Big Book '98NOW I BELIEVE IN GHOSTS
by Helen Di Florio
My name is Eric and what I am about to tell you is a true story. I am 30 years old now and am still terrified of the event that happened 12 years ago.
I was 18 years old and very happy with my life. I had just finished my VCE and had my plans all set for the future. I had saved around 10 thousand dollars from my part-time job and was planning to move out of home and live near the university that I was going to study at.
The day came when I was looking for a cheap apartment to buy. I went to a Real Estate Agency and was surprised when I saw a house selling at 40 grand. I was shocked at how a big house that was in very good condition could be sold at such a low price.
I was determined to buy it, but realised it was much too expensive to fit my budget, because I needed another 30 grand to pay it off. Then an idea came to me. If my dad leant me the rest of the money now, I would promise to give him double when I finished university and got a promising job. He agreed and within a month I was already unpacked and cleaning all the dust in my new house that had accumulated itself for some time. What was really surprising was that the house still had furniture in it. It was not as if it came empty with bare walls and carpets, but with all beautiful antique furniture. I thought this was excellent, because I was planning to save up and buy my own furniture so there was one thing off my mind.
It felt like a dream come true, everything was going perfectly, until the second week of moving in. On Monday, I was doing a bit of gardening when I thought of meeting my neighbours. I left my gardening and tip-toed over to the shabby house, come to the door. The door slowly opened and an old, wrinkly woman spoke.
"May I help you?" she asked.
"Hi, I'm your new next door neighbour, Eric Cartman. I just moved into the house next door and thought it would be nice to meet my neighbours".
"Well hello Eric, please come in. My name is Margaret," she said.
We went through the hall down to the kitchen and she pointed to a chair near the table.
"Please sit down I'll just be a second making the tea". As she put the kettle on and took out some biscuits, she started talking again. "I bet you bought the house pretty cheap on the market, hey?"
"Yeah, I was pretty surprised it was only 40 grand".
"I wouldn't be surprised. No one had lived in that house for about 20 years".
"20 years!!"
"Yes. I've heard some rumours that it was haunted. The last people that lived in it had become so terrified that they ran out of the house and didn't even bother to get their furniture back. Thieves have tried to rob the house, but have run out terrified and no one knows why". The conversation ended and soon after the cups of tea and biscuits, I was outside again.
That night was when the events started to occur. The weather was cold and dreary. I was in the living room, watching television and feeling the warmth of the fireplace on my skin. Just then the unexpected happened. From the second floor, I heard a loud bang and faint footsteps. I turned off the TV, my heart pounding and my legs numb. I thought that a burglar had broken in from an upstairs window. I slowly made my way up the stairs, reached the top and then halted. My knees were shaking as I slowly walked my way to the main bedroom where the noises seemed to be coming from. I leaned my ear to the door and the noises got much louder. My hand shook as I slowly went to turn the door handle. In a flash, I opened the door and reached for the light switch. As soon as I went in, the noises stopped and everything was back to normal. I slowly walked downstairs, wondering weather it was just my nerves playing up on me.
Another event occurred the next night. I was on my computer typing, when I got up to go to the kitchen to get a drink. As I was pouring my drink, I thought that I heard the noise of someone typing. When I got back, I was shocked to see the words, 'I'M GOING TO GET YOU!" about a dozen times typed out in capital letters on the screen. I was confused, angry and frustrated. Who would do this and why? No one could have gotten into the house unless they broke in, because everything was locked. I searched the house, but there was not one sign or clue that someone had broken in.
That night I couldn't sleep. The vision of the computer screen kept replaying itself in my head like a movie. I had been lying in bed for ten minutes wide awake when I heard two very loud crashing noises coming from downstairs. With a shock, I got out of bed and headed for the stairs. As I swiftly stepped down from them, a rush of cold wind hit my bare skin. I rushed for the light switch, my heart pounding in astonishment. As light entered the room, I could see in horror that the front door, directly opposite the staircase, had been knocked off its hinges and lay flat on the lounge room floor.
I called the police and they soon came to investigate. They thought that it was just some troublemaker having fun and promised that they would be on the lookout from now on. But what puzzled me the most was that it looked like it had been forced from the inside onto the floor because the door handle was damaged, so something inside the house had to have pushed it inward for it to fall onto the floor. But what? the police said that there were no fingerprints from the inside or outside surface of the door, so what was it?
After putting the door back in place, I went back to bed. It had been a long and tiring night, but my eyes felt like they were glued open by some invisible force. My mind kept going over the strange incident. There was not one dint or scratch on the outside surface of the door, so how did the person who smashed the door get in. I had checked the house and found no sign of forced entry. I still thought that ghosts were out of the question. More questions lurked in my mind, but finally after a couple of hours, I fell asleep.
I came home the following night after being out all day with my friends. It was around 2 o'clock in the morning when I was in a half sleep, then I heard the noise. It sounded like a low moan not far off from my room. I got up with a start and walked over to the bottom of the stairs. To my horror, I saw standing in the middle of the staircase a black, hooded figure. My face went white and my heart skipped a beat. The figure was tall and had no face. It made another strange moaning sound as its finger pointed at me, then it beamed 'GET OUT!!!'
I closed my eyes just to make sure that I wasn't dreaming, then opened them again. I was sure that what I just saw wasn't a figment of my imagination. It had to be real. It was real. It was a ghost. I was terrified, but I knew that I couldn't give up. Something told me to keep on fighting, so I did.
I tried calling in experts to perform seances and exorcisms - but nothing worked. It just made it worse. More events happened, which were even worse. Green ooze dripped off walls, more figures kept appearing, more noises and footsteps could be heard and foul odours could be smelt. Sometimes I could feel an icy hand touch my shoulder, or metal objects flying across the room, just missing my head.
I couldn't stand it any more. What seemed to be a dream come true turned out to be a nightmare. I finally moved back to my parents' place.
The house was back up on the market and after a year was sold to a young man. A few months later the man had been found dead. It was said that he had died of a heart attack, caused by shock!
Today the house doesn't exist any more. They knocked it down and the landowner built a new house exactly where the old one used to be.
I have heard strange stories about the new house. People have said that they have seen figures - hooded figures - on top of the stair well, strange noises and footsteps near the bedroom area and green ooze dripping from the walls..........