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Here are my experiences, three that I think may be related. In the mid-70's, my parents bought an older home built at some point in the 1800's from my understanding. I recall one time when guests came to visit. The hall lights were left on for them to find their ways up to their rooms later on. Problem was, the lights shone into my open door and kept me awake, as did the sounds of conversation from downstairs. In a lull in the conversation, I heard something like someone shuffling their feet across a carpeted floor coming towards my bed from the closet. (The floor was hardwood, so I was puzzled.) I clearly heard the footsteps, even the creaking of the floorboards. But in the light from out in the hall I could see nothing, no-one. I freaked out and ran screaming from the room and no one has been able to offer me any rational explanation since. I tried recreating the incident a number of times but there's no way someone could be in the room under those conditions without me seeing them. Later, in the summer of 1986, my girlfriend and I had the house to ourselves. We were watching videos (comedy movies, just for the record) and she complained of a draft. This was strange as it was a warm night. I put my arm around her and sure enough she was freezing. I felt it too and we looked in the direction the draft was coming from. On the sofa (we were on a loveseat), a cushion was sagged right down as if someone were sitting there. Only no one was. She freaked out and literally ran screaming from the house. (As did I, I admit.) I worked out later on that that spot is directly under the closet of the room where I heard the footsteps coming from. I still can't puzzle out that incident. You'd need an air conditioner to recreate the severe chill we felt and there were no windows on that near the couch for someone to use for playing a prank. The final mystery is, to me, the most disturbing. I was the last child still at home. I was moving out and had just gotten engaged to my girlfriend. My parents sold the house for a smaller one and we helped them move. It was a year later, the summer of '87. The last day of the move, my dad had us go back and make sure nothing had been forgotten and then make sure that the old place was locked up securely. We did so and went for a cold drink at the corner store up the street. It was a killer day: Blue skies, hotter'n'blazes and the worst humidity I can recall ever feeling. That, and one other thing: namely that there was absolutely, positively, not a breath of wind of any sort. Not even a stray gust to rustle the leaves. It was utterly calm, and still and hot. Yet, as we walked back past the old house, we both clearly saw the screen storm door swinging slowly open until it was as wide as it could go. It held like that for a few seconds and then swung slowly, slowly back. At the last minute, it banged shut loudly. So off we ran again, like the big chickens we are. For the past decade I've tried over and over to figure out how such a thing could happen. I know there was no wind. It was a brand new door and door closer unit that my dad had put in while fixing the place up to sell. Even if someone had tied a thin wire or string to the handle, there was no place to hide. It was broad daylight and the middle of the afternoon. It's beyond me how such a thing could have happened. And it's not like we can discuss those events with friends and family. All this took place in the small farm town we hail from. It's a place where folks talk plain and think sensible and things like this just aren't supposed to happen. Still, we know what we saw and it was plainly something so impossible that it frightened us both and has left us puzzled ever since. I suppose a little mystery adds spice to life, but this was definitely a little too spicy for our tastes. |
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