Untitled Story (4)

My father lives in a beautiful home in Maryland. Situated in a valley, just where it begins to slope up into mountains, this area saw the Confederate Army in retreat from the Union and was the site of much blood, pain and death. To this day, my father sometimes finds buttons, horseshoe nails and even bullets on his property. My husband, myself and our 5 year old daughter went to visit my dad and spend a long summer weekend there. Dad took us on a driving tour of the area to see the remnants of history such as Harper's Ferry, I especially enjoyed the old houses and was particularly fond of one home called "Ghost Hill."

There was only one guest room with one double bed at Dad's house. We decided my husband and I would get the bed and we'd put our daughter on the floor next to the bed in a sleeping bag. How does the saying go? "The best laid plans of mice and men..." Our daughter refused to sleep on the floor and we tucked her into the bed between us. Unfortunately, she happens to be a very restless sleeper! I decided if I was going to sleep at all I would have to sleep on the floor and crawled into the sleeping bag. The bed sits high up on its legs, so high that I could see right underneath it over to the other side of the room where a dresser was located. On the dresser was a small lamp with the kind of knob that clicks loudly when you turn it off or on. Sometime during the night I woke up, the ticking of a grandfather clock in the hall soothed me back towards sleep. As I lay there, half awake, my mind drifted back over the events of the day. I remembered the house called "Ghost Hill" and thought to myself, "This is such a blood-soaked place, I wonder if there really ARE any ghosts here." That thought no sooner crossed my mind, than I was totally awakened by light on my closed eyelids. Opening my eyes, I could see underneath the bed, that the light on the dresser had come on! I lay there frozen while my mind scrambled to find a reason why a lamp in a room where everyone was asleep should suddenly turn on! Finally I decided that the bulb must have been loose in the socket and had settled with people walking around in a mostly unused room. (The logic of frightened people LOL) I had just convinced myself it was nothing, (while refusing to get up and turn it off!), and was almost drifting away again, when I suddenly realized what it was that had woken me completely up. Not the light itself, but the DISTINCT CLICK OF THE LAMP BEING TURNED ON!! I very nearly levitated off the floor, all the time refusing to look in the direction of the dresser, and crawled under the blankets of the bed! Neither my husband or daughter woke up the whole time, lucky them! I didn't say anything to anyone, not wanting to look silly. Even though I KNOW what happened really did happen! The next day we did more sightseeing, and when we came home, the radio in our guestroom was on. Though no one had been in the house since we left if that morning. During that night, I was awoken again at night by a man's voice in the hallway. I couldn't tell what he was saying, and believe me, I didn't go look! The only two men in the house at the time, my Dad and husband, were sleeping, (yes, they both snore like freight trains, so I knew without a doubt!) We left the next day and I haven't been back to my Dad's house since. I don't think anything could convince me to sleep there again!