You are here: Real Ghost Stories :: Apparitions / Voices / Touches :: A Frail Old Lady

Real Ghost Stories

A Frail Old Lady

 

It was the year of 1975 in a small town In Northern Mexico, and I was 6 year old. My mother used to have this old friend of hers whom her own ancient mother had just recently passed away and whom I had never met.

My mother went to give her condolences. As they talked, I roamed around the old fancy house. My mother and her friend walked out the house. Then, a draft of wind shut the door closed and soon I realized I was locked inside. A quiet terror took over me and I screamed but the lady did not have her keys to open the door, and in the middle of my desperation I could not find the way to open the fancy cast iron lock with latch which was mounted in a metal door. In the end, after much screaming and trying, I gave up and just curled up in a fetal position down in a corner by the door, arms crossed over my knees and my head buried in my arms, and bawled my eyes out.

I heard a very kind, old and frail female voice that told me to stop crying. The voice came from nowhere and everywhere, and at some point I swear it was whispering in both my ears or right inside my head. I lifted my head, and looked straight ahead the long corridor which lead to another door and out to a patio and I saw nobody. Then looked toward the door located to the right of the hallway which led to the living room, and saw nothing. I looked upwards and right there at the end of the hallway up in the air a female-shaped see-through figure descended and advanced all at once from nowhere. She wore an old-fashioned nightgown and nightcap. She had gray-white tresses very dainty and faint barely touching her chest and as she passed under the sunlight of the ceiling's sky-light, she seemed to disappear for a second to subtly but surely be there again as she advanced toward me under the shaded side of the hallway.

As she descended, she got close to the door without ever stepping on the floor or completely materializing. She commanded me to get up and try the lock again but I was too terrified to do so. Then she proceeded herself to pull the latch that would unlock the door. I heard the click, and saw the light enter through the crack. Quickly I got up and in my desperation to leave I passed through her! As I did, I felt a chill and a strange force pulling from inside me. I pushed the door wide open and bolted out. I ran until I was home in my father's arms, then I told him everything he just nodded and held me close. I never saw another thing like that, ever, and I am so grateful for that.

Hauntings with similar titles

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, Anoize, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments but I won't participate in the discussion.

Bibliothecarius (9 stories) (1091 posts)
+2
9 years ago (2015-09-14)
Anoize,

You have my apologies, also, for the callous indifference with which I treated your situation. Did you keep a back-up copy of the 5,000-word version as you originally constructed it? It would be very informative for us to read it.

(Mods: is it possible for Anoize to resubmit the story, or should she post it here in the comments for us?)

The sad thing is that (despite the reactions to maternal behavior discussed in this thread) I can sympathize with your predicament, partly because I can picture my mother telling me to stop panicking and to pay attention to the door handle in a stern, no-nonsense voice. I've got no doubt that she loves me, I'm just not certain she likes me a hell of a lot.

If Dona Otilia lived to 100, but kept her mind sharp, she'd have needed a forceful personality to begin with. Strength of character seems to be a prerequisite for intelligent hauntings.

Take care,
-Biblio.
Mimi81 (203 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-09-12)
Anoize, thank you for coming back and giving us the explanation. I apologize for doubting your mom just left you in your predicament.

I do believe the ghost you saw had an unusual amount of energy to do what she did.
rookdygin (24 stories) (4458 posts)
+1
9 years ago (2015-09-12)
Anoize,

Thank you for returning and filling in detials rather than 'pitching a fit' about how 'true' your experience is.

I would like to take a moment and offer my offical apology concerning my initial comment, your added details do indeed fill in 'the blanks' and the effect it has on your submission is not small.

Valkricry has summed up why you may feel the way you do very well.

I have just one real question concerning this whole thing... Was the door slamming and locking something that had happened with the door before? Was the handle 'set up' to automaticly lock when the door was closed, or did it still have the 'old fashoned' handles on it?

Again thank you for returning.

Respectfully,

Rook
valkricry (48 stories) (3257 posts) mod
+1
9 years ago (2015-09-12)
Anoize,
I'm glad you saw fit to help clear up the confusion on your story. Now that you know 1500 is the minimum and not the most words you can use, I hope your next submission will be greeted differently. However, no matter how well you think you've explained something there still might be questions. They don't always mean something is doubted, just not always understood. Also since we deal with many different cultures it can be confusing too.
Your added information does put a slightly different slant on how I see your story. I come from a large family too (8 kids total, and when I was growing up, 5 of us underfoot), and I have a hard time grasping your mom not at least talking to you, and letting you know the friend was trying to get to you. Don't get me wrong, I know women like that, but it's hard for me to understand. Just like I know women (I refuse to call them moms) who think nothing of leaving their very small children alone for hours at a time. Honestly, I just want to smack them royal. I hope this friend lived next door, and your younger brothers were being looked after.
You asked why you do not feel free from your experience. Perhaps the answer is in how you view it. Instead of seeing this as a negative 'horrifying' experience, try and see it as a positive one. I know, many of us were raised that all espiritu are bad and to be feared. However this is not so, your own experience shows that. She spoke with kindness and helped you. Try embracing that, and see if your feelings do not change.
Tweed (33 stories) (2475 posts)
+2
9 years ago (2015-09-12)
Anoize,

Thank you for taking the time to comment and explain why your story seemed disjointed. As far as I'm aware there is no word limit for this site. We do thrive on detail and unfortunately we get hit with a fair share of fiction.

I extend my sincere apologies for lumping you and your experience in with the less enlightened time wasters who occasionally slip through the cracks.

I hope our cynical nature and harsh greeting hasn't put you off. Please feel welcome to express yourself here. I do hope you continue to share your experiences with us and that our initial negativity hasn't lead you to regret submitting your encounter with Dona Otilia.
We would all absolutely hate to have left an honest person with a heavy heart.

See here, this YGS member has her tail firmly between her legs and is whimpering in the corner with a HUGE dunce hat on.

Big sorry to you Anoize!
Take care. 😳
Anoize (1 stories) (3 posts)
+2
9 years ago (2015-09-12)
lady_glow: Greetings and Thank You! I did not intend to linger in this place... But, right of the bat I read another experience so similar to mine in my teens. I hope I can find answers to my long standing almost secret experiences. I do too think that Dona Otilia wanted to be helpful, thou my best guess is that she was really not liking my bawling:) !
lady-glow (16 stories) (3149 posts)
+4
9 years ago (2015-09-12)
Anoize: thank you so much for participating in the discussion of your story. By now, you must be aware that everyone's doubts arise from the fact that your mother would walked away instead of comforting you or try to find a way to get you out of that house... Perhaps we think that everybody else (should) react in the same way we do.

I grew up in Mexico and know many houses as the one you are talking about... My next door neighbor used to have a set of my house's keys in case a member of my family forgot their own set at home.

...My mind is wandering away from the point! 😳

Anyway, there is not an upper limit for the length of a story as long as it is at least 1500 words; perhaps the initial long version of your story wouldn't have generated the same response.

My guess is Dona Otilia was still roaming through the rooms of that 'casona' and felt compelled to help you.
Anoize (1 stories) (3 posts)
+5
9 years ago (2015-09-11)
Thanks to everyone for reading my experience. My elder brothers and my elder sister told me that I had described "Dona Otilia" whom I never met to the last detail and they were very surprised to what I told them, almost 15 years ago. Dona Otilia was bedridden and sick and almost 100 years old, nevertheless at that tender age I met her in an ethereal form just days after her passing. I must mention that the whole experience lasted mere minutes, not long enough for the neighbor who was trying to jump the very high walls of the patio to get in. Yes, my mother and the lady looked for help, no I did not get any soothing, mother was a tough woman with many kids to take care of, at home were my two younger brothers waiting for mother, all she wanted was to get home and get on with her daily routine.

Initially, I wrote my experience in about 5000 words, leaving not a thing unexplained, nevertheless I had to cut it to about 1500 words, the word limit for this place. After all this years, I had never put in written what happened to me, and I carried it with me for so many years until it came to light with my family and now this way. I mean not to upset a soul, it is not my intention.

I wanted to write about my experience for the sake of letting it out... I do not look to explain myself, I am not trying to convince no one of what I myself hardly want or desire to re-live, and I do not wish for any one to experience the horrors of such encounter. As a final note, any one who lived in a northern Mexican town back in the 70's would know at least to some extent that houses were not fancy, and some didn't even had locks, like mine, it had nothing but a wooden latch that opened up by pulling a string.

The house where it all happened was almost a fortress, with wrought iron works protecting the two windows that faced the street. House's layout in my country follows no pattern, this one house had no backdoor, just an entrance door (the one I mentioned) the breezeway/hallway, which lead at the end of the hallway to a patio in the open air, there was a door to the right of the hallway which lead to a living room, said patio was surrounded with entrances to various dorms and to a stand alone kitchen-room, while the rest of the rooms were interconnected.

And now it is done, my experience is out. I thought I would feel free from it, but I don't, and I wonder why...
Tweed (33 stories) (2475 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-09-11)
Haunted Childhood, sorry you feel that way. The likelihood of the OP returning to comment is apparently naught because of the party pooper option:
"I will read the comments but I won't participate in the discussion."😭

I don't believe in ghosts, there's no such thing. 😜
haunted_childhood (34 posts)
+3
9 years ago (2015-09-11)
Just because a story SEEMS questionable, doesn't prove without a doubt that it's fabricated. Though it may sound made up, sometimes the truth IS stranger than fiction. (I know this from my OWN "unbelievable" experiences) and I've noticed that the people on this site are so quick to whip out the ol' "BS Blankie" as you all call it. Whatever happened to giving someone the benefit of the doubt? You have no more proof that this story is false than you do that it's true. And with getting mob-mocked like this, no wonder the OP didn't come back to explain herself. People shouldn't be so quick to judge & accuse. It's a very strange world we live in, and sometimes incredible things DO happen. Or do you not believe in ghosts? I have to wonder...?
Tweed (33 stories) (2475 posts)
+3
9 years ago (2015-09-10)
For me it was curling up under the door sobbing. Something about the wording of those many details didn't ring true. The rest was a shambles. If this is a true story I'd be very surprised.

Side note: You know you've spent too much time on YGS when you see a bus on the street and call it a 'magic bus'. Which is exactly what I do now. 😆
Biblio, let's get this party started.
lexi-loo (1 stories) (175 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-09-10)
I would also like to ask the O/P what kind of door was this, was it a heavy door, was it a door that swings closed on its own or was it a very light door all of the above was it a heavy door that swings shut on its own?
lexi-loo (1 stories) (175 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-09-10)
lady-glow

I know, I could not imagine for one second any caring mother walking away and leaving there child terrified for there life be it paranormal or just normal, makes you sad even just thinking about it.
lady-glow (16 stories) (3149 posts)
+2
9 years ago (2015-09-10)
Lexi-loo: that's right. It seems that no one has even bothered to discuss the "paranormal" aspects of this "experience".
After reading the part where the mother walked away leaving behind her terrified child, whatever else the OP says is really hard to swallow.

No eonder the BS blanket has been already called.
lexi-loo (1 stories) (175 posts)
+1
9 years ago (2015-09-10)
if any of my kids were trapped in a house and were in fits of tears and hysterics id smash the flipping windows!
Bibliothecarius (9 stories) (1091 posts)
+1
9 years ago (2015-09-10)
"Field Trip!"
Don't forget the buddy system only works if you pick a buddy (looking at you on that one, Tweed!)
RedWolf (31 stories) (1292 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-09-09)
I think I hear Puff Byram warming up the bus so val can make grilled Swiss cheese sandwiches before we all climb on a nice air conditioned bus. We can make microwave popcorn and tell each other our Real ghost stories so we can scare the bejeezus out of each other.
Can I drive this time?
Red
dreamer01 (1 stories) (117 posts)
+2
9 years ago (2015-09-08)
oh anoize,
You do realise that this is a site to relay your own true experiences don, t you! Just remember the golden rule of " what goes around comes around ". If you deceive someone so shall you be. 🤔
valkricry (48 stories) (3257 posts) mod
+1
9 years ago (2015-09-08)
Well this particular STORY left me duly unimpressed.
I CAN believe the door closed and auto-locked. I CAN believe that someone unfamiliar with the latch (especially a 6 year old) couldn't figure out how to open it. I CAN believe a 6 year old panicking and going into hysterics at being locked in a strange house and unable to think of trying another exit. I can't believe that neither ADULT thought of trying another way in, and if that failed BOTH abandon the child and go for help. Or that the Mom, at least was not trying to sooth the kid, even by talking through the locked door.
Swiss cheese on a radiator has less holes and makes more sense.
Rook, let's have a campfire and tell ghost stories! Please?
WillowWaly (2 stories) (97 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-09-08)
Rookdygin said: "Add the fact that the individuals mother and or the home owner did not suggest trying another door or even a window as a means of egress to our desprate 6 year old just makes no sense to me (Father of 4...3 living). It took a 'Ghost' to let them out? I'm not buying it."

Thank you so much for this. If I hadn't seen comments of this sort when I began reading here at YGS, I wouldn't have kept reading at all.
rookdygin (24 stories) (4458 posts)
+1
9 years ago (2015-09-08)
I must agree, even if the lock is sticky front or back doors are designed so that when they are locked they keep people OUT not IN.

I think the big tell is that NOTHING else was even attempted...NOTHING. Not a window, not the back door NOTHING... Why is that?

Respectfully,

Rook
Mimi81 (203 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-09-08)
Anoize, I have a quick question. When you realized the door was locked, why didn't you go out the patio door?
Mimi81 (203 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-09-08)
Rook, the BS Blankie is probably a good call. A ghost would have to have an unusual amount of energy to materialize in the daylight, speak to someone, and pull up a latch on a door.

Plus, there's all the other problems with the story. I know when my niece accidentally locked herself in a room her mom went through a window to get in the room. I think that's what would happen in most cases.
rookdygin (24 stories) (4458 posts)
+2
9 years ago (2015-09-08)
Here we go folks the Holloween submissions have begun.

Door locks have not changed (much) over the years and while they can be a 'bit' sticky at times locking themselves when a breeze closes, or even slams, a door is unlikely. Add the fact that the individuals mother and or the home owner did not suggest trying another door or even a window as a means of egress to our desprate 6 year old just makes no sense to me (Father of 4...3 living). It took a 'Ghost' to let them out? I'm not buying it.

This of course is only my opinion, but I am tossing the BS Blankie on this STORY, becasue I feel that is just what it is a STORY not a true EXPERIENCE.

Respectfully,

Rook
lady-glow (16 stories) (3149 posts)
+1
9 years ago (2015-09-08)
Anoize: do you mean your mother and her friend walked away from the door even when you were inside crying and couldn't find a way out? 🤔
Where did they go?
How come they didn't stay there trying to calm you down until you could open the door?
Why did you have to run all the way to your house instead of just looking for your mother?

It would be nice if you decide to participate in the discussion and explain the many holes in your story.

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: