A Personal Experience of a Haunting

From: Egoman (egoman@pacificnet.net)
Story type: Ghost
Location: 
Source: Form Submission

I know that we all don't want people to think that we are crazy or silly or that we have overactive imaginations when we relate our strange experiences. I don't want people think that because I LOVE a good ghost story that I put my imagination on double time. I know that the experience that I am about to share is real and that it felt very real for all those years. You don't have to believe that there was anything in that house, I just hope that you find my little tale interesting enough to exist on Archive X.

I call this story "At Tawny's House"

I never felt quite right at my Aunt Tawny's house. I didn't know why, I was just always on edge. The house never looked like a frightening old place so that feeling was not due to the power of suggestion. In appearance, there was nothing spooky about that house. It was just a sweet little house in a tiny Indiana town, that was the home of a sweet little family. Even in the daylight hours, I would be nervous and shaky but the feeling did intensify at night. I felt that way about Tawny's since I was a small child. I loved my Aunt Tawny and my three cousins as well as the other children in the neighborhood and so I braved the sinisterness of that house. The fear always hit me suddenly. I would be doing something as non-scary as playing "Dollies" and the fear would hit me so strongly, like prey sensing a predator, that I would begin to whine and shake and cling to Tawny or another adult in the house.

There were times when I would have to spend the night there and every time I felt IT. I would practically throw a fit if a grownup or older child expected me to go to bed before everyone else and actually be in a bedroom by myself. It was even hard to relax enough to sleep in a room full of people.

I remember one particular night when I could not rest and all I could do was cling To Tawny and say repeatedly, "I'm scared". To this day I still feel a pang of annoyance at her suggestion, "Do you want to go and lie down in my bed"? Adults can be really STUPID! I was terrified and being in a room, any room, alone was certainly not going to make matters better. Tawny should have realized that the only thing that gave me any comfort was being with her. In answer to her question all I could do was become more paniced and say "No! I'm SCARED!"

I should add that Tawny's room was one of the two rooms that I found particularly chilling.

This fear continued throught my childhood and into my adulthood as well. When I was back home in California I never thought about it but when I returned to Indiana and would visit Tawny's it was always there just as powerful as before. It's a good thing I was always staying at my grandmother's home during those summers.

As I got older I was able to deal with it better and I never told anyone that I only felt that way at Tawnys. I think that was because it took me a long time to realize that I never felt quite that way anywhere else.

The summer I turned 18,(1988) I returned to indiana after going five years without a visit. This had nothing to do with the house, I just went to other places for my vacations. Tawny, my grandmother, my aunt Patty and her kids picked me up from the airport and we happened to go straight to Tawny's place. We went into the house and the creepy feeling returned as if it was never away from me. I pushed it aside and threw myself into enjoying my reunion with my family.

A few days later, I told Patty about how the house frightened me. She told me that she had always felt it too. It felt good to hear that! I thought I was the only one! At least now it felt more like a real experience and not something imagined.

Throughout that summer, we went to Tawny's house often and Patty and I always compared notes about where we felt what we called "The Evil Spirit". Hey, I know it's simple but we never thought up an actual name for it.

Once, while Patty and I were watching Tawny's parakeet in her cage I commented that I knew that she knew the spirit was there and Patty said, "I wonder if it ever goes through her cage"?

I commented that I thought that it probably did.

When I was almost 22, Tawny passed away. A few weeks later, while speaking to my grandmother on the phone, I mentioned the ghost in Tawny's house. Granny told me about how Gerald, Tawny'd boyfriend, had talked about the presence and that he felt it was fond of Tawny. So, here was another person who had felt the spirit.

Tawny's daughter, Amy, moved her family into the house shortly after giving birth to twins. The babies were still in the hospital two months later when I came home for Christmas. When one of the babies came home I rushed right over to see her. I was so excited about her that I didn't think about the ghost at all. After a little while, I did notice that the fear was not in me. The house felt so different! I went all over that house. I even went down to the basement alone, something I NEVER did, and it did not feel menancing. It felt a little depressing down there, but not threatening.

A few weeks later I found out that Donny, Amy's husband had an experience that shook him up.

The other twin had just come home from the hospital so there were now two babies to get up with at night. Donny got up to heat the bottles. From the kitchen, he could see the kids' bedroom. They were all sound asleep. While the bottles heated, Donny went back into the bedroom to check on the babies. He passed the bathroom and the door was closed and the light was on. If it had been any of the older children in there they would've had to pass through the kitchen while Donny was still in there ,and none of them had gotten up.

When Donny got to the room, Amy was still sound asleep and the babies were on their stomachs. When Donny went back toward the kitchen, The bathroom door was open and the light was off! When Donny went back into the bedroom with the bottles, the baby that had been crying was now propped up on her side. She was too little to turn herself over, much less prop herself up.

Donny tried to tell Amy about his experience but she didn't even wake up to hear it. Donny told my grandmother about it the next day and he said " I know who that was! That was Miss Davens"! Miss Davens was what Donny always called Tawny.

Well I've been back to Tawny's old house many times since then and all the evil tension is gone. I told Patty that since Tawny's passing, I don't feel that bad spirit anymore and she doesn't either.

We think either that spirit is satisfied now that Tawny is on the same plane as it and no longer feels angry or jealous or whatever towards the rest of us. Or it could be that Tawny cast it away when she got to the other side. Either way, it is gone or at least subdued and I'm glad!

Well that's it. I just may have another experience to share in the future.

*** Sea Princess***