Lane 16

I was only 13 at the time, me and my family own a large 5 pin bowling center in Canada the bowling center was nearly 60 years old when we bought 2 years ago.

Business wasn't bad for the first week or so, but the bowling center was old and out of date and more people preferred string pinsetters and new fancy computers and all the other fancy gadgets. So my family decided to update things a little.

We bought brand new public use bowling balls to put on the racks one day. Later that day I was the only person in the bowling center at the time and my parents had run out to get my sister. I had ran to the back to wash some pins when I went back to the office. I had left the pin lights on (the lights that are over the pins) those where the only lights on at the time besides the office. I went in the office to put some scores together and add up averages when I heard a loud bang, a real loud bang. I looked out............ nothing......... nothing at all but the new bowling balls we had on the lane where gone. I figured maybe my Dad or one of the employees had come in and taken the balls to wash them or something that was the only reasonable explanation at the time.

I went back in the office when I heard a machine turn on. I looked at the control board in the office, it indicated all the lanes where off. I once again looked out nothing ,nothing at all. I was starting to get a little freaked out when my parents came back. I told them what had happened they told me the usual "There's no such thing as ghosts".

About six months or so after that incident I was over my fear of "Bowling alley Ghosts". I was in the back one late night around 1 or 2 in the morning after one of our leagues was over, I was having look at one of the machines and my Dad was taking a look with me, when we heard a machine turn on. We looked down, it was the same lane, the exact same lane, lane number 16 that had done the freaky stuff the night of the disappearing balls! We looked at the control panel, once again........ nothing. It showed all the lanes where off. My dad figured maybe a faulty switch or power surge or something. Nobody ever goes in our bowling alley that late at night after hours ever!

We did update it, we got new lanes, computers etc. Just last month we found out that the bowling alley was updated once about 30 or so years ago the owners then added 10 more lanes to the 16 that was originally in there! We were told that one of owner's Adam P. Williams had died while setting up pins on the 16th lane. A ball rolled right onto his head and killed him. A few years after that a man by the name of George Baker also was crushed after installing an automatic pin setting machine on the 16th lane. The machine had come down while he was putting some last touches on the lane. I don't know what it is with the 16th lane I don't know if there's something screwed with the wires or something, we have new pin setting machines, nothing happened during the installation, I don't know if there is or was something in that bowling alley. All I know is what I've heard and seen. I tell people this story, my friends they all tell me there so no such things as ghosts, and I was hearing things but It's kinda hard to not believe when your own dad has seen some pretty freaky stuff too!