The Thing On The Porch

My Grandmother was from South Carolina and used to regale us with her stories of "haints" as she called them. It seemed that nearly every house she lived in had some sort of spirit in it. This is the story that really gave me the shivers:

My Aunt Bea and Uncle George once rented a big two storey house out in the country (just about all that area is country) that had a roofed porch that ran the length of the house in front. There were steps leading down from the porch to the red dirt yard and the long driveway that led to the nearest highway. This story, I believe, may have taken place in the 50's or early 60's.

One evening, they had company come by in the afternoon and were still there by that evening. If you're familiar with the South, family used to visit all the time and usually stayed late. While they were visiting with each other in the house, another car came up the drive with some male cousins coming to visit too. As they got out of their car and climbed the porch steps, they saw the figure of a man standing at the end of the porch kind of hunched over. Not thinking much of it and thinking that it was probably someone just out getting some air, they went inside.

After visiting for a while, one of them finally asked who was outside on the porch?. My aunt told them that there wasn't anyone out on the porch except for their haint. It seems that the man outside was a regular visitor once the sun went down. That got them scared and they decided to leave. When they went out the door, they noticed that the "man" was still at the end of the porch. As they went running down the steps, the "man" came running after them and pushed the last one down the steps. They jumped in the car and when they tried to close the passenger side door, something was holding it open. They still drove like madmen down the driveway and as they reached the end, the door slammed shut.

My grandmother told me this story when I was 18 and we were out driving around the countryside with another aunt and we went past that house. I wish I could remember the names of the cousins, but it's been too many years and my grandmother has since passed away so I can't find out any longer. I'd like to submit some more of her stories, including one that I was involved in, at some later date.