Benign Haunting?

From: Teresa B. (tbuck@nebi.com)
Story type: Ghost
Location: my home in Nebraska
Source: Form Submission

My house has three stories and is 92 years old. It has been used not only as a family home, but also a hospital, a church, and a rooming house. We have lived here now for three years, and have had plenty of odd occurrences and frightening events during that short time. They didn't begin immediately, but after we had lived here about a month or so.

The first experience I had was also the first anyone had. My husband works nights so, of course, I am left to sleep alone in our second floor bedroom most of the time.

One night as I was trying to get to sleep, I began to hear footsteps on the ceiling. We use the third floor for storage, so there shouldn't have been anyone up there, but just in case I got up to check on my two kids.

They were both asleep in their beds, so I thought maybe I had been hearing things. I went back to bed, and after about 15 minutes, the footsteps started again, walking across my bedroom ceiling, pacing. I got scared, so I called my husband at work to ask him what I should do. He proceeded to tell me I was just scaring myself with my own imagination, and that I should go up there and check with a flashlight to prove it to myself.

Well, there was NO WAY I was going up there alone, so I went back to bed and put a pillow over my head to fall asleep (rosary in hand). Those footsteps still occasionally come back.

I continued to hear things and see odd things, but because my husband thought I was being a baby, I kept them to myself. I thought I was the only one experiencing all of this.

One of the things I had never told anyone was that one day while seated at the computer, I heard one of my children call out, "Mom..." I instinctively answered, "yes?" and actually got out of my chair to see what he wanted when I realized that I was the only one home. My husband had taken the kids to the lake to fish earlier that afternoon.

I thought, man, I'm gettin' Alzheimer's. I'm hearing things. But when I sat down, I heard it again - twice. It sounded far away, like someone was calling from upstairs. I was completely freaked out, but like I said, I kept it to myself.

One night quite a while later, we had company and the topic came up of haunted houses. Our friends asked if we had ever seen anything in this old house. I told about the "Pacer" on the floor above our bedroom, and a couple of other things, when my husband piped up with his own story!

He began to tell our friends about being alone in the house and hearing children calling for MOM! I nearly passed out. I couldn't believe that, finally, someone besides me would fess up to what was going on. But one of the stranger things that has happened to me on more than one occasion also happens in my bedroom.

One night, I awoke from a sound sleep at 2:30 and could smell cigarette smoke. My husband and I smoke, but we do not ever do it in the house. And he was at work. Boy was I p***ed off, because I thought my teenage girl was sneaking a cigarette when I was asleep! I crept to her bedroom down the hall, careful not to make noise. I wanted to have the element of surprise. I quietly turned the doorknob to her room, then burst into it, ready to yell, "AHA!" She was sound asleep, and there was absolutely no hint of smoke in her room.

When I thought about it, the farther I got from my room, the weaker the smell became. I went back to my room, I could smell it. I walked into the laundry room, I could smell it. I walked back into my room and it was gone.

Many other things happen with regularity, like cupboards creaking open by themselves, lights turning off and on by themselves, etc. But those are routine.

The absolute weirdest episode for me was one day, when I had been very ill with strep throat. To make things simpler, I was sleeping in a guest bedroom on the first floor, which is unused most of the time. I had a high fever and chills, my throat was excruciating. As I lay in the bed, facing the wall, I felt someone sit on the edge of the bed in front of me. That side of the bed is against the wall, it would be impossible for anyone to sit there without climbing over me. I figured it was one of our ghosts, and I was so sick, I just laid there.

At this point, I felt a hand touch my calf, and move upward on my leg toward my knee. Then I felt the bed rise, as if a body had just gotten off of it, and immediately felt someone seat themselves behind me. I looked around to be sure I was still alone, which I was, and closed my eyes again. The phantom hand repeated the action, but on my thigh this time. I must say that I did not get any kind of scary feeling. I felt like there was a motherly presence trying to comfort me. Nonetheless, I was in no condition to deal with my caregiver, and said out loud, "I appreciate your concern. Thank you for caring about me. But I am too sick for this right now, please leave me alone. Watch over me if you want, but don't touch me." And I have not felt the presence of that ghost ever since.

It's funny, when we tell people about the things that happen in our home, we get two very different reactions. Either the listener tries to come up with a rational, scientific explanation for each event, or the listener completely believes everything we say and offers stories of their own. But no matter which opinion they have, it is really hard to get any of our friends to come and spend a weekend with us. I wonder why?