A Young Spirit?

For many years of my life, I had been a skeptic towards all things relating to the paranormal. However, when I was about eleven years old I realized just how real the possibility of wandering spirits could be.

Currently, I am 18 and preparing to head off to college. I live in the basement of my family's house, but I used to live upstairs. I first noticed something strange happening when I was lying in bed upstairs one night. I was trying to sleep when I heard voices coming from the hall outside my room. I remember it was about 12:30 a.m. when I heard them. I couldn't make out any specific words, but I heard them and they were not my parents' voices. I would also occasionally hear the sounds of footsteps from above me.

This was odd to me, as we did not have an upstairs. There wasn't even a crawlspace above us. All we have up there is a dead, empty room-like area that has never been inhabited or even has had an access point; just dead, empty space. Anyway, this happened for a week or so before I was so disturbed by the voices I started keeping my door shut at night.

For a while I enjoyed some peace and quiet, but eventually I experienced something I'll never forget. I woke up to find my door open at 2:00 a.m. and I was overcome with fear. I heard the voices in the hallway again, only louder than usual. I huddled under my covers, but the voices got louder. The pitch and sound shifted until the voices sounded almost animal-like. I was terrified, so I jumped out of bed as fast as I could, flicked on the lights, and slammed the door shut. I got back in bed but didn't sleep for about an hour. It was only after an hour's worth of sleep, however, that I woke up again. I will never forget that it was 3:13 a.m. when I woke up for the second time. My door was still shut but now my lights were off. After a few minutes I heard the sound of what appeared to be footsteps on my shag carpeting. I ducked under the covers and waited until it sounded like the footsteps were right next to my bed. They stopped there, and it was a good twenty minutes before I emerged from under the sheets. I turned the light on and surveyed the room. The door had never opened and there was nobody in the room. It was only when I looked at the carpet that I discovered there were very clear footprints in the shag leading up and stopping at my bed. Needless to say, I didn't sleep the rest of the night.

The next experience happened when I was thirteen years old. In our basement, we have a storage room. In the back of the storage room is a large metal door that has only been used once by my family. I was home alone, putting some supplies away in the storage room for my dad while he was out with my mother. Suddenly, something behind the metal door started knocking violently from the other side. Horrified, I ran out of the house and sat in the front driveway waiting for my parents to get home. I didn't even enter the basement for a week.

A couple years passed where nothing extravagant happened. The only things that happened that I deem interesting are moments where whatever entity happens to be residing in my house decided to physically reach out to me. It would tap me on the back, grab at my shirt, and shake the couch or chair I happened to be sitting in. Things got moved around with no explanation. I'd practically gotten used to experiencing these strange things so I didn't think much of them.

Finally, just last year I saw something I simply cannot explain. I think this is what solidified my belief in spirits or ghosts; whatever you wish to call them. Early in the morning, I was preparing to go to school. At this point in time, I had moved into the basement where I had a bathroom and living room all to myself. This particular morning I had been sitting in my bathroom drinking my coffee and waiting for my shower to heat up. I heard a strange knocking at the door. It wasn't quiet, but it sounded almost like it was kind of light- handed. I simply called "Who is it?" and when I got no answer I shouted "Mom? Dad?" This got no answer either, so I opened the door. Nobody was out there. I shut the door and stayed in the bathroom until about 7:00 when the sun rose. By the time I was ready, I ran up the stairs. When I reached the landing, I heard footsteps following me up. I turned around and nobody was there. I hadn't been this scared in a while, so I darted for the door and left the house. When I looked back at the house, I saw a small boy standing at the window. He looked to be about six or seven years old, as far as I could tell, but I couldn't make out any distinguishing features. In a moment, he disappeared.

Now, I don't have a young brother. I have a sister, but she's only two years younger than me and almost as tall as I am. This may go without saying, but there is nobody in my house who is that short or looks even remotely like a young boy. Who or what I saw, I'm really not sure.

Since these experiences I haven't had much more happen. A group of friends came over to my house once and we tried out a Ouija board. We asked if there was anybody in my house, asked for a name, etc. When we asked an age, the board slowly pointed to the number "6". When we continued to question it, it didn't answer. It simply told us to "run". So we did, and we left the basement where the board was.

Other than that, I haven't had much else happen. Sometimes I feel like there is somebody in my room with me at night, and I can occasionally hear voices. What worries me now is that sometimes it sounds like the voice is saying my name.