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haunted.house
haunted.house
From netcom.com!csus.edu!decwrl!hookup!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!spool.mu.edu!news.nd.edu!student1 Thu Jun 2 19:51:16 1994
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From: (marc)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: 1st contribution of possibly many
Followup-To: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Date: 2 Jun 1994 19:12:04 GMT
Organization: University of Notre Dame
Lines: 67
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <2slau4$79k@news.nd.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: student1.grad.nd.edu
This newsgroup has been great, as I grew up on "ghost stories". Some of
the stories are general stories which I later found in the book "Witchcraft
in the Southwest". The other stories will inevitably be lost as the
generations march unless I manage to have tape my folks telling the tales.
I digress....The stories I will post involve my family as active or inert
participants, depending on the fear instilled in them by the event. Also,
many stories center around the family home.
My family home is a now-embellished tract home in a very middle class
neighborhood. My folks were among the first "settlers" in what was the
most eastern subdivision of the city at that time (early 1950s). So there
were no previous tenants (at least living) of the house. I grew up being
terrified of the dark, and when I got older and left in charge or by
myself, I would literally have every light on in the house. This was
before my initial first-hand encounter with the unexplained. I guess I
made my folks pay for those delicious stories...
The earliest stories I can remember involve my folks and so the details are
fuzzy for me. Shortly after my dad converted the garage and made a larger,
kind of L-shaped living room area, my mom was not home (I think at the
hospital having my older sister), so my dad was home with my older brother
who was about 2. He heard our dog growling and he heard footsteps (wood
floors at that time) walking through the house. Of course, he bolts up and
tries to stop them at the front door. He threw the light on in the front
room (the new room had a separate switch. The front door was deadbolted
but enough light shown on the sliding glass door so that my dad could see
the shears rise as thought the slider had been opened and a strong wind
came through. Too bad the door was shut and locked and he was only three
feet from it! My dad was so scared, he called one of his few neighbors at
the time and just asked them to sit and pray with him.
Another story happened on the day of my tenth birthday. My folks threw me
a surprise party so the day really sticks in my mind. My dad's job
involved him working various shifts (all night or all day). On this
occasion, dad's schedule had him working from 6 pm to 8 am, leaving my mom
with us three girls (ages 12, 10, and 4). The sleeping plan would have my
baby sister (yes, the 4 yr old) in the crib in our folks' room, and my
older sister and I sleep with mom in her queen size bed. Our big color tv
wasn't working and so my mom had brought her 13 inch b&w from her room to
the front room. Of course, we all fell asleep watching tv so when she
decided to put us to bed, she opted to move the tv first and then get us.
Anyway, by this time, they had added on and their room was way in the back
of the house. As Mom carried the tv through her doorway, she brushed
against the clothing hanging from the over-the-door rack. She walked
around the foot of her bed to the other side of the room and put the tv on
the stand and turned around to see that she did not brush up against mere
clothing (which weren't even hanging there) but an image of a man -- a
transparent man! She immediately closed her eyes and said our "magic"
words, "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph", opened her eyes and he was gone. I
remember there was a concern if she had seen a whole figure or just the
upper half. Apparently, this would distinguish a dead person from a person
who would be dying or maybe just died. She has never recalled that detail
nor was the man familiar to her.
By the way, I use the term "magic words" but not maliciously. My grandma
told me that if you invoke the name of the Holy Family, you would find
protection.
I might add that as time progressed, events got more intense and I often
wonder how much might have been caused by our "playing" with the Ouija
board.
marc
He who expects to no gratitude shall never be disappointed.
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