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Manderson House

 

As I've explained in my other stories I'm extremely skeptical when it comes to the "paranormal". I usually brush things off as being weirdly coincidental but there's a part of me that is curious.

The home that I live in with my husband and two children has been a part of my husband's family since his father purchased it in the early 70's (as his bachelor pad). They call it Manderson. It was built in 1928. It's an old cottage lake house, a little worn and beaten up, but we liked both the home and the neighborhood so much that we ended up purchasing it from his parents not too long ago and just recently finished adding an addition on to it for more space.

When my husband and I first met eight years ago the house was only used as a hang out. No one lived there. He and his friends would use it for the lake access and to throw parties but that's about it. He brought me to the house for the first time a few weeks after we started dating and we met with a group of his friends. A couple of them told me that they experienced weird things there.

One night they were playing cards at a table that they had set up in the living room and they all heard someone sneeze in the kitchen... But no one was in the kitchen. They were all in the living room. And his dad had claimed that furniture would move and lights would come on when he lived there. He claimed it was the ghost of Mr. McCloud. I just thought it was funny and brushed it off. That's until the weird stuff started happening to me.

Weirdness #1

Shortly after we first moved in (I believe in 2007) my daughter received a Rescue Pets Swim to me Puppy as a gift from my husband's parents. It's a battery operated dog that swims in the bathtub. I had seen commercials for it on TV. It was the "hottest gift" of the year. She was super excited about it. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a piece of crap. It literally worked once or twice and then never turned on again. We dried it out, replaced the batteries, and still... Nothing. I later went to read the online reviews and they all said the same thing; either it worked once or twice and completely died or it continued to run and the only way to get it to stop would be to take out the batteries. Naturally, my daughter lost interest but for some reason I couldn't get myself to throw the stupid thing away. So there it sat on the tile bench on the back of the bathtub for the next year or so.

Fast forward to late 2008/early 2009. It's about 5:00 a.m. I'm in the middle of washing my hair when out of the blue I hear a very loud robotic walking sound coming from behind me on the tile bench. I turn around and, sure enough, the stupid toy is walking across the tile. I thought to myself "that's a little strange". The thing hasn't worked in over a year and now, all of a sudden, it's decided to take itself for a walk. I picked it up and tried to turn it off using the on/off button with no success. I finally got out of the shower and went to grab a screwdriver from the kitchen. As soon as I put the screwdriver up to the first screw it shut off by itself. I tried turning it on again using the button; nothing happened.

So I walk myself and the toy back to the bathroom so that I could finish washing up. I had put the toy back on the tile bench. All was quiet for a few minutes when the toy started up again. Once again I'm attempting to turn it off using the on/off button with no luck. I finish my shower and go for the screwdriver once more. And again, as soon as I place the screwdriver up to the first screw to remove the batteries the toy shuts off. I try to turn it back on using the button and nothing happens. After that I threw the thing down the basement stairs and had my husband dispose of it later.

Weirdness #2

Another early morning getting ready for work in the bathroom. I'm putting on my makeup and someone knocks three times on the door. Figuring it was my husband or daughter needing to use the facilities I put down my mascara and open the door... And no one is there. I walk over to the bedrooms to check on everyone and they're both sound asleep.

Weirdness #3

ANOTHER early morning. I'm packing lunches for everyone in the kitchen. It's probably 6 a.m. No one is up yet. I'm watching a movie or something on my little tablet but have it down very low as to not wake anyone. It's then when I hear a sneeze come from behind me. I whipped around so fast... It scared the crap out of me. The bedrooms are on the opposite side of the house so, unless one of the cats learned how to sneeze like a man, I had no idea what to make of it.

Weirdness #4

I actually wasn't home for this one. My sister was babysitting while my husband and I went to a charity dinner and auction. I get a phone call in the middle of dinner from our next door neighbor saying that she was headed to our house because the girls were freaking out. According to them, they were watching videos on YouTube at the computer when the dimmer light in the kitchen turned on. They didn't want to be there alone so they walked next door to the neighbors. I had a good laugh.

I know I've witnessed more "weirdness" around the house but because it doesn't happen that often I tend to forget about things. Maybe I'll look into the history of the house since it is so old. If there are such things as "ghosts" at least this one is nice and tends to mind his own business:)

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

rookdygin (24 stories) (4458 posts)
 
7 years ago (2016-10-27)
Enlightened,

Thank you for not 'tooting' the 3 (of anything) equals something Evil, a Demon or the Devil HORN.

3 is just a number. Or if you remember School House Rock...

"Three is a Magic Number..." 😆

Respectfully,

Rook
Enlightened1959 (8 stories) (118 posts)
+1
7 years ago (2016-10-25)
I have had like experiences! We once had a "Miss Piggy" puppet that actually oinked like a real pig when my daughter and I were standing about 6 feet away from it. Dolls and robotic toys can definitely creep me out!

Regarding the 3 knocks, there is something called the "three knocks of death". My entire family experiences this. I thought it was just something that happened to my family members until about 5 years ago I was reading some "weird but true stories" when I was finally able to put a name to this and realized we weren't the only ones that experienced this. The last time I heard it was August of 2014. My mother was diagnosed of pancreatic cancer just 9 days before she passed away. We were in the hospital and it was about 2 am. I was standing close to the door getting ready to go get a cup of ice when the dreaded 3 knocks came. They were fast and loud. I immediately opened the door thinking it was a nurse, no one was there. My mom passed away about a week later. Think back and see if someone close to you perhaps a family member or friend passed away soon after you heard the knocks.
rookdygin (24 stories) (4458 posts)
+2
7 years ago (2016-10-24)
Just for the record, speaking from a cat persons point of view...Yes, Yes they can sneeze and sound just like an actual person. Its quite funny to say 'Bless you' when you hear someone sneeze, then realize its just you and the cats in the house.

😆

Respectfully,

Rook
BeagleMom (3 stories) (84 posts)
 
7 years ago (2016-10-24)
Boy! There is nothing quite like haunted toys!

My, then, 4 year old son had some kind of action hero car/airplane thing that just decided to go off while we were all watching a movie in our cozy living room with the fire going one chilly fall night. When the toy had new batteries, and the switch was on, the thing raised a "Rocket Launcher" and would shoot spring loaded rockets for a few feet while making some kind of mechanical roar. The noise irritated my hubby, so my son never played with it when we were watching tv.

So here we are, intent on the movie and this thing decided to turn on and go through its paces. The "rocket" was not loaded on it so nothing shot out. But the noise was horrendous enough to give us all a good startling. My son reluctantly grabbed it and took it back to his bedroom. Later that night he told me that the reason it was in the living room to begin with is that the batteries had been dead for a long time! He wanted to have his daddy replace them because the casing needed to be unscrewed using a tiny phillips screwdriver. The realization that the thing had a will of its own and enough power in the dead batteries to turn itself on and make a racket, caused us to take the dead batteries out and Junk it!

Enjoyed your story!

❤ Mother of Beagles
Bibliothecarius (9 stories) (1091 posts)
+1
7 years ago (2016-10-23)
Greetings, Bringel.

If he's not doing anyone any harm, perhaps this is a good way to integrate the non-threatening aspects of the supernatural into conversations with your daughter; that way she may become more accustomed to asserting herself by asking him not to surprise her.

Do you have any idea why your father-in-law "claimed it was the ghost of Mr. McCloud"? Was this because he was a fan of the Dennis Weaver detective show, or had any of the previous owners been named McCloud, MacLeod, McLeod, or M'Leod?

I know that the three other spellings don't look like they'd sound like "McCloud," but they're variant spellings of a well-respected pair of ancient Scottish clans: The "MacLeods of MacLeod" are from the Isle of Skye, and the "MacLeods of Lewes" (a.k.a."MacLeods of Lewis") are from the Isle of Lewis. I have just discovered that here's an Irish branch, too, but that "MacLeod" family name is a shortened variant of the name translated into "McGillicuddy." If you know *why* that name was selected, looking into the history may indicate why he's still there. (Try staring with clanmacleod.org or clanmacleodusa.tribalpages.com)

Best,
Biblio.

P.S.: I've got distant ancestors in Fife; thanks to King James (Sixth of Scotland & 1st of England) they fought with the MacLeods of Lewis quite a lot, and -I'm sorry to say- the MacLeods were the aggrieved party who were justified in being upset.

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