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A Haunting Melody

 

This is one of many strange and unexplainable occurrences that have taken place at my childhood home. The history of the land on which it stands is rather well known, at this point: long ago, it was a logging camp, a camp for Japanese students, and a Boy Scout camp. Eventually it was purchased by my grandparents, sectioned off into three lots, one of which was bought by my father. This is where my parents' house now stands.

The following is one of the more recent instances of paranormal or unexplained activity.

During the summer of 2009, I was pregnant and temporarily staying with my parents and my two younger siblings. My father was out of town, staying the weekend at my parents' lake house, so my mother and I decided to make it a movie weekend. We rented 'Coraline', got some Chinese food, and started getting ready to watch the movie in our living room. My sister didn't want to watch the movie with us, too busy watching some action movie in her bedroom.

I think Mom must have forgotten something in her bedroom, because she paused the movie before it even started and went into the back of the house. My brother and I were sitting in the living room, waiting for her to come back, when I suddenly heard a piano playing faintly. It was a run of seven notes, forming a melody that I'd never heard before. And it sounded as if it was coming from just outside the large living room windows. I looked at my brother, who looked right back at me, wide-eyed. We both agreed that we'd heard the same thing.

The sound echoed again, although this time it sounded as if it were coming from an entirely different area - beyond the front door, on the complete opposite side of the house. Stunned (and definitely curious), we followed the slow, slightly creepy melody out of the living room and to the foyer.

"It sounds like it's coming from the back," my brother said quietly. I disagreed, insisting that it was drifting away, over the yard and toward the woods at the limits of our property. But as I listened, I realized that it sounded as if it was going... Both ways? The melody seemed to be coming and going from all directions at once.

Our mom came out of her bedroom then, and my brother and I quickly agreed to ask her if she'd heard it as well. "Did you hear that?" we asked her as she walked toward us.

"What?" she asked, "You mean the piano?" Well that settled it. My brother and I weren't just going crazy simultaneously. The three of us searched through the house, trying to find a logical source for the music. We checked music boxes, mp3 players, televisions, cell phones, and of course the two pianos in the house - anything that could have produced the melody. We questioned my sister, who swore she hadn't heard anything over the noise of her movie (we also considered the possibility that maybe we heard her movie, but that proved to be wrong). We couldn't find anything that made sense, and we decided we weren't going to go outside chasing some creepy, invisible music into the woods.

"Must have been the ghost," my mom said, shrugging. We left it at that, and went back to the living room, closed the curtains against the darkness, and continued on with our movie. Nothing else happened that night.

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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, little_love_lolo, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

AngelClem11 (1 posts)
 
10 years ago (2013-11-01)
If you could post the melody on youtube I may be able to identify the melody. It seems like a siren song. You were right to stay inside. If you got separated and their was a siren it would attack. The most likely reason for the two noises on different sides? Their trying to separate you. They don't attack groups.
little_love_lolo (4 stories) (33 posts)
 
12 years ago (2011-11-17)
[at] spectae: I agree, it doesn't sound like a 'professional' piece of music, more like a little melody someone burped out, or yes, now that I think about it a nursery rhyme. They are rather simple and repetitive, aren't they? Can't believe I didn't think of that.
spectae (1 stories) (41 posts)
 
12 years ago (2011-11-01)
Hi little_love_lolo,

Thanks for that. I played it on my guitar. The rhythm seems to have classical elements. The repetition of the C A, with the final C# providing the connecting loop to start it again.

I agree it sounds kind of spooky and might be except for the fact that it is so dull and dreary. I wouldn't place the music say after 1900. Thinking of the styles that have developed since then.

So maybe a part of some old traditional song. Alternatively, someone at that time who just came up with that tune, seeing it is so basic.

It lacks musical quality in my view. I would ask if they know anything better or if that is just a "personal" tune.

To sound of the notes, it could be:
"One two, one two, one two, three".

Maybe part of a nursery rhyme?

Thanks again... I would have popped on the piano and played a proper melody part and then tapped my foot and folder my arms... Seriously! If that is all the ghost can come up with... Not impressed! Lol

Thanks again!

PeAcE ❤
little_love_lolo (4 stories) (33 posts)
 
12 years ago (2011-10-31)
Okay, spectrae, I'm not going to pretend to know how to even begin to look at guitar tabs, but hopefully logic and years of music lessons means that I've got this right:

E---------------------------
B--1-----1-----1-----2------
G-----2-----2-----2---------
D---------------------------
A---------------------------
E---------------------------

So the melody goes C, A, C, A, C, A, C#, with the last note with a slight fermata over it, and then it would fade out. It was a few octaves higher than that of the guitar tab (think the very highest octave of a piano). It was SO spooky.

[at] Shell1982: a cellphone was actually one of the first things we considered. We searched high and low throughout the house, and we know that no one would have been walking around the outside, as our house is a bit remote. Also, in a span of about five seconds, the music went from coming behind our heads to seemingly coming from all the way across the property. And then, seconds later again, it was coming from INSIDE. Unless we've got a stalker who's got a key to the house... 😉

[at] DA: Ah, good to know. Maybe after taking my kid TorTing tonight, I'll chart it out and upload it for everyone. If that doesn't work, I'll simply record myself playing it on my keyboard and let you guys hear it that way. 😊 ❤
DeviousAngel (11 stories) (1910 posts)
 
12 years ago (2011-10-31)
If you get a moment to download it, there is a free software program called Anvil Studio that you can use to create MIDI files. You can either hook a MIDI keyboard up to them or manually enter the notes, set the tempo, etc. It is fairly easy to use (I figured it out at like 13 or 14 years old when it first came out) and you can easily upload the file somewhere like megaupload or fileshare.
Shell1982 (70 posts)
 
12 years ago (2011-10-30)
Someone walking around the outside of your house and their cellphone was ringing? The fact it was only 7 notes and kept repeating sounds REMARKABLY like a ringtone, not to mention the fact that it kept moving. Just a thought.
spectae (1 stories) (41 posts)
 
12 years ago (2011-10-30)
Hi little_love_lolo,

Can you transcribe the melody line here with musical notation?

Here is Do, Re, Me, Fa, Sol, La, Te, Do, which I just tabbed out, for guitar.

E---------------------------
B---------------------0--1--
G--------------0--2---------
D-----0--2--3---------------
A--3------------------------
E---------------------------

If it sounds like a horror melody, it could just be random, that is, the spirit needs some music lessons!

😉

PeAcE ❤
little_love_lolo (4 stories) (33 posts)
 
12 years ago (2011-10-30)
[at] taz: You're right. My sister didn't hear it because she turns her television up RIDICULOUSLY loud. Again, we did consider the possibility that her movie was carrying out to us, but then we realized that her movie was all explosions and yelling. Not much room for creepy piano music! 😊

[at] spectae: I've been able to transcribe the music I heard, but it doesn't sound like any 'normal' song. To be honest, it sounds like something from a horror movie. I tried making a music file so I could upload it to youtube and link you to it from here, but something isn't letting me save it properly! I'll keep trying and then post the link here once I'm able. 😊

[at] Argette: It's enchanting in a rather spooky way, isn't it? If only I could post the melody, you'd think it even more enchanting!

[at] Lunahenry: It wasn't stormy, actually. It was a calm, quiet night. Now that I think of it, nothing ever happens when it's stormy or rainy or anything like that.
Lunahenry (2 stories) (50 posts)
 
12 years ago (2011-10-30)
Was the night stormy. My daughter had the same experience. She and her boyfriend heard a symphony of classical music playing out in her backyard.
Argette (guest)
 
12 years ago (2011-10-29)
It all sounds rather enchanting, if scary. I used to hear similar things when I lived in a student apartment building just off campus in college. I always assumed it was one of my neighbors with an odd instrument, a synthesizer maybe.
Nysa (4 stories) (685 posts)
 
12 years ago (2011-10-28)
Ok now I am confused 😕 But I guess that is what makes these things seem otherworldly, that they don't seem to act normally. A perplexing experience on many levels.
spectae (1 stories) (41 posts)
+1
12 years ago (2011-10-28)
Hi little_love_lolo,

As a musician, I am keen to hear the melody, if you could identify such. That would also, if the tune could be identified, cast some insight into who may have caused such.

Many years ago a friend of my sister died, under horrible circumstances, and I wrote her a little goodbye song that I played on my guitar in my room. A few days later, I had set the guitar down, after having played such.

Then a hand made A3 size US flag I had made from paper, lost grip on the wall and swung down, not falling. Also then the guitar played a single note. No doubt this was spirit caused and I believe by the girl who died as others had reported her presence too... Her loss saddens me to this day, though I never knew her.

So I suspect that it may be a musical spirit. I know that would be something I'd do in spirit. So it just becomes a matter of identifying the tune, even sitting at the piano and trying to remember it. Be cool if the other piano did an Encounters of the Fourth Kind reply!

Oh and don't forget the video cameras before hand for that "Paranormal" vibe! 😆

PeAcE ❤
taz890 (12 stories) (1380 posts)
 
12 years ago (2011-10-28)
what a strange experience. You say it sounded like the piano was next to you so it could not have been sound carried from else where, sound carried is normaly faint not like its next to you.
I doubt it was imagined either you say your mum said it was a piano when you asked her if she heard something, if you had said you asked her if she heard a piano then that would be like surgesting the fact first.
But your sister heard nothing so it could not have been in the house unless her movie was playing quiet loudly but then if it was then you migh not have heard noice from out side anyway.
Creepy!
Carl
little_love_lolo (4 stories) (33 posts)
 
12 years ago (2011-10-28)
I just realize what you meant by 'projected from the trees', Nysa. It didn't really sound like it was COMING from anywhere. You could hear it as clearly as if it were a piano playing right next to you, even though it was coming from outside. And when it came from INSIDE, it had the echo of the hallway attached to it. So it wasn't really drifting, technically speaking (poor choice of words on my part), but each time it played it sounded like it was soundly situated in a different place, but still clearly audible to your ears. Who knows, maybe we were all imagining it! Is there such a thing as mass auditory hysteria? 😉
little_love_lolo (4 stories) (33 posts)
 
12 years ago (2011-10-28)
[at] stephyw2001: If that's what happened, it's the first and only time that I can ever recall. I found it interesting that at one point it sounded as though it was coming from INSIDE the house as well. It was an extremely clear sound, and sounds coming from our back hallway have a VERY distinct sound to them when you hear them from the front. I guess I just wish I had an example of such an occurrence to compare what I know I heard and what you're suggesting. Drat. 😠

[at] Nysa: I know that certain types of rocks and minerals in the ground can absorb electromagnetic energy and work as a sort of natural 'tape recorder' wherein they'll replay that energy under the right conditions. Another interesting thought...

I would also like to point out that both of my pianos are antiques. One is nearly 120 years old, the other about 60 years. We acquired them from people who were not the original owners, but know nothing about the owners before them. Loving the input here, guys! ❤
stephyw2001 (guest)
 
12 years ago (2011-10-28)
I was thinking it echoed from off property. Sound can carry a distance, and the further it travels the more eerie it can sound. Especially if the sound wave gets broken by the trees. It could bounce all around and by the time it gets to you, sound completely jarbled from what it started out sounding like.
Nysa (4 stories) (685 posts)
 
12 years ago (2011-10-28)
Since you said there were 2 pianos in the house my first thought was that one might have something attached to it. But if that were the case why would it seem to come from outside. The way you describe it makes me think of it projected from the trees. I wonder if pieces of the natural landscape can absorb & emit sounds or images the way we think some buildings do. Creating an audible residual haunting of a tune played there in the past?
little_love_lolo (4 stories) (33 posts)
 
12 years ago (2011-10-28)
[at] pigscantflyx: It definitely wasn't the movie. My brother and I could clearly see that it was paused while we heard this thing.

[at] DA: I have some music-notation software. I'll notate the snippet of song tonight and see if I can post it on Youtube, and link it back here. 😊

[at] stphyw2001: We do have woods around the perimeter of the property on which our house is located. Are you suggesting that the sound came from outside our property, or that it came from inside our property and the woods just broke up the pattern? An interesting theory.
stephyw2001 (guest)
+1
12 years ago (2011-10-28)
Was there anything nearby that the sound could have echoed? Especially if there are woods nearby, the trees would break up the sound pattern and it would give the illusion that sound was coming from different locations. Just a thought.
DeviousAngel (11 stories) (1910 posts)
+1
12 years ago (2011-10-28)
That is very creepy indeed. I would be interested to hear what the melody sounded like. It seems like it could possibly be residual energy left over from one of the camps that had been there.
pigscantflyx (5 posts)
-1
12 years ago (2011-10-28)
hmm... Prob like the movie but good luck on finding that sound and finding the explanation to it. I would be creeped out too if like that started playing when I were watching a movie and nothing was there...

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