The Mysterious Man

From: Mimi (Willsgurl1@hotmail.com)
Story type: Ghost
Location: Caledonia Michigan
Source: Form Submission

The Mysterious Man

When I was about 11 years old I lived in a farmhouse in Caledonia Michigan. It was an old house about 200 years old or so. I always liked the house because it was old fashioned. It was two floors and a basement that always seemed to flood when it rained. On the second floor is a room that was always locked but not from the outside and you could not get in no matter how hard you tried.

I will give you the setup of the house so you have an idea....once you walked in the back door on the old rock porch there was another door that opened into a room...then another door that opened into a large dinning room to the right was a kitchen and the left a bathroom and at the far wall of the bathroom another bedroom. opening off the bedroom was a door that opened to stairs to go to the second floor. Back to the dining room if you looked to the left farther up the wall from the kitchen was a bedroom and then at the end of the room the front door to another old rock porch. then on the right was a living room and on the right wall of the living room a door that opened to the stairway that goes to the second floor. if you go up the stairs to the second floor was a large walk room and on the left a bed room on the right a bed room and the locked room straight ahead.

Well I had the bedroom on the left of the big walk room upstairs and my little sister the right room but she was scared to sleep upstairs (I was a little frightened myself). We would hear noises from this locked room a rocker chair squeaking like it does when rocked and music that sounded like a old record player. Some kind of waltz type music. Sometimes you would hear muffled voices and laughing.

One night I was getting ready for bed and I had laid down but was still wide awake it was only about 9:00 but dark already. When I looked to my door and saw a man...he was wearing a suit with long tails in back and a white shirt and a top hat. Since this was around Halloween I thought this was one of my dads friends wanting to talk to me....my dad always had people over. I had never seen this man before and it kind of frightened me...the man said don't be afraid I will not hurt you. He then proceeded to walk and sit on my bed I glanced at the clock 9:30. I started talking to the man and learned his name was Mr. Vaneck. We kept talking and then the man said he had to go I glanced at my clock again and it was now 11:18. By then I was tired and fell fast asleep.

When I woke up the next morning I asked my dad Who was his friend last night? He said who? I said Mr. Vaneck?? He said I don't know any Mr.Vanecks. besides no one was here last night. I just looked at him like he was nuts and told him what happened. he said he was not surprised and that he knew the house was haunted.

That night we decided to have a bon fire outside. Down our driveway is an old barn that looks brown because all the red paint has flaked and dyed with age. Well we were sitting there and my dad looked at the barn and his eyes got huge. He pointed and I looked the barn had this yellow-white glow and looked brand new and red and all around were people dancing and holding hands. All the way around the barn. I heard an old waltzing music and then saw someone wave....it was the man from the night before. We looked at each other and ran back in the house. We looked out the window later on to see the barn looked old again and not lit up. And there was no people.

We had other visits from Mr. Vaneck and still heard the noises. We decided to go to a local library and check the newspaper listings way back and found that in 1870 A man named Rudolph Vaneck had a heart attack. Amazingly enough it was in the farmhouse we lived in too. His Wife died soon after but we have not heard from her. That is my story believe it if you will. you may email me at Willsgurl1@hotmail.com if you have any comments.