By Rick Hinton
The story continues. …
“The house was unnerving … scary … I was always uneasy,” Laura admitted about her experiences in the house – not only in her childhood years, but also later as a teenager. “It started when you had your hand on the front doorknob and entered. It was in every nook and cranny. The stairway leading upstairs was utterly terrifying as was the basement steps. During my teenage years I felt it a lot stronger than my mom (Jennifer) who at that time seemed not to have a relationship with ‘It’ as she had in the past. Maybe she was blocking that out?”
Perhaps blocking was a coping response? What had started in the 1960s as a curious game play soon transformed the house into something dark and foreboding. “People visiting for a short time noticed something was not quite right, then they left,” Laura offered. “Those living there full time continued to deal with what had been brought in. The house was alive and really intense!”
Laura lived there for eight months. She worked the graveyard shift at White Castle, returning to the apartment she shared with her mother the following morning. It became a session with the living room sofa rather than her bed. And sleep was always fleeting. “It was never that deep, relaxing sleep that I had when I was younger. I always felt something was watching me,” she said.
“Throughout the house there were ‘pockets’ that I felt uncomfortable with. These areas really gave a bad feeling. In our apartment this included the bedroom, closet and bathroom. These areas were really hot and radiated it! Yeah, I heard knocking and rapping, but by then that was rather commonplace, and a yawner.”
When Laura moved in, the activity originating from the Ouija board sessions of the 1960s had dissipated – somewhat. “Considering the past history, these people who had been a part of that, my mother included, seemed oblivious to it now. Whatever was there was not completely gone, only had retreated into the shadows. I discovered I was ‘sensitive’ and still detected a presence there. Others in the house seemed not aware … couldn’t feel it.” Denial?
During those Ouija encounters of years ago the family described seeing faces in the bay window. Laura saw them herself when she was 15, but never afterward. And the apartment? Before Laura and Jennifer occupied it, renters came and went on a regular basis. Most offered no explanation; however, one renter was quite vocal for her reason for vacating. She stated that the figure of a man had suddenly strolled into the apartment, leaned over a playpen containing her baby, studied the child for a moment and then said “Boo” before disappearing.
“That place just wasn’t right!” Laura still feels. And most likely – still isn’t.
Not long ago, Laura and I pulled up to the house and stepped out upon the sidewalk. While I took photos, Laura stared at it with a perplexed look on her face. She was trying to associate her memories with a house that had changed little since her teenage days. The house was a different color from then, but basically unchanged. Her eyes moved up to the upstairs apartment window. She tried to get some sensation … a blast from the past. We rang the doorbell, hoping to talk to the current owner. Perhaps they would invite us in? No one answered. We left. Maybe we will try again someday.
