My parents moved to Station Cottage around a year ago now. It's an 1800's house with a few previous deaths, although they are long in the past. It is named Station Cottage as it was built for the station master. The actual station was demolished and its pieces used to build the other houses nearby. It was an interesting idea and, in fact, the architect who engineered this is my neighbour. To my knowledge, this house was built for this purpose, a station master moved in, then the train line was completed in 1869. It closed to passengers in 1930 so it's now only a freight line.
In June, I graduated from university and came to visit for a few months. Previously, I had been estranged from my parents, so this was the first time I had visited the cottage. It's so peaceful. I've always lived in rural areas, but this was something else. Just being in the house helps me breathe deeper and feel a sense of relaxation I've never experienced elsewhere. And that's saying something considering I have complex PTSD and a myriad of other mental and physical difficulties.
My parents agree completely. When I was a teenager, I was a practicing Wiccan witch. I still believe, but rarely have the time to practice my faith. My aunt is also a Wiccan witch who practices frequently. She's very sensitive to the feel of places and, when she visited, she said that this was a good home, with kind energy. This energy is strongest in the front bedroom - everyone who visits agrees. To me the energy feels feminine and gentle.
When my mother told me about this and I experienced it for myself, I asked her if she'd had any specific supernatural experiences here. She told me of a time where the keys in the front door swung back and forth for over twenty minutes once, with no discernible reason. She said that sometimes they feel their hair pulled playfully. Small things like that. Initially, they had no doubt that there were spirits here, but they never really talked about it. While my parents had once seen a ghost and are believers, it's always been me that seeks these things out after my own supernatural experiences as a child. These are very personal to me, so unfortunately I don't feel comfortable sharing them here.
At first I experienced the same things as my parents - pulled hair, the keys swinging, sometimes just a feeling of someone else in the room. I was the only one who noticed a pattern, however. The more prolonged experiences were often after someone had raised their voice or had a fight. My mother is a very combative person. While she's mellowed out a lot since moving here, she does often raise her voice to my father, who then returns her energy. I've always felt that these things are caused by the feminine spirit. As if she's saying, 'don't fight, you're a family.' She feels very motherly.
The first time I saw a full-bodied apparition in the house, my parents were asleep. I went to the downstairs toilet, truthfully, in my underwear. I was in the living room, passed through the dining room and into the kitchen. The conservatory and the back bedroom are the only parts of the house that aren't original. Some of the kitchen is original but it's been extended. The kitchen you can walk in is shaped kind of like a flat 'U' with a breakfast bar in the middle. The dining room door is to the bottom left, the backdoor to the top left, the downstairs toilet door to the top right. The base of the flat 'U' shape is what's original, the two prongs are the extension. The back bedroom is then a square shape above the kitchen and the conservatory wraps around the outside of part of the dining room and kitchen in a quarter circle. I hope this makes sense.
So, I went to the downstairs toilet, did my business and rounded the corner of the kitchen to the original part of the kitchen, facing the dining room. There was an old man there, standing in the doorway. He had on some sort of suit, a hat, white hair and a beard. He was carrying a walking stick. Mostly, I just noticed his face. He seemed surprised and embarrassed, just as much as I was surprised to see him there. As soon as I registered this, he was gone. I stood for a moment taking in what I had seen. I didn't feel scared or anything, and he didn't feel like an intruder here. Rather, I felt as though he was meant to be here, and I would have been just as surprised to see one of my parents standing there.
As I passed through the doorway I apologized for surprising him, turned out all the lights and closed the doors. I now make sure to be completely dressed when downstairs, close doors after I enter a room and open doors to the dining room slowly so he knows that I'm coming in. Sometimes when I'm in the living room or kitchen I feel his presence in the dining room so I knock first. I think he's easily surprised when we come in but he doesn't seem to mind sharing the house with us. I remember wondering if the feminine spirit was his wife or daughter.
For several days, I didn't tell my parents. Not for any particular reason, just because it felt like such a normal, ordinary experience. My previous experiences with the supernatural have been... Not scary, but ominous. There was a time I could have died if I hadn't heeded the warning of the Hat Man. Every time I have felt as though I needed to tell someone, anyone. This didn't feel like that. The only reason I'm posting here is... Perhaps posterity and curiosity as to what others might think.
The next experience I had was in my bedroom, the back bedroom, which, as I explained earlier, isn't original. I'm not sure that that really matters though, since clearly the spirits here are very aware of their surroundings. I was trying to sleep on a hot night, the windows open. In my bedroom, there is a solid wood desk and someone kept knocking on it - it was quite persistent, as if someone was trying to get my attention. I'm not sure why I didn't do anything about it, I just kept trying to sleep. I suppose I knew that they didn't mean any harm and they didn't feel like an intruder. Whatever they wanted, it didn't seem important enough at the time. In the morning, I kept trying to debunk it in my head. The cottage is detached, my parents were asleep at the time. It's the one experience I'm not sure about. I didn't feel any energy from it, it just happened. Sometimes I wonder if it was a wandering spirit, brought in from the railway line.
My mother experienced the next full-bodied apparition. It was around 6pm, still daylight, and she was standing by the back door in the kitchen washing something for dinner. We always leave the conservatory doors open due to the heat. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a man walk through the doors and come up to the backdoor next to her. She didn't pay attention to his appearance as she thought that it was my father, until she saw my father walk through the conservatory doors as well. She looked at the man in the doorway and described him identically to the old man I saw. My father saw the back of him briefly before he disappeared. My mother said that he didn't look surprised like she was, but looked kindly. I quote, "He looked as if he was coming home for his dinner after a long day's work." I was amazed that we had all experienced the same apparitions now and all had the same sense that they were just ordinary people who belonged here.
Last week, I went back to my university to pack up my things and move them into a storage facility. I returned home yesterday, gladly. I was standing by the backdoor, waiting for my father to bring in a box. I turned to look around at the kitchen, but stopped when I looked at the dining room door. A dark shape of a head and a hand was peeking out at me from the dining room. It ducked in when I looked at it, which made me smile to think that a spirit cares so much about me coming home that they appeared to me. It was as if it was saying, 'what's going on? Oh, it's you, welcome home.' I'm pretty sure it was a male spirit, so it could have been the old man but I'm not certain, especially as I think there might be a third spirit here that I have yet to put my finger on. A male spirit, maybe a teenager or a young man. I don't have any evidence for this, it's just a feeling I have. Someone more playful than the old man or the woman, perhaps who also does some hair pulling of their own.
This experience is why I decided to share the story of Station Cottage so far. I felt so happy to be in a place where I am wanted and welcomed, even by the dead. I feel blessed to be able to share this house with them. This may not be wholly related to the spirits here, but I feel like Station Cottage has given my family a new lease on life. Our old house was a new building with no previous residents, yet it had horrible vibes to it. I always felt scared and paranoid, trapped - here I just feel free. All of us have been able to make changes we want to and we get along better here than anywhere else. I've experienced a lot of bad things and abuse in the past, including by the hands of my parents, but it seems moving here has changed everything in our dynamic and I personally attribute it to the peaceful nature of the spirits here.
I would love to know your thoughts on the spirits of Station Cottage and if you also feel grateful for the spirits that haunt your house. Thank you for reading my story.
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