True Ghost Tales

Attic Ghost Story

I have an atticghost story for those of you who are interested in hearing it. Ihope it isn't too boring.

The house I grew up in was built in the 1930's or maybe veryearly 40's. The downstairs is all wood floors, and the attic goesthe length of the house. I've lived in it since I was three, andas anyone can tell you when you live in a house that long, youlearn to recognize all kinds of noises. You know exactly what itsounds like when the back door slams; when someone is walkingacross the attic floor; you learn how to walk upstairs to theattic without making a sound; when the wind pushes a tree againstthe side of the house, etc. For all my 17 years there, I've neverheard any stories about anyone getting killed or dying there, oreven being seriously injured. However, this fact doesn't stop"our ghost" from wandering around the attic.

I don't know how long my mom has heard these noises, but shetells of times when my dad wasn't home. She could hear the ghostwalking around in the attic above the living room. Very heavy,solid footsteps. When she opened the door to the attic and turnedon the light, they would stop. When she turned off the light andclosed the door, they'd begin again. She's also heard furniturebeing moved, glass *shattering*, and things sliding around. Butalways, when she went upstairs, she found nothing. My brotherheard these too. I'm not sure how much of this my dad heard. It'snever really spooked my mom or brother, actually I think theylike having a personal ghost. Funny thing was that I never heardit, unless you count the time I was five.

Once when I was five, I fell asleep on the couch. My parentsdecided to leave me there, and I awoke sometime during the night- I didn't open my eyes or move around, but I just stayed there.That's when I heard these footsteps coming down the stairs fromthe attic (Which empties out into the hallway). They came slowly,but steadily. I figured that maybe dad had come up there forsomething and it was just him coming back down. But, the hallwaydoor opened and no one came out. There were no more footsteps, noone was visible, and I was terrified! I went back to my bedroomand crawled under the covers and stayed very still until I fellasleep. Up till a few months ago, I thought that all that hadjust been a nightmare - I used to have them a lot back then. (BTW,has anyone ever had the same dream on the same night every yearfor a number of years? This is another story, if anyone'sinterested.)

But I was also a very heavy sleeper until my teen years, so ifanything did happen, I probably didn't hear it. However, I'm surewhat I heard in May was no dream! This past May, I was at homevisiting my parents with my boyfriend, Rob. We were both in myroom, but I was in my bed and he was on one of those fold out bed-chairs.Anyway, everything was fine until I woke up. Often in the night Iwake up, roll over, and go back to sleep. That night, I rolledover and was almost back asleep when I heard four footsteps.There were little noises around it, but definitely four, perfect,man's footsteps. I froze! When I heard them a few minutes later,again only four, I jumped outta my bed and crawled up next toRob, waking him up so he's hear them too. Fortunately the ghostdidnt' make a liar out of me and walked again a few minutes later.Rob got this look of sheer terror in his face. He'd heard of outghost for a while, but never believed it. So, we laid there,listening to the ghost a few more times. Rob fell back asleepwhen the noises seemed to die off. There was no way I was goingto sleep, no sir, I figured that I'd just stay awake the rest ofthe night.

When I told my mom about it the next morning, she smiled and saidthat it must have been us, because the ghost had been quiet for along while. But she didn't hear the noises that night. I alsoknow it wasn't either of our cats, because one was shut in thekitchen with no way to get upstairs, and the other was in theliving room. Besides, the attic door was firmly shut. Ever sincethen, I've not been able to sleep a full night in my room. Lasttime I was there, which was this past weekend, I heard lots oflittle noises and one to two footsteps at a time. The noisescan't be the cats, they're not the tree outside scraping againstthe house (I know that sound very well), and there's no waysquirrels and things can get into the attic from outside. So thatleaves...

I've also got a story about dreams coming true and one about avisit from a dying relative, if anyone's interested.