Alright, so a little backstory here. I have never believed in ghosts or spirits. I believed in reincarnation to a point, but that is just science since energy can neither be made nor destroyed so it must go somewhere when a person is no longer using it. I also have always worked in the sciences (computer science, math and chemistry) since I got out of High School and after extracting myself from the religious cult I was raised in, I became more a person that doesn't discount religion but I have zero belief of any "all knowing being", rather that someone wrote out some rules on how to live in a society with other people and came up with the myths to create fear to make people follow said rules.
My sister lived In NE near Tecumseh (our house is the only one in our tiny town matching my descriptions so I won't give the actual city, leaving maybe 6 or 7 close matches within 45 minutes of Tecumseh), 4 states away from any other family having moved for the military with her husband (she is the military not him) and found herself suddenly having a divorce when she got back from Afghanistan (he was "sad" and "lonely" and it was only while she was gone, good riddance) so her house was in turmoil and she didn't want to be alone. Being the wronged spouse, she took the house, the car, the pets, and got the mortgage with it. She called me, knowing that unemployment had me underemployed and fed up with my life in my home state, and she asked me to come live with her, keep noise moving around in the house and help her get back on her feet, with the promise of a job in a new career path that would do all training needed on the job with state benefits and excellent pay.
So I jumped at it, didn't ask a lot of questions figuring that what she meant by keep noise going in the house to be keep her from realizing she is "alone" after leaving home at 18, living in the barracks until married at 21, and then living with her husband unless deployed, plus I had the offer letter for the job and knew I could only go up from where I was at the time.
Once I moved here a lot of weird things began happening in her house. I didn't think anything of it, I mean she has 2 dogs and 2 cats, plus my dog and cat so things getting knocked over and random noises are to be expected with 6 animals. Also, she would joke when stuff was missing and say to check the Credenza in the dining room and the servant's pantry as the "mice" sometimes hide things there (no she doesn't have servants, she does own a house built in the 1700's and is beyond huge and original and has restored pieces from those eras as furniture). She was almost always right, but again I didn't think anything of it.
Since I mentioned my sister and the pets, let me go ahead and tell you where we all were at the time this instance took place. My sister was on the second floor sleeping soundly (she has PTSD so she is medicated strongly at night and never makes noise in her sleep but maybe snoring) with both of her dogs who were also sound asleep (and the door leading to the upper stairway was shut), my cat was laying on the couch next to me sound asleep and silent, my dog was sleeping next to the AC grate by the pool table to my right in the basement rec-room, and my sister's cats were outside sleeping in their "cave" on the deck. It was a very calm night, no rain and not much wind to speak of, with our little town all tucked in for the night as they get up to work their farms around 4AM (no I am being serious I live in a town that outside of cell phones and new cars you would think was living the farm life from plantation days).
So I am sitting on the overstuffed recliner in the basement, reading a book and drinking hot cocoa; the TV and radio off and my phone was on the main floor plugged in and charging. I was thinking that I should maybe change and work out a little bit as I had been down there being lazy for maybe 2 hours by this point when I heard footsteps up above me. I paused for a second wondering if maybe the dogs got loose from upstairs and were hoping the dog door was unlocked but I didn't hear the steps head towards the kitchen door and they stopped. So I kind of shook it off as being an old house that was settling a bit and went back to reading deciding against working out. Maybe a page later (so 5 minutes approximately) I heard the steps again, but this time they were heavier, slower and definitely footsteps. They were coming from the area of the kitchen door (which we use as our front door) and heading into the dining room. I was kind of frozen as I realized they were far too heavy to be the dogs and they seemed to be going towards where my sister was sleeping heavily medicated and most everyone in our town knows she takes meds at night, so they call me if they need something.
I closed my book, intending on setting it to the side and grabbing the shotgun from the safe before going to see what was going on, when I heard a second step of footsteps and a woman calling for Winston one of my sister's dogs. It wasn't shouting but had the force like it was supposed to be. It sounded more like someone shouting on TV, but the volume is turned way down. This was followed by a second step of footsteps from the kitchen door area to the dining room. I at this time was positive someone came into our house (you can't break in since no one locks the door, and those that do have several neighbors with keys, so someone can check on the house and pets when you are out), and I had one of the shotguns loaded and was heading up the stairs.
I opened the door to the basement stairs cautiously, since I didn't know how many were inside and didn't want my dog Fredd who is an Akita (with far too much strength and instinct to be controlled if he feels I'm threatened) to get into the kitchen, and attack someone my sister knew came in regularly (I knew of 1 couple already who had free access to the house as they help with the dogs and he knows the houses problems so he could watch better for structure and electrical concerns then we could).
When I opened the basement door I felt a blast of cold air and the hairs on my arms stood straight up in that chicken skin style which threw me off and caused me to feel abnormally anxious.
I could hear muffled talking coming from the direction of the hall my room and office were in and the door that leads to the second-floor stairway was at the head of. I couldn't make out what was being said but I could tell it was a man and a woman talking to one another. I also knew they didn't belong in here, because one thing my sister tells everyone that she let\'s come and go is that they are to never try to stay quiet, as it will set the dogs off and wake me up. If they are being quiet then we know they don't belong, if they walk in like they own the place and make their presence known then we will barely notice them.
I stepped into the kitchen and walked around the island to the front door and noticed that it was completely shut, which made no sense because it is loud when the latch catches and I would have heard it even in the basement (think hammer swinging hard on steel kind of loud), so to keep them from getting outside I locked the inner lock and took the key out (we have a deadbolt and a double key lock on the door, we never lock the double key lock except when we want no one inside so no one has a key to it but us). At this point I was still in the back of the kitchen near the closed doors leading to the servant's pantry and the regular pantry and laundry room so I had 2 doorways and a wall between me and the hall I heard muffled talking in. I could see the only other exit to the house straight through the dining room, first sitting room and mudroom to the actual front door though and could see that it was also shut.
I realized that they were no longer talking or making noise, but there were no creaking boards saying they had gone down the hall and the dog's barking was muffled meaning they hadn't gotten onto the stairs. I was hoping the electricity feeling in the air had them as frozen as I was feeling at that moment. So I forced myself forward, staying quiet and avoiding the loudest squeaky boards to get to where I could see the hall they had been in last. Just as I reached the door to the kitchen I heard that same, strange volume and all, voice say "good boy" like she was talking to Winston, but I could hear him barking like crazy and slamming into the door closed on the stairs trying to get down. I then heard a deep harsh whispering man's voice like it was right next to me saying "be careful" or maybe "watch her" it was hard to fully make out, but it made me suddenly turn to make sure no one was there that I somehow missed by the door.
I stepped into the dining room racking the shotgun, to hopefully intimidate who ever it was trying to get to my very vulnerable sister, or at the least be prepared to shoot if they were armed too. I looked rather terrified at the stair door and hall where there was absolutely no one. Not a single person or animal was there, just 2 dogs barking and slamming at the door to the stairs trying to get down, a very quiet snort from my sister trying to wake up to their barking and the air was suddenly calm and no longer electric and honestly seemed a bit warmer too. I couldn't trust that I somehow didn't miss them going somewhere, so I carefully searched the entire lower level, and basement where my dog and cat were awake but calm and alone before opening the second floor to check on my sister.
I calmed her dogs and took them up the stairs with me, still carrying the shotgun and carefully searched the entire second floor and third floor and couldn't find anyone and nothing was disturbed. I knew I had not imagined that entire nearly 20 minutes, and I knew better then I knew anything at that moment that someone had entered our house, talked to Winston and tried to get up the stairs to my sister who was starting to finally wake up but was struggling hard.
I guess waking up and seeing me beside her bed holding the shotgun in my hand was a great alarm clock because the second she saw me she screamed and jumped out of bed reaching for the pistol she keeps by her bed (that I had taken when I decided to wait for her to wake up). After she focused and realized it was me, she asked me what the hell I was doing so I told her what had happened and asked her if any other couple but the one I knew had access to the house at all hours day or night. She told me she hadn't given anyone else permission, but there was another man and woman that came from time to time and not let it freak me out. So, I let it go and went back downstairs and returned to my book.
2 nights later we were upstairs in her room watching TV when I decided I needed more then just being told not to be scared of the other man and woman that came but didn't have permission, because I had heard her voice again the night before talking to Fredd at the top of the basement steps and Fredd ran terrified and would not go upstairs when I did for bed. Also, when I called up to her and asked for her name she didn't reply, and I didn't see anyone at the top of the stairs, but it was dark and I didn't try to go up expecting her to come down.
So, I asked my sister who these people were, and she said she didn't know, they always came and went since she owned the house (4 years) and the woman liked the dogs but she never saw her. She then said that she has seen the man, on occasion late at night and he didn't seem to like or trust the woman, she didn't come upstairs ever, and he was usually upstairs when she saw him. I was very disturbed by this and tried to talk to her about how that wasn't right (still thinking them to be residents of our town or something) and told her that we needed to let them know they couldn't just come and go without permission, and sure as hell couldn't be upstairs while she was sleeping because that was creepy. She told me that it didn't work like that and to not worry about it. Then she told me that it was their home first and had the right to be there if they wished.
My sister is a lawyer, and very logical and smart so I just let it go, since she was okay with it. Even though I was not. I asked the couple that knew the house and were pretty much our best friends about this couple. The man we will call Grizz (he is a grizzled old farmer with a heart of gold) told me that when his grandparents first moved to our town and bought the house he and his wife now lived in, there was an older couple that lived in our house. They were very strange, and very protective of the home. They intended to leave the house to their son as it had been in their family since it was built, but he refused it saying he was above living in such a stupid town in the middle of nowhere. Maybe 6 months later the woman suddenly died leaving the old man alone in the house. It was a huge scandal because everyone thought he had killed her somehow and got away with it, so he was immediately shunned, and no one wanted to be close to him after that. He remarried not 4 months later to a 20-something milk-maid but died a year after that and she was found guilty of murdering him by poisoning him. She said she did it for the house because of what it was worth, but she had no legal claim to it and it went to the village.
It sat empty for maybe 12 years and then someone bought it, but they only lived there for 4 months then moved out of town and never came back but rather they paid other residents to maintain the house. About 5 years after they moved out another family moved in, but they left in the middle of the night not a month after moving in, then another family maybe 6 months later moved in and they lasted almost 4 years, the couple got a divorce (he cheated on her), their daughter committed suicide after saying the walls talked to her and would never shut up, and the wife packed up and left maybe a week after her ex moved out.
About 10 years later another couple moved in, fixed the place up, lived there for 7 months and she divorced him for cheating on her and abruptly moved out and he moved out maybe a month later saying the house "hated" him. He went on and on with the entire morbid history of who had lived in the house, he had names and knew approximately how long the marriages lasted after moving in. He told me that every divorce and there were 10 in that house (11 now that my sister is fully divorced) the wife left the husband and it was because the husband cheated on the wife. He then told me that the entire town refuses to go into that house, but him and his wife unless there will be at least 5 people there, and even then they won't spend time alone in the house because they all say it is haunted.
I was starting to wonder if maybe the house had memories of energy and I was just mishearing what the woman voice said trying to connect it to my life in the house, but I did not suddenly start to believe that the house was haunted. I did however start to keep noise going or listened to my iPod quietly when it was late and I was alone because my nerves were getting fried by hearing a person I couldn't ever see.
Then on August 19 I was upstairs with my sister, watching TV and talking to her about work when she said she was tired and ready to go to sleep for the night. I was turning off the lamps in her room when she sighed and said to me "can you tell him to go away? I am to tired tonight to deal with him." I looked at her confused and offered to take her 2 dogs downstairs so they wouldn't bother her when she replied "no the old man, he is standing in front of my bathroom door staring at me. It means she is going to be showing up soon too since she follows him, and Winston will go nuts. Also, he likes to f*** with my blankets. Just tell him to go away and he will leave and come back tomorrow when I am more in the mood."
I looked into her dressing room towards the bathroom and saw no one. Normally I would say she was seeing shiat because of her Ambien but she was out until we could get her script in town the next day, she wasn't exhausted enough to be hallucinating and she was so certain he was there. I looked back to her and asked if she was positive someone was in front of her bathroom and she said "no he heard me and headed to the stairs, hopefully he will be gone for the night. By the way if she shows up tell her to go the hell away tonight, she isn't letting Winston sleep and he is cranky all day long." Then she rolled over and went to sleep and I actually debated staying in her room for the night, I was definitely creeped out by the fact she said someone was going downstairs and she was so calm about it.
I ultimately decided enough time passed he was probably out the door by now and decided to go downstairs to my office to watch TV. I stepped into the room the stairway opened to that we use as a library and I saw staring back at me a man that was maybe in his late 50's wearing a very old style 4-piece suit. I was frozen, and everything seemed to get really energized and as I registered that I could see the wall through him (he was almost translucent, like looking through gauzy fabric) and I heard that same harsh whisper from the first night say "until tomorrow" and he then turned like he was going down the stairs and he vanished. Like out right vanished into thin air.
I was trying to remember how to think, walk, and was trying to logic this away and just couldn't come up with anything. I decided my sister was going to have a long talk with me in the morning before work, and headed down the stairs. I got to the foot of the stairs and heard what sounded like someone moving around outside the door and I just knew it was the woman I only ever hear, because I felt anxious and I always feel anxious right before or right after I hear her talking to the dogs. So I just shouted, "go away! No one wants you here tonight, just let us sleep!" and it felt calm and I didn't hear any movement out there for a good minute before I opened that door. I didn't see anyone in the lower 2 levels and I didn't hear any "settling" noises or talking that night.
The next day I asked my sister about what she said about the guy, about the woman and how she has been around nearly every night, but I didn't hear her talking to the dogs after I yelled at her last night. She finally told me that she had always thought the house was already occupied when she moved in, and initially she thought that the house didn't want her there but her dogs needed the room to run and she wasn't about to be forced out of her home that she loved.
She made peace with the man after he scratched and growled at her one night and she chased him down and refused to leave him alone until they figured out how to share the house. Then she said she tried to make peace with the woman and she refused to be friendly with her, until she met Winston. Once she found out Winston could hear her say his name and she could get a reaction she stopped messing with my sister, other then occasionally moving things and harmless pranking, but the lady will go on stints where she will keep Winston up for days then disappear for a month or 2.
She also said she thinks the woman is who told her about my sisters ex cheating while she was deployed. She had found out when she found, under her desk, another woman's underwear just sitting under her desk that she had used not 2 hours before and her husband was at work. He didn't even try to deny it, and my sister says she owes it to the lady for getting her out of the marriage and that she likes the old man and feels safe around him especially now that her ex-husband is out of the picture.
I am not comfortable saying I believe in hauntings and ghosts, but I am running out of logical explanations, and I don't know how to handle this. If this place is haunted (if that is even real) shouldn't it just be orbs and mists and stuff that look worse then sasquatch photos? But at the same time, I am going to have to somehow get used to this, because it is now my new normal.
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