You are here: Real Ghost Stories :: Apparitions / Voices / Touches :: The Woman Who Watches

Real Ghost Stories

The Woman Who Watches

 

When I was about 13 years old, I started high school in a sleepy little suburb in Brisbane. I had moved around a lot throughout my primary years, attending six different primary schools in two different countries, and living in far too many houses to count. My mother was never very happy about how much she needed to move my sister and I around during these formative years since it lead us both to have a patchy and incomplete education. She decided that we would go to one high school for the whole five years to give us the best chance at a consistent education. As a part her decision, she and our step-father moved our family in to a beautiful split-level house which was relatively new - only built in the '60s. It was in a good neighbourhood on the "classy" side of the city. Nothing was amiss and everything was perfect.

The house was two-storeys tall but had three half-levels on the inside. The bottom level was given over to the garage, the rumpus room and the laundry. The garage had a door that lead straight on to an interior set of wooden stairs in a small square chamber; to the left was a blank wall and the side of the stairs; to the right and immediately across from the bottom stair was the door to the rumpus room. The rumpus room was an open room with a large set of double doors that led out to the back yard and was covered with a patio with white pillars on each corner. Just in front of this patio was a small patch of garden with a bird of paradise plant in it. Along the left wall of the rumpus room, beside the door from the stairs was another door that led to a small laundry which had a window and a door to the outside also.

Up the stairs from the rumpus room is the kitchen, dining and formal sitting area. The kitchen has windows that face out to the back yard and there's a nice, big verandah directly outside it. The furthest right edge is beside the window of the laundry downstairs and looks over the whole garden, which runs down the steep shoulder of the hill the house is on. The verandah has a set of five steps that lead down to the garden.

The stairs inside double back on themselves and go upwards to the third level of the house, where all of the bedrooms, the bathroom, and the closets are. My room and my sister's room were the two at the front of the house, overlooking the driveway. My room was beside the stairs on the right, on the left was the spare room/study and directly in front of the stairs was my parents' room, the toilet and the bathroom, and a small hall that led to my sister's room. My parents room was directly above the rumpus room and had a window over the patio, which had one of those clear plastic roofs on it, so you could see anyone under it.

My sister and I spent most of our time in the rumpus room - it kept us out of our parents' way since it had the TV with cable and our old, enormous monolith of a computer. After a few months, my stepfather built a bird-house around the garden just outside the room with the bird of paradise plant, and we kept chickens and finches for a time. The rumpus room was always cold, and we figured it was because it was the one closest to the ground and next to the garage, which was laid with cement. My sister and I thought nothing of it, until we started seeing a woman outisde.

The first time it happened, my sister and I were watching TV and, as siblings will, we were fighting over what we were going to watch. I was a fairly stubborn, hard-headed and callous kid, so eventually my sister got fed up with me and stormed off to her room. I sat there, smugly flicking through the channels until what I wanted to watch started, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw something white move. I looked over, but saw nothing, and I figured it was the reflection of the afternoon sunlight on the white pillars and the tree at the back of the yard moving in some errant breeze.

I turned back to the TV and watched in peace for maybe ten minutes when I saw something white move again. Now, the sun had almost set by this time, and it had fallen behind the opposite side of the house, so there was no light on the pillars to reflect. I looked over and there, just beside the birdcage, was a young woman. She was watching the finches, which were all fluttering and darting back and forth in a panic, as they usually did when someone got too close to their cage. She had brown hair that was held back in a kind of twisted braid, and she had a coarse-looking white shawl about her shoulders. I couldn't make out the lower half of her body for the top of a couch blocking it, so I jumped up and walked around it to see her better, but by the time I got there she had moved around the cage and I couldn't make her out.

The large doors in the rumpus room were old and poorly maintained, and they were hard to open, so I went through the laundry instead to go outside and find out why she was in my garden (ballsy for a twelve year-old). But when I got to a spot where I should have been able to see her, no one was there. I was really confused, since to get in or out of our yard you would either have to go through the house, jump the enormous fence (all sides of which were shared with neighbours) or go through a singular side gate which had a rusted latch that squealed when opened. There was no place to hide, and when I looked around the yard was completely empty. I retreated back to the house, and after a bit of trepidation and locking all of the doors that I could, I drew the curtains in the rumpus and went on watching TV.

After this first time, the woman made herself known fairly frequently. My sister would see her out of the corner of her eye when we were watching TV, we would see her from the kitchen window, from the verandah, and even my mother thought she saw her from her bedroom window once. But every time someone tried to get a better look at her from a different angle, she would change places; and when we went outside to see her she would mysteriously disappear. The longer we lived there, the more we realised her influence on the house. While we never saw her inside, we would feel cold areas in the house - most commonly in the rumpus beside the computer (which was next to the big door to outisde), but also next to my sister's piano in the sitting room, on the stairs, and in the corner of the verandah. If you went into the kitchen at night, or the near the birdcage in the afternoon, you would feel watched and terrified, like she was standing right in front of you.

After a little while, my step-father decided to start renovating the house. The lady in the garden certainly didn't take well to this, and as his projects got progressively more drastic the more she seemed to lash out against him. His first project was to move the walls of the master bedroom to make it big enough to accommodate an en suite. His tools would go missing overnight and reappear somewhere else in the house, and everyone would deny moving them. Then he started re-laying tiles and the tiles would start breaking sporadically after he laid them (and he's no shoddy DIY-er, he's the quintessential Jack of All Trades, so there's no way he was just doing it wrong).

After that, she seemed determined to dislike all of us. Glasses would fall from the bench and shatter when they were placed well out of harm's way, footsteps could be heard on the stairs at night, and then, when my stepfather was relaying the roofing of the verandah, he suddenly took a horrible one and a half storey fall and landed on his back. To this day, he insists that he was safely away from the edge. He had stood up to move around the another side of a plastic panel, and when he was about to step he suddenly lunged forward and stumbled off the edge - he says it was as if he was pushed, but he refuses to believe such a thing. My mother, sister and I were all in the kitchen at the time and watched in horror as he went sailing passed the window. While he survived with very little harm (he only completely screwed up his back) he had to postpone any other modifications to the house until he was better, and remained seat-bound for almost five months after.

Things continued as "normal" after that - glasses smashing, footsteps on the stairs, etc., - until we decided to move out of the house in favour of a place that suited my parents more. It was then that my stepfather decided to improve the value of the house by including a theatre as a fourth level to the house - below the dining room/sitting room and to the left of the garage door. As it neared completion, our finches started dying inexplicably. Our original finches were long gone - being small birds - but had left a one-hundred strong brood behind them, all too young to be dying "naturally".

Then, at night, my parents would hear an almighty roaring sound outside. My mother would describe it as being like the roar of a lion mixed with the vacuous bellowing of a cyclone, and it would scare her into hysterics (a difficult task, believe me). There would be times when it sounded like it was right outside her window, and sometimes it would sound like it was on the far side of the yard, and always it was followed by a thunderous slamming on the roof that would wake everyone in the house up. My parents tried to dismiss the noises as those of possums, but if those were possums then I'm a drop bear.

As far as we could tell, the neighbours never heard or saw a thing - at night or during the day. We moved out of there pretty quickly after that, and have never experienced anything like it since. We never found out the history of the house - it was fairly new and my parents refused to believe something was in there with us. The land did once belong to a wealthy family who originally settled the area, and the family has an awful history, so possibly it was one of their spirits. Whoever it was though, she certainly wasn't nice.

Other hauntings by pulsus

Hauntings with similar titles

Find ghost hunters and paranormal investigators from Australia

Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, pulsus, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

geetha50 (15 stories) (986 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2011-07-26)
LouSlips, deviousangel, darkness, taz, and Javelina,

Did I ever tell you guys are crazy? I guess that I like you guys and keep coming back.

Pulsus,
I'm sorry about your step father. I hope he is feeling better now. I was told or read somewhere that not all ghosts accept changes because they believe that the place that they live in still belongs to them. Many times prayers or something along those lines are done to keep the peace in the house before renos are done.

I had to actually look up drop bear... Now I can't think of Koalas without thinking about drop bears. Thanks guys.
taz890 (12 stories) (1380 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2011-05-31)
ohh sounds good devious always on the look out for the less well known spots always seem the best like a tiny club here in uk down in london...
This is not the site to mention it but oh boy! What an eye opener but any one I ask has never heard of it
DeviousAngel (11 stories) (1910 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-05-31)
taz, trust me mate, I know all the best spots. And the ones I don't know about, I know people who DO know the other spots, lol.
taz890 (12 stories) (1380 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2011-05-27)
deviousangel I can be a tad criptic sometimes so no need to say sorry 😁
If I ever get chance to hop the pond and vist your interesting country will be shouting you up for that info, I'm always looking for "places of interest" to visit (cough cough)

Anyway from the comments you leave on here I would have to say your a yellow crayon! Very bright 😉

Carl ❤
DeviousAngel (11 stories) (1910 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-05-27)
Taz - sorry mate, I am certainly not the brightest crayon in the box... Or the sharpest tool in the shed...etc. 😉 If that's the case I know a great place you can go!
taz890 (12 stories) (1380 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2011-05-26)
deviousangel I see my brit style of whit has slipped past you without you noticeing.

From what you say I do have a great brit accent and I'm sure I would go down a storm there,
But will be looking for lodgings in the north of california...
DeviousAngel (11 stories) (1910 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-05-26)
Dr. Lou -

You are a hero. Hopefully the highly trained and skilled members of staff at your facility will enable me to fit in the sink once more.

Taz -

Dr. Lou seems to have only accounted for the Northern half of Cali... I live in the Southern part, where you will find much more competition. But if you have anything close to a non-American accent, your chances are MUCH better! American girls love Brits 😉
taz890 (12 stories) (1380 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2011-05-26)
sorry to but in on this consutation 😳
Did I hear that right!
Only one straight guy found in california?
So that must mean...
Hmmmmm
Ok who here lives in california and needs a brit roommate?!?
I can cook too 😁
Anyone?
LouSlips (10 stories) (979 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2011-05-26)
I see you read the brochure... We agree here at Dr. Lou's that nothing can be too large.

Did I mention we sell wheelbarrows and back support products as well?

Lou
DeviousAngel (11 stories) (1910 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-05-26)
Dr. Lou,

Vampire Voluptuous! Now that sounds just downright...devious. No fee is too large when it comes to the Elvira look, although I'm pretty sure that I know why she has such big hair. I think it's because they pulled all of her face skin back and pinned it at the base of her skull.

Pencil me in, doc! ❤
LouSlips (10 stories) (979 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-05-26)
Yes, maam.

The ectoplasm is plentiful, but it is difficult to get into a syringe... So the cost is substantial. But with six easy treatments, we'll have you looking like Elvira in no time.
Our treatments come in three categories; you can be Vampire Voluptuous, Ghostly Gorgeous, or Entity Elegant... You choose. Do not spare the dinero on this treatment, just because you actually found the one straight guy in California, does not mean you won't have to work to keep him.

Lou
DeviousAngel (11 stories) (1910 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-05-26)
Dr. Lou,

I would like to request a pamphlet on going rates for ectoplasm injections. I hear it's much safer than botox and these days...it's like the stuff is everywhere!
LouSlips (10 stories) (979 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2011-05-26)
DA,
You name it little lady, we do them all.

Here at Dr. Lou's we treat our enhancements like paranormal nonbelievers treat things they can't understand.

Our motto is: "If you can touch them, they are real"

Lou
DeviousAngel (11 stories) (1910 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-05-26)
Lou,

Whether or not I'm allergic depends on what kinds of "enhancements" we're talking about. 😉
LouSlips (10 stories) (979 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-05-26)
No problemo, DA.

Here at Dr. Lou's House of Plastic Surgery, we can fix that damage and throw in a few enhancements as well. Do you have any history of allergic reactions to gypsum?

Lou
DeviousAngel (11 stories) (1910 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2011-05-26)
Excellent story! I'm sorry to hear that your stepdad got hurt. I agree, I don't think she liked the renovations one bit. She probably felt that your family was encroaching on her territory.

Flaming: Please reference the children's section of the library for short and concise stories more in your realm of understanding.

Lou: I'm pretty sure I'm going to need reconstructive surgery done on my face after laughing like that!
LouSlips (10 stories) (979 posts)
+3
13 years ago (2011-05-26)
pulsus,
Very enjoyable read. Hey Flamer, the books on tape are in the next aisle.

Lou

This comment from flamingschizoid is hidden due to low rating. Show comment

DARKNESS (3 stories) (2022 posts)
+3
13 years ago (2011-05-25)
See I told you all drop bears were real but no you didn't believe me! 😆 😆

Pulses what a great story I thoroughly enjoyed it must have beeen damn frightning at time specially trying to picture hearing what that roaring sound your mum heard was like! Thats freaky. She seemed to be quite harmless to begin with but as soon as the renovating started to happen is when all hell broke loose. This is quite a typical occurence during renovations.

Thanks for sharing.

Dan
dragonwalker (5 stories) (77 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2011-05-25)
Lou... In keeping with the "hairbands worth a darn", White Snake must be mentioned. What I want to know is what people used back in the day to keep those mullets spiky! Having never had one myself (as I am ALL party, everywhere, all the time), my curiousity has been killing me for years. Is it Aquanet? A little truck grease, for that "grown out roots" look that was so popular with fluffy, spiky mullets?
pulsus (2 stories) (7 posts)
+5
13 years ago (2011-05-25)
Haha! Guys, I'm in stitches! I think this is the best thread hi-jack I've ever read!

Also, thanks for everyone who commented so far! There's not much I can do about it now, but it was definitely very confusing and frightening for me at the time. My mum was the only one who was willing to cencede that there might be someone else living with us. My sister was and is (and always will be) a very stubborn and hard-headed skeptic, and my step-father is only marginally better.

LouSlips - The word 'rumpus' has only ever been used in reference to that particular room in that particular house. In every other house I've lived in before and after it's been the 'lounge room', but that one was always the rumpus. I'm obviously also trying to break the record for using that word in the comments. 😜 Haha
taz890 (12 stories) (1380 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2011-05-25)
pulsus fantastic story loved it 😁
Glad to hear tour stepdad was ok after rest but it sounds like that was hell to live through.
Those poor birds 😢
Thanks for sharing
Carl

P.s I have "meet" dropbears before evil just evil 😆

And as for the other locals, guys chuck us some moonshine over the fence these pigs is playing up again
LouSlips (10 stories) (979 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2011-05-25)
What IS up with all these uppity womenfolk? Y'all thinks jus' 'cause a fella's got...huh?...whitesnake?...Well I got yer' wh...ugh! Owwwww! Now why in tarnation did you go and do that? Do not do that again... I only got one left after that barbwire fence jumpin' accident ya' know!

Y'all are crrrazy!
dragonwalker (5 stories) (77 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2011-05-25)
O.O You forgot White Snake with yer Skynyrd. Also, you needa refluff yer mullet.
Javelina (4 stories) (3749 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-05-25)
Back up mister! I ain't nobody's second hand Jane. Now you get on down the road! And don't you let me catch you out by them sheep either. Now move!
LouSlips (10 stories) (979 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2011-05-25)
Yes'm. I reckon she's got her sights set higher than the likes of me... This Ralph characters pro'bly got hi'self a job and trimmed backhair and everything.

I was sure she was the one, but hell, I got lots 'a cousins.

Javelina, you sure do look nice in them truck fog lights...
Javelina (4 stories) (3749 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2011-05-25)
BJJ and Lou, You two quit yer foolin' round, and BJJ...here,take this towel and go clean yer face. Lou, You quit tryin' to get her drunk, you know her belly can't take the strong stuff!
My lands, come back after a cold and the place has gone to hell in a hand basket!
BadJuuJuu (guest)
+1
13 years ago (2011-05-25)
Well sugar bunny, his 4x4 is higher, he has one less tooth, and more stains on his wife-beater. And you should see the way he spits baccy!
(Sorry pulsus. Sometimes we go a little goofy.)
LouSlips (10 stories) (979 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2011-05-25)
If you say so Darlin'. What is that smell, and why is your hair all wet on one side?

Have you seen Bubba lately?...I don't think that tailgate can hold much more than him.

But seriously, Darlin'...look me in my good eye, no, the other one...what's this Ralph got that I aint?
BadJuuJuu (guest)
+1
13 years ago (2011-05-25)
Ralph? He's...he's...um...oh look, Bubba has some moonshine! Let's just sit on this here tailgate with Bubba and forget all about Ralph. 😉

Read previous comments

To publish a comment or vote, you need to be logged in (use the login form at the top of the page). If you don't have an account, sign up, it's free!

Search this site: