That Old House

I remember it all clearly. My mom divorcing my dad and moving out across the country. It was a big adjustment for me being in a totally new town with hundreds of people I didn't know. But anyway, we had found this old house by a lake that my mom fell in love with. To me, the house was a mess. It was a two-story house with white paint that was beginning to thin and chip off the boards. The roof had shingles that were constantly blowing off. Some the windows were broken and rain had gotten inside and ruined areas of the floor. I hated the house but my mom saw it as an opportunity.

We hired a couple of guys to fix the house up for us. My mom had some friends that we could stay with until our house was complete. I remember getting up, going to school, and coming home and then driving my mom to the old house to see how much progress had been made that day. After a few weeks, the house was ready to live in but still needed some touches. The reason being that my mom wanted to do the rest of the work herself to save some money.

The first things that I experienced were just little things. Doors slamming, eerie footsteps, etc but I could contribute most of them to the age and condition of the house. But there were some that I couldn't explain such as a patch of cold air would drift out of my bedroom when you would walk by it sometimes. The thing is that it last a few seconds and then it would go back to normal. I didn't know what to think of it. Another strange thing was that small items, especially car keys, wallets, etc would mysteriously vanish and reappear in weird places. One incident was I was late to school become my keys were gone and I know I put them on my dresser and somehow they wounded up on the kitchen table.

These little things would happen up to three times a week but me or my mom wouldn't think anything about them since they didn't occur that often.

Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. That's when things really got crazy. I remember I was sitting at my desk listening to some music when I looked out and saw a man in a beater and worn blue jeans smoking a cigar looking over the lake. A bit startled by this, I debated whether or not I should do anything. I opened up my window to ask him who he was and why he was on our property. I yelled out my window and the man turned, looked at me and began to walk towards the house. I immediately felt a strong feeling of terror but I got my trusty Louisville Slugger and went out into the yard. Expecting to meet him at the door I came crashing through the door. But to my amazement, I saw nothing.

When my mom got home that night, I described the man to her and asked her if any of our neighbors met that description. She told me no and that he could have been a trespasser. I played it off as such and continued about my day. But he still haunted my dreams.

A few weeks passed and my mom went to visit some friends back home over the weekend. She left everything in my care and left me some money for pizza. As soon as she turned the corner, I got my phone and called my buddy Kyle and asked if he wanted to crash over the weekend. I went over to pick him up since he never wanted to drive. On our way back home, we stopped at Blockbuster to rent a couple movies and some games.

As I pulled into the driveway, Kyle asked my if we were the only two people in the house and I told him yes and he asked me about a guy on the porch smoking. I looked on the porch and the man was there again. He had an extremely angry expression and he took the cigar out of his mouth and stared at us. We stare at him then he began to walk away then vanished. Me and Kyle stare at each other in disbelief.

I called my mom to tell her about what we saw. She just went on and on about my imagination and something about an outcry for attention. She told me just to calm down but I couldn't. Me and Kyle did order a pizza and watch a couple movies. Luckily, they were all comedies so they did brighten our mood. Later that night, he had to bring up the whole cigar man ordeal and it got us both scared. We both sat in the kitchen and made a cake for some reason with the lights on all night. When the sun rose, I took Kyle home and I relaxed. Everything was quiet for a few weeks.

It was around midnight. I was watching television. My mom was just getting home from work when I heard her screaming. I immediately jumped up and bolted out the door to see what was going on. She was leaning on the hood of her car with her hand on her chest. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that she had seen a man in a beater and jeans come from around the side of the house smoking a cigar. With an enraged look on his face. We were both aware an this ghost, spirit, haunting, or whatever you want to call it was in that old house and it didn't like the fact we were there.

Later on, me and a couple of friends were talking at the lunch table and the conversation turned to ghosts. I told them about what I had seen and then a girl passed by our table and she overheard our conversation. She asked us if we lived in the white house on River Oak Rd and I said yes and she told me a short history of the house.

Apparently, the "Cigar Man", as we called him, was once an abusive husband. He had a wife and he treated her like trash. She also told me that he cheated on her on numerous occasions. Then one night, his wife came home early and caught him in bed with with another woman. Infuriated, she got a pistol that he kept in his dresser drawer and shot him several times.

I didn't know what to say. She told me that I should try to make contact with the thing. So I took her advice and bought a tape recorder and a couple of four track cassettes. I tried for weeks but only got silence. Until one night, I got what I had been waiting for. It came as a voice. It sounded drunken and angry. Just a "SHUT-UP!" It motivated me to keep on searching.

Ever since then, I've encountered that ghost. Even years afterwards. Whether it be small such as misplaced keys or a full body apparition. My mom still lives in that old house. I am almost finished with college. To this day, she sometimes sees the "Cigar Man". I also do sometimes. He seems to be attracted to my mom but can't say for sure. Anyway, that's my experience.