Our Event

Angel and I befriended each other in early elementary school. We were polar opposites but somehow became the best of friends. Growing up, she had a very vivid imagination and always swore that there were evil spirits and ghosts after her soul. [Yeah, that's what I said too.] I use to kid her about being a horror author when she grew up. Over time, our differences began to separate us and we lost touch. When we were 22 we ran into one another again and for a while, things were back to the way they use to be. We were again inseparable and spent hours talking about our adventures, relationships, screw-ups and dreams. After a few weeks of playing catch-up, we somehow managed to get on the topic of ghosts and haunted places. She was all fired-up to go to several places in the community and spook hunt but I was not so willing; mainly because I thought it foolish and Childs play. Somehow, she talked me into going to this old, abandoned house by the elementary school we'd both attended.

This is a very old farmhouse and it was recently purchased and restored but shortly after the restorations were complete, the new owner disappeared. Some thought he ran off with another woman, some thought he had ran off with a man and some thought that his wife shot him. As it was, the house was about to go up for auction as the bank was going to foreclose on it and Angel and I knew it was our best chance to check it out; me for the sheer beauty of the house and her for the possibility of spooks. Using a trick I'd learned from an ex-boyfriend in college, I got us in to the house undetected. With flashlights in hand, we start browsing through this immaculate house.

Now I won't go into all of the specifics, but Angel's overactive imagination was out in full force. For every little creak, crack and shuffle she heard, I could come up with a logical explanation. After a while, we'd made our way upstairs. In one of the rooms, there was a bookshelf and oddly enough, there were two, solitary books on it. I walked closer and there was no writing on either of them, so I went to pick one up and that's how we discovered a secret room. It was really small and I figured it was supposed to be a safe place to put valuables. Once inside, we found a small, bright orange ball. It was probably the size of a baseball and made out of very bouncy materials. After a few moments, we left that secret room and closed the entrance back. Angel was holding the ball so I told her to put it on the book shelf. We went through a few other rooms before heading back downstairs.

In the main entrance at the foot of the stairs we were getting ready to leave when we heard this thud-thud-thud. I figured it was air in the water pipes with this being such an old house and all. Angel, frustrated by my lack of belief shouted "Okay, Shelly doesn't believe in you. Give us a sign and make her believe your real and you're here."

I rolled my eyes and was about to move when we heard the thud-thud-thud again. It sounded like it was coming down the landing towards the top of the stairs. We both shined our lights in that direction and saw that bouncy ball sitting at the top of the stairwell. That was pretty freaky and I was trying to come up with an explanation when all at once, the ball began moving slowly; back and forth then suddenly started bouncing down the stairs. We must have looked like two of the three stooges trying to get through that front door at the same time.

When we were back in my car I noticed that we'd left the front door opened. I mentioned it to Angel who refused to go close it. Gathering up my courage, I crept up towards the door hoping that I wouldn't disturb anything any more than I already had when SLAM the door flew all the way opened and then SLAM shut with such force that the windows rattled. I looked like an Olympic sprinter getting back to my car and we peeled out of that driveway. At the end of the driveway, I stopped before pulling into the main road when I noticed in my rearview mirror that the porch-light had come on. It then got brighter and brighter, before slowly dimming and going out. I asked Angel if she'd seen it and she was literally crying.

Try as I might, I could not come up with a logical explanation for the ball 1) making it from the shelf, taking a sharp right turn to get out the door, then making it's way down the hall to the top of the stairs and 2) stopping completely, then rocking back and forth before bouncing slowly down the stairs towards us. Nor could I come up with a logical explanation for the front door. It was 88 degrees and with 98% humidity that night and there wasn't any breeze and no power turned on in the house to make the central heat and air come on. And lastly, there was nothing in my mind that could logically explain the porch light. After that event, Angel and I lost touch again. She ended her pursuit into the realm of ghost and ghastly happenings and ironically, I started my own.

Thank you for reading this. I hope that it made the hairs on your neck standup the way it does mine every time I think about it. Bye the way, they never did find that missing owner and no one has purchased the house in the 8 years since that event.

By: sdaughtery@unum.com