And Then The Monkeys Came

From: Jinx (wesker@crapmail.com)
Story type: Ghost
Location: Arlington, TX
Source: Form Submission

Well, there aren't really any monkeys involved in this compilation of encounters, but a good friend of mine used this phrase to describe the bewildering and unusual. :)

These encounters began ever since my family and I moved into this house. The house, unlike most of these really amusing stories, was built for us back in 1990 on a plot of land in a residential area. The neighborhood itself was once part of a civil war fort, Johnson Station. We found this information out through research. I assure you, Arlington is no small town. Of course, the fort was taken down, and the area made into houses and homes, and what remains for us as a reminder is the post office up the street that still bears its name.

The house I reside in with my parents is a two story PINK house. The stairs lead from the living room in the front, and forks at a landing which separates the master bedrooms from the other bedrooms. From the fork, the hallway curves into an "L", my room being at the very end of the "L", and my oldest sister's room being at the elbow. The older sister's room is at the start of the "L", and between the bathroom and my 'rents room. Now that we've got the more troublesome info out of the way, we can get on with the hauntings.

The crazy stuff started happening on our first night in the house. It began when my grandmother was visiting from New York, and we had her sleeping in the guest room downstairs. In the morning, we found that the water control valve for the sink had burst, and the enitre downstairs was flooded. We all thought the same as you're probably thinking right now. New house? Of course there are problems...but you're wrong, and so were we.

After a few months of getting settled in, my mother told us that she'd been having problems sleeping. She said that right before she was asleep, she would hear one of us calling for her. She'd get out of bed and walk down the hallway, checking every bedroom, but she would find no one awake. She also said that on some occasions, she would wake up and see the outline of a child sitting on the recliner next to her bed. Thinking it was on of us kids having trouble sleeping, she'd mumble for the "kid" to go get some warm milk and try to sleep. However, none of us have trouble sleeping at night. Not until the weirder things started happening.

Towards the end of my 6th grade of school, I remember having a friend spend the night. My friend and I were feeling really spent after playing video games and watching movies, and decided to go upstairs to my room to crash, as it WAS 4 in the morning. Around 6:45 to 7am, we were awakened by my sisters and my mom, who were calling down to someone in the house. We got out of bed to see what the matter was and found out that the women of the house woke up to someone dragging their feet down the hallway, down the stairs, across the living room, into the dining room, and stopping in the kitchen. You know the "swishy" kind of sound socks make on carpet when people are too lazy or tired to pick up their feet, right? This swishy noise had awaken my sisters AND my mom, and they also heard the creaks of the floorboards and loose stairs as the person crept upon those.

When I had reach the 9th grade, my oldest sister had gone off for college out of state. My older sister, D (that's my nickname for her), and I were alone in the house more often, mainly because my pop started working more hours, and my mom got a second job. On one saturday morning, I woke up around 7am, and I clicked on my TV. Now I don't know 'bout ya'll, but I love being a kid, and I still watch cartoons (a 6 foot 20 yr old man admitting to this)! And on this particular day, I was getting the worst reception on my TV; so I moved my happy life downstairs to the den on the other side of the house, so I could get some breakfast, too. After about an hour, I went back to my room because I had forgotten to turn off my TV. Just as I was passing D's room, I heard her call for me. I opened her door, finding her still lying in bed. When I asked her what's up, she started grilling me about watching her sleep. After denying this accusation for few seconds that seemed like hours, she finally told me that for the past few nights, she would be sleeping, and she would suddenly wake up to the presence of someone in the room. This "waking" was more of an "I'm still sleeping but you woke me up" kind of awake, and before she had nod off again, she'd see a man with my same build and stature looking down at her, watching her sleep. She never saw the face, but she'd assume that it was me, and she'd verbally reprimand him for watching her. He never answered.

Another encounter involved my mom around the same time span (high school). On this afternoon, D and I decided to go run some errands after school (we attended a school in Fort Worth, TX, Nolan for those who know the area). My mother came home around 4 that day, and she was alone in the house. She didn't see the car in the garage, and she figured that my sister was out and left me behind (I was quite the anti-socialite). Upon arriving, my mother started making dinner and calling up to my room. When my sister and I arrived, my mother was shaken to find me with her. She said that she was making dinner, and calling me to dinner when she distinctly heard my voice calling back down to her, saying something about "not being able to" and eventually trailing off. At the instant she told us, I scooped up a knife and searched the entire house. Deep in my gut, I didn't expect to find anyone, but I did it anyway, more to set my mind at ease rather than my terrified mom and my sister. When I got to my room, I found the lights and the TV on, with the sound muted. The lights I could explain, but no one had turned the TV on that day. No one I could see.

On another occasion, my dad and D were downstairs alone in the house, when they heard a tremendous crash from upstairs. After searching the house, they found the bureau in my oldest sister's old room knocked over. There was no reason for it to have fallen, and to tell the truth, that piece of furniture weighs just about as much as I do (I got jelly on my belly, he he), if not more when it's got things inside of it. At that time, it did.

The most recent encounter happened when D was sleeping one night, and she was jarred from her slumber by thunder outside her window. She sensed someone in her room, and she saw someone walking away from her bed, wearing a white bathrobe and a black towel wrapped around its head. She called out to the person, thinking it was me, and then lightning struck. The person turned around with a shark-like grin, and my face, and cast her a evil glance. And disappeared at the next flash of lightning. She passed out, and slept, only to have dreams of people, so many people, walking in and out of rooms in our house. She recounted that a girl approached her in the dream and asked if she had found the house of Satan. Flabbergasted (I love that word!) my sister screamed "NO!", and began to pray the Lord's prayer. She woke the instant she reached "Amen".

**Just an FYI, my family and I have been devout christians all of our lives. I, myself, have contemplated the path of priesthood before, and found that my life wasn't leading to that vocation, for personal and spiritual reasons.**

To leave you on a discomforting note, D finally got married, and now, I reside in the house with my parents, alone. To tell the truth, I'm not at all pleased with the knowledge that this ghost has been using my face and figure to harass my family, and it's got me shaken, wondering whether it will continue to harass my sister in her new apartment, or stay and give my parents and I problems.

I've gone through the house with holy water and prayers on occasions before, and that seemed to stop the strange things...for a while. I feel watched when I'm alone in the house, day or night. I've even contemplated whether or not my darker side has manifested itself into a separate entity, or if this spectre had any connection with me at all. There aren't any moans or groans, but I've had the honor of being spooked from footsteps here and there in the house. I'm interested in the stories you all share because I feel, in some way, I can see reason to your problems. I'm still trying to find reason to mine.