Ghost Stories

In 1976 I lived in a small town in Northern California.
A friend of mine had been dating her boyfriend for about a year when his elderly Mother passed away. He inherited everything, as he was an only child. His Mother's estate included their family home, a very old Victorian house.
About three weeks after her death I was invited by the couple to spend the night. He had to go out of town, and she didn't want to be alone in the house. She said strange things were always going on there.
I packed an overnight bag, and went over on a Friday evening.
We watched movies, had a good dinner, and played some cards. After this, both of us were ready to turn in for the night. I asked where I should sleep, and she asked if I would sleep with her tonight.
Apparently, she and her boyfriend, had been using the master bedroom, which had been his Mother's. It was still full of her things, and I immediately felt like I was intruding. My friend said she wished her boyfriend would decide what to do with everything, as she felt this too, but this was his house now, and he wanted this room.
We changed into pajamas, and watched TV for a bit, but it wasn't long before I fell asleep.
Sometime during the wee hours, I started dreaming, or so I thought. It felt like someone was pushing the bed around, it almost felt like being on board a boat. I realized I was waking up, the room smelled heavily of dusting powder. There were no lights on, and the TV had been turned off. I started to sit up, so I could ask my friend if she had noticed the bed moving, and the smell. As I propped myself up on my elbows from my back, somebody very distinctly poked me in the forehead with their finger three times. There was no mistaking it, that's what I felt, and it was not gentle.
I jumped about two feet, and grabbed for the lamp on the nightstand, sure my friend was yanking my chain. The light came on, and I saw I was alone in the room. I briskly walked for the door, opened it, and exited.
I found my friend upstairs, sound asleep, in another bedroom. I woke her, and told her what had happened. She said, as soon as she had turned off the TV, noises like shuffling started in the room. I was sleeping soundly, so she left me there......with the door (the one I'd just opened to exit the room)wide open. That had been hours ago!
Apparently, her boyfriend's Mother didn't take too kindly to two females sleeping in HER bed.

This may be a module that I keep adding to, as I remember. The old house on the corner was a house that I used to spend a lot of time in when I was in high school. My friend Johnny's girlfriend, Colleen lived there with her infant daughter, and young son. To save confusion, I'll start at the end!
I don't know when the house was built, or what was there before it. The story goes that the man who built it, (fondly dubbed Sneaky Pete) was a merchant marine. He built it for his young wife, whom he was very much in love with. She was pregnant with their first child when he went back to sea. She had their child, a baby girl, and wrote that the two of them were doing well, but missed him.
Unfortunately, before he returned home there was a tragic fire. Both his young wife, and the baby girl perished, and 'Sneaky Pete' still comes home to look for them.
That's the end of the original tale, but the start of some amazing experiences for me. Stay tuned to this lens for the chilling tales to come!

My first encounter with ghostly activity in the old house was my second visit there. My friend and I were sitting in the living room talking, her 2 children were in bed. All of a sudden the entry way light started going on and off quickly. As the house was quite old, my first thought was electrical problems. My friend, who had been living there a few years, pointed towards the light switch. It was moving up and down, by ITSELF! It lasted 1-2 minutes then stopped. Later that same night, I watched the hanging lamp above our heads begin to swing slowly back and forth. It then slowed to a stop.....and began swinging in the other direction. It actually stopped, and changed direction 5 times over a period of 10 minutes.

So ended my introduction to "Sneaky Pete". It was just the first, of many, incidents.

My next experience was not with "Pete", but rather his young bride, I think. I was sitting on the couch in the living room, at the end closest to the baby's bedroom. We were watching TV, while the baby was napping. All of a sudden I got the weirdest feeling, I'm not even sure I can describe it. It was just sort of a shift in the air around me, that's how it felt, anyway. I looked to my left, into the baby's room, and standing at the side of the crib was a slender, young woman. She was dressed in a long dark gown, her hair swept up in a bun. She was in profile to me, but it was apparent that she meant no harm. She just stood there looking down into the crib. I felt her sadness radiate towards me.

Later that day, I went into the room, alone. I stood where she had been, and something drew me to the small closet on the other side of the crib. When I opened the door, it seemed like the air was pulled from my lungs. All that young woman's pain was centered behind that door.

On another evening, as we all sat around in the living room, Colleen's young son came in to say goodnight. After he got his hugs, he headed back towards the kitchen door. Now the doorway was covered by a thick curtain, to keep the heat/cool in. As he pulled back the curtain, he froze dead in his tracks! Colleen asked what was wrong, but the boy just stared, speechless, into the kitchen. As we watched, his face turned ashen, his body shook uncontrollably, and tears began to run down his face! His Mom ran to him, as did I, but when we looked into the kitchen, there was nothing to see. The boy started saying, "The dark man, the dark man...", over and over.

We never could get any more out of him about the event. But let me tell you, there was no faking the physical effects it had on that little boy.

Tonight is the night before Halloween, and it only seems fitting to continue my tale.

One evening, I was at the old house, visiting with my friend, Colleen. She needed to give her baby girl a bath, and get her to bed. I told her to go right ahead, I'd watch some television while she did so. After about 10-15 minutes, the doorbell rang, and my friend called through the house for me to answer it. I opened the door, immediately noticing that the porch light was off, it had been on when I arrived.

The man at the door seemed darker than the night itself, and was not anyone I knew. I asked if I could help him, and he inquired about a female name I did not know. At that moment, my friend's voice called from the kitchen, asking who was there. Excusing myself for a moment, I turned away from the man at the door, to answer my friend's question. When I turned back to our visitor, he was no longer there. I ran out into the yard to see where he had gone, but he was nowhere to be found. I looked up and down the street, checked the entire yard, but he seemed to have vanished into the night.

I walked back to the front of the house, to go inside. Oddly enough, the porch light was back on again. I went inside, locking the door behind me. I also tried the porch light switch, which was working perfectly. I sat down to wait for my friend to finish up with the baby, and join me.

When Colleen came back in the living room, she asked about our visitor. I told her about it, and how strange the whole thing was. She asked what the man had looked like. I described what he had been wearing, and what he said, and told her about the porch light, everything I could remember.

She said,"You've just met Sneaky Pete, the merchant marine, in person!"

Apparently, she had, on two separate occasions, had the exact same encounter. It ended, both times, with the man vanishing into the night.

Not long after this incident, I moved away to a different town. My friend, who lived in the old house, also moved. The last time I went through this town, I drove by, just to see if the house was still there. This was only a couple of years ago, in 2007-2008. I got to the location, and there it was.......the old house on the corner. The yard was all overgrown with weeds, and the house was all boarded up. But it still stood there, as if it was waiting, just waiting.

There once was a friendly ghost by the name of Gus. He lived in an old house in the country with apple trees and lilacs in the yard.

Mr. and Mrs. Scott and their twins, Susie and Sammy, lived there too, in the summer.

The old house had an attic, and sometimes the Scotts heard rattles and clanks in it. That was Gus.

The Scotts didn't believe in ghosts, so they didn't believe in Gus. Still, when they heard the rattles and clanks they liked to say to their friends, "We've got a ghost!"

The Scotts made Gus feel welcome in the old house, so Gus liked them. He especially liked Mrs. Scott, she was so pretty.He wanted to please them all, so he rattled and clanked in the attic, the way ghosts are supposed to do. "We've got a ghost!" said the Scotts proudly, though they didn't believe in ghosts.

Then autumn came, and the Scott family left. No need to rattle and clank now. Gus had nothing to do but sit around.. One day he was so lonely, sitting around by himself, that he went for a walk. And he met a mouse.

"How are you?" said Gus.
"F-freezing!" said Mouse, with chattering teeth.
"Come spend the winter at my house!" cried Gus.
"Any people there?" said Mouse, "I do hate people!"
"Not now." said Gus.

Mouse scurried about the house. It seemed a good place to spend the winter, but it was chilly. "Let's build a fire in the fireplace," said Mouse, with chattering teeth, "I'll get a match." He scurried to the kitchen. But the Scotts had taken all the matches away, on account of mice.

"Bother!" cried Mouse.

Gus had never built a fire. Ghosts never get cold. But he wanted Mouse to be happy in his house, so he said some ghostly words he knew, and a fire began to blaze in the fireplace.

"Well!" said Mouse with delight, "Let's have a bite. I'll look in the cupboard." He scurried to the kitchen. But the Scotts had taken all the food away on account of mice.

"Bother!" cried Mouse

Gus had never cooked a meal. Ghosts never get hungry. But he wanted Mouse to be happy. "Toasted cheese sandwich?" said Gus.

"There isn't any..." began Mouse. Then he saw that Gus was slicing a big piece of cheese. Mouse was delighted. Gus was pleased that he had thought of the cheese. Gus pulled a table up to the hearth. He piled nine pillows in a chair for Mouse. Mouse enjoyed his toasted cheese.

Finally Mouse wiped his whiskers. "Which is my room?" he said. "Take your pick," said Gus. "Bed will feel good!" said Mouse. He scurried into the front bedroom. But Mrs. Scott had put newspaper all over the bed, on account of mice. Mouse made a face. "I do hate a newspaper!" he said.

He scurried into the back bedroom. "I'll curl up in a drawer." But Mrs. Scott had put mothballs in the drawer, on account of mice, of course. Mouse made a terrible face. "I do hate a mothball!" he said.

Gus wanted Mouse to be happy in his house. "Try the attic," he said. Mouse ducked into a hole in the wall that Gus showed him, and found his way to the attic. He burrowed into an old mattress and went to sleep in the stuffing.Gus washed the dishes. He was delighted to have Mouse in the house for company.

When Mouse woke up, he scurried downstairs and said, "How do I get out of here?"
"Don't go!!" cried Gus. "Aren't you hungry?"
"What are we having for dinner?" said Mouse.

Gus began to be very busy. Mouse liked his three meals a day, with nibbles in between. So Gus put on an apron. He got out a cookbook. He looked up all the things a mouse might like to eat. He spilled sugar all over the floor. He got flour all over his face. He burned his fingers. But, he made macaroni and cheese, and cheesecake. He whipped up cheese soup, and cheese sauces. He baked cheese bread, and cheese biscuits, cheese popovers, and cheese pies.

Mouse never had time to help, he was so busy with various matters. But Gus didn't mind. Mouse grew plump on cheese sauce. At night when it snowed, Mouse read to Gus by the fire. Sometimes they played checkers. Sometimes they popped corn. Firelight flickered on the old windowpanes, and smoke curled up the chimney.

No one was near to notice.

But, at last the snow melted, and the sun grew warm. The buds on the apple trees swelled. The lilacs burst into bloom. And one day a car drove into the yard. The Scotts were back!

When Mouse heard Susie and Sammy running through all the rooms, he ducked into the hole in the wall, and rushed to the attic. When he peeked out of the mattress, and saw his friend Gus, he cried angrily, "I'll scare them away!"

"Why? They're nice!" said Gus in surprise. He was glad to see the Scotts, especially Mrs. Scott. But Mouse had been so happy in the house, with Gus' cooking and everything. He was furious to think the Scotts had come back and spoiled it.

Gus couldn't cook with Mrs. Scott in the kitchen! So Mouse scampered down to the parlor when the Scotts were playing checkers. He ran back and forth inside the wall, patter, patter, patter, patter, to scare them away. "We've got a mouse," said Mrs. Scott. But the Scotts weren't scared away.

"What do you want to do that for?" said Gus to Mouse. Mouse paid no attention. He scampered into the kitchen. He nibbled a piece of blackberry pie, and tracked juice around. He chewed open a box of marshmellow cookies. He spilled some tapioca.

"Behave yourself," said Gus. Mouse scampered into the bedroom, and chewed a hole in the pillow for good measure. But the Scotts weren't scared away.

So Mouse scurried up to the attic after the Scotts were in bed, and stamped about over their heads, making all the noise a mouse could possibly make. Finally, Mr. Scott said, "I'll set a mousetrap."

The next day Mouse saw a new thing in the attic, and smelled something good. He was so hungry! His nose quivered. He crept closer.....and closer....
"Keep away!" cried Gus.
"It's cheese!" cried Mouse.
"It's a trap to catch you!" said Gus, and he put up a sign that said 'DANGER'.

When Mr. Scott didn't catch Mouse, he set another trap, then another. Gus kept putting up signs that said 'BEWARE'. "Why can't you folks get along?" cried Gus.

But the more mousetraps Mr. Scott set, the more Mouse stamped about among the danger signs trying to scare the Scotts away. Gus began to be really worried. He didn't want his friends the Scotts bothered, and he didn't want his friend Mouse hurt. "I'd never forgive myself if anything happened," he said.

Then one day Mouse became so determined to scare the Scotts out of the house, that he popped up on a shelf, bold as brass. Mrs. Scott reached for the cereal. "Help!" screamed Mrs Scott, running away.

That was the last straw. When Gus saw Mrs. Scott, who was so pretty, scared out of her wits, all of a sudden he pointed his finger at Mouse and roared, "THAT'S ENOUGH!"
Mouse was so shocked that he stood stock-still, and stared.
"Listen to me!" shouted Gus. "If you stay in this house, you'll do as I say from now on!"
"What?" whispered Mouse.
"You'll stop scaring Mrs. Scott," roared Gus.
"OK," said Mouse, meekly.
"You'll stop nibbling and chewing. You can go out in the garden and eat nasturtium seeds," shouted Gus.
"OK," said Mouse.
"You'll keep quiet while folks play checkers." said Gus.
"I'll walk on tiptoe," said Mouse.
"You'll stop stamping around in the attic. I'm the only one allowed to make a noise in the attic!" said Gus.
"I'll be quiet as a mouse," said Mouse.
"All right!" said Gus, with a sigh of relief.
Then he saw how meek and scare Mouse looked. "It's just till the folks go away," he said kindly.

So Mouse tiptoed about the house, and ate nasturtium seeds in the garden.

The Scotts said, "That mouse is gone." And Mr. Scott took away the traps. Gus rattled and clanked extra loud in the attic, so the Scotts could say, "That's our ghost!"

And when the Scotts went away for the winter, Gus and Mouse had a celebration, with cheese croquettes for dinner!