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Old Apartment Building

 

My story began about 30yrs ago in Cleveland. I was pretty young in the late 70's and didn't know much about ghosts or ghost stories as of yet. My older sisters would see that I became very intimate with such things soon enough. But that's another story.

My family and I lived in an old apartment building during the 70's which was recently labeled as a historical landmark. The building was built in 1897 if I'm not mistaken and was somewhat run down. It was a three story brick building with the atrium being located in the enclosed center of the building. This made it possible for one to see almost any apartment in the building from the center of the atrium. It also had a basement which was split in half. One side for doing laundry, and the other side god knows what. I never did seem to see what was on the other side of the door. There were two main entrances to the building, one in the front, facing the street and the other on the side of the building which also led to the basement. The front entrance had a huge very wide stairway with the railing made of spindles which were spaced just the right size for a hand to reach through and grab a leg. There was also a very dark short hallway which went along side of this staircase as well. My sisters and I would always hate having to go in either entrance after a certain time of the day, it was just very foreboding.

So far there hasn't been too much in my story that was scary, but let me begin by telling you that I still have dreams to this day 30yrs later about things that occurred there. For instance, one day my sisters and some other kids were playing ball on the side of the building leading to the basement. The ball was kicked towards the front of the building in the street and I happened to go after it. While walking towards the street I noticed something out of the corner of my eye coming down from the top of the building and heard a weird sound like someone had poured a pitcher of water onto the cement from the 3rd floor. No sooner do I grab the ball from the street and start walking back do I notice something laying on the sidewalk in the front of the building. From what I can remember after walking towards the object it appeared to be a baby. Not only did it appear to be a baby, but it was the baby that lived upstairs from where I lived. Somehow this child managed to work its way out of the window and onto the sidewalk below. This child was not tall enough in my opinion to work itself up and and over the window sill but none the less here it was laying and dying in front of my eyes.

Another situation that I recall happening was that upstairs in front of the same apartment as the one where the baby fell out of the window, a woman had a heart attack in the hallway and died on the spot. I was pretty young but I do recall seeing the ambulance drivers wheeling a gurney out through the front entrance of the building with a body wrapped in a white sheet.

After these two incidences things seem to heat up in my life. One day I was looking out of the front window of my apartment down at a car with what appeared to be some type of weird face looking up at me from underneath. It was just barely dusk but it seemed as if this face was very humanlike yet the rest of the body was crouched like an animal. I tried to make sounds and scream at it but there was no movement coming from it. I still to this day replay that sight in my mind trying to figure out what I was looking at but haven't a clue.

Another weird situation was one night when we were sitting in the apartment watching the television. My parents used to keep it dark because we had little money and electricity wasn't that cheap. Well we were all sitting there and all of a sudden we notice there was a black cat in the room where we were watching tv. We didn't own any pets so the cat didn't belong to us. This cat found its way into our apartment scaring the heck out of all of us.

There were many more weird things like noises throughout the apartment at night and things being misplaced. The worst thing is the recurring dreams I still have about something watching me as I walk through the hallways but never being able see what exactly is watching me.

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

whitebuffalo (guest)
 
16 years ago (2007-12-08)
No wonder you have Post Traumatic Syndrome, Mike. I just do not know what to say. I keep picturing that poor little baby. While those two experiences do not sound paranormal, they did appear to be abnormal. The woman having a heart attack in the hallway could just have been an unfortunate event following health problems. I could see how the building might feel ominous though, especially after what you witnessed. Let us know if you do check out the buildings history and get some good (or bad, for that matter) feedback. Thank you for sharing your story.
KimSouthO (27 stories) (1960 posts)
 
16 years ago (2007-11-30)
How awful and heart breaking! For a child to fall from a window, however this occurs is absolutely terrifying.

I do believe you felt something with the feel of your story. I am with you, I probably would not want to re-enter that building either given the trauma you suffered!

God Bless!
mike (1 stories) (2 posts)
 
16 years ago (2007-11-18)
The building is still there and I occasionally pass by in the hopes that I can muster up the nerve to go back in, but as of today I haven't been in the building since the Fall of 1980. I did attempt to find out some information online but came up empty except for the fact that the building was built in 1897 and recently placed on the historical listings. As far as the baby is concerned I do not know if it survived the fall, but I do recall it making some type of crying sounds as it was being lifted into the ambulance. The building is extremely spooky looking and I just know that what I experienced was the tip of the iceberg compared to what lies in there. The things I experienced there didn't seem so traumatic at the time but looking back on them makes me wonder. I have had many other things which are on the paranormal level happen after these incidents, so I wonder if I somehow am attracting paranormal situations. I will wite some more stories of my experiences in the near future.
Bellissima (12 stories) (792 posts)
 
16 years ago (2007-11-17)
Hi mike! So, the baby actually fell from the window? Right in front of you, pretty much? That would be a terrible trauma for you. That combined with the lady who had a heart attack seem good reasons to have unusual events happen in your building. That's such a lot of sadness in a such a short period of time. You mention the baby seemed too small to have managed to climb out the window on his/her own, did you ever find out what actually happened? Was the baby pushed or thrown (as I'm writing this my stomach is churning)? Your building was quite old, I wonder if it had been plagued with such terrible things during its past. Even if the building had a regular history, awful things and untimely deaths happen anyway. That's a lot of years for spirits to have been caught there. Did you ever try to find out the history of the building? Maybe you could do so now. Thanks for sharing your story, I enjoyed it. (except for the part about the baby falling 😢)
mustang (5 stories) (749 posts)
 
16 years ago (2007-11-17)
OMG! I can't believe that about the baby falling from the apartment. I would have screamed bloody murder! That is so horrible! And the poor woman and the heart attack. Each situation could have an explanation instead of it being paranormal but you are the one who lived there and experienced these things. I do believe you because of the way you spoke in your story. I'm assuming you don't know the history on this building so I think you should find out, if you still can. Is the building still there? Thanks for sharing your story. ~Shelby ❤

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