It was in 1976...Jim and I had been a couple for about a year..I kept my second job to help raise the down payment for our first house together..At the time there was a house buying frenzy going on in California..We got pre-approved for a home loan,and off we went looking for the perfect house..
Many of what we were shown were so broken down,it was discouraging..Then, one bight Sunday afternoon,we were shown THE house..It was nothing special,a North Hollywood Ca. WW2-built tract house,built for war workers..It was a two-bedroom,single bath house with a very large family room tacked on to the rear of the house..It had not been updated since it was built in 1942..But,we liked it enough to bid successfully and buy it..
After a lengthy escrow,finally,we had the keys and happily moved into that house,never once guessing what lay in store for us..
At the time we moved in,we had both,a cat and a black Lab dog..The very first night upon moving in,the Spirits wasted no time in announcing their presence..Jim and I fell into bed,exhausted from the move..We were in bed for no more than five minutes when we heard a extremely loud SLAM of what sounded like the front door..We both jumped up,ran into the living room,turned on a light,and saw...nothing...
We both examined the front door,the night chain was on,the lock and deadbolt locked..We shrugged our collective shoulders,and went back to bed..
A few days later,we were awakened by the sound of the toilet flushing..Not just running water noise,but the clunk of the handle,as well..I would get up,look it over,I saw nothing but the water swirling the toilet bowl...I told Jim about it and he said that he,too,had heard it clunk and flush by itself..I called out a plumber,and he inspected the entire houses plumbing..He discovered a tiny leak under the house from the bath tub,nothing else..As the toilet was old.he recommended changing it out,which I agreed to have him do..
That night,new toilet installed,I was awakened by our dog whining..I got up,and found him in the hallway,staring into the darkened bathroom,and loudly whining..I could also hear the new toilet complete a flushing sequence..The next day,I called the plumber back out..He confirmed that the new toilet was fine,and had no explanation for the flushing..That toilet would flush on its own from time to time the entire two years that we owned that house..
A few months after moving in,Jim and I noticed that there were what sounded like raps and knocks on the bedroom wall behind our heads..Some nights there were no knocks,other nights there were many knocks..At first,Jim thought I was making the noise..I thought it was him..What other explanation could there be? One night,the knocking went on and on..I got angry,turned around and pounded loudly on the wall..The knocks stopped instantly..It was quiet for a minute or so,the there were a series of extremely LOUD bangs on the wall...So loud in fact,that I put my hand on the wall and could feel the vibration in the wall from the invisible blows..As long as we lived in that house,the knocks and wall taps and bangs continued..
Jim and I bought a new chandelier for the dining room..I hired an electrician to install it,install a dimmer switch,and inspect all of the house wiring..That night,after installation,Jim and I were in the dining room playing cards..The chandelier began flickering,bright,then dim,then steady on..I told Jim that the dimmer might be faulty and would call the electrician back out to test it..Of course,the electrician found nothing wrong..Strange,we thought..
About 9 months of living there,we went to bed one night..Right after I turned out my bedside light,and settled down,I heard Jim whisper my name,and for me to look..Jim was on his side facing the bedroom doorway..I raised up over him and saw the same thing that Jim saw..It was a white,undulating mist or fog,sort of in the shape of a person..It was floating into our bedroom quite slowly,and was self-illuminating..It had a bright glow that seemed to come from within itself..We also noticed several tiny pinpoints of light scattered throughout its form..It stopped and just floated in mid-air..I knew it was not my imagination,as I was wide awake,and I could see this light and mist reflected on the polished wood of our dresser and its mirror...
Our dog stared, barking furiously from the hallway at the mist,and it slowly floated back out of our bedroom and into the living room...Jim and I jumped up,ran into the living room,flipped on the lights,but saw nothing..Our dog was VERY nervous,and was pacing back and forth while whining..It was all quite unsettling..
Jim and I had made friends with the couple across the street..We had them over for dinner a few nights after our misty friend made its first appearance..Jim and I confided all of the events taking place in our house,while seated at the dinner table..They both thought we were joking or lying,and one of them said:"If there really is a ghost in this house,turn off the chandelier"..No sooner than she said that,the chandelier went completely dark..Just like in a cheap horror film..The four of us jumped to our feet,and fled the room..I went back into the dining room and said out loud:" I believe that you are here"..The chandelier instantly lit up,full bright on..I was chilled to the bone..
Around this time it started something new..It would be in the middle of the night,and then it would run through them house,or at least it sounded like VERY heavy work boots running through the house..Clomp,clomp,etc..LOUDLY! This activity continued as long as we lived in the house..
Jim had flown back to New York on business,and it was just myself and our pets..I had worked late and arrived home about midnight..I was in the kitchen,dog by my side,pouring a glass of milk..All of a sudden,this really DEEP voice booms out of the dining room and says:" Well,HELLO,Ken"..This was the first time it had ever spoken,and it scared me spit-less..I grabbed my coat,and my dog and we went out to the garage and slept in my car that night..Luckily,Jim returned the following day..
A few months later,Jim was away on a business trip..It was a sunny Sat. morning..I was standing at the kitchen sink washing something..As I turned around,I saw "It"...There standing before me was a semi-transparent man..He was all in shades of gray..You could see that he was wearing "clothes",that he had a short beard,and appeared to be about 6'2" or so..He looked at me with the strangest glittering gold eyes..The look on his face revealed that he,at least I got the impression,that he was startled that I could see him..He turned and walked into the dining room,and faded away..
One might think by now that I would be used to all of these strange situations,but frankly,I never got used to them..I had this fear,I have no idea why,but I was always afraid that it would start a fire..It never did, but I couldn't shake my concern that it might..
Our animals could see the spirits..They would be lying on me or near me,then suddenly jerk up and stare and stare at empty space,following something with their eyes that we couldn't see..It was all too much,and so we sold that house and moved away..
We were concerned at first,that what ever was haunting that house might attach itself to us and move with us..Happily,that never happened!
We were glad to be free of that house,but, our buyers needed us to carry a Second Trust Deed on it as they didn't have enough cash to close..I convinced Jim that we should,and so,at close we got the Second as part of our proceeds..What happened several years later was unnerving..
We knew that the house was sold by our buyers,as we agreed to keep the Second in place..One stormy evening,I received a very strange phone call..It was from the woman who had bought the house from our buyers..She was very agitated and upset..She asked me if anything weird had ever happened to us while we lived in that house..Not sure where this was going,I asked her if there was a problem..This is what she told me..
She and her boyfriend of 7 years bought the house..They had been in the house several weeks when they noticed odd things happening..Toilet flushing,banging and thudding,you get the idea..But,for her,it got much worse..She said that her boyfriend had changed..That he began heavy drinking..Enough so,that he drank himself out of a job..That he was violent,where he had never been violent before..It seems one day,she came home from work,to find him lying on the floor of the dining room,drooling and digging into the plaster with a screwdriver..She told me that they broke up not long after that,and he moved out..She mentioned that both her cats disappeared and never returned not long after her boyfriend moved out..Then,completely breaking down,and crying in anguish,she told me the worst of it all...That she had been in the second bedroom,folding laundry..That something invisible grabbed her and threw her down on the bed..That she was raped by something of great force..She told me that after her attack,she grabbed her purse and coat and fled to her sisters house up on Mulholland Drive..That she was never,ever setting one foot in that house again..
Now, of course,I wasn't there,I don't know what really happened..However,it defies logic that she would call me out of the blue,to lie to me..I do know that I heard the terror and panic in her voice..It is my belief that she told me truth..
Jim asked me if we should advance to the First,and take the house back..I spent a couple of hours considering that idea..In the end,I flatly refused to..The house was foreclosed on,and our Second and its connection to that evil house dissolved..
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