Ohio House
My parents boughtthe house just out side of East Palestine Ohio in the earlyspring of 1969. It sits on about two acres and is a typical turnof the century farm house. It is surrounded by massive mapletrees. It had a big kitchen, dining room, a palor with a baywindow, a bedroom and a bath downstairs. The stairs leading tothree upstairs bedrooms is between two walls and entirelyenclosed.
It was a sound house in need of mostly cosmetic repairs whichincluded remolding the kitchen, laying carpet and painting. Mybrother had already married. My sister Joyce and I slept upstairsand my parents downstairs.
It started slowly with noises that could be explained or shruggedaway. Since the house sits closely to a heavily traveled two lanehighway, it was very easy to blame some strange things on thetraffic. Slowly but surely, things began to happen that couldn'tbe explained. I heard my name called on two seperate occasions.Joyce spent only one year in the house before going away tocollege. When she left, leaving me alone upstairs, sleepingbecame a challange!
The most obvious problem was the stairway leading upstairs. Everynight, something would run up and down the stairs. If it wouldhave stepped on the top step, I would have seen it from where Ilay in my bed but it never did. Instead it would turn and runback down only to turn around and run back up. It went on allnight long almost every night! At first, I was terrified! Thenannoyed and finally, disgusted. I even tried catching the ghostin order to get a look but I was never able to catch her. I sayher because the footsteps were light and fast. I thought I couldhear the brush of long skirts on the uncarpeted stairs. I neversaw her.
However, Joyce had more serious problems. Every night, before sheleft for college, she woke up screaming her lungs out insistingthat something was leaning over her bed. My parents thought itwas a "teenage" thing. I knew better.
One night, I heard a board in my bedroom floor squeek. It took alot of weight to squeek that floor board and I guess that's whatwoke me up. And the minute I woke, I knew I wasn't alone. I couldfeel a presence in my room. I was instantly terrified! It..whatever it was..had never come into my room! It paced around. I wasfrozen with terror. Finally, the pacing stopped and I startedscreaming! I didn't sleep in my room for three weeks after thatbut apparently, I scared it as badly as it scared me becausenothing ever came in my room again. At least to my knowledge!
Years went by and we kids went on with our lives. In the mid 80'sMom and Dad sold that house and moved to another town. My sisterand I started talking about that old house and the stories shetold me convinced me that we had lived in a bonda fide hauntedhouse and it wasn't just my imagination!
Her husband was in the service and transfered to Alaska for ayear so Joyce and Amanda (about five at the time) spent that yearwith Mom and Dad in that old farm house. They stayed in my oldroom. One night, Joyce was about to fall asleep when the nightlight flickered out. In the light from the passing traffic, sherealized she was seeing a thick black cloud enveloping the nightlight. She said a prayer and the black cloud left and the lightreturned. This "black cloud" (her exact words) was seenseveral times. Amanda started talking about her playmate upstairs.When questioned, she insisted there was a little girl living inone of my bedroom closets!
There are numerous stories about this old house but because Momand Dad thought we were all nuts, we didn't share our experiencesuntil after they moved out. The one thing everyone shared was adread of that stair way. It had a cold, creepy feel to it. Theredidn't appear to be a problem downstairs.
I married the boy next door so when I visit my in-laws, I driveby that old house and eye it with speculation. Is that ghoststill wondering up and down the stairs? Do the current owners seeor hear her? What about that black cloud?
One can not begin to imagine the pressure of laying in bed atnight listening to noises..or waiting to be touched by a "netherworld"hand. I am determined never ever to live in a haunted house again!