A Haunting Tale

When I was 17, we moved into an old two-story house with lots of history. The house was built around 1900 and a well-to-do business man lived there with his family.  In the backyard was another smaller two-story house that was used as the servant's quarters.

When the family sold the house, it was eventually turned into a hospital. Years after the hospital closed, the house was then turned into four separate apartments. So there were many people, and many stories that came and went through that house before we called it home.

When we moved there, it was renovated from four apartments back to a one home dwelling again. Since it was an older house, we were used to hearing all the creaks and pops that came with living in a house that age. There were always strange noises but, we always said it was just the sounds of the house settling. At the time we lived there, the house was almost a hundred years old... how many years does it take a house to settle anyway?

Some of the house noises were very unusual. There were times we could hear what sounded like footsteps coming from different places in the house. My Dad's bedroom was downstairs and he frequently heard the sound of shoes walking on the wood floors. I never heard the steps downstairs but, upstairs was another story. 

My bedroom was on the second floor. Since it was an old house, the floors and walls were made of planks of wood. There wasn't any insulation between the ceiling of my room and the floor of the attic. There were several times I distinctly heard walking coming from above my room. The steps would walk across the attic floor, and back again. I always knew no one was up there because the drop down door to the attic, was right outside my bedroom. No one could get into the attic without me seeing or hearing them.

My Dad was not afraid of "ghosts". He read books on paranormal activity and said he would welcome the chance to be visited by an apparition. One night my Dad was asleep and suddenly woke up for no apparent reason. As he lay there, he looked to the foot of his bed and there stood what appeared to be a woman. At first he thought he was dreaming but, he quickly realized he was awake and was possibly seeing a ghostly entity.

The woman Dad saw was wearing an old dress and had her hair pinned up. She was facing toward the window of Dad's bedroom, gazing as though she were looking outside. The curtains were drawn shut but, the woman continued to look in that direction. Dad told me he felt like she was lost so he prayed she would find her way home. After a few minutes, she disappeared and Dad never saw her again.

The next day Dad told us of the manifestation he saw in his room. After we got over the shock of the story, we jokingly named the "visitor", Beatrice. From that day on every time there was an unexplained event, we blamed it on Beatrice. 

We'll never know if what Dad saw was just a dream, or he actually saw an apparition. But, to this very day, Dad stands by what he saw and can still recall every detail from that night.

Another strange phenomenon was the problem we had keeping a storage room door shut. In the hall that lead from the kitchen to my Dad's bedroom, was a small closet that was under the back staircase. We hardly ever went in that closet because we just stored things in there we didn't have a use for anymore.

For years the door of the closet remained shut with no problem. Then one day we noticed that the door was slightly open. We shut it and went on with our day. Later we went back and the door was open again. We checked with everyone to see if they had been in the closet but, no one had been there. There were many days we would find the door ajar. We just assumed that because of the old glass doorknob, it just wasn't shutting securely anymore. To make sure the door would stay shut, Dad installed a hook and eye latch. Now between the doorknob and the latch, the door would finally stay closed.

It wasn't long after that, we noticed the closet door open again. We checked with everyone, and no one had been in the closet. Every time we shut it and latched it, eventually the door would open again. We never did find out how the door was coming open. We just laughed and said Beatrice must not like that door closed.

Another bizarre encounter Dad had was during the daytime. The front door was open but, the screen door was closed. Dad and one of our dogs at the time, were going through the living room to get the mail. The dog stopped at the bottom of the staircase and was looking up the stairs. The dog started wagging her tail and acting very excited as she watched the stairs. Dad went to the bottom of the stairs and looked up. There coming down the stairs was what appeared to be the figure of a young girl about eight or nine years old. She had long hair and was wearing a dress. As she approached the end of the staircase, she disappeared. At the moment she disappeared, suddenly the front door shut. 

As Dad told me what happened, I asked him if perhaps the wind had shut the door. He thought about it, and said the door did not slam shut or close with any force at all. The door simply shut by itself. It was as if the girl came down the stairs, walked out the door and closed the door behind her.

I think what unnerves me the most about that particular story, was the fact the dog reacted as though she saw something too. Dad could have thought he saw something but, add the dog's reaction, and I get goosebumps. Dogs have keen senses and don't make those kind of mistakes.

We don't know if the house was actually haunted by any former inhabitants or not. There were a lot of lives that came and went through that house before us. What we do know is, there were many things that happened while we lived there that could not explained. Paranormal activity is hard to prove. It's just a matter of opinion.

My Dad sold the house a few years ago. As far as we know Beatrice did not move with Dad because there hasn't been any "visitations" since he built his new home. I would love to know if the new owners have observed any strange happenings since they have lived there. Perhaps Beatrice just might be waiting and watching... for the perfect opportunity to introduce herself.