My Florida Home
From: Mary (rockett@iafrica.com) Story type: Ghost Location: S. Florida Source: Form Submission Date submitted: Mon Aug 20 06:19:16 2007
My Florida Home
I grew up in a home that is haunted by several ghosts. My Mom still has the same home in South Florida, it’s situated on the Highlands which is the highest ground around (a couple feet higher than sea level). I will give you a bit of background on my house. It was built in the mid 50's – as far as I know no one died in the house. There were only two other families that occupied the home previously. My family moved-in in 1968 the year I was born. About 7 years ago I found out from a Mexican Shaman (who came to my brothers wedding to bless the couple) that two Spaniards died of fever and were buried where my backyard is. He also said that the house and garden has a great vibe and was very ALIVE.
Growing up there my earliest memories are of a man with stringy black hair and dark staring eyes looking at me from inside my Mom's bedroom window – I was outside at the time on the swing. If I was inside he would be outside staring at me through the window. It never scared me but it always annoyed me and caused me to have a serious problem with anyone who stares at me for any considerable time. As I got older the haunting grew more frequent. We built a second floor in the late 70's -- it was a real shitty building job --cheap materials. One of the workers committed suicide not on the premises but down the road. He has been spotted in the house several times by my step sister.
At any rate, once the second floor was built, that is when the real haunting started. I was 11 and my bedtime was 9:30 and my younger brother was 9 and his bedtime was 9:00. This one night my younger brother came down in tears, claiming that something is trying to get out of the attic -- he said it was beating on his ceiling and the popcorn (ceiling coating) was actually raining down on his bed. Knowing what it takes to make my brother cry -- nothing as he never actually did -- I was terrified to go up some 15 min later. Needless to say nothing happened when I went up but when my older sister came home from her job as a waitress around 1 a.m. she said the whole house was shaking from something beating up in the attic.
From then on the events in the house were numerous. One morning my Mom woke up at her normal 5 a.m. and said that every door was wide open and all the windows down stairs were open and the screens and the plants were lying neatly outside next to the house. One night we were all sitting in the livingroom and we all watched as a really thick Civil War book flew slowly across the library as though someone was holding it above their head and then it stopped mid air then dropped with a sickening smack. My mother got up, picked up the book, put it back on the other side of the library on the top shelf were it had come from and then said to all of us wide eyed kids that it was just the house settling. The things that went on in the house weren't a daily occurrence there were years when all was quiet then it would all start up again.
I remember running in to use the bathroom and would throw my keys by the door on a wicker table and would want to leave straight away (no one was home at the time) and my keys would be gone. The first time it happened it took me about a half hour to find them -- they were in the couch between the cushions. I think the ghost liked to play as every time after that I would automatically just go to the couch and say aloud 'Good One hope you're having fun'.
When upstairs we'd hear someone come into the house -- the front door makes a loud noise when closing -- there'd never be anyone there and the door would be locked when we'd look.
When downstairs in the TV room you always hear someone walking the hall (wooden -- cheap materials) upstairs and also on the cast iron circular staircase. We all gave up on checking to see who's there -- it was always a waste of time -- no one was ever there.
One night before I left to live in South Africa (I was 20 and he was 18) my younger brother came home from a night out -- it was 4:30 in the morning (I checked). It was summer (very hot and sticky) my brother passed by my room -- door was open and I said 'So you made it home' his reply was, F you. I laughed and then felt an extremely cold wind come in from the hall and I saw a shadow going toward my brothers room which is kitty corner to my room. I for a moment thought that he left the door unlocked and someone followed him in. I really wanted to call him but just as I was going to call his name the shadow started to move back toward my room and started to form a head and shoulders. My sheet was doing nothing to protect me from the cold that came with it so I shouted for my bro and as soon as his door opened (his light was off) the shadow disappeared.
When I had come back to visit my family (my mom was the only one living in the house at the time) with my (ex)husband and son, I had a really scary experience. I have to say that the whole of my childhood I have never had a physical experience. One night after spending the day at the beach I woke up around 2:30 a.m. to give my son his bottle. I was wearing a tiny night dress with no undergarments. Whilst bending over his cot to give him his bottle I felt a really big WARM hand on my bottom. My first thought was that it was my (ex) husband and I was going to say “Don't even think about it -- I'm tired” but when I looked to my right I could see his silhouette on the bed. But the hand was still there -- I turned around lightening fast and there was no one there.
A couple years ago my Grandfather died and I came home for the funeral. I decided to hit the sack before my Mom went to bed as I was terrified I would have insomnia -- not a good house to have insomnia in!!! It was about 9:30 and I read a bit and then decided to turn out the light. I was laying on my back and I felt the door bending in (I know it sounds strange). It felt like the door was being pushed. I didn't see it but felt and heard it. Then all of the sudden whatever it was got through and was hovering over my body. I kept telling myself that you are imagining this -- just turn on the light but I was paralyzed and then all of the sudden it came shooting straight down and through my chest. It literally felt electric (static) and hammered me like a freight train. It felt like it lasted for about 10 seconds but it was more like 3 seconds -- the whole encounter probably last about 2 and a half minutes.
My mom wanted to get the house tented as she was having a problem with termites. She told the various companies to call and leave a quote on the answering machine. When she got home the answering machine was no where to be found. My brother found it a couple of weeks later neatly placed with its wires wrapped around it behind the filing cabinet (his pencil rolled off and landed behind the cabinet when he retrieved it he found the machine) -- it contained one message from an exterminator. My mom thought it funny so she decided to go into the library (she waited until she was alone for the weekend), she said aloud if there is someone here that does not want the house to be tented then leave a message -- she left a paper and pen. When she got down the next day it said Nexus or Necsa something like that I can't remember but when she looked it up in a Latin dictionary it said 'one who is held prisoner or in bondage'.
She then had the house blessed -- she called the Shaman and left offerings and said prayers. But it hasn't let up. She was painting her new shed two weeks ago and felt a mans warm hand on her lower back.
By no means am I afraid of anything in the house or ghosts for that matter -- my older brother Bill & I are sensitives (it runs in families). Ghosts are attracted to people who can pick up on their vibrations. My brother and I both see, smell, feel and hear them. They generally get mad and start behaving badly when you ignore them -- my brother made that mistake and had pictures literally jump off walls and fly at him, doors slam in his face. He thinks that that particular ghost wanted him and his new wife out. There seems to be some sort of energy vortex upstairs in the house and we seem to get all different types of ghosts there. Sorry I know this was a bit long -- but there are so many stories that happened over the twenty years that I lived there and so many more to tell -- it would take up a book.
Mary