Child Visitors

After having left the military, I moved in with some friends back in my hometown of Placerville. Placerville is an old mining town with a rich history to boot. The house that I moved into is an old historical landmark (dating back to the 1800s) that is even listed in the town's tour guide. Strange occurrences have been known to happen in the old house that I was living in. For the most part, neither the history nor the occurrences bothered me. In fact, I found the strange occurrences to be rather odd and fascinating.

That old house on Pleasant Street sure did have an interesting story. Originally, the house served as an Inn for stage coach travelers who would use Placerville as a temporary stop.There used to be an old schoolhouse on a hill in back of that house. Well, history says that the old schoolmaster went insane one day. He locked the children in the schoolhouse and burned it to the ground. Years after the event, the wood that survived the fire was used to build the second story of the old house on Pleasant Street. It is said that the spirits of the murdered children reside in the attic of the house since both it and the second story was built with the wood from the old schoolhouse. Legend has it that spirit activity increases in the house as you approach the date that the school children were killed. From what I've witnessed, it's true.

Prior residents of that house have left the residence because they were frightened off by the strange occurrences in that house. It's said if a family moves into that house, and if that family has children, then the parents had best be civilized to the kids. A man who had raised a hard hand upon one of his small kids was almost killed by a falling chandelier -- only after having watched the screws mysteriously fall out one-by-one. I had the good fortune (if one can say that it was good) of living in a room on the second floor of that house. On top of that, the access door to the attic was located in my bedroom. Quite often I would feel as though I was not alone. It felt as though it were an inquisitive presence (much in the way little children may act around a grown-up who is doing something interesting). When I came into contact with these presences, in no way did I ever feel threatened. In fact, I felt both inquisitive and relaxed. One woman who lived in the house, Val, would not go up the small and rather cramped stairwell to the second floor. Just being on the steps to the second floor would always make her feel uneasy. Another woman who lived on the first floor of the house would not go into the basement because it would evoke feelings of terror in her. Both women said that they would not even approach the second floor because they could hear things move around upstairs when at times the second floor would be unoccupied. One really vivid experience that I had with these spirits came a little bit before Halloween. I was the only one at home that day and there was not the slightest breeze blowing. I was suddenly awakened in my bedroom by the sound of the porch door suddenly swinging open and then slamming shut. Then, I could hear the footsteps of a little child running across the livingroom floor. When the footsteps came to the stairwell, they stopped. I almost thought that Val and her kids were home, but then I remembered that the whole family went out-of-town for the day. Suddenly, the footsteps resumed and slowly started to ascend the staircase. Upon reaching the top, the footsteps stopped again. Slowly getting up from my bed, I walked over to my door an opened it. Nothing. The stairwell was slightly chilly, but apart from that, nothing. I shut the door, turned, and went back to my bed. Just about then, I felt a slight breeze flow through the room as though it was heading for the attic door in the corner.
Another vivid experience happened on Halloween Eve. I was "feeling in the mood" for a ghost, so I turned out the lights and -- after lighting a few candles -- decided that I would "invite" the spirits of the children to come out of the attic. Sitting in a comfortable chair, I started to practice a few relaxation and meditation exercises that would help to "open" myself up for spirit contact. After about twenty minutes or so, I began to feel the presence of small children. Although both the door and window was closed, the room's temperature began to drop and a slight breeze started to circulate around the room. I was not in the least bit frightened, and I felt as if the spirits of the little children were just as inquisitive as I was. After this went on for a little while, I thanked the spirits for coming, got up, turned on the lights and blew out the candles. Even after the session had ended, the spiritual presence stayed strong in the room for about five or ten minutes.