The Haunted House!!!

A True Ghost Story............

The house was built in 1892, it was the first house built inside the cities limits. The house sat on a 20 acre plot of land. There was a front entrance for the guests and visiting dignitaries, the back entrance was for the servants and deliveries. It had a carriage house in the back and the lawns were kept immaculate. Palm trees lined each side of the front entrance with large stone pillars marking the front entrance driveway. The back entrance had smaller but similiar pillars marking that entrance.

The house itself was stately in that it had a small wine cellar and brick on the outside of the first level. Then wood siding for the second level and the attic. A large porch entry with steps leading up to the heavy oak wooden door, which led to a large entry way inside. To the right was a large living room with a fireplace at one end. To the left was a sitting room or parlour with an even larger fireplace. Going straight led one to the large dining room which to the left of that was the kitchen. The landing between the dining room and the entry way was the beginning of the steps leading upstairs. And just to the left of the landing was a door that led to the wine cellar. Upstairs there were five bedrooms and another sitting room. With one large bathroom. Inside one of the closets was the ladder leading up to the attic. It was a large house built in a city about thirty five miles east of Los Angeles. It had been built by a doctor, for him and his family.

Stories about parties and visitors have been told about this house, then in the 1950's the house was sold, the doctor had passed on, and the family moved back east. The lady who now owned it also liked to party, but she liked to party every night with a bottle of booze. She was alone with her husband passing away just after the house had been purchased and her only daughter grown and married. This lady lived alone, she too had parties and friends visiting, but with time this happened less often and so it soon became a party of one.

My parents bought the house in 1975 from the daughter of the lady who had now passed away. They had not been told what had happened to her and how she had gone on to another place. For about 10 years the house had been divided up into 4 different apartments, with them each being rented out. One of the apartments they had trouble renting out and so the daughter was losing money, so she had sold the house.

My parents spent time and money to convert it back into a family home. They did a lot of work and quickly had it changed into a place where they, my brothers, and sisters, all had their own rooms. Two of us were already on our own, I being married the year before. Everything seemed to be going well and things were great with them living there. The carriage house out back was not changed, and if my parents chose, they could still rent it out. They had also kept one of the upstairs converted kitchens, with the basics still there. This became the guest room and is where my husband and I stayed when we came from Oklahoma for a month's visit.

Now I am one of those people who others consider a little strange, in that I had already had ghostly experiences, and other strange things happen to me. The first night we stayed in that room, I was visited by the ghost. It was not an evil ghost, trust me, evil ghosts are well, just evil. This ghost seemed to be okay with us staying there in the room. I told my parents that the room was haunted and I thought the room next door was too. They told me to keep quiet because my one sister slept in that room. I knew if I said anything to her then she would be too scared to sleep in there and so I said nothing. The ghost stayed with us most of the time and all was well. We left and went back to Oklahoma.

In 1976, my husband was sent to Panama Canal Zone and by then I had just had our first daughter. We had to wait to get housing down there and so my newborn baby and I moved into that room. The ghost was still there. Somehow the ghost was happy with the baby and I felt safe. Then something happened, I will spare you the details, I took the baby with me to live in Las Vegas, then on to Panama.

Jump to three years later and we are back from Panama and hubby is out of the Army. We move in with my parents until we know what our plans are. Two toddlers, me and hubby. I start talking about the ghost and the whole family hears. They tell our parents about the strange things they have felt, and experienced over the past five years. Feelings of being watched, things being moved, noises, but no one there to make the noises. Lights going on, and then off, on their own. They say that now everything makes sense. They ask me about the ghost. I tell them that I feel it is an old lady and that she is a kind ghost, but at the same time afraid of something. I am not sure what. I tell them that she likes babies and little children, and to not be afraid of her. I said that she is always upstairs and only stays in those two rooms and never leaves them. My sister promptly moves out of that room and into the sitting room upstairs. I laugh because now that gives us an extra room for the girls. We are only there for about five months, and the girls had told us that they had been talking to the nice lady. We move into our own place, and soon just after that, two of my sisters move out. My parents convert that side back into an apartment and rent it out. For years each renter has ghost experiences to talk about. Some move out right away, others stay. A few who had babies, said that when the babies would cry, they would sometimes see the old lady talking to, and rubbing the babies body. A few thought they heard her sing. After the first time seeing her they too felt safe with her.

Now the big mystery is how did I know it was an old lady and why did she always just stay in those two rooms and never go downstairs.

In the late 1980's, the daughter who had sold my mom the house, stopped by for a visit. They talked and she told my mom the story of what had happened in the house. The house had one of those floor furnaces that had been put in during the 1940's, and the grate for it was between the dining room and what had been the old kitchen. The old kitchen had been converted into a bedroom, when a new kitchen had been added on to the other side of the dining room. Anyway this heater would heat up the grate, and if you stepped on it with your bare feet, you got burned and would have the grate marks burned into your feet.

The story goes that the lady who was in her 60's was an alcholic and would drink so much that she would many times pass out, usually on the couch or her bed. But one night she did not make it to her bed, which was in the converted bedroom. She passed out over the furnace grate and it was turned on. They said she had done it before but the grate was always off, and so she would be okay. This time she was not. The furnace was on high and it burnt all of her stomach area up until there was not much left. They found her the next day. They said she had died a horrible death.

Now up until this time my mom had not really believed all the ghost stories that people had told her about her house. This is the moment when she knew they were true. The old lady was the only person who had died in the house and she had died a traumatic death. The two rooms that everyone had felt or seen her in, were the two rooms just above where she had died. The old lady stayed in those two rooms upstairs because she was afraid to come downstairs near the furnace. I think the babies brought some peace and comfort to her. And when they cried she tried to comfort them.

My mom sold the house in the early 1990's, and there are still ghosts there. Word is that the current owner, has been having exorcisims done by priests to get rid of the ghost. He says they are lined up outside the gate just trying to get into the house. Funny thing is, none of us told him about the ghost.

Do you have any ghost stories to tell? I would like to hear them. If you have posted one let me know and I will add a link or just leave me the story in your comments. I love ghost stories!!!!!!!!

Happy Friday the 13th........