First Home

In 1985 three friends and I moved to our first home outside of the dorms at Wittenberg College in Springfield. OH. We had found a great duplex on Cassilly Street; It was close to school, roomy, comfortable, and best of all, cheap.

The house was older. Downstairs there were three rooms, a door to the basement, and stairways in the front and back of the house leading to three bedrooms and a bath upstairs. Immediately we noticed that the place was eerie, especially the basement and the back stairway. We kept the basement door locked.

The problems began immediately. Many mornings we woke to find the (previously locked) basement door open. The back stairwell was terrifying; some of us took to walking down the stairs sideways because we felt that somebody was going to push us down. There was a frequent (very) cold spot at the top of this stairwell although there were no windows nearby, and the darkness at the top of the stairs felt downright malicious.

Whatever resided there seemed to strongly dislike the one black woman in our household. Lightshades from ceiling fixtures fell on her head several times. After each time this happened we tightened the rest of the fixtures, only to have it happen again a few weeks later.

Over time we stopped spending any time alone in the house because of the constant feeling of being watched or followed. Friends stopped coming over; one refused to even come onto the front porch because the house frightened him so much.

I slept in the front room upstairs. It was the brightest room in the house, but wasn't free of the fear that the rest of the house seemed to generate. I began to suffer from night terrors; was it the stress of school, I wondered, or the energy of the place? As I fell asleep, I saw either spiders or a severed hand scuttling across my bed towards me, frightening me so badly I'd jump out of bed screaming.

I couldn't bear the night terrors. After some research I decided to bless my room using salt and holy water. I told the spirits that the house was theirs, but the room was mine. I kept a line of salt across my threshold at all times. Perhaps it was a placebo, but the night terrors never happened after the blessing. But from time to time at night I'd glance up from my studies...

He stood right at my door looking into my room. I could see a hat, a jawline, shoulders and chest. To me it didn't feel particularly sentient, and I often could gather the fortitude to close the door in his (missing) face.

We lived in this house for two very frightening years. I've experienced some ghostly places since, but have never since had night terrors. I don't know whether the house is still standing or what experiences other tenants have had. But if you happened to live in a very disturbed duplex on Cassilly Street in Springfield I'd love to hear your stories. You can reach me at ::

By: evileine@yahoo.com