Echoes of a Haunting - Revisited Read online

  As everyone reading this knows, the most disturbed room in the house would have to be Mary’s. Again, willing to try anything, we went to light the candles. Mary’s room was cold, as it often was, even in the summer heat. I put the candles in dishes and lit them. Just as the flame caught, a stuffed animal of Mary’s that was hanging from the ceiling of that windless room, swung and hit me in the back of the head–hard! There was no normal explanation. It crossed a distance of at least three feet.

  After the candles had burned down we again closed Mary’s door. We had considerable trouble getting to sleep tonight because I kept having to check the annoying scratching noises under Mary’s bed. There was nothing under the bed or anywhere else in the small room to account for the noises. Nor was there anything to explain the fact that, in the morning, her collection of birds’ nests, stored under the bed, had been torn apart and scattered all over her room. I guess a collection of birds’ nests doesn’t seem so awfully important but it was important to Mary. She had collected those things since we bought the cabin and they meant a great deal to her. With a sigh, I reaffirmed my determination that no one enter that room unless it was an absolute necessity.

  As we were getting ready for bed, Beth called me to check her room. There was a very strong smell in the room like the smell of carrion. The same smell you encounter when you come upon a long dead animal in the woods. We talked about it for a few minutes and the smell gradually faded.

  I no sooner sighed with relief, when Laura called me. Her upstairs room smelled exactly the same way Beth’s had. The odor was nauseating. After about 15 minutes the smell gradually disappeared. However, between my trips to check on the scratching under Mary’s bed I had to check Laura. She kept feeling someone touching her shoulder. Also, her shoulder strap purse, hanging from a hook over her bed kept swinging, although there was no reason it should. Crazy! Is this all supposed to mean something? For a long time, we drove ourselves crazy trying to find messages in everything that happened. We finally conceded that they weren’t trying to send us a message. They just wanted to frighten us.

  Several people have suggested that we try “automatic writing”. Ever hopeful, I left a pencil and paper on the kitchen table but apparently our “guests” are not interested in written communication. As I laid the writing implements out, I couldn’t believe I was doing it. Was I beginning to believe all this stuff?

  Monday–August 27, 1973

  I made another interesting discovery last night. Paul has been coming up with another of his friends, a boy named Tim C. They would arrive after we went to bed and leave before we woke. As long as they stayed in Tim’s car parked in our yard, conditions weren’t as bad in the house.

  Last night, as they were “patrolling” the grounds, they swore they saw Phil standing beside the spring house and, frankly, expected him to get after them. When I saw Phil, I asked him what he had been doing at that exact time (he was at work). He said it was during his lunch hour and he had taken a nap. The only thing was that during his nap he kept hearing me calling him. He must have really been worried about us. I tried putting myself in his place and realized how upset that would have made me–having to leave my family every night when I thought they were in danger. He had talked a lot recently about getting a job closer to home so he wouldn’t have to leave us in the evening. It would mean giving up a good job and very good pay. We can’t afford it.

  Earlier today, I had been startled when all the alarm clocks in the house went off at once. It was one o’clock in the afternoon and my clock was always set to go off at 7 a.m. The setting hadn’t been changed but the alarm buzzed away. In addition, one of the clocks that went off, the one in Mary’s room, hadn’t worked for months. Unfortunately, after I turned its alarm off it returned to its non-working condition.

  All day long the electric stove kept turning on and off. I was getting worried for fear it would turn on at night and start a fire.

  This evening when we were sitting in the living room the back door suddenly opened and we were treated to a blast of Arctic air. It was so strong a wind that all the curtains blew. I checked. The temperature outside was a balmy 80 degrees and there was no wind!

  Tuesday–August 28, 1973

  Well, it happened. I heard Laura getting up to go to the bathroom about three o’clock this morning. For a couple of months now, the best I could manage was a semi-sleep so I woke easily and often every night. Laura passed my door and I heard her gasp. I got right up not knowing what to expect. At first, with the red glow coming up the stairs I thought the house was on fire. The burners of the stove were all on and must have been on for some time as they were almost white hot. Thank God nothing fell on them!

  Wednesday–August 29, 1973

  Complaints from Beth become more frequent every day. I wonder if her room being directly under Mary’s has anything to do with the disturbances she’s experiencing. Last night she again felt someone sitting on the foot of her bed. When my mother sleeps there on her visits, she always complains about the same thing. Since we moved in, even before we knew the house was troubled, mum had said someone was sitting at her feet.

  Beth also spoke of voices outside her window although she said they were too indistinct to make out individual words. I wonder if this could be her imagination. I certainly couldn’t blame her for imagining things.

  The last time I talked with mum she told me she thought she had a run-in with Beth’s furry creature some time ago. She had dismissed the incident at the time, thinking it was a dream. Now she wasn’t so sure. She had stayed overnight when Beth had her arm in a cast and insisted on sleeping on the couch. During the night, she woke to find something pulling her covers off. Looking down, expecting to see one of our pets, she was surprised to find a creature resembling a round fur ball. At first she was frightened but then she got mad and shouted, “Go back to Hell where you belong!” The tugging stopped immediately.

  I wonder if this is the answer. Should we have gotten angry? Different people have suggested asking questions. It’s okay in theory but any experience we have had is totally unexpected. I defy anyone to keep their cool when startled. It’s a sad fact but true that you very seldom expect to encounter psychic phenomena.

  Father Al came to visit today and said Mass on our kitchen table. Afterwards, he said a simple exorcism and carried the host around the house and grounds. Even though I am a lifelong Catholic, the ceremony gave me chills. There was a power there that couldn’t be denied. Now, if only the power can counteract whatever other power we have as a constant resident here.

  Actually, Father comes as often as he can and always cheers us up. Since he teaches at St. Bonaventure University, I’m sure it’s not always easy for him to get away. I have a feeling, though, that some of the confidence he instills is done by conning us. A placebo effect? I don’t mean that in a bad way. I think he believes that if he convinces us that he has taken a ghost home with him (which he frequently says) we won’t be disturbed by it anymore. I haven’t said anything because if it works for the kids I don’t mind. Personally, since we still have ghosts I don’t think the “con” works.

  Thursday–August 30, 1973

  Beth’s room is “jumping” today. We have developed many “codes” when we mean a room is “disturbed”–“jumping” is one of them. I don’t know how to describe a hostile atmosphere to someone who has never experienced one but I’ll try. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, you’re restless; sometimes you feel as though something is watching and waiting; or you get the vague feeling there is something you’re forgetting to do; an uneasy feeling of fear, depression or apprehension. Have you ever been present at a friend’s house when there was obvious tension in the air and you feel you’ve interrupted a quarrel? That uneasy, squirmy feeling is much the same. I guess uncomfortable is the word that best describes the feeling. All this really means nothing, I suppose, since you must experience it to know what I mean.

  Mary took, her statue/nightlight back and put it in her ro
om. Beth has a small 7 watt nightlight in her lamp. Today it burned out so we went up to Mary’s closed room and found her nightlight flung on the floor. The room has been closed for some time and no one has been in it. No one wants to go near it. The base of the statue was smashed and Mary is very upset about it. She’s also unhappy since one of her purses, the one she uses every day, disappeared. After much searching it was found in her room, a room she wouldn’t enter even if she had a bodyguard with her! How much power is required to teleport a purse?

  Beth is getting more upset daily about the voices she hears outside her window. Somehow, I’m going to have to find a way to listen in.

  Friday–August 31, 1973

  Today I was cleaning in my room and passed by Mary’s door. Just as I did, there was an extremely loud knock on her door coming from inside her room. After I caught my breath, I opened the door to be greeted by nothing but the usual frigid air.

  Paul and Tim have been reporting strange shapes in the fog and seemingly disembodied eyes. I saw the eyes last night myself near the pond so I knew what they meant. The boys set up a lantern near where they had seen the eyes but they didn’t disappear. Any animal would run from a burning lantern but the eyes remained. Some animals are drawn to light it’s true but these eyes stayed, unblinkingly, in one place until you approached them. Just as had happened in the incident with Jinx, the eyes would abruptly disappear only to reappear when the boys were at a distance. The area involved was on open ground with no grass. The boys were also frightened of the fog since it seemed to assume shapes and move in some kind of pattern. They really seemed to be having trouble outside.

  Another disturbing report reached out ears today. From the stories I’ve heard, there were four or five people traveling on a road about a mile from the house. It was the middle of the night. Suddenly, a boy of about sixteen ran right in front of them. All the witnesses said the car hit him, knocked him down and then ran over him. When they stopped, they saw the boy get up and run into the fields. The driver of the car called the police and the fire department when they were unable to find him themselves. Both organizations searched the fields in the area but found on one. I have no explanation and can only report it third hand but, of course, many people think it’s our “boy” and are very vocal about it. The mysteries keep piling up and the authorities refuse to make a statement. I don’t blame them. They must be as confused as we are.

  Saturday–September 1, 1973

  Today, Charmaine’s mother, Helen T, came down to report seeing an apparition. If you remember, their camp is directly above us but quite a distance away through open fields. She had been badly frightened. She told me she was in their camping trailer when she looked out the window and saw the upper half of a woman dressed in a sheer, gauzy dress. The woman was swaying to and fro in the semblance of a dance. Helen yelped and Charmaine reached for their .22. By the time she got outside, the woman was gone although a disturbed atmosphere remained. Helen promptly named the woman “Agatha.” She said if she saw her again, she’d sell the campsite.

  Martin, Mikki and Michele, mum and dad and Gordon, Cathie, Mike, Gary and Karen all come down today for an early Labor Day picnic. Cathie and her family are going to stay overnight with Gordon at his cabin down the road and mum and dad are staying with us. Martin and his family planned on leaving after dinner.

  While we were getting dinner ready, Mikki suddenly gasped. She had looked up as she passed our stairway and had seen a woman’s face. It was fuzzy and indistinct but it startled her. She was quite shaken for a while. Mikki is Japanese and, Martin says, very psychic. No wonder she was able to see the woman. I wonder which one it was.

  When everyone left, we settled down and Beth spent the night in Mike’s room. The house slept–or did it?

  Sunday–September 2, 1973

  I found out this morning that Beth didn’t sleep well last night. She kept hearing noises coming from the crawl space over her head. Trying to explain, she said it sounded like someone moving something from one place to another. In fact, she even thought she heard grunts. Since I was determined to ignore noises, I told her to forget it. I was convinced the noises were intended to unnerve us (which they did). No one checked the crawl space.

  Monday–LABOR DAY–September 3, 1973

  Again–complaints from Beth about noises in the crawl space and again–we ignored her. Paul and Debbie stopped by to have a picnic dinner with us. The rest of our company had left so they wouldn’t be caught in the heavy holiday traffic.

  As we sat down to dinner, I began to get a strange, “prickly” feeling that something was wrong. Jeff dropped by and joined the party. As the time passed, the odd feeling intensified. Paul felt it too, although neither of us said anything. We exchanged glances that proved to me that our feelings were similar. He was becoming progressively more psychic and could often predict things with astonishing accuracy.

  Without any warning, Paul stood up and announced his intention of walking past the pond over to the tree line at the end of our property. I felt such a sense of panic when he said it, I almost shouted at him. I told him I wouldn’t let him go. Debbie agreed with me and we all went inside. Sitting on the couch, we began visiting when we heard loud footsteps coming from Mary’s room. Debbie made some remark about noisy people until I told her that no one was upstairs. It was the first time she had heard any of our “noises”. Paul rushed upstairs, opened the door and encountered only the usual icy air. Debbie began to get very nervous and it wasn’t long before they went home. Quiet reigned–for a while.

  It was getting near time for Phil to leave for work when he suddenly announced he wasn’t going in. He knew he would lose the holiday pay if he didn’t go so I knew something was really wrong. I, of course, tried to talk him into going. We just couldn’t afford to lose the pay. He said he felt something coming from the tree line. I refused to admit feeling it and assured him that we could handle anything that happened (famous last words). He finally decided to check the grounds and then see how he felt.

  He started toward the pond. I was about eight feet behind him, giving him all the reasons he should go to work, when I thought I saw someone dart around the house toward the porch. I stopped and looked but could see nothing. Phil obviously hadn’t seen it. I ran to catch up with him, getting my feet wet in the pond runoff. We circled the pond and encountered several curiously cold spots. The coldest was at the far end of the pond where the girls had seen the woman dancing. We could see our breath. Don’t forget–it was a hot September night.

  Phil still wanted to walk to the tree line. Again, the ominous feeling! Something told me to avoid the tree line. I persuaded him to go back to the house. As we reached the end of the pond and started toward the house. I looked up to see a girl in Beth’s window. She had strawberry blonde hair and was wearing what looked like a pink dust cap. I thought she was sitting on Beth’s bed but a check the next day showed she must have been kneeling in front of Beth’s dresser.

  I just started to call Phil’s attention to the window when Beth and Jeff came from the front of the house and asked if we had just crossed the front lawn. They had been sitting on the front porch when a figure dressed in white crossed in front of them (the same one I saw?). it was now dusk and the light was beginning to fail. Phil told me to go up to the neighbor’s cabin and get a better flashlight than the one we had.

  Mary, Laura and I got into the car and made the trip up the hill, returning minutes later with the light, a heavy duty lantern-type flashlight. After parking the car, Laura and I joined Phil in the driveway. He had found a path in the tall grass and was sure we had a trespasser. I told him there were all kinds of paths in the grass made by animals, both wild and our own pets. However, he was looking for a “natural” explanation. Mary, in the meantime, had joined Beth in the yard. They were watching Jeff sweeping the pond with the headlight of his motorcycle. Phil was patiently explaining his trespasser theory to me when Mary screamed.

  It sounded exactly like Beth�
�s scream so I knew what the cause must be. We ran to the yard. By the time we reached them, Jeff was frantically honking the horn on his cycle and Beth was trying to calm Mary. They explained that Mary had seen a woman looking at her from her own window. Beth had looked up just as the curtain was being dropped. We ran for the house.

  It had been light when Phil and I left the house so no lamps had been turned on as yet. When we entered the kitchen we realized that all the lights upstairs were blazing. We hadn’t even been upstairs for hours. Our hair stood on end. Phil told me to keep Mary and Laura in the kitchen while he searched (I guess he still had trespassers in his mind). There was nothing upstairs so he came down and went in to check the cellar. The door, which was always kept bolted, was standing wide open. Mary was still crying hysterically. I didn’t know what to do. I felt restless and unable to stand still but, perversely, my feet didn’t want to move.

  In the middle of all this confusion, Mike called. He was at a friend’s party and wanted permission to stay later. I told him we needed him home right away but to be very careful driving. A little while later, he and Randy drove up. For a while we had mass confusion. Randy’s spook-chasing power didn’t work this time. Beth and Jeff saw a man standing on the front lawn at the corner of the house. Phil ran out there only to have someone scream that there was something or someone in the yard. It got so I couldn’t look at the windows because every time I did I got the impression of something passing by.

  Mike and Randy got in the station wagon and drove down the road to make sure we had no trespassers and satisfy Phil. As they drove, they looked at the back seat and were startled to see a depression in the cushion as though someone were sitting there. What really made it frightening was that every time they hit a bump, the depression changed accordingly. Needless to say, they came right home.