Out of all of my experiences, I'm surprised I haven't thought to write about my grandparents house until now.
Currently, they are living in a retirement home but for 27 years, they lived in a beautiful home in the woods in North Raleigh. 10 or more of those years I had spent nearly every weekend at that house with them from Friday-Sunday night. In all of those years, I never got over my fears, just something about that house or probably the property more like... I'm not sure but I think they were the only people that ever lived in it. It was actually a really nice neighborhood but it was heavily wooded in between each home. I also would like to add before I jump in, is this house was really fancy, nice walls and carpet and just great architecturally. Just incase anyone wonders if it was some old, beaten up house, it definitely was not!
The earliest memory of my fears was their windows. But only at night! This might be a common fear, I'm not even sure. They had tall windows that went from the floor to almost the ceiling in most of the rooms. At night, I was so frighten walking from the living room across the house into the guest room that I slept in. I would hold onto my grandma so tightly while walking with her. I think my biggest worry was imagining a creepy man being able to watch me or all of us but we can't see him. They didn't have curtains but they did have blinds and they didn't pull them down in the beginning until I begged my grandma to when I got older, but still a kid. She thought I was so strange for being so afraid. My grandma is the most gentle, sweet, quiet, feminine little grandma you could imagine. I felt totally safe with her. It was just that house.
They had an "old furniture room" that was directly next to the guest room I slept in. Oh! And by the way, I didn't start sleeping in there until around age 9! I slept with my grandma in their room and we made my grandpa sleep in the guest room for the first couple of years I was regularly going there. Back to this old furniture room. There was an antique couch and two matching chairs, a Bible from the early 1900s that I have today, a creepy clown velvet picture hung up, and pictures of my grandma's family on the wall from her childhood. I was completely afraid of this room. Or all of the rooms on this wing of the house but this one especially. I pinned it on the clown picture but now that I'm older, I'm realizing it's just that whole part of the house. I had toys in that closet so I usually had to go in there if I wanted to get my toys out. When exiting, I had to run. Something inside me made me feel like I had to run! And that feeling lasted until my 20s! I'd run across the house into the living room, where I felt the safest apparently. I'd look back and of course, see nothing had chased me.
One particular day I was in the bathtub and heard who I swore was my grandma walking back and forth outside of the bathroom. It was only us home. I had called for her to see if she'd pop her head in so I could ask what she's doing but no answer. After my bath and I had gotten dressed, I found her in the living room doing Bible study and she said she had not been back there at all. That gave me chills because I know the sounds of them walking on that thick carpet, it's not too heavy but you still just get familiar with sounds.
I had my step-sibling stay with me for a weekend before and they too, heard the steps while they were taking a shower, but thought or asked if it was me. I had another childhood friend stay with me and she got an awful vibe from those back rooms as well. But never my grandparents. They never felt what I felt.
It only got worse when I was older, not better unfortunately. Still ran out of the old furniture room and now was hearing a woman's voice praying aloud. That was only at night when I was trying to sleep. It only happened twice though but extremely scary for me even at age 17. I just always felt like someone was in the guest room with me. I made it a routine to check under the bed before lying in it and inside the closet. Mind you, I was doing none of these things at my home with my dad and stepmom. I would lay there for what felt like an hour or more, just scared for my life until I would finally pass out into my night's rest.
Even though I felt so uneasy at my grandparents, I loved them so much that I never refused to go there. I just dealt with the fright for years just to be with them. I just wonder who was watching me. Was it my grandma's mother who had passed away long ago? Was it something from the past on that property? I'll never know. I have so many amazing memories, growing up with them and visiting that house but the feeling that house gave me, was not like anything I have experienced since.
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