So I said I would tell my ghost stories in my next entry.
These would probably go over better if we were sitting around a bonfire on a crisp October night roasting marshmallows. But try to imagine the setting and listen to my tales…
I was around 8, and I had some friends over for a sleepover. It was the middle of the night and everyone else had fallen asleep in the back bedroom that I shared with my sister Jenny. Our house was the parsonage of the church next door of which my dad was the pastor. It was an old house, having been a coal miner’s house before it became a parsonage, but it wasn’t scary. I don’t remember ever being bothered by anything upstairs. The old decrepit basement was another story, at least until we had it finished to provide another bedroom. Any time we wanted a good scare we went down there.
But back to my story. It was quiet. I was laying in my sleeping bag staring up at the wall as I tried to fall asleep. My record player was next to me, playing the soundtrack from “Annie.” It was on the song called “We Got Annie.” Suddenly a face appeared in the orange folds of the curtain on the window. I can still recall his face, a man I’d never seen before, with spectacles and a mousy appearance. He wasn’t clear as a person would be, he was transparent, and I only saw his face. He appeared to be staring right at me, but he didn’t speak, and he faded away after a few seconds. I don’t remember feeling scared, just curious. Of course, no one else was awake to corroborate the story. I never saw him again. It is also interesting to note that one of the former pastors had died in the house.
Our old church in Oglesby, Illinois revives many many wonderful memories for me as I grew up. As long as it was filled with people, every room, every corridor and classroom was filled with life and hope. But enter that building by yourself, even during the day but especially after dark – and it was the creepiest place I have ever known.
It was a building from the 30’s, even though the church went back much further. The first building on the site had burned to the ground one night. An old lady named Cynthia who was my Sunday school teacher when I was little lived just a few houses down and recalled that dark night, when the entire neighborhood woke to the eerie sound of the bell from the steeple falling to the ground with a loud clang as the building became ashes.
The new building was a beautiful structure, with high ceilings and a balcony over the auditorium. I spent many an evening in that large room practicing piano – and trying to play loud enough that I wouldn’t hear all the noises around me in the empty hall. There were the explainable pops and gurgles of the old heater, but there were many other sounds as well. Many times I was sure that someone had opened the door and came in, only to find that I was still alone and the door was locked. There was also an old room up in the back of the building that we called “the Upper room.” Many times I was convinced that I heard someone coming down those stairs. No one ever did. I am now 31 years old and I have not lived in Oglesby for 14 years. All my creepiest dreams still take place in that upper room! (It is an interesting note that when the church build a new building in a different location recently, a single woman bought the church to turn it into a residence. I cannot imagine living in that building!)
I must provide a caveat to this story. My mom practiced the piano many nights after we went to bed. I can remember falling asleep to the sound of the piano wafting from the old building next door. She doesn’t remember anything strange ever happening. Nor does my dad who spent many hours in his office alone.
My next story didn’t take place until after I was married, when my husband and I and my sister Kathy and her husband Seth decided to take a trip up to Canada together. We stayed in Goderich, a wonderful little town near the shores of the lake. Our inn was an old house with a lot of character. The last night we stayed there the entertainment downstairs went on till pretty late into the night. Finally things got quiet and we were falling asleep, when suddenly the loud sounds of a dog in the hallway caught our attention. It sounded like a big dog, its claws clicking on the hardwood floor down the corridor to where our room was. It was strange because we hadn’t seen a dog the entire weekend, big or small. Kathy and Seth do not remember hearing the dog. I got down and peered through the crack under the door, and there was nothing there. Nothing. I can’t remember very well, but I believe my husband asked the owner the next morning if they had any dogs, and he said they didn’t.
At the same time, during our first year of marriage, I had some strange things happen in our home. It’s not exactly what you would expect of a haunted house – it is a mass produced Dominion house built in 1987, and it had only one previous owner, a couple that seemed nice enough. But there are two rooms in the house that greatly troubled me when I first moved in – the master bedroom and the bedroom at the end of the hallway, which by the way had a big hole in the door as if someone had kicked it open. One morning after my husband left for work before it was light outside, I woke to the feeling of something sliding across my side. It felt like a belt of some sort. When I sat up and looked, nothing was there. In that room we have had some very strange electrical occurrences as well. My husband is an electrical engineer and could not explain them. One time when his alarm was set to go off for work, and mine was not set at all, MY alarm went off instead and his did not. We have also had other things happen with those clocks, from the music coming on for no reason to having power without being plugged in.
One other thing happened in that house. One evening when Pete was working late I took our dog Ben for a walk. When I got back and was about to unlock and open the front door, I heard someone walking down the stairs. I knew my husband was not home yet, there were no lights on in the house. I was sure someone had broken in, and since I did not know the neighbors yet, I stayed outside for an hour before my husband came home. When he went inside and searched the entire house, he didn’t find a thing out of place, and there was no evidence that anyone had been there. It also bears mention that the light bulb in the light just above the stairs constantly burns out. We replace it extremely often.
Could all these things be my imagination? Of course. I have a vivid imagination and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were due to my nature. But I can only tell you what I saw, what I heard, what I experienced and leave it for you to decide. I don’t claim proof, only experiences that gave me an interest in the unexplained.
These would probably go over better if we were sitting around a bonfire on a crisp October night roasting marshmallows. But try to imagine the setting and listen to my tales…
I was around 8, and I had some friends over for a sleepover. It was the middle of the night and everyone else had fallen asleep in the back bedroom that I shared with my sister Jenny. Our house was the parsonage of the church next door of which my dad was the pastor. It was an old house, having been a coal miner’s house before it became a parsonage, but it wasn’t scary. I don’t remember ever being bothered by anything upstairs. The old decrepit basement was another story, at least until we had it finished to provide another bedroom. Any time we wanted a good scare we went down there.
But back to my story. It was quiet. I was laying in my sleeping bag staring up at the wall as I tried to fall asleep. My record player was next to me, playing the soundtrack from “Annie.” It was on the song called “We Got Annie.” Suddenly a face appeared in the orange folds of the curtain on the window. I can still recall his face, a man I’d never seen before, with spectacles and a mousy appearance. He wasn’t clear as a person would be, he was transparent, and I only saw his face. He appeared to be staring right at me, but he didn’t speak, and he faded away after a few seconds. I don’t remember feeling scared, just curious. Of course, no one else was awake to corroborate the story. I never saw him again. It is also interesting to note that one of the former pastors had died in the house.
Our old church in Oglesby, Illinois revives many many wonderful memories for me as I grew up. As long as it was filled with people, every room, every corridor and classroom was filled with life and hope. But enter that building by yourself, even during the day but especially after dark – and it was the creepiest place I have ever known.
It was a building from the 30’s, even though the church went back much further. The first building on the site had burned to the ground one night. An old lady named Cynthia who was my Sunday school teacher when I was little lived just a few houses down and recalled that dark night, when the entire neighborhood woke to the eerie sound of the bell from the steeple falling to the ground with a loud clang as the building became ashes.
The new building was a beautiful structure, with high ceilings and a balcony over the auditorium. I spent many an evening in that large room practicing piano – and trying to play loud enough that I wouldn’t hear all the noises around me in the empty hall. There were the explainable pops and gurgles of the old heater, but there were many other sounds as well. Many times I was sure that someone had opened the door and came in, only to find that I was still alone and the door was locked. There was also an old room up in the back of the building that we called “the Upper room.” Many times I was convinced that I heard someone coming down those stairs. No one ever did. I am now 31 years old and I have not lived in Oglesby for 14 years. All my creepiest dreams still take place in that upper room! (It is an interesting note that when the church build a new building in a different location recently, a single woman bought the church to turn it into a residence. I cannot imagine living in that building!)
I must provide a caveat to this story. My mom practiced the piano many nights after we went to bed. I can remember falling asleep to the sound of the piano wafting from the old building next door. She doesn’t remember anything strange ever happening. Nor does my dad who spent many hours in his office alone.
My next story didn’t take place until after I was married, when my husband and I and my sister Kathy and her husband Seth decided to take a trip up to Canada together. We stayed in Goderich, a wonderful little town near the shores of the lake. Our inn was an old house with a lot of character. The last night we stayed there the entertainment downstairs went on till pretty late into the night. Finally things got quiet and we were falling asleep, when suddenly the loud sounds of a dog in the hallway caught our attention. It sounded like a big dog, its claws clicking on the hardwood floor down the corridor to where our room was. It was strange because we hadn’t seen a dog the entire weekend, big or small. Kathy and Seth do not remember hearing the dog. I got down and peered through the crack under the door, and there was nothing there. Nothing. I can’t remember very well, but I believe my husband asked the owner the next morning if they had any dogs, and he said they didn’t.
At the same time, during our first year of marriage, I had some strange things happen in our home. It’s not exactly what you would expect of a haunted house – it is a mass produced Dominion house built in 1987, and it had only one previous owner, a couple that seemed nice enough. But there are two rooms in the house that greatly troubled me when I first moved in – the master bedroom and the bedroom at the end of the hallway, which by the way had a big hole in the door as if someone had kicked it open. One morning after my husband left for work before it was light outside, I woke to the feeling of something sliding across my side. It felt like a belt of some sort. When I sat up and looked, nothing was there. In that room we have had some very strange electrical occurrences as well. My husband is an electrical engineer and could not explain them. One time when his alarm was set to go off for work, and mine was not set at all, MY alarm went off instead and his did not. We have also had other things happen with those clocks, from the music coming on for no reason to having power without being plugged in.
One other thing happened in that house. One evening when Pete was working late I took our dog Ben for a walk. When I got back and was about to unlock and open the front door, I heard someone walking down the stairs. I knew my husband was not home yet, there were no lights on in the house. I was sure someone had broken in, and since I did not know the neighbors yet, I stayed outside for an hour before my husband came home. When he went inside and searched the entire house, he didn’t find a thing out of place, and there was no evidence that anyone had been there. It also bears mention that the light bulb in the light just above the stairs constantly burns out. We replace it extremely often.
Could all these things be my imagination? Of course. I have a vivid imagination and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were due to my nature. But I can only tell you what I saw, what I heard, what I experienced and leave it for you to decide. I don’t claim proof, only experiences that gave me an interest in the unexplained.
And that’s my story.
2 comments:
i remember that inn in canada having a carpeted hallway as well, which made us even more curious about hearing a dog on the hardwood floor. am i making that up? i do remember pete asking the owners and they said there were no dogs around.
i have creepy dreams of that upper room too! and the stairs down to the back door. in fact, just thinking about it now, i think i've had a dream occur in just about every room of that building, a good chunk of them unsettling.
also(my comments are long tonight)the only experience i had in the house occurred in that back bedroom as well. i saw a rolling ball of white light flash between the house and the garage for a few seconds. i was looking out of the window closest to the church. was that the window where you saw the face?
I think Mom and I created children with vivid imaginations.
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