House of Strange Happenings

I

I opened the door, glancing up; I saw movement in the upstairs hall.  She glided across the opening into a spare bedroom.  She was tall and a bit on the heavy side.  Her hair was gray and pulled tight in a bun.  She wore a worn gray dress with a small white flower pattern.  She looked to be in her 60's.  In her arms, she carried neatly folded bath towels, the look of wear about them.  My impression was of an elderly woman from the eighteen hundreds, perhaps a hotel maid. 

The year was 1998 the house was built that year and I was the sole owner.  I knew what I saw was not real.  What I did not know was why I saw her.  Regardless, I went up the stairs to the spare bedroom.  I found exactly what I expected, nothing.  I never saw the elderly gray-haired woman again and to this day do not know why I saw her. 

II

From 1998 to 2002 every Sunday night, I experienced a strange visitation.  The most frequent place in the house for the visitation was the den.  The den is located to the left of the door I entered when I saw the elderly gray-haired woman.  The visitation was a presence I could not see but could feel. 

In my mind's eye, a dark cloud off in the distance would start moving slowly toward the house.  Settling over the roof, the cloud would enter through the ceiling and hover over me.  It filled me with dread and depression.  I could feel a malevolent presence but other than that the dread and depression never did me harm.  After I sold the house, I never saw the cloud or felt the presence again.

III

There was a walk-in closet in the house the size of a small bedroom.  The entrance was through the master bath.  One evening while in the whirlpool, I felt a presence.  I thought of the dark cloud but it was not there.  The presence was evil, like the presence in the dark cloud.  I felt the closet calling to me, pulling me to it.  I got out of the whirlpool and left the room with speed.  I slept that night with the closet and bathroom doors shut.  When I asked her, my wife said she could not feel anything.

The next morning I walked into the bathroom to get ready for work.  Coming through the door, I immediately felt the presence and again it was pulling or tugging at me to enter the closet.  I had to enter as my clothes were there.  Once inside, I knew the presence was not there.  The pull was coming from the wall, a common wall with an adjacent bedroom. 

The bedroom was my eldest son's, I entered and looked around saw nothing but felt the presence.

I was seeing a psychologist who had been helping me with the dark cloud.  I related what I have shared with you to her.  Her advice was to do an extensive investigation of the room and report the findings back. 

All I found was a picture on the wall.  I told the psychologist that I did not find anything; she looked at me pensive for a minute or two.  Then said, "Tell me what you saw."  I told her I did not see anything.  She eventually asked, "Are the walls bare?"  I told her of the picture and she asked me to describe it.  This is the description:

The picture was of a gray wolf, staring out of the picture at the onlooker, standing on an outcrop in front of dark woods.  In the upper right-hand corner (as you look at the picture) was a large circle.  Within the circle was an upside down cross or peace sign - a Nero cross.  Superimposed over the cross was a glowing yellow light bulb. 

The psychologist said, "I thought you did not see anything."  She then reached for an old, burgundy leather-bond hardback book.  Flipping through the pages, she took notes.  Looking at me, she said, "In Christian culture the wolf is symbolic for evil, a predator, Satan to be precise.  The outcrop symbolizes his authority over the world.  The Nero cross symbolizes repression of faith and the death of Christ.  The glowing light bulb is an affirmation that Satan rules over the world and repression of faith and Christ are bright ideas.  Get rid of the picture."  I did and never felt the evil presence again. 

IV

There was not a sense of evil in the house; there was a sense of presence.  I felt it daily and often caught a glimpse but no more.  From the corners of my eyes I would often see movement but upon turning, nothing.  Once, while in the bathroom, door partially open, I saw a shadow move past.  I went into the bedroom and nothing was there.  Interestingly, from the bathroom, I felt the presence but not in the bedroom.  It was as if someone or something slipped through and was gone.  Occurrences like this were daily and more curious than scary. 

V

It was time to downsize, getting the hell out; we were moving.  During the process of packing and preparing the house, there was a repair needed.  I cannot remember of what, but it required a service man to go into the basement.  Oh yes, I remember.  I was not happy with the output from the furnace that heated and cooled the upper floor of the house.  I had a more powerful blower installed.  When the job was complete, the service man came and found me in the family room to present his bill.  He said, "Do you know that all of the basement windows are covered with flies?"  I said, "No, inside or out?"  "Inside," he said. 

I went down to the basement and what I saw was shocking.  I could not believe the service man had stayed down there without telling me of the flies.  Thousands of flies covered the insides of the windows.  There was an odor about them and something sinister.  I took me hours with a dry vacuum to remove them.  I have no idea where they came from, the windows were never open and other than their presence, no evidence.  The basement was spotless.  We moved shortly after. 

Epilog:

I am a practical man; these episodes do not haunt me or visit my dreams.  I shrug my shoulders, weird yes, anything more, I do not know.  This was my house in unincorporated Hoffman Estates, Illinois; the episodes are nonfiction.