Granpa's Footsteps
A guy I knew inhigh school was living with his girlfriend and another couple inan old farmhouse a few miles south of Poulsbo, WA. (It was quitenear the old main gate of the Bangor navy facility, now the homeof the Trident submarine base- for any locals who might see this).
I guess I should mention that I have a kind of sixth sense-sometimes I know things for no reason, like what someone else isthinking or what's about to happen. It's not really developed noris it at all controllable- it just happens sometimes.
The other couple moved out, and my roommate and I needed a newplace to live so we moved in with John and Sharon. After we'dbeen there about a week, we were sitting around in the livingroom after dinner, just talking. Sharon asked me how I likedliving there so far. I said it was great- the place had fields, agood barn, outbuildings, and was far enough away from everythingto be nice and quiet. It reminded me of the hobby-farm I grew upon. I said that it was a pretty neat place to live, in spite ofthe fact that the house was haunted .
Sharon turned as white as a sheet and was even shaking. She askedme in a scared tone of voice what I'd seen or heard that told methe place was haunted. I said it was just a feeling I had. Ihadn't heard or seen a thing. She started telling me about thewierd goings-on there, usually when she was alone. Once she wasin the basement doing some laundry. The kitchen door to thebasement stairs was open, the stairs were completely exposed (unfinishedbasement) and it was the middle of the afternoon so there wasplenty of light coming in the windows. She heard footsteps comingdown those basement stairs. She turned and looked, but saw no one.Still, the footsteps kept coming! She dropped her laundry basketand ran from the house through the outside basement door!
Her boyfriend John just pooh-poohed the whole thing, calling it"super- stition". That was his label for anything thatdidn't fit into his world- view. He wasn't very open-minded. Ilaughed a little bit too, because I didn't sense any feeling ofevil or danger or anything. It was just one more person not-living:) there. Not paying rent, either!
A year or two later, my old roommate went off to college inBellingham WA. on his G.I. bill. John, Sharon and I took anotherroommate to help share expenses. It turned out that the old farmused to belong to Ken's grand- parents. They had emmigrated fromNorway in the early part of the century, and Grandpa started up asmall dairy farm. He'd built the house himself (with the help ofa travelling journeyman carpenter). Grandpa had died a few yearsago, and Grandma was still alive in a nursing home. When Kenheard about the ghost stories, he just laughed and said it wasonly Grandpa. (I guess either Grandpa didn't like Sharon or hejust got a kick out of spooking her!)
One Saturday, I had slept in and got up at around 9. I went intothe bathroom to do my business. The bathroom was upstairs, andhad a regular transparent window that looked out over thedriveway/parking area. I knew that John was gone for a couple ofdays, and saw that Sharon's and Ken's vehicles were both gone.Sharon always takes her dog with her, and I could see the catwandering around in the yard. I was the only living sole in thehouse.
While I was standing there peeing I heard footsteps coming slowlyup the stairs, then along the hallway. I heard the footfallsclearly, and the floorboards squeaking and everything. Theysounded just like an old man's footsteps- kind of slow, stiff andsore. They stopped right outside the bathroom door. I looked, andsaw the knob slowly start to turn. I just yelled "I'm inhere right now, Grandpa, but I'll be out in a minute." Thatended the manifestation, `cause I didn't hear or see anythingelse. (Funny thing, I never saw the knob go back to its originalposition like it would have if you turned it then let go. It juststopped moving where it was when I spoke).
After I was through in the bathroom I went all through the houseand around outside just to make sure there was no one else there.There wasn't- except me and Grandpa!