REAL GHOST STORIES

Resident Ghost

I live with my Dad in a house that was built in the 40's, the same house I grew up in. While I do not necessarily like the word "haunted" to describe it (I always associate this word with evil...it's just me) there are occurrences in this house that can only be referred to as paranormal. Unlike my brother who has been seeing, feeling and hearing strange phenomenon in this house since he was a little boy, I never really started experiencing anything until I was 18 or 19. The same with my sisters, they only started experiencing something in their teens. I guess my brother is a lot more sensitive to the paranormal.

I moved out of the house after college to join the military but moved back in after Mom passed away. I left the military to keep Dad company and started a civilian job. The first week or so after moving back into the house was uneventful. One day, coming home after a job interview, I heard Dad talking in his room. I thought someone was with him, perhaps my brother or one of my cousins. They were talking rather loudly, almost arguing but I couldn't make out what they were talking about. As I settled in the living room to watch TV, Dad came in from the front door. I went cold when I saw him and my knees were literally numb. His bedroom is at the other end of the house near the kitchen and we don't have a backdoor, he couldn't possibly have jumped out of his bedroom window just to go to the front door - I mean, why would he do that? Even if he wanted to do that, he's too old to be jumping out of windows! There is only one entrance to the house and that is through the front door. To go to our small backyard, you literally have to go around (a real pain when you're taking the laundry out to dry!). He must have seen the look on my face that he sat down next to me and asked me what was wrong. I told him what happened. He said he was out to see a friend in the hospital. We checked his room and, voila! There was absolutely no one and the window was locked from the inside. Whatever was in the bedroom was not my Dad.

There is another room in the house where I heard a disembodied voice. I would sometimes sleep there because it was the only room with air-conditioning. It used to be my sister's and what I hated about it was the dresser with a big mirror near the foot of the bed. It just spooked me for whatever reason and gave me goosebumps. Whenever I slept in this room I would be awakened, without fail, by a voice calling "Susan" (we don't know of any Susan). The voice didn't seem to come from anywhere, in particular, I could hear it but I couldn't tell where it came from. Also, the voice sounded faint but audible enough. It didn't say anything else other than "Susan". I tried steering away from this room but sometimes the thought of sleeping comfortably with the air-conditioning on was just too appealing to resist - to heck with the voice. The thing is, I have never heard this voice anywhere else in the house, except this room. I told my sister about it and she said she's never heard anything in this room at all. I haven't slept in this room for a long time now nor do I have any plans of doing so again. A cousin had the same experience in this room when she stayed with us for Christmas last year.

Another experience of a different disembodied voice happened the night before I left for boot camp. I was "drinking" with my cousins and some friends who enlisted with me in our small backyard. I am not much of a drinker and I shun alcohol, I was just there for the company and it was my cousins' way of "sending me out" so I obliged. After several beers and arguments, I sent everyone home (except for a cousin who was too drunk to drive his motorcycle). I started cleaning the yard, it was a little after 11 pm. Dad joined me. I heard someone say, "you should not have done that..." I looked at Dad expecting him to continue talking only to see his puzzled expression. He also heard it and thought I said it. Then we both heard the voice again saying the same thing. The voice seemed to come from the small basement window. We looked and it was absolutely dark in there. The door to the basement was still padlocked when we came into the house to check. The voice was so distinctly male.

A few weekends ago, my girlfriend dropped by the house to bring us dinner. While Dad and I were talking in the living room, my girlfriend was busy setting up the table in the kitchen. When she called us over to eat, I was surprised that she set the table for six instead of three people. I was even more surprised when she chided me about not informing her that my sister's kids were visiting, she said she could have brought more food. I told her there were only three of us in the house. At first, she thought I was joking. She said she heard laughing and running up and down the stairs. Who else could it be but my sister's kids - she reasoned. I told her to check the house if she didn't believe me and repeated to her that there were only three of us there. Dad and I did not hear anything!