Helpful Spirit

The first house I remember living in was very haunted and most of the family had many weird experiences in the several years we lived there. This particular incident happened to my mother.

The house was originally built in Connecticut in 1725 by a wealthy family and additions were built over the years so that the house was a jumble of different styles attached wherever there was room. The upper story had been converted into a library, a layroom and two bedrooms, one of which had a trapdoor that opened into the kitchen. The upstairs could be reached by two separate staircases, one behind the stove, and the other that was between the bathroom and master bedroom. The trapdoor, staircase behind the stove, and staircase door to the master bedroom were always locked so the only way upstairs without a key was through the bathroom that was off the kitchen.

My mother was alone in the house and was doing the laundry in one of those old time wringer washers out in the washroom just off the kitchen when she remembered she hadn't gone upstairs to collect my brother's dirty clothes. She had recently had her last child by cesarean and climbing the stairs was very difficult for her so she decided to put it off until she was done with the rest of the clothes. As she was washing, she says she was muttering to herself, "I don't want to climb those stairs, why couldn't Johnny have brought them down?" and so on, basically feeling very sorry for herself. When she finished the rest of the laundry she came out to the kitchen to go upstairs and was astonished to find my brothers clothes on the kitchen floor and the trapdoor wide open. The trapdoor had been padlocked and the padlock was sitting on the kitchen counter, she had never heard it open. She yelled for my brother thinking he had come home early from school, but no one was there. My mom then crossed herself and looked up through the trapdoor and said "Thank you" to whoever/whatever had tossed down the clothes. My mother always claimed it had to be a woman's ghost, who else would have helped with the laundry?