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#131Stringer vbmenu_register("postmenu_700311", true);
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Chicago western suburbs
Posts: 214
Okay.....true story....I don't care, this is exactly what occurred, I've made up nothing.
Several years ago when my two children were smaller, daughter about two, son about 4 1/2 years old. We were renting in an older but well kept area of Niles, Ohio. This house was hugh and grand. Cut glass, lead filled colored glass in all doors and windows, beautiful trappings, French doors (glass) to the dining room, hugh stone fireplace in the family room, etc. Outside was a beautiful hugh porch that almost surrounded the house with two old fashioned swings. Very nice landscaping all around, very detailed and neat. The master bath even had a walkout porch. Behind the house were hugh old trees. This area was nice and it used to be where the very rich lived, now still very nice but upper middle class with older families.
The homes in this area were all older, nicely kept and neat. People spent a lot of time with the landscaping, etc. However, these homes were quite close together, the driveway between the homes was shared and then split (Y) to separate free standing hugh garages.
What happened occurred over several weeks. On a Saturday in the middle of August, very hot day, my son and I were home at about 3 pm in the afternoon. I heard my wife pull up in the driveway with my daughter from grocery shopping. I told my son "come on we have to help mommy with the groceries. My son said "okay daddy, but I have to use the bathroom first." So I went to help, after about 20-25 minutes, my wife asked me where Bryan was? I said "your right, he was using the bathroom upstairs but he should have finished by now, I'll go check." I called out to him, but no answer..when I found him, he was sitting on top of the stairway, with his face in his hands and white as a ghost. I asked him what was wrong and he looked up at me and said "daddy????? there is someone up here with me!" I wanted to reassure him so I sat down beside him.......it was as cold as a winter day all around him. I asked him how he knew this..he said; "I just know."
The next weekend my wife was outside cutting down a lot of the flowers and shrubs around the house. Our neighbor in the house beside us, very nice lady as was her husband, and told my wife "if Mrs Prichard knew you were doing this she would turn over in her grave." "She was very proud of her flowers." This didn't seem to bother my wife, she kept cutting, even the next day, the same.
After more discussions we found that a Mr and Mrs Prichard owned the house and lived there for many years after their children had grown and left. She was fastidious about her flowers and shrubberies. Along with being a very clean and tidy person. "Everything has its place." She owned beautiful china, paintings, silverware, figurines, etc. She would always be dressed up, with long velvet sleeves and white lace at her cuffs and neck, a very slender lady. (I later found a picture.)
A couple days later we were in bed about 11:30 or so. I had fallen asleep when my wife softly woke me....she asked me to listen. I said what and why??? she said.....just listen.
You know how you can lay there and try to make things even quieter by holding your breath. Well I did, and I definitely heard distinctive heavily congested breathing seemingly coming from somewhere at the base of the bed, I thought. Then I remembered that Bryan had a cold and thought the acoustics were probably to blame, so I went to his bed and then stood for a while near his door to hear him. There was no sound coming from him. I crossed the hallway back to the master bedroom and as I entered the bedroom I heard the heavy breathing, almost gasping coming directly from the center of the bedroom. I had to walk past it to get back into bed. When back in bed (me man..right?) I told my wife that I heard nothing. But let me tell you, I laid in bed, covers up to my chin trying to hear it again.....holding my breath, nothing.
One week later, again late and in bed. My wife again woke me, this time more
emphatically and said "LISTEN!" I told her I don't hear any breathing. She said "NO, Listen........" I said "what the h~ll is that???" There were sounds coming from the walk up attic. When I think back on this now...it sounded like...someone very old, kind of dragging one leg/foot and the sound of a cane 'thud", and again, again. You know you have to rationalize so I thought "old house, boards creaking?" This sound was going from the corner of our ceiling towards the other corner, NOT along the board/floor layout! Again we laid there not breathing....I started to "rationalize" again. There had to be SOME EXPLANATION here. It didn't last for more than a few minutes, then only silence. but, it was distinctive.
The most unexplained thing happened two days or so later. I was a Area Manager of those old Fotomat Stores (in the parking lots-you bought and dropped off film) and was responsible for Western Pa and Eastern Ohio. This meant that I had to travel every other week to visit the locations. We had plans to go out dancing that evening so I was to be home a little earlier than usual. I was traveling back on a major highway from the western part of Ohio and I had seen all the locations I planned to see that day except for one. As I came up to the intersection that would take me to this last location I debated whether to go there or not, I might be late for dancing and another couple was to go with us. I decided to do it and be quick so I was speeding. As I went over the hill I saw about 10 -15 cars, all pulled over at the side of the road, a speed trap. Never got to that location that day, but I did get a speeding ticket.
Now as I drove into my driveway I see my wife standing by our garage with Mrs Janero, the nice older Italian neighbor. The moment I got out of the car and began explaining why I was ticked off because of being late and the ticket, my 2 year old daughter came running out of the garage screaming at the top of her lungs. Her mouth open with her tongue out and pointing to it. Just as we went to help her and see what was wrong my son stated to scream because two bees had just stung him. Mrs Janero just stood there in amazement. Then my wife screams "my God, the house is on fire!!!!" Smoke was coming from the kitchen window! When I went to the back door the screen door was locked. I broke it open to find that the door itself was also locked! I threw a rock through the window and got inside. the dinner she was cooking had burned and was smoking, but nothing caught fire. Now remember it was summer we had no air conditioning. Windows and regular doors were all open so the large house would be cooler. All the windows were closed and locked also. My wife insisted she didn't lock or close anything! And she said "why AND how would I do that, I just stepped outside to see Mrs Janero for a moment, I was cooking dinner!" And the door had a lock that could only be locked if you used a key.
Mrs Janero shook her head as she went back towards her house and said "CRAZY stuff."
Weeks later on a Saturday we were invited to Mr & Mrs Janero's home, next door for coffee and some cake. I was sitting at the counter and after a while when my wife and Mrs Janero were talking I asked "has anyone ever said anything about anything strange happening in our house?" They both got real quiet and Mrs janero looked at me and said "no, why?"
I mentioned the things that she saw the last week in our driveway and told her and him about what had been occurring over the last month or so. Mrs Janero asked me "exactly when did these things start?" I remembered approximately the date, and she said "that was right after your wife was cutting all the flowers and shrubs down." She looked at my wife and said "I told you honey, I told you." My wife didn't understand.....Mrs Janero said; "I told you that if you did that Mrs Pricherd would turn over in her grave." We just looked at her. When I later spoke with my wife about what she said, she said "yes she said that but I really don't believe it that stuff!
The next evening we were all out in the driveway again, all four of us talking about what we said the day before. So I thought I would take this a little further and I explained in detail what we had experienced. They said that they had known the Pricherds for a long time and were very sorry when they passed. Mr Pricherd was a local jeweler and he passed first. He died of advanced ASTHMA, at the end he could hardly get his breath and his bedroom was upstairs-ours. He also was very old and used a cane to walk. Mrs Pricherd lived for another 8 years in the house by herself. She fell down the stairs and died, no one found her for two weeks. Mrs Janero herself had found her.
One last thing, the attic had a stairway leading up there. We had never been up there, my wife wanted to see it......So she closely followed me up there, but she said it had to be in the daylight. So we opened the door, there was heavy dust all over the floor, about an inch of it. The only other things there were; one living room type draped chair with a old fashioned floor lamp beside it, no extension cords to the lamp, nothing else was up there AND there were no footprints...
#132Stringer vbmenu_register("postmenu_700313", true);
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Chicago western suburbs
Posts: 214
Cont'd; Stringer..
Along with all the things that had happened there is one other thing. My grandmother and I were pretty close and she had passed about a year before. (Remember this was in the late 70's) We had a floor model stereo, reel to reel 8 track, record palyer, radio, etc. It was about 4 feet long and3 1/2 feet high. It was really beautiful, light oak, polished with top sliding doors. My grandmother loved this stereo she thought it was the most beautiful piece of furniture she had ever seen. She would always ask me to play some music for her, and she would sit there sometimes for over an hour and listen. Well, among the things that occurred at this house, was something also unusual, concerning this stereo. Right after the "breathing" episode, we were all sitting in the family room and we heard a "thump." Loud enough for all to hear it. We kind of looked at each other and went back to watching t.v.
Again a "thump", this time louder. Yeah, still we did nothing. But the third time about 60 seconds apart, there was a third and a fourth louder "thump." Almost as if someone hit the top of the stereo with their fist. I got up and walked over to it. This had not happened before, I reached down and the cord wasn't even plugged in. It had not been plugged in fo rover 2 months. I thought at first it may have been cooling down from when someone had been playing it. Later the next day, again talking with Mrs Janero I told her about this and how my grandmother loved this stereo. She looked at me and said, your grandmother was trying to protect you, she loves you, feel good about THAT one!
Nov 7, 2007, 06:10 PM #149Stringer vbmenu_register("postmenu_710477", true);
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Join Date: Jul 2007
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Ok, I should elaborate here but I only have a minute.
Keeping in mind the "occurrences" I spoke of before, I have to tell you that this house had a very "spooky" cellar. Dark with only several light bulbs hanging from long electrical cords. Many different rooms, cravennesses, old furniture with cobwebs covered with old dusty sheets. A little damp and and a lot dungy. A lot of very personal history was stored here.
Remember that Mrs. Prichard loved her old things and kept almost everything, apparently she didn't throw away anything. It didn't seem that anyone had gone through this cellar after she died, nothing was disturbed. There were some very small windows but they didn't allow much light through. That light that did filter through was very dim because the windows were dirty and covered with those cobwebs.
Several times I had to go down there; fuse box, etc. A couple times, (during the day) I ventured down just to look around.
You ALWAYS had a very strange feeling when down there. A feeling that there was a lot of their history here and that you may not be welcome....you were an outsider.
Well......before all the things that happened, my ex-wife wanted to go and look at everything. Let me tell you that we found some very interesting things, old, very old pictures, books, a box that was full of old lace, old china, etc. Everything was covered with these sheets that had about an inch of dust-just like the attic.
There were about 8 different rooms, one was an old coal room that still had coal even though the house was converted to gas heat now. It was as if time had stopped and everything just stayed the same since the last person was there, apparently many years ago. She uncovered many things, we spent about two hours looking through many boxes that were stored neatly.
When we were ready to go back upstairs I mentioned to my ex that we should put everything back neatly as we found it...... She said that wasn't necessary, "who is going to care about this stuff?
I have to admit, I always had some anxiety when I had to go down there and felt that things should have been put back in the same order as before.
Two days after the experience with my son (sitting at the top of the stairs) a fuse blew out.
With a flashlight in hand for additional light I went down by myself. I had told her about the incident with Bryan and she didn't want to go down there...now.
Went down, replaced the fuse, all was fine. As I went back up the cellar stairs about half way up something tugged on my foot. This was NOT my imagination, something held my left foot for about a second or two. I jumped forward and pulled my leg up, I felt the resistance. I think I literally got to the top of the stairs in one jump.
I tried to tell her what happened, of course she didn't believe me. It is so easy to just say; "you're crazy, you have a fantastic imagination." "You are just trying to scare me, stop it!"
Only after all the rest occurred did I hear her mention to Mrs. Janeiro that I had this "thing" happen in the cellar. Mrs. Janeiro told her "you are messing with something you do not understand sweety."
Well I have quite a few stories in my life as I have and interactions with spirits all my life. My children have also talked about seeing & hearing spirits. I think it must be a part of our family. For now I will tell you about our most recent event.
We moved into our current home a little under 2yrs ago. It is a rental property and had a bad reputation for not being able to keep long-term tenants. I now know why…
At present I have counted at least 3 spirits that I think are attached to the house and 1 that is attached to my son. We have also had a few blow-ins.
It all started about 3mths after moving in. My then 2 yr old son, who had never had problems sleeping at night before, became absolutely terrified every night, waking up around 2.30 – 3.30 am every night in a very upset state. All he would say was that he didn’t like “Anna at the window” or “Rinny sitting on his bed”. (The names I’m not sure on, as he was 2.) It took me a couple of weeks to clue onto what he was talking about until 1 night I went into his room, turned on the light, and noticed at the foot of his bed was what looked like someone sitting there. I then realised why people would not stay living here.
I settled my son down and left the light on for him, I then went back to bed and told my boyfriend about what I saw. His reply was “I knew I saw her”. I asked who and he said he had seen an old woman in our dining room one night he had gotten up to get a drink.
Then it made me really think about the strange things I had been seeing. My son’s twin sister, who sleeps in another room at the other end of the hall still to this day “talks” herself to sleep. Maybe, or is someone talking her to sleep? I now think the latter.
Anyway, we placed some dried sage, and a rose quartz in my sons room and he has now settled.
My eldest daughter, who when younger used to have full conversations with walls, had an experience that involved all of us. My son had gotten up again 1 night and decided he was sleeping with us for the night, all was good except we were watching TV in bed. Our Ensuite light was on and our son wanted it off. I told him to go into the lounge room and get his little chair and do it himself. He did so, but on his way back through the lounge he started having a very loud argument… “ No this is my chair, no not yours its mine!”. He came running back to our room crying about his chair. My boyfriend and I got up and went into the lounge, turned on the light, and there was our son’s chair, perfectly placed in front of the TV. We decided to leave the chair and return to our room, I turned the Ensuite light off myself.
The next morning, my eldest daughter asked me why was her little brother sitting in front of the TV in the dark last night? I told her that he was in bed with me all night. She said that she must have seen another child then, without any fear in her voice at all. I asked what she meant and she said it must be that other kid then. I left it.
I have had friends stay over and then complain about my son running up and down the hallway all night, (when he was staying at his Nanna’s) thinking that he had been dropped back off in the middle of the night.
I have had the old lady come to me in my dreams; she seems more annoyed than angry, like we have invaded her space. We have the TV turn on in the middle of the night, hear footsteps. But no harm has ever been done so I don’t see the point in making them move on. The longer we have been here the less that happens. I think we have all gotten used to living with each other.
The sad thing is, the owner is selling the house and I think I will be sad to leave our new friends.
I have many more weird and exciting stories about my experiences, some sad, some scary, some purposeful but I will tell them another time.
Oh and the other spirit around us is my uncle that passed away approx 10yrs ago. My son saw a picture of him at my cousins house one day and told me he was the man that knocks on his door at night. (Maybe my uncle is here to watch over my son. That would be nice.)
I mentioned my grandmother and how close we were earlier. She was always there for me, with help if necessary and advice. As a child you seem to have the ability to "see things" more clearly. Especially with people, you somehow receive a feeling if the person is good, bad, strange, loving, and so on. She had proven her love to me so many times, for as long as I could remember. I was her first born grandchild/grandson. She did not hide this love at all and sometimes I even felt guilty because she would lavish me with all the hugs, an extra piece of candy, always insisting (in front of my siblings) that I was right no matter what I said. Actually I believe that if I said it was raining outside and everyone else knew the sun was shining SHE would insist that it had to be raining.
She passed in the early seventies (1972), I lost one of my dearest friends. I got married in 1966 and my marriage started to break down around 1972. She was having some serious health problems so it was agreed that no one would worry her with this. Two days before she passed they sent her home from the hospital, she had only so long now. We all visited (except my wife) and one by one we went into her bedroom to speak with her. Just before it was my turn my mother said "she loves you best, she always has." "Please don't say anything about your marriage problems to her?" I had no intention to. And I knew that everyone was told the same thing.
I sat down on her bed beside her and she smiled (beamed) I loved her so much. She asked me how I was doing and I told her fine. She asked me how my wife and I were getting along? Oot oh..I thought, I smiled and said we were fine. She knew nothing about any problems..there was no way anyone would have told her. She pulled me close to her face on the pillow and whispered in my ear; "remember my love, it is not all your fault. That was the last time I saw her alive.
My wife (ex now, we are both remarried) said that she was bored and that all we did was for the kids and she hasn't had a chance to live her life. She was a very good looking woman and she knew that she would "have no problems."
I tried, she pretended. It was soon common knowledge that she had some "boyfriends" and she was sleeping around, she even admitted this to me. I took her back many times when she wanted to return and she promised that she would never repeat her actions again. I know, I was a fool; beside the point. With hindsight I wanted us to be a family.
Well, six months later and more going and comings, we were in bed in the middle of the night. I woke to hear my wife screaming at the top of her lungs. When someone wakes you like this you jolt, I swear I was 6" off the bed. My wife was sitting up in bed white as a ghost and trying to catch her breath. I looked around, nothing, I asked her what was going on??? She glared at me with the widest eyes I ever saw on her and said "your grandmother!!!!" I said what are you talking about? She took a few minutes before she said; "look I know that you are not going to believe me, but I just saw her!!" I said ok and was going to lay down again. She said, "no please don't, I know I saw her AND I am not dreaming." I said sure, go back to sleep.
She said that she got up to use the washroom and to get a glass of water, she knew she was awake. She got back in bed ready to lay her head down and caught something in the corner of her eye. She looked over where the wall closet was at her side of the bed. There with her back to her was my grandmother facing my wife's hanging clothes. She had one hand raised to the hangers and was moving them from the right to the left on the rod. She said that she could only see the top half of her, there was no bottom, even though the table light was still on. Then she said it was as if she knew my wife was watching her and she slowly turned her head and looked in her eyes. "She looked perturbed!" That is when she screamed and I awoke. This was the first time, and later we realized that this was six months to the day that she passed.
Two weeks later, same night of the week, she awoke me again. This time with a gentle nudge and a whisper. "Wake up, she's here." I sat up and.....nothing. She said that she was gone now. I decided it was time to talk again. We went to the kitchen and had some coffee. I said maybe you are imagining all this, a lot has been going on, with you and her passing.
She said to me; "I am not a fool!!" "I was not dreaming, I told you--I was wide awake."
I asked her exactly what do you think you saw? She said; "I know that I didn't believe everything that you said happened in the other house, but I have changed my mind."
She said that when she got back into bed she was on her elbows going to lay her head on the pillow and she my grandmother her at the base of the bed. Again I said "ok?" She said "listen you don't understand!!!" "Your grandmother had a look of HATE across her face, glaring at me." "AND.........she was pointing at ME! She had HATE on her face...I am scared!" "I do not want to stay here one more night!" We did stay, for three more nights and then she left. She tried to return again but I had had enough by now..took me long enough, huh?
She called me three days after I told her it was finally over and asked me to put her things on the front porch, she was never going to enter this house again. I got custody of my kids and we were making out ok.
Went through the divorce and then about a year passed and I never heard from her. Then out of the blue she called me at work one day. She said, "I have to tell you something." She said she is still haunted, almost everywhere she goes and she decided after talking with someone that she had something to say me. She said listen closely; "you were are good husband and a good father." I said to myself, wow, that somehow makes me feel better.
The she said; "tell me please, do you think she will stop?"
I am glad that I found this thread and very much interested in all the subjects and paranormal experiances. I will read the posts later and share some stories.
I am glad that I found this thread and very much interested in all the subjects and paranormal experiances. I will read the posts later and share some stories.
I would also be very interested in your experiences Joe.
At present I have counted at least 3 spirits that I think are attached to the house and 1 that is attached to my son. We have also had a few blow-ins.
Well I have just returned from a sitting with a clairvoyant and the "old lady" is attached to the house but likes our family, when we move would be happy to visit us from time to time. The spirit attached to my son is a great, great, great......... Uncle, and is my son's gaurdian and protector (this is nice to know), and my eldest daughter has angels around her.
Nov 7, 2007, 06:10 PM #
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