Spooky Stories
Here are some otherexperiences shared by myself and several roomates while I was atcollege. We shared a house rented by a friendy old man who livedaccross the street. The house was over 100 years old, victorianin architecture. I lived there with three other people just as Iwent into college.
The first 'wierd' experience came when I was alone in the housefor a week with a friend. Being kackers at heart, we broke outthe computers on the dining room table and went to work into allhours of the night.
One particular night, we slept downstairs on the two couches. Itwas some time after 1:00am that we both sat up -- like we werewoke up at the same instant. There, at the base of the stairs, asthough frozen in motion with one foot on the first step, was whatappeared to be a very old man with a hammer. I think the best wayto describe it is that it looked like a faded b&w picturethat had been left out in the sun. It was hazy at best, butclearly bore a hammer in its right hand. It walked silenty up thestairs, turned at the landing, and continued up. It sure Kwoke usboth up: I had damn near a terminal case of goose-bumps! Believeit or not, we didn't go upstairs to see what had become of it!
Another time I had a friend over who was in the military. Myfather was there that night, and we were having a time of itbbqing steaks and ribs out back. At one point, when just myfriend and I were in the kitchen, we started to hear a ringingcoming from the dining room (we were in the kitchen at the time-- a room separated by a wall, accessable by a doorway). Jerry (myfriend) picked up a bowl of salad, and I had three clean glassesand a bottle of wine. Jerry stopped cold about three feet infront of the doorway and said, 'Oh, shit!' I looked into thedoorway and for only a flash of an instant saw the silhouette ofa person. Frankly, thinking back, it was more like a shadow juststanding there in place. It was only a brief glance, but I don'tthink there was much more to see than what I had. My fatherfinally came in and got a real kick out of our tale. Always theskeptic, he is!
We had a gal named Susan move in and live for a year or so backin '85. She was a psych major at the local university, and waspretty level headed. She moved into the only room on the firstfloor, a room right off of the parlor (a rather splendid parlor,mind you). Actually, it the only room in the house that hadsliding (recessed) doors, the room being octogonaly shaped. Afterwaiting a year for the-other-shoe-to-drop, when the room directlyabove hers became vacant, Susan moved her belongings upstairs.Oddly enough, her first night in the new room was her last nightin the house. I don't know what time it was: All I remember isthe scream, someone running down the stairs, out of the house,and driving away. The following weekend, Susan came back with hersister and boyfriend and moved her things out. I pressed her tolear what happened, but she wouldn't say. The next semester, Iran into her at the ASUC (student union hall). We got to talking,and she finally divulged what happened. Evidently, she was wokenup by someone crying. When she finally sat up, she heard that thecrying was coming from beneath the floor. Amid the crying, sheheard someone whispering, '...don't go: please don't leave me.'It was a woman's voice, Susan said. Evidently, once she got outof the bed to go flick on the light, she a saw the form of awoman, wearing a pale, long dress, float up out of the floor andtoward her. Evidently, when it looked as though it were going tomake contact with her, she screamed. This swhole event seemed tobe too much for the psych-major: she ran out of the house, toreturn only durring the day, accompanied by the folks that weregoing to help her move out.
Another time, Fred (another housemate) came into my room to seesome software I had gotten for my CP/M machine (clunky, butfunctional). I sat down on the floor near the door, and he tookthe lazy-boy by the window. I noticed at one point while we weretalking that Fred's eyes seemed to glaze over. Didn't think muchof it at the time. A day or two later, Fred asked me if I hadseen 'that cat'. 'What cat,' I asked? Evidently, the evening wewere in my room, a cat had just walked right through the closeddoor behind me, looked at Fred, and headed into the closed to myright. I never saw the thing, nor did I 'feel' it. I never saw acat or any other beast in that house, then or in the future.
Last one: The room Susan had been in became vacant again (afterhaving someone in it for 1 semster). I asked the owner/landlord (whodidn't want to rent it for the rest of the semester -- go figure)if I could set up my computers in the room for the summer so Icould write some games with another programmer. He agreed (solong as I keep it clean). One night when i was working very late,I heard Dawn come home (we were getting a little sweet on eachother about this time). Front door opened, closed, and someonewalked up the stairs. I got up (I was alone in the house up tilthis moment, by the way), opened the door, and no one was there!I went back into the room, thinking I was just fatigued. About 45mins. later, I heard someone coming up the stairs again. Onceagain, I got up, opened the door to an empty hall. Another 45mins, and it happened again. Now my hair was standing up on theback of my neck. I was scared! I tried to play some games on mycomputer. Once again, I heard the front door open, close, andsomeone coming up the stairs. This time, I didn't open the door,but sat quietly, listening. I heard someone fuddle with keys,then heard Dawn's door open. I jumped up and opened the door. Itwas Dawn! I told her what happened, and she said she wished Ihadn't.
That's it.