Great Grandpas Ghost

Every summer when I was a child I would go and stay with my grandparents. They lived in McKee's Rocks a suburb outside of Pittsburgh. The house sat in an open area on a hill surrounded by woods. It was very secluded but in the fall you could see the city in the horizon.

One summer when I was twelve I was sleeping in my Aunt's bedroom. Her bedroom was located beside the stair well. I was awakened by the dogs. My grandmother's two dogs slept at the top of the stairs. They were growling at something. I thought they were growling at one of my Aunt's cats so I rolled over and went back to sleep. Again I was awakened by the dogs. I got up and peeked outside the bedroom door. The dogs had stopped growling but now they were standing up looking at the bottom of the stairs. I thought it was the cat so I went to look but there was nothing there. I turned around to go back to bed then that is when I heard the noise. Someone was coming up the stairs behind me. I suddenly felt cold and turned around to see who was there. No one was there. I looked down at the dogs and they were still standing looking at the bottom of the stairs. They were growling again. I felt like someone was there. I became afraid and ran to the bedroom and hid under the covers. I could hear the dogs growling and someone was walking up and down the stairs again. I stayed under my covers that night.

The next morning I told my Aunt what happened to me the night before. She told me that it was my Great Grandfather. She said this wasn't the first time this has happened. She told me years before when they first moved in strange occurrences happened. Dishes would fly in the air and objects would be moved from one place to another when no one had touched them.

My Aunt told me one time my Grandmother was washing dishes and stack them up getting them ready to put them away. She turned her back to do something else. When she turned around again the dishes were laid in a row. My Aunt said that one night she was awoken by a bright light in the corner of her room. She said it stayed there for most of the night and never moved. She felt like it was watching her. She felt that it was my great grandfather.

My mother never spoke much about my great grandfather. She told me that my great grandparents fled to America because my great grandfather killed a priest who caught him stealing out of the poor box. He purchased the house shortly after he arrived in America. He never came out much. The few times my mother was around him she said when he looked at you he had evil in his eyes. Some family members believed he was possessed by the devil himself. The family was relieved when he passed away. He willed the house to my grandfather. Everyone believed that my great grandfather's spirit haunted the house.

No more occurrences happened after that night but in certain areas in the house it was always cold even when the heat was on.

In 1995, the house caught fire and burnt to the ground. The firefighters who were at the scene said that they heard screams coming from the house.

You can believe what you want but I believe my great grandfather's spirit haunted the house and it was his screams the firefighters heard coming from the house.