Never Doubt Ghosts

This story took place a couple days ago, but I know I will always remember it in detail forever.

I decided to submit it to this website in the hopes that I can make everyone understand that just because you don't believe in something, it doesn't mean you have the right to make fun of it. Here is the story:

I was spending the night at my friend Christa's house with another friend Jessie. Christa's sister Sarah also had a friend over, but she and her friend Whitney hadn't seen each other for some time and decided to be loners that night. They were in Sarah's room most of the day, and at the time when this happened. Christa, Jessie, and I shacked up in the living room. I took the couch and Jessie and Christa set up their own little sleeping area on the floor. It was a known fact between the three of us that Christa's house was haunted. Christa, however, is a very devout Christian and refuses to pay attention or believe in the ghosts, despite the stories she's shared with all of us. I personally think she doesn't want to wander into new territory.

Anyway, from where I was sitting on the couch, I could see into the kitchen (a very weird place in the house) which was right in front of me through a doorway. To the left, more in front of Jessie and Christa and a lot closer than the kitchen were the stairs. You can see them from the side, they are not facing us. Directly above us is Christa's mom's room. Her mother is named Gail.

Christa's father had left for work already, as he works night shift. I remember him leaving long before us teenagers had decided it was time to settle in for the night.

We got to talking about ghosts, why they might be in the house, and what they might want out of it. Christa mentioned again that she didn't believe in them, and started saying they were stupid and such. Jessie and I didn't agree with her on that, and decided to keep our mouths shut. It was dark in the living room, despite the light we'd kept on over the stove in the kitchen. Jessie and I begged Christa for more light (ironically...) and Christa finally agreed. She doesn't like anything to disturb her from a good night's sleep, but the light was behind where we were facing and it could be set on dim. We left that light on and kept talking.

We got more and more tired and started talking less and less, although we were all awake. I was on my back and decided to cuddle into the couch the way I normally do at home. I turned onto my left side to face Jessie and Christa (the couch being backed up against the wall on the right side) and on my way over saw a kitchen light turn on. I sat up immediately and said, "YOU GUYS, THE LIGHT IN THE KITCHEN JUST WENT ON". I sat there gripped with fear as Jessie slid closer to me and Christa rolled over. They both realized with fear that two of the kitchen lights were now on. The dishwasher was also on, but that had been on and turned on by human hands. Over the sound of the dishwasher, we could hear a woman's voice, but couldn't make it out clearly enough to tell what she was saying. We didn't listen for very long before Christa screamed "Mom!!!!". I hollered, "MOM! GAIL!" and Jessie repeated what I had said. For some reason, I couldn't think enough at first to remember her first name and had screamed out whatever Christa had. We then started screaming in hysterics and ran up the stairs, leaving all our stuff behind.

At the top of the stairs, we were met by Sarah and Whitney. Sarah's room is upstairs, but at the end of the hall. We had been screaming loud enough for them to hear us from that far away.

Gail's room was at the top of the stairs to the right, and she was in her doorway. We all quickly gathered there, shaking, crying and talking loudly about what had just happened. She told us we could spend the night in her room, but first we knew we had to go downstairs and get our blankets and pillows. Feeling adventurous once again and wanting to relinquish my natural interest in the supernatural, I led the way downstairs (yes, still shaking) with a crowd of shaking girls holding my hands and whispering frightfully into one another's ears. We got our things and brought them back upstairs.

Eventually, we had settled on Gail's floor and had calmed down enough to stop shaking. Sarah and Whitney layed on one side of Gail's bed. Jessie, Christa and I layed on the other side of Gail's bed (right next to it) and farthest from the door. The light in the hallway was on and the door was shut as best as it could be. The doors and the house itself are so old (nice, maintained, but old) and the doors had warped from time, so we had to shut them by putting shoulder pads between the door and the doorframe. Eventually, Sarah got thirsty and asked me to accompany her to the kitchen for a drink. We went downstairs and she got a drink from the fridge. I turned off the kitchen light that had gone on (now I wish I hadn't, it gives me the creeps to think I un-did their action). The dishwasher was off, I remember, because Sarah and I whispered back and forth and we semi-provoked the ghosts, asking them to turn the light on again. They wouldn't, even when we shut our eyes. We got sick of waiting and ran back upstairs, thinking we were too slow no matter how fast we ran. Back in Gail's room, we started to hear thumps from downstairs. Gail assured us that it was the dishwasher, and as we listened we realized it was true. But then we realized (well, Sarah and I did) that it had been off just a few minutes ago. It was probably going through a stage or cycle or something, but it scared us just the same. Sarah and I ventured downstairs again once more to turn it off so the thumps would stop. They didn't, though the washer remained off.

As the night went on, everyone but Jessie and I fell asleep. Thankfully, Jessie and I were next to each other on the floor. We whispered in fright at the sounds we heard downstairs. The front door (located in the kitchen) slammed, and voices came from the kitchen into the living room. We could hear the voice of a woman and that of a man. It sounded like they were deep in a very important but light conversation. It was almost like being a little kid again and having to go to bed early... when out of boredom you try to listen to what your parents are saying but all you can hear is their voices. It sounded like that- muffled but achingly close to being heard. Bumps and voices went off and on all night as Jessie and I listened with nothing better to do.

Christa talked in her sleep late in the night (or early in the morning, call it what you will) and Gail kicked us out of her room. We had to go back down to the living room. Obviously we weren't going to be able to sleep there. Christa, who was used to the ghosts, was ready to sleep though. Jessie and I sat up on the couch whispering as Christa complained we were being too loud. She eventually went upstairs to her own room and stayed the rest of the night there. Jessie and I were the guests, left alone in a house we were familiar with only in its normality. We sat up on the couch and talked until about 7 a.m. when we finally decided to get some sleep. We slept for two hours until the rest of the household woke and came downstairs. The day began, and someone not knowing about the night before would consider this a very old but normal house, with only occasional strange feelings.

The house is a nice house, and as I have said several times it's very old, and a lot of times (even before I knew of the ghosts) I would be scared to go places in it alone. The basement is especially horrifying, having a wall on one end that they discovered to be hollow when a part of it knocked down. Because it is old, the ceiling in the basement is incredibly low and I, being 5'8" have to watch my head for beams.

The upstairs of the house is scary, with the exception of Sarah's room, which seems to be the only "safe" place in the house as far as feeling and gut instinct goes.

To the left of Gail's room there is a sort of cloak room, which has always been a weird place to be in. It's small, without a door on the frame, and there's a window, a slanted ceiling, and some shelves attached to the wall. All around the house through the paint you can see where things used to be, such as hooks, knobs, and even doors. Past one of the places where a door used to be is Sarah's room, and that entire space past the now-empty doorway is like a haven from the rest of the house. Maybe whatever went on before in the house didn't happen past that door.

On the stairs, too, is another scary thing. There is always one spot where almost everyone falls down. At the top of the stairs, the rail continues around on the floor, so you can stand near Gail's room and look down the stairs from the top side. At the end where it closes off and connects to the cloak room's entrance, the beams on the stair rail have been replaced with the closest they could come to replacing them like the others and the handrail has been sawed off, replaced and an attempt to re-varnish it has been made. In short, it looks like someone fell from the top of the stairs over the edge and broke the posts on their way through. We through pillows over before to see where they'd land from that spot and it is always the spot where someone trips. It is like someone once fell from there and died, and now they haunt the spot, tripping people.

Just thought I'd share. Be careful what you say... you never know who's listening!