Haunted Farm House

Name:            Lee Ann
Email:           lstiff66@aol.com
Location:        Skillman, New Jersey
Anonymous:       
Type:            Ghost
Date:            Tuesday, September 28, 1999
Time:            04:11 PM

Here are a few events that took place in the farm house where I grew up, in Skillman, New Jersey. The house was built in three parts, over a span of years.

The original part of the house was built in the 1700's, the middle section of the house was added in about 1832, and the last portion of the house was constructed in the 1950's.

There is a cemetery in the back yard - the farm is set on 19 acres, and a number of former residents of the farm are buried there - including a somewhat famous writer, I.A.R. Wylie - who expressly stated in her autobiography that she wished to be buried in England!

The first happenings occurred on the night we moved in - I was 13 years old. I started unpacking a few boxes in my room, when a woman's voice, somewhat remote - as if downstairs, started urgently calling my name. I ran downstairs and found my mother, who was surprised to see me, and told me she hadn't called me. I was scared and confused, but not thinking that what I was hearing was supernatural in any way. This continued for days - usually when I was trying to relax. I finally realized the ghostly implications of this 'event,' got very upset, and - amazingly - the yelling for me stopped.

However, other things continued somewhat regularly for the 13 years we lived there.

Footsteps: Every morning as I showered for school, heavy footsteps started at the end of the long hallway on the uneven pine floors, and continued until they reached the bathroom door. At first, I opened the door quickly to see if my father was standing there - he never was. After a while, I stopped checking.

Voices: A woman's voice was once heard yelling at my brother and sister to 'be good and go to bed' one night, when they were up late playing. The woman was not our mother! We all heard her though, and repeated to each other verbatim what she had said.

We would often hear low talking, indistinct, in unoccupied (by us) rooms of the house. Footsteps upstairs and moving furniture in "empty" rooms, were also common. Lights would turn on and off at random, and once the blender went on when we brought out the Ouija board - needless to say, the board went straight into the trash!

My mother once saw a girl standing at the end of the hallway, who she mistook for me, and followed. The girl was wearing a long dress, and audibly gasped and threw her hands to her mouth, running away from my mother as she approached her - thinking the girl was me. When the girl disappeared into the kitchen - my mother realized she had not seen me. This happened when a new desk was delivered to the house - perhaps a disruptive event for spirits.

These are just a few of the events we experienced in that house. A jarring reminder that there is so much we don't know!