6 Years in a Haunted House

From: Max Overton (Max.Overton@jcu.edu.au)
Story type: Ghost
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Source: Form Submission

During my years at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, I lived in what can only be described as a haunted house. It was a double-storied 2 flat house with a secretive landlady upstairs and my mother and myself downstairs. Both my mother and myself are susceptible to paranormal occurrences.

Things started quietly in 1966 with only a persistent cold spot in the hall and an occasional feeling of being watched.

As time went on, things changed. My mother often spotted an old lady wandering from room to room, fading out when looked at, or watching my mother as she worked in the kitchen. I never saw anything, but on one occasion when alone in the house watching TV, there was a loud click from the hall and the light went out. Thinking my mother had returned, I called out, then went to see. The light switch was an old bakelite switch, rather stiff, and certainly not easy to turn off; but it had been, there was no electrical fault. I turned it back on and went back to the TV. Two minutes later it happened again. I went out, and only came back when I was sure my mother had returned! I was rather easily scared in those days.

Later I could feel something or someone enter my bedroom at night. This used to scare me too, but I'd wrap the blankets around my head and try to ignore it. I could feel it leave after a while. Sometimes it would come in in the early morning before my mothers alarm went off or after she had left for work (but before lectures started). I could feel the bed sag as it sat down beside me, and at least twice I could feel something scrabbling at my bedclothes by my head and a whispering voice called my name. I never had the nerve to look or answer it. Nor did I look up the history of the house, though I now wish I had. We moved out eventually as the University bought it to turn into offices. That was the end of my experiences there though I have had plenty of others in the years following.