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skeptika's note: This was originally posted to alt.folklore.ghost-stories in 1995 and was posted on the ghost-stories mailing list. Bill C. stated that he wanted to hear from people about his experiences and about theirs but the email address he gave (demon@sunken.gate.net) was not valid, or is no longer valid. If anyone recognises the story and knows how to contact Bill, please let me know so that I can see if he is still willing to have people contact him. The story is long and you may wish to print it out to read at your leisure. I have not formatted this to be easily read on the screen. If enough people complain, I'll fix it when I have the time. sk What you are about to read is absolutely true. Nothing has been exaggerated, and none of the names are changed (other than the removal of the surnames by me - sk). It involves an experience my girlfriend and I had over a six month period between 1988-89. I was going to make my story into a book, but never did. Please pardon any typos, bad grammar, or anything else wrong, as whenever I tell my story, my eyes water, I get a chill down my back, goosebumps appear, and my hands start to shake. I really hope you believe me, and not think I am crazy, or that I am writing this as a prank. I am not. What you read will scare you, make you giggle, and maybe even shock, but it is all TRUE. Here goes... My name is Bill C. I met my girlfriend (now fiancée) Stacey in Brentwood, Long Island in September, 1987. Almost a year later, we decided to live together. Finding an apartment on Vanderbuilt St in Central Islip, we thought we were in heaven. We were both 18 yrs old, and happy to move out of our parents' houses. The apartment was really a basement converted into an apartment. To access where we lived, you open the door on the side of the house, go down a flight of stairs into where the laundry room is, cross the laundry room, and there's a panelled wood door. Once in that door was our kitchen. We had a small bedroom next to the boiler room, a bathroom across from the bedroom, and a wide open living room. I guess you would call it a studio apartment. Strange things started happening the very first night we were there. Stacey was cooking dinner while I was in the shower. I was in the middle of shampooing my hair, when I heard a female voice (albeit kind of muffled) say just above a whisper, "Billy...". I peeked behind the shower curtain, thinking Stacey was talking to me. No one was there. I then called out to her loudy, asking what she wanted. She called back saying that she didn't say anything, and that it probably was me hearing things, with shampoo in my ears. I shrugged, went back to my shower deeds, and was finished rinsing my hair, ready to put conditioner in, when again, I heard it, but a bit louder. It seemed to come from the hallway right outside the bathroom. Stacey came running in, shaking, saying that this time, she heard it too. Needless to say, I didn't condition my hair that night. After dinner, I convinced us both that it was probably the landlady Liz, upstairs talking to someone else, and that her voice was carried through a vent or something. Around 11 pm, we went into the bedroom to "christen" our bedroom, and our first night living together. Afterwards, I picked up a book and began reading. Stacey was playing a game on my Commodore 64 in the living room. Around 1 am, I noticed that the light was gradually dimming in the bedroom. Finally, it got so dark that I couldn't read, and in less than a minute, was completely off. I got up and looked at the switch. It was one of those round knob switches you have to turn to make brighter or dimmer. I yurned it up, and all was fine. I told Stacey what happened, and she said that maybe it was an electrical problem. That night, after she was sleeping, I was still reading, and fell asleep with the book on my chest (which I still do). I awoke to find her still asleep, but the light off again. I never turned it off, and asked her when she woke, and she said no. The light turned itself off again while I was asleep. Subsequently, every night at around 1 am, our bedroom light would just turn itself off, gradually dimming until off. We'd joke about it, and show the little 'trick' to friends, pointing out that no other room does it. One day, taking my friend Ken's advice, I turned the switch all the way on, and put a pencil mark on it, all the way to the right. We got a flashlight ready, and waited for 1 am to come. The lights dimmed and went out, and Ken turned on the flashlight, shining it at the switch. Sure enough, the little pencil mark that I made on the 5 O'clock position was now at 7 O'clock... We started telling everyone we were friends with about the voice and the light. Telling my friend Frank, he suggested we try using a Ouija board in the house. I was very sceptic at the time, thinking that it was all bullshit, that either the people using it move the planchette on purpose, or through involuntary hand movement. Boy, was I wrong. Frank and his girlfriend Dawn stopped by with the board, and they both proceeded to use it on our kitchen floor. They asked if there were any spirits occupying my house. It started to move at first, a little shaky, and picked up. It went to 'Yes.' Frank asked the spirit's name. It spelled out 'Dawn.' Frank looked at his girlfriend, whose name is Dawn, and asked if it was referring to her. It said no, and kept saying Dawn. She got a bit scared, and me, being Mr. Skeptic, had to try it for myself, looking for the slightest hint of Frank moving the piece. Dawn moved away as I took over. I asked if the spirit's name was Dawn, and got a yes reply. I made Frank look away as answers were being spelled, to insure that he wasn't pushing it. I asked for "Dawn's" last name, and got "Lom". "Dawn Lom?" I asked? Is that an Oriental name? It went to yes, and spelled Vietnamese. I then asked a bunch of questions, like "Are you responsible for the lights turning off in the bedroom?" Yes. "Why?" Attention. Well, what it boiled down to was that this Dawn Lom person said that she liked me, and was jealous of Stacey. This made Stacey very uncomfortable, and she put her hand on the planchette as Frank, hand tired, moved away. As soon as Stacey touched it, I could feel the piece almost come alive with energy, and when asked a question, it moved at a very fast speed. I know for a fact that she wasn't moving it on her own. She had a frightened look in her face, and she was very anxious to see what every letter would spell out. I know I wasn't moving it purposely either, and that's all the proof I needed to know that this stupid piece of plastic and wood actually worked! Dawn basically was saying that although she liked me, she had no animosity towards Stacey at all, and wished us both happiness. I then did a stupid thing, and asked her to show herself more often, to give me concrete proof that she existed. She said that she would show herself on Friday at midnight, and to look for a sign of her in the TV screen. It got very late, and Frank had to go. He told me to keep the board, that I'd get more out of it than he would. I was overjoyed. Friday came around, and we bought candles, shut off all the lights like she told us to, and looked at the still-glowing TV screen. Midnight came, but nothing happened. We shrugged it off. The following week, I was still using the Ouija board as much as I possibly could. We met different personalities (not all bad/not all good), and every now and then, Dawn would talk. By now, Stacey really hated the board, as I didn't want to do anything else but use it all the time. I lost weight, missed days of work, didn't sleep right, etc. This one particular night, however, Stacey reluctantly was using it with me (she kept complaining about how tired she was, that she wanted to go to bed) at around 2:30 am in the living room. Suddenly, the planchette started freaking out, going all over the place, and suddenly spelling out BITCH and WHORE over and over. We looked at each other nervously...Then the doorbell rang. I asked Dawn if she knew who was at the door, and it went to Yes, and went back to BITCH/WHORE. I said "Oh, yeah, then who?" It spelled back: CINDY. We looked at each other one more time before I got up and answered the door, sure enough finding Cindy, a 33 yr old neighbor from down the block. I first said that I knew it was her, and then asked what she was doing up at 2:30 am. She said that she had gotten off of work, knew I'd be awake, and asked if I wanted to have some beer. I said yes, and told her about the board on the way downstairs. She said she never used a Ouija before, as she was afraid, and thought they were evil. After constant begging, she agreed to it, and Stacey was relieved. We told Dawn that Cindy was going to get on, and the planchette went ballistic. BITCHWHORE over and over, until I said I'd never use the board again. Dawn agreed to let Cindy on. Stacey went to sleep, and I proceeded to tell Cindy about Dawn Lom, and about how she says she was a Vietnamese woman brought over to America, and was later murdered by her husband. I asked Dawn why she hated Cindy, and in what seemed to be an eternity, paused. Finally, one word was spelled out slowly: JACK. Cindy's face went sheet-white, her jaw opened, and she let go of the planchette like it was a burning hot coal. I asked what was wrong, as Jack meant nothing to me. Cindy told me that there's a guy on the bus she takes to work that bothers her to go out with him, that he's very persistant, and also a Vietnam vet, and his name is Jack. I finally told Cindy to put her hands on the board again, as we were told that you have to make them say goodbye, or else they can stay with you (dunno if it's true or not, but we didn't take any chances). Dawn called Cindy a Bitch a few more times, but finally gave in and said goodbye. Cindy told me that from that moment on, she'd have nothing to do with that guy. Ever since I first used the Ouija, I'd come home from work or anywhere, and enter the house saying: "Hi, Dawn.. We're home!" Stacey would get annoyed every time. I thought it was cool, having our very own ghost. I'd try to communicate with the Ouija when I was alone all the time, but to no avail. It just wouldn't work with one person. Lots of times, we'd get a personality pretending to be one we were familiar with, but we could see though it. Each "spirit" had its own style, its own personna. We'd ask who they really were, and they'd finally tell us someone else. After asking why they lied, they'd say because they were lonely. One particular friendly one was named Sal. He told us that the Ouija could only contact people in "hell". He said that hell was really a sort of underworld very much like earth, and that they eat, sleep, and do other things very much like us. He said that when you die, you are are your own judge, deciding where you go. Once, Stacey and I brought our board to my mother's house for my sister's birthday party, and were using it in my old bedroom with Stacey and a couple of other party guests. My mother peeked her head in and asked what time we were going to leave. I told her that we were goona probably stay till about midnight, as we both had to work the next day. We contacted Sal, and were conversing. We told Sal to tell us when it was midnight, as we had to go. He said he would, and we were asking questions. A few hours later, in mid sentance, Sal went to the numbers 1, then 2. We said, "Oh, it's midnight already?" It went to Yes. Just then, my mother walked in, and said "I thought you were leaving at 12! It's now one in the morning." We all looked at each other. We asked Sal if there is a problem, and he said that there must be a time difference (does this mean that Hell is in the Central Time Zone? Would explain Chicago ). One day, while Stacey was at work, my best friend Ken came over. We were using the board, and got Dawn. I got an idea, and promptly asked her if she knows the future. She said, yes. I asked if she was lying (there's supposed to be a rule (among many) that they have to tell the truth when asked if they are telling it). She said no. I then asked for that night's pick three lottery numbers. She was very reluctant, but finally, 078 were spelled out. I very excitedly asked Ken if he manipulated that, he very seriously told me no, and I hurried with him to a local convenience store where I bought $50 in tickets. Ken, realizing that if I were spending that much money on it, that I couldn't possibly have been moving the pointer, bought the same. We picked up a bottle of champagne on the way home, and I waited for Stacey to come home from work to tell her the news. I called up a bunch of my friends, told them what happened, and that this should prove that this Ouija stuff isn't a bunch of bullshit. As the lottery drawing was coming on, I had the bottle all ready to be opened as she called my winning numbers. The first number came up as I popped the cork, to see 4...9...1. I was PISSED! My friends all had a good laugh at my expense, I got a yelling-at from Stacey, and I felt three inches tall. I quickly got the board out and demanded for Dawn to get on. She did, and after I asked how she could do something like that, she said that it was against the 'rules'. She's not allowed to do those kind of things. I was sad, everyone went home, and Dawn said goodbye. Two days later, I'm at the same convenience store buying cigarettes, and on that day's winning 3 numbers, I see... 078. ARRGH! Once, I got a young boy on the board. Trouble was, he didn't speak much English. His name was Miguel, and when asked how he died, replied only with "Bam". Well, since neither Stacey nor I spoke any Spanish, we decided to call my friend Carlos over to translate. He did, and as he watched, he said that the boy was afriad of something in my closet. A chill came over me. Was the thing that was calling itself Dawn Lom something that hid in my bedroom closet? We went over to my bedroom and opened the closet door. We suddenly laughed as we saw what it was he was so afraid of. It was a black-light velvet poster of a hooded and robed glow in the dark skeleton holding an axe. The strange goings-on in the house didn't cease either. Once, As Stacey and I were watching television, I became a little frisky. I started fondeling her breast. A little while later, I heard something that caught my attention. Directly above us, where the ceiling meets the wall at a corner, I heard a distinctive scratching sound. Quite like a sound a mouse would make, burrowing a hole through the wall. I looked up at where the noise was coming from, and was wondering if it might be the landlords upstairs, doing something. I took my hand off of her breast, and the noise abruptly stopped. I looked at her, and seen she didn't notice the weird sound. She was still watching TV. I decided to test it and put my hand back on her breast. The noise started up again, louder than ever. I took my hand off again, and it stopped again. I started to giggle, and told Stacey to look at something. I pointed at where to look and listen, put my hand on her breast again, and it started. I took it off again, and it again stopped. I made a little joke out of it, improvising a rap beat (at least the best a rap- hating metalhead can do), taking my hand on and off rapidly, the noise following perfectly. We both laughed for a while, and I shouted "Ok, enough." To this day, I wonder if they heard the scratching or me yelling at around 3 am. I also asked the landlords if they've ever known any previous people who lived there, a man named Jack and a Vietnamese woman in particular. They told me no, that they've only had the house a short while. I never gave any explanation, in fear of being evicted by reasons of being koo-koo. Another time, Stacey was in the shower, across from the bedroom, when I had just finished a chapter in a book, and was waiting for her under the bedcovers nude. It was almost 1 am, and the lights would be going off soon. I asked her to hurry, for I was getting really horny. All of a sudden, we heard a very loud, almost booming lady's voice say: "Yo!". It echoed throughout the bathroom and bedroom. Stacey came running into the bedroom almost hysterical, not even bothering to turn off the water. It sounded like it came from right outside the bathroom door. Well, as she finally reached the bed, the light went out, and I don't mean how it normally dims.. It went out abruptly. As soon as the light turned off, we heard a very loud crash from the kitchen. Imagine my fear, if you will. That voice, her running into my amrs, the light shuts off suddenly, and then a crash from the kitchen. I'm sitting there, naked, in the dark, trying to protect my love. I jumped up, turned the light back on, ran into the dark kitchen to see where the noise came from, put that light on, and seen what had happened. On the counter, the large round plastic ashtray (which I still have to this day) wobbling. It didn't fall off the counter or anything. Judging from what we heard, it sounded as if the ashtray were lifted about a foot above the counter and dropped! I shouted at Dawn to leave us alone again. We didn't have any more problems that night, but it didn't matter. Neither of us slept after that incident. There was also one time when I came home from work about 5 pm, to find Stacey On the back porch, shivering. It was December, and she had no jacket on. I knew something was up. She told me that she was waiting for me to come home from work, and she decided to read a book I recommended. She said she was in the middle of a chapter, when it suddenly got cold. Out of the corner of her eye, she said she seen what looked like a person walking behind her, but all black, no features. It was very quick and swift, and when she turned to look, there was no one there. Putting the book down on the kitchen table, she heard a clicking noise, and seen the doorknob to our apartment turning slowly by itself. More out of fright than courage, she opened the door quickly to see nobody there again. She bolted up the stairs and outside, until I got home. Melissa, one of Stacey's friends, was having trouble at home with her mother, and wanted to stay with us. I didn't like the idea at first, as 1) she was only 17, and that's harbouring a runaway, and 2) she had a big yellow slobber factory of a golden retriever named Ozzy. We warned her about the strange things happening in our home, but that made her all the more anxious to stay with us. I had a long talk with her mother for approval, got it, and told her that she had to take full responsibility for the dog, and since we had no other bedrooms, that she'd have to sleep on the floor in the living room (we had no couch, only chairs). She agreed, and all went well for the first couple of weeks. Ozzy was very well-behaved, and housebroken, and Melissa was a good kid. One night, Stacey and Melissa were in the kitchen talking and listening to the radio, and I was playing Ultima 5 on my computer. I had just drank a beer, and had to go to the bathroom badly (If I were a super hero, I'd be Weak Bladder Man). I got up and went into the bathroom. The lightswitch had just broken on us, and so I left the door open a crack so I can see and aim. As I'm urinating, I notice something out of the corner of my eye. At first I thought it was a shadow, but I looked up on the wall and seen it wasn't. It was very hard to describe, almost like a blob made of black. When I say black, I don't mean darkness black. I mean blacker than any shadow you can imagine. It was this amorphous shapeless thing that looked pure black, but two dimensional. It suddenly climbed up from the wall to my right onto the ceiling! I tried to force myself to finish pissing, and ran out the bathroom door. I wound up getting myself all wet and running with my pants unbuttoned, penis hanging out, pee all over me, in front of Stacey and Melissa. I was not as much embarassed as I was terrified, and explained what I saw. Melissa was the first to open the bathroom door, and of course, nothing was there. I think she thought it was just the beer, or a shadow in the darkness, or just my imagination, but I still can remember it as I type this, and to this day, I cannot go to the bathroom with the lights out. Probably the most terrifying thing that happened was this: It was about 3 or 4 am, and Melissa, Ozzy, Stecy, and I were all asleep. The smell of smoke awakened me, burning my eyes. I suddenly heard a knock at our door in the kitchen. I put a robe on and answered it. The landlady, Liz, was standing there with her little 3 year old girl (I really don't remember the girl's name). She explained that the boiler was backing up or something, and that she needed to fix it. I let her in, her child hiding behind her, holding a little duck hand puppet/doll. I shut the door behind her, looked to see if anyone else had been awakened by the smoke or knock, seen that everyone was asleep (including Ozzy). The landlady and her girl went into the boiler room next to my bedroom, and started fixing it. I then went back to bed and closed my eyes. Just as I was about to go under, I heard her little girl give a horrified scream and run up the stairs. I got up again, asked Liz what was wrong, and she said that maybe the dog had frightened her. I looked, and seen that the dog was still asleep (even after that girl's screech!) I looked out of my door and seen the girl huddled at the top of the stairs in the laundry room, shaking. I shrugged and went back to bed again...Only to be awakened again by another round of knocking on the door. I answered again, and there was Liz again, this time without her daughter. She said she was sorry to bother me, but she said her daughter had left her puppet/doll in the apartment, possibly dropping it when she ran upstairs. She said that the girl cannot sleep without it, so we started to look around. After looking everywhere the girl could have been, I checked the dog, thinking maybe Ozzy grabbed it. No, he was still asleep, a small pool of drool under his snout. I told Liz that it has to be somewhere in the apartment, and that when I found it tomorrow, I'd give it back to her. Liz said ok, and goodbye again, and went upstairs. Yet again, I tried going back to sleep, only to be awakened by the sound of a low rumbling, then Melissa's voice screaming "BIIIIILL! Get IN here!" I run out into the living room and see Ozzy, the happiest dog in the world, growling at an empty corner of the room, running towards the corner, yelping, and running back to his master Melissa, who is still laying down on the floor, the puppet/doll propped up right next to her head, as if looking at her. The dog continued the growl/advance/retreat routine a few more times before he just stopped and whimpered. I immediately snatched up the doll and threw it on the kitchen table. It was bone dry, so we all knew that Ozzy did not have it at all. His snout is a waterfall of slobber. It was as if the presence in our home had taken the doll from the child, scared her badly, and waited for all of us to be asleep, and prop it next to Melissa's head in a very evil looking position, then sticking around to watch the horror she had caused. Melissa said she woke up from hearing Ozzy growl, turned her head, opened her eyes, and seen this doll-thing staring her right in the face. That's when she cried out to me. Melissa went back to live with her mother shortly afterward, and still lives there, getting along great with her mom! :) Well, there's more things that happened, but the details are so long, and I'm getting tired. I just want to wrap this up by saying that Stacey and I have since moved to Florida, and are getting married next year. We have a roommate named Andy, his girlfriend's name is Bonnie. We've been in this house now for over 2 years, and nothing strange has happened to me, but the funny thing is: I have never told anyone in Florida our little story, and about 3 months ago, Bonnie told me that the very first day we had this house, Stacey and I stayed at our previous one overnight to collect our Security deposit, Andy and Bonnie were here, and that that first night, she was in the shower, and swears to me that they had heard the front door open, and three people (dinstincively 2 females and 1 male) enter the house, laughing and talking like they were coming home from having a good time together. After the shower, they came out into the living room, piled full of boxes of belongings, and the door was still locked, and they were the only ones there. All in all, I had to get this out. I am now a very strict believer of the paranormal. I thank you for taking the time to read this, and if you believe what I had written, thank you again. If you didn't, I don't care. If anyone wants to know about some of our other dealings with the Ouija board, say so, and I'll post more about Sal, Dawn Lom, and others not mentioned, like "Mother", and T.J. Bill. |
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