Short Horror Stories

House of Horror

In August of 1990 my husband, our small children, and I were out taking a summer's day drive down SR 331 when we came upon this abandoned farmhouse. The house was large, about a four bedroom. The grass had grown up over a porch that was raised about four feet from the ground. The yard was enormous and an old willow tree hung over the drive way with two very huge boulders under it. It was white with black shutters, an old two story that had been sided over.

I fell in love with the land and the house at first sight, as did my husband. We were living in a big city at the time and hated it. This house was like a dream come true for a couple with a lot of small children. We just didn't know why it was abandoned. We talked to a neighbor, who was at least a quarter of a mile away. We found out the landowners lived in another state. We managed to get the phone number.

When we got home that night we called the owners and found they were willing to rent the house to us for $100.00 a month. This dream was becoming more than too good to be true.

The house needed some repairs, and my husband, being the wiz that he is, settled down to this with little trouble.

We just couldn't believe the blessings that we were receiving. The house was everything I could want in a dream house. The yard was forty acres. The town, three miles away, was small, the school even smaller. The rent was perfect. We set to the plans we had for a garden, an old fashion BBQ, and a massive play area for our children. We even got a dog. We were in heaven. That is, we were before the hell started.

After we had spent several days settling in, we finally had an evening where we could just sit down and enjoy one of the evenings of that summer. We were sitting in the open dining room-living room area watching TV (the kids were asleep) when it began. My husband fell asleep watching the television set while I was winding some yarn. Out of nowhere I started to hear footsteps approaching behind me. (Our sofa sat in the middle of the room to divide the two areas.)

The steps came from the dinning room and walked up behind me, around the sofa, and on over to in front of the TV, where they turned and walked back to the area from which they came. They began again. When they reached in front of the TV I woke my husband up and told him to listen. I turned down the TV and he also heard the foot steps. I was excited. He was not. I have always had experiences with ghosts since I was a little child. He did not believe in such rubbish.

He listened for a while and ageed that they were foot steps from something other than ourselves. Well, this was only the start of it.

My husband and I had retired a few nights later and I heard some one calling for someone named Sarah. I asked my husband if he had heard it. He said no. I thought it might have been him teasing me because of the way I went on about the footsteps. He said it was not him and to go to sleep. I listened for a good while longer while he slept. I woke him up and asked him if it could mean that I was to name the child I was carrying Sarah. He said he doubted it and for me not to answer the call. I didn't.

A little while later I was sitting at my sewing machine, making a quilt for the baby, when I heard music. I went to check on the other children; they were asleep. No radios were on and my husband was asleep as well. I listened for a few moments and decided it was a violin I was hearing. The tune was not one I knew, and was very mournful. I woke up my husband. He listened. He heard it too. So I know I was not going crazy from my isolation out in the country.

A few days or so passed and a neighbor from down the road came for a visit. She was an older lady and lived in the area all of her life. She was asking us how were we doing in our new house. We said we were doing well. We didn't mention the other things to her in fear she would think we were nuts.

As she was about to go she said, "If you ever hear footsteps or a violin let me know." Well, I don't have to say that this stopped me in my tracks, as well as my husband. We demanded to know what she was talking about. We told her we have heard the footsteps and the violin. I also told her I heard some one yelling for Sarah. This lady just hung her head and said she knew it. Again we demanded to know what she was talking about.