Haunted House (2)

My husband and I purchased our home from a former Judge, who is now deceased, but was still living when we took residence in our house. The house is a ranch-style, and sits on an acre lot.

One evening, Shortly after moving in with our three very young children (then ages 4 - 6 months), my husband and I were sitting on the couch in our living room when a dark shadow appeared in the hallway. It moved slowly but deliberately down the hall toward my daughter's room. I looked at my husband, who looked back at me wide-eyed, so I knew he had seen something too. We rushed down the hall & into my daughter's room, only to see her peacefully sleeping in her baby bed, with no sign of "the shadow."

A few weeks passed, and then we saw it again, only this time there were several shadows, moving at the same speed, on the same course, right into my daughter's bedroom. This time, even though again she was sleeping peacefully, we picked her up and carried her in to our bed where she slept with us that night. These shadows occurred on a regular basis but oddly enough, didn't scare us after a while.

Another specific incident involved my sister and my nephew who was about 2 at the time. They were in the house, the rest of my family was outside, when my sister heard an infant crying. The crying was coming from my daughter's room. She knew there was no one in the house, so at first she thought she must have been mistaken, until my nephew cocked his head, listening to the sound, and then started down the hall toward the crying. This really startled my sister, and she picked up my nephew, and ran out of the house to tell us her story, refusing to go back in the house. Of course, when the rest of us went back in the house, there was no longer a sound.

A different sister was sitting for us one evening, and kept hearing a guitar playing in the children's rooms. We had a little guitar that we purchased for my oldest son, but it was in the top of the closet, and hadn't been played with for a long time. She never could find the source of the music.

Another time I had taken my oldest son to school, and had just returned home with my daughter and youngest son. My daughter wanted to watch a movie, and I had to change my son's diaper, so I took him to his room to change him. I heard a little scream, and my daughter, now 4, came rushing in to the room, her face white as a sheet, she was shaking, and crying, and saying "I saw a black flash, mommy, I saw a black flash and it went in there!" as she pointed toward the den. I, thinking it was someone trying to rob us, so I gathered the kids, drove across the street to the church parking lot where I called a neighbor to come over and check the house for us. I had a view of the house the entire time, and no one left the house, but when my neighbor went through the house, he found nothing. My daughter started having nightmares almost nightly after that, which is common in young children, but she never could remember what they were about.

Shortly after a friend of ours had committed suicide, the kids and I were at the grocery store and my husband was home alone. When I got home, he was visibly shaken, and told me that he was sitting in the den when he heard the front door open, and someone say "anybody home?" He said it sounded just like the friend who committed suicide, but his brother lives next door, and they sound very similar. Thinking it was my neighbor, my husband said, "come on in, Dale" a few seconds later, now right behind my husband, the voice said "what are you doing?" When my husband turned around, there was no one there.

When my youngest son was about 3, we built another bedroom on the house for my husband and I, leaving them all with their own room. My daughter wanted to have our old room, so I moved my youngest son in to her room. He began having nightmares. He would wake up crying, and I would go in to comfort him, often staying with him until he fell asleep. I would ask him what he dreamt about, but he could not remember. Then one night, I heard him crying, and when I asked him what was wrong, he said he had a headache because of "the people." I asked "what people?"

He said in an angry little 3 year old voice "These people come in here every night. They keep coming right toward me, I think they are going to hit me, but they go right through me, and it is giving me a headache." Even I was trembling after that, and slept with him for several nights after.

The most recent odd occurrence was when my husband and oldest son, 16 years old, were watching television. My daughter, youngest son and I were gone for the weekend to a baseball tournament. In the afternoons, the sun reflects on the television and you can see a mirror image of the kitchen. The reflection of a man appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. It moved, causing them to notice it at the same time. They turned around and saw the distinct shadow of a man moving from the kitchen down the hall toward the bedrooms. He and my son ran toward it, but it vanished. They checked every room, in every closet, under the beds, and found nothing.

We've lived in our house about 12 years now, and will witness an "incident" every month or two. We've had pictures from the wall be in the center of the floor in the morning, or things moved when we return home from work, we've had doors feel as if they are being "held" closed, heard voices, felt things touching us like a cat walking on the bed while trying to sleep, almost daily our televisions, lights and radios will turn off or on without our help, dresser drawer handles will flip up and down unassisted, and of course, the black shadows pays regular visits.

Being a logical person, and not really wanting to believe in ghosts, I've tried and tried, but so far have not been able to find logical explanations for most of these occurrences. Is our house haunted? We sometimes say it is? but you can draw your own conclusions.