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attic.ghost
attic.ghost
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From: lmb3c@algol.astro.Virginia.EDU (Larissa M. Bowles)
Subject: Attic ghosts and other things
Message-ID:
Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU
Organization: Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 1994 17:22:32 GMT
Lines: 86
I have an attic ghost story for those of you who are interested in
hearing it. I hope it isn't too boring.
The house I grew up in was built in the 1930's or maybe very early
40's. The downstairs is all wood floors, and the attic goes the
length of the house. I've lived in it since I was three, and as
anyone can tell you when you live in a house that long, you learn to
recognize all kinds of noises. You know exactly what it sounds like when the
back door slams; when someone is walking across the attic floor; you
learn how to walk upstairs to the attic without making a sound; when
the wind pushes a tree against the side of the house, etc. For all my
17 years there, I've never heard any stories about anyone getting
killed or dying there, or even being seriously injured. However, this
fact doesn't stop "our ghost" from wandering around the attic.
I don't know how long my mom has heard these noises, but she tells of
times when my dad wasn't home. She could hear the ghost walking
around in the attic above the living room. Very heavy, solid
footsteps. When she opened the door to the attic and turned on the
light, they would stop. When she turned off the light and closed the
door, they'd begin again. She's also heard furniture being moved,
glass *shattering*, and things sliding around. But always, when she
went upstairs, she found nothing. My brother heard these too. I'm
not sure how much of this my dad heard. It's never really spooked my
mom or brother, actually I think they like having a personal ghost.
Funny thing was that I never heard it, unless you count the time I was
five.
Once when I was five, I fell asleep on the couch. My parents decided
to leave me there, and I awoke sometime during the night - I didn't
open my eyes or move around, but I just stayed there. That's when I
heard these footsteps coming down the stairs from the attic (Which
empties out into the hallway). They came slowly, but steadily. I
figured that maybe dad had come up there for something and it was just
him coming back down. But, the hallway door opened and no one came
out. There were no more footsteps, no one was visible, and I was
terrified! I went back to my bedroom and crawled under the covers and
stayed very still until I fell asleep. Up till a few months ago, I
thought that all that had just been a nightmare - I used to have them
a lot back then. (BTW, has anyone ever had the same dream on the same
night every year for a number of years? This is another story, if
anyone's interested.)
But I was also a very heavy sleeper until my teen years, so if
anything did happen, I probably didn't hear it. However, I'm sure
what I heard in May was no dream! This past May, I was at home
visiting my parents with my boyfriend, Rob. We were both in my room,
but I was in my bed and he was on one of those fold out bed-chairs.
Anyway, everything was fine until I woke up. Often in the night I
wake up, roll over, and go back to sleep. That night, I rolled over
and was almost back asleep when I heard four footsteps. There were
little noises around it, but definitely four, perfect, man's
footsteps. I froze! When I heard them a few minutes later, again
only four, I jumped outta my bed and crawled up next to Rob, waking
him up so he's hear them too. Fortunately the ghost didnt' make a
liar out of me and walked again a few minutes later. Rob got this
look of sheer terror in his face. He'd heard of out ghost for a
while, but never believed it. So, we laid there, listening to the
ghost a few more times. Rob fell back asleep when the noises seemed
to die off. There was no way I was going to sleep, no sir, I figured
that I'd just stay awake the rest of the night.
When I told my mom about it the next morning, she smiled and said that
it must have been us, because the ghost had been quiet for a long
while. But she didn't hear the noises that night. I also know it
wasn't either of our cats, because one was shut in the kitchen with no
way to get upstairs, and the other was in the living room. Besides,
the attic door was firmly shut. Ever since then, I've not been able
to sleep a full night in my room. Last time I was there, which was
this past weekend, I heard lots of little noises and one to two
footsteps at a time. The noises can't be the cats, they're not the
tree outside scraping against the house (I know that sound very well),
and there's no way squirrels and things can get into the attic from
outside. So that leaves...
I've also got a story about dreams coming true and one about a visit
from a dying relative, if anyone's interested.
--------------------------------------------------------
Larissa M. Bowles The Universe is laughing
lmb3c@virginia.edu behind your back.
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