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Washington Island House Haunting

 

This is a long entry, so please bear with me. My family has lived in the same house since December 2001 on Mercer Island, WA.

Mercer Island itself has an interesting history: Native Americans in the area refused to spend the night/live on the island due to the belief that it was haunted by evil spirits and sank below Lake Washington at night. They hunted and foraged there during the day though.

The house was built in the late 70s by a man who had to flee the state because, during construction, he cut down a large tree without getting a permit or permission from city hall and in doing so, he destroyed a bald eagles nest along with 2 out of 3 eggs that were in it when they were critically endangered.

The ground floor is essentially the basement. The house is built on a hill so half of the basement is level with the ground and the other half is partially below ground. The 2nd floor is the main living space with the kitchen, living room, dining room, and tv room. The 3rd floor consists of several bedrooms, bathrooms, and an office. The whole house is VERY shoddily built and every time my parents make any sort of improvements, they find about 14 new "WTF?" construction choices and problems. The walls and floor are pretty thin so you can hear most conversations that are a little louder than average and people walking around.

Although there were a small handful of strange occurrences in the house early on, like odd orbs in photos and my sister's fear of the closet in her original bedroom in the submerged part of the basement (she had to move to a room on the 3rd floor), there wasn't anything particularly noteworthy.

Then my sister (middle child, I'm the oldest, and we have a younger sister) was raped while attending university, consequently she developed severe PTSD, made a number of questionable decisions, and things have begun to change since then.

She began dating a heroin addict, she swore up and down that he was clean, and when his parents kicked him out, she claimed it was because they were nuts. So my parents allowed him to move in, shortly afterwards I moved out, and he and my sister moved into my old ground-level bedroom in the basement. Predictably, things got messy and there were fights and drama, he began drinking heavily all day-- I was very happy I moved out when I did.

One weekend, I went home to visit and was staying in my middle sister's old room on the 3rd floor. There's a strange little loft in her room that can only be accessed by a ladder, which you can only reach while standing on top of her bed-- she would often swear something was up there. As I was getting ready to go to sleep, I saw, with my own eyes, a large white orb float down from the loft, stop at about eye height, then turn and exit through the door and go down the hallway. I thought it was just some gunk or something on my eye, but my parents cat was tracking it down the hall. She slept on top me that night and growled menacingly at something twice-- I didn't sleep there ever again.

The second really memorable incident happened a few months later. My youngest sister and I were sitting in the living room which is above the room my sister and her boyfriend were living in (my old room), we were playing with her iPad when we start to hear our sister and her boyfriend fighting. And the angry, loud tones quickly became a full on screaming match. We heard her shout, "Get out, just get the f--- out!" and it got more and more intense until we heard our sister scream and it cut off abruptly. Terrified that this guy had hurt or even killed our sister, my youngest sister and I grabbed the dogs and ran up to her room on the 3rd floor and locked the door. We tried to call our mom multiple times but couldn't get an answer. We eventually worked up the nerve to go check on our other sister and found her completely intact and having no idea what massive fight we were talking about. I was convinced, for a long time, she was lying to stop us from convincing our parents to kick her boyfriend out.

Eventually, said boyfriend was kicked out and wound up flunking out of rehab-- his parents sent him to California to live with his sister after that. My middle sister got in two car accidents after that, one was her fault, the other, barely a month later, was not.

My youngest sister was away at college at the time of the third most memorable incident. I was at home playing with my parents dog in the backyard when there was a massive gust of wind that happened out of nowhere (it wasn't a remotely windy day), it was one of those gusts that's so strong you almost can't breathe. When it subsided, my dad came out of the garage to announce that the power had gone out-- there were about 200 other homes near theirs which were affected. I went back inside and began working on a crochet project since there wasn't much else to do with the power out. I hear my dad booting up the generator he bought after a particularly bad wind storm in 2007 knocked our power out for 6 days. As it's revving up, I start to hear my mom arguing with my sister in the basement. She sounds angry and my sister sounds defensive. It dies down, then I hear my dad start screaming, stuff like "That's it, I'm done! I've had it with her!" and immediately, I think "oh crap, she's crashed another car. They're going to kick her out."

I hear my dad start yelling at my sister who starts crying loudly, I hear the bathroom door in the basement slam shut and things are quiet for a while. I'm terrified there's about to be a massive blow up so I grab the dogs and hide in the TV room. I can faintly hear my dad talking to my sister, he's much calmer and sounds apologetic. A moment later the door to the basement swings open and my dad walks in, totally calm and happily says, "I love that generator." I'm understandably confused, my dad isn't the sort to act unaffected when he's upset. A couple of minutes later, my mom walks in the front door with groceries. I ask her what the huge fight was about and she says she has no idea what I'm talking about, but is concerned my dad and my sister had been fighting. She asks both of them about it and they both have no idea what she's talking about. I try to chalk it up to noises in the house being distorted by the sound of the generator, but I'm not convinced-- what I heard was clear as day.

Those are the major incidents, but there have been a handful of smaller ones:

Once, I heard a dog cry in the middle of the tv room and the dogs and I all immediately looked at the exact same spot, but there was nothing there.

I went into my sister's room in the basement to feed her cat once while she was away and nearly tripped over a crate on her floor. I asked aloud, "where did she even get a crate from?" and I heard a girl laugh softly beside me. I was the only one in the house at the time.

Things have gone missing and appeared in a spot that had been checked numerous times before.

I've been touched and heard a voice say my name or a single word.

It's gotten to the point where, every time I'm there and go to use the bathroom, I feel the need to say out loud, "Leave, I need to use the bathroom." Or "thank you" whenever a lost item reappears inexplicably.

For a long time my parents were dismissive or tried to explain things away when I bring them up, but recently my mom admitted to hearing strange things in the house too.

Not sure what to do with all this, I don't think it's malicious despite some of the incidents being scary. I thought it must be residual because the biggest incidents sounded like family, but some of the other stuff seems to be intelligent, mischievous, and occasionally helpful.

-chmort

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

Tweed (36 stories) (2529 posts)
 
7 years ago (2017-08-01)
Chmort, have you heard of poltergeist phenomena? It's sort of when negative energy accumulates and then kind of manifests itself as paranormal activity. I don't know if this would explain why you're hearing odds and ends of conversations and arguments, but it's the only other thing I can think of aside from time slips.

There's an interesting experience on here shared by one of the mods and her family who were in different locations. I don't know if you've both experienced the same thing, but you may find it interesting:
Http://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=8317

Also I'll copy paste a home cleansing a lot of us on here use. It's on member Rook's profile. If your family aren't into doing cleansings and what have you, (hey it's not for everyone!), you can do the cleansing on your room when you're staying there.

(Copy pasted from Rook's profile)
----
Rook's Cleansing and Shielding Method (as used by myself and many other members of this site)...

Recipe for a Home Cleansing/Shielding... (allow for two or 3 days to complete)

Day one: Open all curtains window and doors with screens installed, let fresh air and sunshine into the home. Have all closets, cabinets and other 'dark spaces' open so that as much natural light as possible can enter those spaces. After 2-3 hours take a broom and 'sweep' out each room (this is symbolic and you do not have to really sweep) focus your thoughts on sweeping (pushing) out all negative energies / entities /thoughts. Close home up after completing each room of your home... Please do not forget your garage if you have one. (Optional) Light incense (sandalwood or Dragons-blood works well for me) and let aroma fill the home, and/or play a tape that contains your favorite Church/Positive, Upbeat (songs that give you good thoughts) songs before you begin sweeping.

Day two (or three): Once again open all curtains, windows and doors. Take a White candle (Optional) to the center most point of the home, sit on the floor and place candle in front of you. Light the candle (visualize a white ball of light) and then focus on the flame... Visualize the flame (white light) filled with positive thoughts, energy. (Say a prayer at this time if you so desire... Ask for cleansing positive energy to fill the candles flame/white light). Hold this 'image' in your mind and then visualize the flame (light) slowly expanding outward, visualize it filling the room your in, every corner and 'dark space'. Continue to visualize it expanding...it's outer edges pushing away (burning away) any and all negative energies/entities out and away from each room in your home. Once you have visualized this flame (light) filling your entire home, picture it expanding to your property lines. Hold this image in your mind for a few moments then visualize 'anchoring' this flame (light) where you are sitting which is the center most point of your home. Once you have done this. Take a deep breath, relax a few moments and then blow out the candle. (If you didn't use a candle just let yourself relax a moment or two.) "

Now you can create a shield for yourself using the 'home shield' technique but instead of focusing on your home visualize the 'flame' simply surrounding you instead of your home... Best time to do this is after a nice shower using a rosemary scented soap (rosemary is good for purification and protection.)
Anno_Domini (3 stories) (167 posts)
 
7 years ago (2017-08-01)
Hi chmort, I believe you have what is known in some circles as an "infestation" of demons / spirits. Just like that of insects, it is somehting that you should get deal with right away. I suggest that you consult a pastor or priest and let them know about this. Do not ever get used to them in the house, that is how they "latch" on to you and keep shifting the boundaries of what is "normal".

Does your sister experience / encounter them more than any of you?
chmort (1 stories) (2 posts)
+1
7 years ago (2017-07-31)
Tweed-- with the arguments, there have been times where I wonder if I could've picked up some aspects of my sister's PTSD and that the arguments were hallucinations related to that. But for one of the two arguments, my other sister heard the exact same thing at the same time.

With the second argument, I followed up with my youngest sister asking her what she thought it could be and she said she'd heard (before going back to school) my parents fighting with my sister because she wanted to drop out of university-- it would fit well with that scenario but I heard whatever it was after the argument happened.

The first argument doesn't seem too far-fetched. At that point in their relationship they were arguing frequently and at one point there was even a small fire (which I acknowledge sounds like it could be related to meth, but I was told the ex had left a tealight candle burning on the carpet and my brain jumped to heroin) which had really upset my sister and I imagine would've caused a major argument. But the fire happened after we heard the argument.

I feel like some things are easier to explain/rationalize away than others, but I'll be keeping track of things as they happen. My family still lives in the house and these occurrences are ongoing, though they seem to fluctuate in frequency and intensity based on how my middle's sister's mental well being is.
Tweed (36 stories) (2529 posts)
 
7 years ago (2017-07-31)
Chmort, I'm glad to hear back from you. Reading your submission I was thinking 'geesh I really hope this is some paranormal weirdness!' 😆

That's really quite something that you hear arguments where there are none. Do you recognise the arguments from something that's happened, or do these conversations you hear ever happen later? Some kind of audio time slip perhaps. Or maybe what you hear is a manifestation of stress in the home, past stress or present. Don't know, but it's very intriguing!
chmort (1 stories) (2 posts)
+1
7 years ago (2017-07-31)
Hi Tweed,

Thanks for the information-- it's definitely worth looking into. That being said, I would be very surprised if meth was at work. This guy was from a wealthy family and despite being kicked out, his mother would send him a couple hundred dollars every week or two which he'd spend on gas, alcohol, and I'm assuming, heroin. My sister (his ex-girlfriend) also has A.D.D. And has lots of Concerta (Methylphenidate) in her possession which she only uses occasionally and the extra never went missing. That's obviously not hard proof that it wasn't ever brought into the house, but this guy was definitely an opiod-addict and never displayed symptoms of someone using meth, that I saw, anyways.

I'll let my parents know they should test that room, though. Thanks!
Tweed (36 stories) (2529 posts)
 
7 years ago (2017-07-29)
Hi Chmort and welcome. 😊

Orbs are usually associated with neutral or good things (at least going by what I've read.)
The boyfriend who had a drug habit, might he have brought meth/ice into the house? I've got to say it sounds like he did. There's some pretty alarming finds being made about homes with ice/meth use. Unlike other drugs it literally permeates the surfaces in the house. It's a debated topic with, mostly estate agents, claiming it's bunk. But tests on contaminated house residents have given similar readings to that of a moderate meth user, including small children.

I don't mean to sound preachy but most hardcore drug addicts wind up taking bloody meth/ice because it's cheap. I also don't want to sound like a weirdo but, reading between the lines in your narrative, I'd guess this is a likely scenario in your home. Please look up meth contamination in your area. Symptoms include restless sleep, insomnia, hallucinations audio/visual, depression, mood swings.

Just for context sake I'm not some anti drugs 'Mommy Blogger'. Personal opinion: If cocaine, heroine and weed were all made legal, meth/ice would've never existed.

I know it's terribly off topic and not paranormal related but your narrative alarmed me. I urge you to get your parents to have your home tested, especially since the walls are thin. You can then look into cleaning options. But hopefully you can rule it out.

The orb sounds like a paranormal encounter, but please rule out the afore mentioned before exploring paranormal causes for the rest. I hope you let us know how it goes.
Unicron1000 (guest)
 
7 years ago (2017-07-29)
Do you or any other family members still live in that house?

Others would probably tell you to get the house cleansed or blessed. I don't think you should do that. I think you should let the spirit stay as it is not harmful.

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