothing ever came in my room again. At least to my knowledge!
Years went by and we kids went on with our lives. In the mid 80's Mom and Dad sold that house and moved to another town. My sister and I started talking about that old house and the stories she told me convinced me that we had lived in a bonda fide haunted house and it wasn't just my imagination!
Her husband was in the service and transfered to Alaska for a year so Joyce and Amanda (about five at the time) spent that year with Mom and Dad in that old farm house. They stayed in my old room. One night, Joyce was about to fall asleep when the night light flickered out. In the light from the passing traffic, she realized she was seeing a thick black cloud enveloping the night light. She said a prayer and the black cloud left and the light returned. This "black cloud" (her exact words) was seen several times. Amanda started talking about her playmate upstairs. When questioned, she insisted there was a little girl living in one of my bedroom closets!
There are numerous stories about this old house but because Mom and Dad thought we were all nuts, we didn't share our experiences until after they moved out. The one thing everyone shared was a dread of that stair way. It had a cold, creepy feel to it. There didn't appear to be a problem downstairs.
I married the boy next door so when I visit my in-laws, I drive by that old house and eye it with speculation. Is that ghost still wondering up and down the stairs? Do the current owners see or hear her? What about that black cloud?
One can not begin to imagine the pressure of laying in bed at night listening to noises..or waiting to be touched by a "netherworld" hand. I am determined never ever to live in a haunted house again!