Dancing Doll

My parents still live in the house that I grew up in, and where I experienced some strange occurrences. Still to this day, although I have not lived there for many years, and am quite a bit older now, I do not like sleeping the night in my parents house.

No other member of my family has ever experienced anything strange in the house, although when I was growing up, friends who came to stay the night would sometimes report feeling very uncomfortable and scared sleeping there for no particular reason.

I always remember feeling scared in my house, and in particular my bedroom. I was so scared of my bedroom when I was a child that I often refused to sleep there, and slept in the spare bedroom for quite a while. I also was very scared of my dolls and would often put them away in the wardrobe or turn them to face the wall because I felt like they were watching me while I was in my bedroom. I did not have these problems in any other room in the house, and would sleep soundly in any other bedroom, or if someone slept in my bedroom with me.

I also had no problems when I slept away from home for the night. My parents tell me that even as a baby I would only sleep in my bedroom if someone stayed with me. I still get the feeling of being scared in my old bedroom today, and still have problems sleeping there, although I can't exactly put my finger on what it is that scares me.

Many strange incidences occured to me in that house, most of them in my bedroom, but some of them in other rooms of the house as well. Most experiences happened between the ages of about 7 and 12, and were fairly minor such as lights being switched off, and objects being moved or re-arranged. Below are 2 experiences that I remember the most clearly.

One day I was playing with 2 friends in the bedroom next to mine (because I refused to spend time in my own bedroom unless forced to). We decided to play with a toy that was still in my bedroom, so I went into the room to get it. Nothing was unusual when I walked into the room (apart from the uncomfortable feeling I always had when I was in there). I crossed the room to the window sill, collected the toy, and then turned to walk out of the room. When I was standing right in the middle of the room facing the doorway with my back to the window and all my toys, I heard a distinct "click" and then the mechanical whirring sound made by a battery operated ballerina doll I owned, that would dance when you turned it on. I turned around, and sure enough the ballerina doll was switched on and dancing. The "click" sound I had heard was the sound of it being switched on. I walked over to it and turned it off, and then left to tell my friends.

We tried to find a rational explanation for it, such as one of my friends (who had been playing with that doll about 1/2 hour earlier) having left it turned on, but this was easily ruled out because I know it wasn't turned on when I walked in the room (it would have been impossible to miss with the loud noise it makes) and I had heard the distinct "click" sound of it being switched on.

The second experience happened some time later. I awoke in the middle of the night and found myself in my usual position under the covers. I lay there for about 15 minutes unable to sleep when I heard the sound of footsteps walk down the hallway slowly. I assumed this was either my mum or brother (who were the only 2 other people in the house at the time), but the footsteps walked straight past both of their bedrooms and entered mine. I was still under the covers, and because I had not experienced "ghostly" footsteps before, my first thought was that it was a burglar. I decided to remain very still under the covers until the burgler left, so that he or she would not hurt me. The footsteps walked past my bed toward the chest of drawers near the window. I then heard the sound of one of the drawers repeatedly opening and closing about 5 times. I knew that it was the same drawer, rather than different drawers, because this particular drawer was a little too big for its tracks, and thus took some effort to open, and made a loud creaking noise when you did so. I thought it was strange that a burgler would only look in one drawer, but I was still convinced that it was a burgler and so did not move or look out from under the covers. The footsteps then walked back past my bed and left my room, walked back up the hallway and seemed to walk out of the house (although I did not hear any of the internal or external doors open or close).

I waited for about 1/2 hour to make sure that the burgler had left before running into my mum's room to tell her that we had been robbed. My mum ran to check on my brother (who was sound asleep) and then checked the rest of the house. Of course she found no sign of any burglery, and all the doors and windows were still closed and locked. It was only at this point that the thought entered my head that it had been something "ghostly" that had visited my bedroom.

My mum tried to convince me that I had been dreaming, or that it had been my brother playing a joke on me, but I know I was awake, and never did I hear the sound of my brother re-entering his bedroom after the footsteps left the house.

Most of the occurences stopped by the time I was a teenager, except for the sound of footsteps. After that first night I continued to hear footsteps in the middle of the night (normally at around 4am in the morning), though I only heard them a few times afterwards, and they never entered my bedroom again. I even heard the footsteps running through the hallway and rattling the hallway doors at both ends (which were always closed). These footsteps continued, even after my brother moved away from home (again ruling out the possibility that it was him trying to scare me). As I stated earlier, no-one else in my family has ever reported experiencing anything strange in the house, although my brother did claim to be bothered by footsteps in the middle of the night outside his bedroom window a couple of times - but he thought they were an intruder also!

Since moving out of that house I have lived in 2 more houses where nothing strange has ever happened, but the feeling of fear and of being watched in my old bedroom continues.