UNSEEN RESIDENT
Living in a haunted house can be an interesting experience. At times, homeowners may be terrified; at other times, they are amused; and at still other times, they are bewildered. The one certain thing about living in a haunted house is that it’s not boring. One never knows what the ghost or spirit that has taken up residence is going to do next.
Such is the case with a historic house that stands on a nice street south of Algonac. The homeowners, Jim, Carol and their family, have been living with a rather active ghost for many years.
Because the home was built in the mid-1800s, it’s changed hands several times. It is almost impossible to determine if the spirit is that of one of the previous owners.
The general consensus among the family is that there is more than one spirit in the home, but they all agree that the main, or most powerful, ghost is that of a man. The other spirit is believed to be that of a small child, and the family is prone to think it is a little girl. The antique rocking horse in the dining room will rock back and forth from time to time as if a child is playing on it.
However, the spirit that is the most active is that of the man. Sometimes, it appears as a dark shadow in different rooms of the house. It is not a shadow person, because it doesn’t flee, as shadow people normally do once they’ve been spotted. However, the family reported that, at times, they have witnessed more than one shadowy figure in a room. The family feels it’s as if the spirit wants them to know it’s there. It may even be an attempt to intimidate the family in some way. The family has reported that the male spirit has tried to intimidate them in the past and continues to do so using various methods.
For example, it wasn’t until recently that Jim and Carol’s children, who have long since moved out and have families of their own, told their parents that the entire time they lived in the house they were afraid to go upstairs alone. They would wait until their parents went up to bed or would go upstairs together, but they would be almost paralyzed with fear. This fear was so great that if one of them had to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, they would wake up their sibling to go with them, because they didn’t want to be alone.
While they couldn’t pinpoint any experience that caused them to be afraid of the upstairs, other than occasionally hearing footsteps walking up and down the hallway some nights, they reported that even to this day they have the fear of going upstairs by themselves. All they could say is that they felt like there was something ominous up there and they were filled with feelings of dread when they knew they had to go upstairs. Their parents don’t appear to be bothered by the second floor of the home, but they don’t discount the feelings their children have in that area of the house.
The second floor is not the only place in the house that has its share of paranormal activity. The first floor appears to be another favorite spot for the spirits to hang out. The family has reported that the door leading outside from the dining room will open and close by itself and lights will go on and off by themselves.
On one occasion, the gas stove was left on, although it’s unclear whether it was a living person or the ghost who turned the gas on in the first place. Carol opened the dining room door to air out the house after turning the gas off and returned to the kitchen. When she returned to the dining room a few minutes later, the outside door was closed. Carol was the only one home at the time, so there appears to be no logical explanation for this. The door is rather heavy and opens into the room, not toward the outside, so it couldn’t have been the wind that blew it shut. There have been other times when the dining room door was either opened when closed or closed when someone in the family has left it open.
Another time, one of the family members was in the living room and a disembodied male voice told her to “go home.”
The family members have also reported feeling as if someone is standing at the sink when they walk into the kitchen. On a few occasions, it felt as if someone was standing next to them at the sink.
Quite recently, one of the ghosts or spirits has learned how to use a cellphone. On one occasion, Carol’s cellphone was sitting on the end table next to her when a voice started coming out of the phone, saying, “I am here.” It repeated this phrase for a period of a few minutes before finally stopping. Another time, a voice that came out of the phone said, “Come find me.”
These events shook up Jim and Carol a bit, but in a way, they also found it amusing. They feel that the ghosts or spirits like to interact with the world of the living and will use almost any means at their disposal to do so.
Over the years, the family has become accustomed to the paranormal activity in their home; while some of it may startle them at times, they refuse to give in to the fear and move. Jim and Carol are quite content with their ghostly roommates and can’t help but wonder what the ghost or spirits are going to come up with next.
THE DARK MAN
On a quiet dirt road between New Haven and Richmond, a small house once stood. The elderly man who had lived in the house had long since passed away, and the house was left to rot with all his possessions inside. Urban explorers would frequently break into the house to rifle through the remnants of the old man’s life or to party.
After hearing a few tales about the house, a local paranormal team started to take an interest in the home and set out to do an investigation.
Because the home had no electricity, investigators couldn’t use some of their equipment, so they decided to go “old school” and use only their video camera, tape recorders and EMF detectors. The team had tried to contact the relatives of the man who used to live there to get permission, with no success. The next best thing was to stop by the police station and inform the police where they were going and how long they were going to be there before heading out to the house.
Upon arrival, they noticed something immediately, something they normally don’t experience before starting an investigation—they felt a sense of foreboding. The team members discussed this feeling among themselves; during that discussion, one team member said he felt like they were being watched.
Team members first walked around the perimeter of the house to ascertain points of entry and exit. They noticed that the tiny house was in horrible condition and that they’d have to watch every step while inside. Tall weeds and vines had almost completely engulfed one side of the house and were well on their way to making the entire home disappear.
It was just past dusk when the team entered the home through the front door; the last light of day made it easier for their eyes to adjust to the impending darkness. The living room was small and cramped. Old furniture, now home to field mice, sat against the back wall, and a beat-up dining table and two chairs sat just to the right of the door. There were papers, clothes, beer bottles and other items scattered everywhere. The four investigators, James, Matt, David and Jeff, were just a few steps into the home when the front door slammed behind them. The startled team whirled around, and Jeff ran to the door to make sure it opened. Assuming it was just the wind, they moved forward through the house.
The kitchen smelled of decaying food, and no one on the team even dared to open the refrigerator. Canned food still sat on cabinet shelves, and broken dishes and old newspapers littered the floor. As they walked through the rubble, field mice raced out from under the debris to get out of investigators’ way.
In the bedroom, the mice had made quite a mess of the mattress, tearing it apart for nesting material. What remained of the mattress was soiled with mice feces; the odor was almost overwhelming. As they turned around to leave the bedroom, a hulking dark shadow blocked their exit. Thinking it was one of the urban explorers, Matt shined his flashlight toward the door, but his light went right through the shadow.
The investigators then realized that they were dealing with a shadow person, or some type of entity that hadn’t fully materialized. They started talking to the phantom, telling it that they meant no disrespect and were sorry about the condition of the house. Within a minute or two, the dark shadow vanished, allowing the investigators to get out of the room. They headed back into the living room to discuss what had happened. They all pretty much agreed that the dark shadow figure was the ghost of the man who had died there, and they spent the better part of two hours investigating and trying to contact the spirit, but to no avail. The house had gone deadly silent.
The team members packed up their equipment and exited the house through the front door. As they were backing out of the driveway, they looked at the house one more time and saw the dark shadow man watching them from one of the windows. They debated about going back in but decided against it. The team members decided to let the ghost of the former occupant be in peace.