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A NEIGHBOURS HELP
This is a true story and there is no dramatics or
exaggerations to benefit material, it is quite shocking
nonetheless.
Here in the States, I live in the south side
of Chicago… Chicago, Illinois, there is a "hotbed" of paranormal activity that
has become infamous with its popularity.
The city of Chicago has been known to have hundreds of paranormal,
unexplained phenomena. In the south suburbs of Chicago, we
have 4 main points of interest. 1) Bachelors Grove
Cemetery; oddly enough it is a 15 lot cemetery that sits on
about 2 acres of natural forest preserve about 200 ft, from
143rd Street. It is common knowledge that the mob used to
dump their victims in the pond that is less than a hundred
feet away from the headstones, back in the 1950’s.
There
are many different stories that are associated with this
place; in general, to list them all would be a story in
itself.
2) Resurrection Cemetery; now I know we all have
heard about Resurrection Mary, and in 1979 the Iron Gate in
the front of the cemetery were mysteriously burned with 2
hand prints in raw iron bars. Mary supposedly hitchhikes
along 79th street and Roberts Road, or she takes a taxi.
(which rarely is a spot to ever catch a taxi, the streets
named are suburban) Wherever Mary requests to be dropped
off, she vanishes before the car stops to let her out.
3) St. James Cemetery; this is commonly known as "Monks
Castle". Monks have been reported in sightings and
sometimes provide chase to a late night passer-by. Police
in the area give chase to suspecting teenagers, but comment
on the Olympic speed these apparitions possess.
4) Sauk
Village; this small suburb is reported to be built on an
Indian Reservation and the Sauk Trail, just too many
stories to list.
These 4 places of interest have been documented on popular nationwide cable shows like: The
Discovery Channel, The History Channel, and The Learning Channel. Oh yeah, let us not forget about the
show “Sightings”, from the Sci-Fi Channel. Every last one of these cable stations have stated within the past couple
of years, that these specified areas are in fact the most active paranormal sites in the country. I mean you could
walk in any one of these places with a camera and be guaranteed the film development will have some
inconsistencies, and you can take that to the bank!
Now the story that I am about to tell is in the middle of the 4 places that I have stated. The name of the town is
Worth, IL.
Settlers first arrived in 1858, a famed hero of
the War of 1812 (the Brits second wave of futility) & the
War with Mexico (Poncho Veihja, was some militant punk who
stormed the border through Texas and slaughtered the
innocent, during the Mexican Civil War, He retreated back
to Mexico within hours of his invasion of the U.S., caught
the eye of the government and was then decided to hunt him
down… consequently the U.S. never captured him).
General
William J. Worth, made legendary actions throughout both
campaigns. With his presence, the settlers named the
village after him.
OK, enough of the history lesson, in
fact there are many more places of paranormal interest
within the specified area, however, none that carry the
reputation of the 4 stated. On with the story...
It was 1976, the place was Worth, IL, and a man named
George had bought his first home with his wife and 4
daughters. Normal family with normal lives. This story will
be centered on George and his youngest daughter Becky, who at
the time was 5 years old.
There are some quick notes to
mention about George, he was an honest middle-aged man with
no serious problems.
As a hobby, George had renovated his
garage to a small car repair center. It was his way of
making extra income; he did have the professional equipment
for the time too. The garage was in the back yard separated
from his home. That was ideal for George because of the
noise from his equipment. George had a day job, while his
daughters were in school and his wife was a full-time Mom.
They lived in the house for a year without any hint of
activity. In early June of '77, is when things started to
take place.
One night George took out his wife and girls to dinner,
the family arrived back at the house in the late evening.
George was the last one to leave the house, he was the last
one to turn off the T.V., he was the last one to turn off
all the lights and lock the front door. Upon entering the
driveway, the whole family noticed that the front door was
wide open with the lights on in the front room and the T.V.
was on full blast. George checked the house out before the
girls entered, and noticed the back door was open as well.
It was not until after the local authorities left later in
the same evening, George realized that his garage had been
re-arranged, his equipment had been moved.
At first
consideration George was convinced that it was local teens
playing games. It was not considered to be impossible to
pick locks, and since not one object was stolen or damaged
it was a fair assessment.
A week later, George woke up at 4:00 A.M. to use the facilities (he had to urinate), and to
his shock, the house had the very same scenario with the
exception that his T.V. was on, just the volume knob had
been turned all the way down, instead of up like the week
before. George recalled standing in his front yard looking
around for some explanation, late as it was, George made
the rounds in turning off the lights and closing the doors,
thinking that he would address the garage in the morning.
George was figuring his tools would be re-arranged like
before, however the tools were not disturbed, but for the
next 3 days, his tools simply did not work. Still
convinced at this point, was George, that his was the
target for the local teen pranksters.
Within a few nights of the early morning incident,
George was plagued by this hideous nightmare, where his
children were being attacked, and George was powerless to
help them. George did not mention specifics other than this
nightmare scared the hell out of him, ya know the it was
so real- thing. George was confronted with the possibility
of a haunting by his wife. For whatever reason the average
man wants to refuse this concept, George simply scoffed at
the notion. For the next few weeks the house settled
without incident, it was not until George’s daughter Becky
started to act strangely. This is where the phenomena took
an ominous turn, as they say.
George, like any normal parent, would make sure his
youngest daughter, Becky, was in bed by 9pm. With loose
interpretation, his other 3 daughters were in their teens
and self sufficient on their bedroom schedules. I mean 4
daughters, that poor man; imagine trying to use the
bathroom in that house! (For any man that is a horror story
in itself).
One night when George had noticed that Becky
was not in her bed around 9:45 p.m. he was vexed. I
remember George saying that his first thoughts centered on
that he was not prepared to scold his youngest for
disobeying him. Something to the effect of sobs & tears and
hardship tactics that would eventually make him look like
the bad guy to his youngest girl.
Let us take a moment
here; Becky is the youngest, always wanting to enjoy the
freedom that her older sisters had, naturally challenging
authority. We have all seen the big teary eyed, lip
quivering little girl requesting some harmless act like
wanting to watch Johnny Carson. My God, I do not know how
this man managed?! He has 4 daughters.... ok on with the show.
George was surprised when he
noticed that Becky was not with her Mother or her Sisters.
George ran back to the Becky's room and started to call for
her. Becky responded by opening the closet door from the
inside. George inquired," Becky... What are you doing? Why
are you not in your bed? And what in the hell are you doing
in the closet?" Becky replies," I was talking with the
clown Daddy..." as she looks into the empty closet floor.
George has a million thoughts racing through his mind, but
after a few moments he mutters," honey, take your friend
out of the closet and go to bed, ok?" George is thinking a
doll or some stuffed toy, as he is now looking at the empty
clean floor of Becky's closet. Becky responds," Daddy, you
scared him... He is gone." as she jumps back in bed.
George, on all 4's, was looking into this empty closet
floor. Looking for a clown doll or a picture… nothing, the
floor was clean. George was starring over his shoulder at
his little girl behind him in the bed, trying to make sense
of what just happened. George simply stood up turned to his
daughter, tucked her in and told her to, "Go to sleep now."
Becky says cheerfully,” sure thing Daddy", she responded
with out a care in the world. This felt weird and foreign
to George, and he addressed this to his wife over the
matter.
George and his wife concluded several possibilities,
like imaginary friends or an over active imagination, but
they felt that Becky was not in any harm.
Two days later,
George decided to check on Becky again. It was 9:30 p.m.
and George discovered that Becky was not in her bed; he
called for her... again she opens the closet door from the
inside. George, a little frustrated, informs Becky that she
is not to have nightly rendezvous in her closet. Becky was
unaware of George's disapproval at this point. George a
little taken back by this behavior, decides to sit down and
discuss these events with Becky. From this conversation,
George is delivered a hint of what was to come.
Becky informs her Father, that the clown used to own
the house. She also adds that the clown has a dislike
towards her Father, and that every time George enters the
bedroom, this clown gets up and walks through a wall in the
closet. Becky gave one final note; that it was the clown’s
idea to talk in the closet so that nobody would hear him or
her converse. Well, George kisses his little girl on the
forehead and says,” Honey, do not talk with this clown
anymore. I do not want you to speak with this clown ever
again." Becky smiled and jolted her head up and down as
acknowledgement, then she says,” He had said that you would
tell me this one day." George spoke quietly," go to sleep
honey."
George asks his wife to join him out on the patio
in the backyard on the warm June evening. George and his
wife were concerned. The perplexing issue was how and where
to find help for the “ghost”. George was not 100% confident
that a ghost was his problem. George’s wife was quite
convinced, and found it a little irritating that George was
not facing the music, as they say.
George’s wife, Laura,
spoke with neighbors and went so far to visit the Oak Lawn,
IL library and the Green Hills Library, to search for
records. Laura had discovered that her neighbors did not
know a damn thing, and all she was able to find at the two
libraries was the town name was changed in 1914 from Worth
to “The friendly village of Worth”. Laura was starting to
get overwhelmed with hopelessness.
The very next night George had patiently waited for the
time of 9:30 p.m. He makes his way up to Becky's room and
has noticed that she is not in her bed. George, knowing the
pattern by now, has decided to listen to his daughter.
However, he was utterly and shockingly surprised when had
heard a male voice accompanied with his daughters. George
just froze, felt the hairs on the back on his neck stand.
George ripped through the room to the closet door, just as
he was about to grab the knob of the door, the door itself,
opened about an inch ajar. In the split second to witness
this, George was able to see through the now recent crack
into the closet, George was able to make out his daughter
in the corner of the closet… too far from the door,
Becky was. George was able to come to the conclusion that
his little girl was not the one to open the door just then;
he was paralyzed with fear as to what could have opened the
door.
As George was assessing the door literally opening
itself, the closet light that was brightly shining, went
out. Becky started to get very scared and in the midst of
this confusion, she started to scream franticly. George
made his way into the dark closet and grabbed his daughter,
and immediately made his way downstairs, clutching his
baby girl close to his chest. The commotion took some time
to settle down, at 11:00p.m. That night, George’s family
spent the night at his neighbor’s house. Except for George,
he went back to the house and did not sleep a peep. George
had asked his neighbor to accompany him that night at the
house, the neighbor did just that.
The entire night George and his neighbor sat at the
kitchen table talking about all the events leading up to
that night, and the conversation lead to, inevitably,
ghosts in general. George had reveled that he had not seen
or witnessed any ghost in his life. Apparently, George has
now heard one, the neighbor commented. George asked his
neighbor whether or not if he knew the previous occupants
of the house, the neighbor said that it was an older
couple, very polite. Before the elderly couple it was
unknown, but never a rumor of a haunting or a clown.
All
through the night, George and his neighbor talked, and not
once did the two men hear or see or even feel another
presence in the house. As the night fell into the early
hours, George and his neighbor had completely forgotten as
to why they were sipping beers at 4:00 a.m. in his kitchen
in an empty house.
Day finally came and George’s family assumed business as
usual. However, George’s oldest daughter came home around
the same time from the community college, about noon. The
oldest was in the bathroom when she heard a very ominous
laughter come out of thin air. That was it, from that
incident; George’s family spent their lives at the
neighbor’s house on a full time basis, until he could
figure this out.
George was in a routine that he did not enjoy. He would
come home, and make his way to the neighbor’s house. George
would spend about an hour or so and then make his way to
his garage, keeping busy working on cars.
George was not
comfortable placing the burden on his neighbor; this
impending feeling of doom would not leave his thoughts.
Within the first week of this new arrangement, Laura was
pressing George to involve the Church. George was feeling
insecure about the idea, and wanted more time to
contemplate his actions. Although George would admit, he
had absolutely no idea what his options were, if any. This
was 1977, the movie GHOST BUSTERS was 6 years away from its
release. There were organizations in Oak Lawn, IL at the
time of paranormal research, but without the common use of
the Internet and the fact these places did not exactly list
themselves in the phone book, how could one come across the
use of such practices?
A few nights had passed, and before the second week of the
new arrangement was about to come to an end, there was a
significant change in the atmosphere. George had recalled
finishing all the side jobs that he had pending with his
backyard hobby in the garage.
After George spent several
hours with his family at his absolutely wonderful
neighbor’s house, he then decided to go home. George a
little bored and somewhat feeling empty in his absent
house, turned to the T.V. George recalled watching the
movie WESTWORLD on WGN. The movie was about halfway in,
about the time Yull Brynner’s character went haywire and
started to shoot the guests visiting the futuristic resort,
George fell asleep on the couch. George recalled having an
extreme nightmare. Where this unknown entity that was
haunting his dreams a few weeks prior, where he felt his
children were at risk, was now threatening George himself.
George awoke very suddenly, and before he could get a grip
on his situation, he found himself in the dreaded “Sleep
Paralysis”. George felt a huge weight on his chest; his
body felt like it was in a large sponge that was wet,
preventing him from moving. George thought that he was
still dreaming, until he was able to roll his eyes to the
T.V. Where he was able to identify the movie; Yull Brynner
provides chase to an unfortunate guest in some underground
hallway. George tried to roll his eyes to the clock, but
was unsuccessful. George was paralyzed and he kept getting
this impression of a clown laughing at him, sitting on his
chest. When George recalls the incident, he cannot decipher
the fact if he was able to see this entity of a clown or if
he imagined it.
Eventually George had recognized that it
was raining very hard outside, and before he knew it, he
was free.
George erected himself from the couch as though he had
someone pull him to attention, breathing very hard and
still dazed from his nap. There was something brewing in
George that he had not felt since this whole ordeal came
about. George was loosing all his fear and an intangible
rage started to fill his soul. An anger George commented,
that he had never felt before. George was without his
family, concerned about his daughters, he had the
impression he had lost his house… the man snapped. Frothing
from the mouth, George was screaming on top of his lungs.
From one room to the next in the empty house, George was
slamming the doors, punching the walls, challenging his
unwanted guest. Cursing obscenities at this unseen foe,
George was trying to make it apparent he had enough.
Time had passed and George was able to restrain himself to
a sane state. Unaware of how much time had passed in his
tangent of explosive anger, he found himself exhausted, and
made his way to the kitchen. His throat dry from the insane
conformity he found himself surrounded by, he grabbed a
beer. George opened his back door and started to find peace
by daydreaming into the back yard. The thunderstorm was
fantastically wild and bright. Taken in by the storm,
George had a feeling sneak up on him, pure fear. George
started to look all around him, convinced there was a
presence closing in on him. Within moments George felt as
though he had made a mistake, like he pushed too far. The
impending doom was broken when George heard his equipment
in his garage, the air compressor pounding and the sander
rattling. Something was catching George’s eye in between
the light provided by lightning. As George was focusing he
noticed movement in the garage, by the service door window.
The window was rhombus shaped, and in the view was a pitch
black void. With a few more strikes of thick lightning
George was shocked at what was illuminated in that
darkness.
Before his eyes George met his unwanted guest:
George bolted to his neighbors’ house trembling all over.
Practically incoherent, George described the events to his
neighbor. George’s neighbor decided to inspect the house
for himself, and proceeded next door. Visibly the house
looked as though it was abandoned with haste. The lights
were still on as well as the T.V., and the back door was
open. The neighbor looked around the first floor not
exactly sure for what purpose. Starting to get the
impression that this inspection of the house was futile,
the neighbor went to close the back door and shut off the
kitchen lights. The neighbor looked into the front room and
decided to shut down the T.V. As he stepped across from the
linoleum floor to the carpeted dining area, there was a
distinct noise from above.
The neighbor could hear water pelting a rug upstairs in the
house. Considering the thunderstorm, the neighbor figured
there was a window left open on the second floor and the
rain was falling through. The neighbor, a courageous man, had
no experience surrounding this presence. Somewhat skeptical
and never seen anything first hand, the neighbor lacked
fear.
He trotted upstairs looking for the window to
close, after all insurance
companies do not cover water damage.
Sure enough the
neighbor came across the door upstairs with graded
kindergarten papers tacked all over the door, headed with
the name “Becky”; without question, the sound of water was
definitely behind this door. The neighbor started to
contemplate the reason for this room to have an oddity at
this time, quickly deducing that for what it was obvious,
the presence was attracted to Becky.
The neighbor grabbed the handle of Becky’s bedroom door and
entered the room. Sure enough there was a window opened on
the far wall. The neighbor walked causally to the window to
close it. As he placed himself in front of the window, the
atmosphere in the room became charged. There was a sudden
feeling of dread and hopelessness that just washed over the
neighbor’s body. An indescribable notion that there was an
influence of cognitive thought pressing the walls of his
mind.
The neighbor began to look around the room as though
he was going to be smacked at any moment by some invisible
force. It was at this time he realized that it would be
wise to close the window and leave; within moments that is
exactly what he did. As the neighbor turned around to
leave, the closet had caught his eye. Whether the fact it
was open at the time of his first entering the room or not,
it was open now. The neighbor just realized everything
seemed to be in black & white, and there was something in
the closet that was very black.
Paralyzed the neighbor
became aware of the movement of this black abnormality. The
blackness seemed to fold on itself slowly, and it began to
grow in size. Fear was filling the neighbor as he walked
backwards to the door of the room itself. Before the
neighbor could walk into the hallway, there was a rustling
sound that started. Not looking at the closet the neighbor
exited the room and made his way to the stairs. Halfway
down the stairs, the neighbor heard Becky’s door slam
violently. In a full gallop, the neighbor was in the front
room heading for the front door. All the time from the
stairway to the front room, the neighbor could see
blackness cornering his eyesight. Within steps of the front
door, the neighbor heard someone scream, ”Get Out!! Now”.
It was definitely not that of a man to utter those words,
in fact, it just was not human.
A second had passed and the
neighbor was out of the house never to step foot inside
again. Returning home, the neighbor immediately confronted
George to follow him to the front lawn. In the middle of
the rain and out of range from Georges’ family ears, the
neighbor addressed George with utmost sincerity… “Get your
family out of that hell hole!”
George had invited the local pastor to the house within the
week, and then a team of parapsychologists two days later.
By the beginning of the next week, George and his family
were moved out. The house sat on the market for several
months before another family purchased the home. The
neighborhood had not heard of this haunting, nor does Becky
remember any of the conversations she had with the clown.
The new family had not encountered the entity that haunted
George and his family. George had briefly stated that there
was an exorcism performed and whether or not it was
successful, George decided.
As for the skeptics, to simply state that the paranormal
does not exist… is the best way to show people how ignorant
and stupid one could be. The question lies as to where and
how these energies draw power for manifestation. Most
people do confirm that encounters seem to tap a certain
side to our conciseness, and we seem to be vulnerable. Most
seem to forget that speaking the Lords’ prayer does banish
the unwanted. As for the events that you just read, are in
fact true. I should know. If you have not figured it out by
now, I was the neighbor.
Contact me here: markr182@attbi.com
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