Don't argue with an Autistic Teenager at 3am...

I don't normally argue with my kids, especially not my daughter who has autism, but when I do, the result is priceless.

At  3am I got up to use the restroom and I heard my TV on down stairs. Passing by my youngest sons bedroom and seeing him sound asleep, and knowing that my oldest was staying at his boyfriends apartment, I knew that the culprit of the late night binge watching was my daughter, Rayne.
For those who are not familiar with my family or my kids, Rayne is almost thirteen and has moderate autism. She is lower functioning in some areas but cognitively is able to communicate pretty well, though she does at times, speak in broken English.
I was sitting on the toilet and I hollered down the stairs at her (the bathroom seems to be the best place in my house for family discussions. It's usually the time that everyone is fighting, needing advice, or asking me where something is). From my spot on the throne I informed her that she needed to be in bed and not watching television. This is the conversation that followed:

"What?"
"You know what, go to bed."
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
"Why?"
"Because it's nightime."
"Why?"
(Rolling my eyes) "Because it's not daytime yet."
"Why?"
"I don't know, because God thinks we need more sleep."
"Why?"
"It doesn't matter, just go to bed."
"What?"
"You heard me, bed now."
"Why?"
"I'm not playing this game with you, I said bed, now get your butt to bed."
"Why?"
Me ignoring her...
"Why?"
"Why?"
"Daddy...why?"
"Bed..."
"Why?"
"Bed!"
"Why?"
"Bed, now!"
"What?"
"You know what, bed!"
"Why?"
"Stop it! Just go to bed, I'm not going to tell you again!"
A moment of silence...
"Why?"
"Oh for Gods sake will you just go to bed please?!"
"Daddy?"
"Daddy?"
"Daddy?"
"What, Rayne??????" (Sighing).
"Why?"
"GO TO BED"
I hear her coming up the steps.
"Daddy?"
"Yes?"
"Can I go to bed?"
"Please do..."

Finally after a much heated debate about WHY she apparently has to do anything I tell her I was able to get her to go back to bed.
There are times when I want to rip my hair out and scream at the top of my lungs and then there are times when I reflect on something and laugh. This is one of those times.  It's true that she can be frustrating and having an autistic child isn't easy but she does make life fun and at least keep it interesting.  Even with all of her limitations she still has the attitude that makes her a true diva and I couldn't be prouder.

Who matters most?

There are people in our lives who matter, and those who don't, but how do we tell the difference?

Before I get too deep into this post I want to first apologize. This post may feel a bit like I'm complaining, or even feeling sorry for myself.  That is not my intention. It's simply a post that I am making to sort of analyze certain relationships that I have had throughout my life and how they have impacted me.

For a long time I have wondered, why am I not important? Why do I not matter to people? I've come to the conclusion now that I do matter to people. At least to some people. Those are the people that should matter to me, though I spent a good deal of my life trying to make myself important to people that just couldn't see my true value, and only kept me around for what I could do for them, or give to them. When the tables were turned though and I needed help, these people were never around and so I just assumed that there was something wrong with me. I know now that that coudln't be farther from the truth. When I stopped making myself available to these people was when I saw who my true friends were, and it really opened my eyes to the nature of loyalty and human relationships.

About a month ago I was sitting at home, watching a movie with my kids and the phone rang. I didn't recognize the name on the caller ID but it was a local number so I went ahead and answered it. To my complete and utter surprise it was a woman that I had known since high school, and at one point, had been very good friends with. I'm going to call her Jess for privacy reasons though that isn't her actual name. I was shocked that Jess was calling me. I didn't even know how she'd gotten my number. I havn't spoken to this person in almost seven years. She asked me if my mom still had houses that she rented out and I told yes, she has a few. She then asked if I would speak to my mom about the possibility of renting one to her. Now, I know for a fact that my mother would say absolutely not, no way in hell. She never liked Jess, and she wasn't interested in renting to people like her. By that I mean people who did drugs, drank, had multiple pets, and were more than likely to destroy her house. My mom, and I as well, were not being prejudiced. It was a very real possibility that she would destroy the place. The last time I spoken to her was during a time when she was struggling after her teenage son had set her apartment on fire attempting to kill himself as well as his mom, her boyfriend, and his younger siblings. I felt bad for Jess, I really did, but my mom just wasn't going to put herself in a situation to deal with that kind of drama, or financial responsibility. I tried to explain this to Jess as respectfully as I could. She became angry with me and told me that she could file charges against my mom because you legally can't discriminate against a renter. Then she said that she was going to have my moms house condemned and torn down. I had to laugh at that. My parents rental properties were in excellent condition and could easily go for 600 to 800 dollar per month.
I told Jess that it wasn't discrimination. I could get her an application and she could fill it out but I seriously doubted that she would pass the credit check, which is perfectly legal. Also, I told her that she would not be allowed to have any pets in the house, nor would she be permitted to smoke or use illegal drugs on the property. Any violation of these rules would result in an immediate eviction. This seemed to dissuade her from wanting to rent the property.
She wasn't finished though. She told me that she had a friend whose child had autism and was seeking respite care. Since I was a social worker she wanted to me assist her friend in finding services for the child. I told her that's what the families case worker was for. Annoyed that I wasn't any more help than that, Jess gave me a quick good-bye and hung up. I replaced the phone on the charger and sat back in my chair and thought about the conversation. Not once in the entire 30 minutes that she was on the phone with me did she ask how my kids were, was I seeing anyone, where was I living now, or how I was doing. You would think after seven years she would be at least a bit curious. That's when it occurred to me that she didn't care about me. She never had. The only time I was worth her attention was when she needed something. This caused me to sit back and reflect on our relationship over the years since we'd graduated high school.
There were things over the years that I think I tended to overlook just because I wanted to believe that she was my friend. Monies that I had loaned her and never gotten back. Times we went out to eat or to the movies that I always paid for. (We were never dating and I made that clear to her, I wasn't interested in any type of romantic relationship with her.) When I got married she was supposed to be the maid of honor at my wedding but never showed up. She didn't cancel, she just never showed up. Later she told me that she forgot about it being that day and decided to go shopping out of town with some friends.
She never attended my wife's baby shower either. Once again she forgot about it.
I had prepaid once for a photography session in which I was going to surprise her for Christmas with a portrait of her with her children. I told her the date and the time for it and she said she would be there but then she failed to show for that as well. She told me that she had changed her mind because she didn't have the money for pictures. I could understand that, but the fact that she never called was what really angered me. I would have told her at that point that it was already paid for.
All of these things should have given me some indication that I just wasn't someone in her life who was important to her. Sadly I was blind to it because I just didn't want to believe that it was true.
The last straw though was when her son had set her apartment on fire. She lost everything in that fire. She'd managed to get another apartment but was in need of furniture, clothes, dishes, toys for her youngest kids, and just about every other house hold item you could think of. I didn't have a lot of money back then but I did have some old dishes that I wasn't using that I could donate to her. I also went to goodwill and bought several nice outfits for her and her kids. I went to the dollar store and bought her some cleaning supplies and little decorative items that I thought she would like, and I used my food stamps to get her a few things so that she would have food until she got her new card in the mail.
She seemed grateful for everything that I had given her and I was glad to help. I never really expected any recognition for helping her, that's not why I did it. I just wanted to help out a friend. I also offered to drive her anywhere that she needed to go, and I had hired her to baby sit for me until she found a job. I was paying her a decent wage but at one point she told me that I wasn't paying her enough. She expected 10 dollars an hour for watching my two kids. I explained to her that that was two dollars less than I was making at my job. It was ridiculous. She continued to babysit for me though until she found a job as a bar tender and then she quit. That was fine with me, my sister took over and I didn't have to pay her.
About three months after the fire though I was looking through some facebook posts and I saw a post that Jess had made where she was describing the fire and thanking everyone that helped her get back on her feet. She made a list, naming each person who had helped her, there was maybe twenty people listed there, all friends of hers, some family. But, as I read through the list I didn't see my name listed anywhere. As I said before, I never expected anything but seeing all those names listed and then my name left out, it really hurt. I never said anything to her. I figured she would say that she once again forgot about me. That seemed to be the theme with her. I was always the one forgotten. The one overlooked, unless she needed something from me. I never officially broke contact with her after that, but our communication because less and less until it stopped all together. Without me calling her to arrange an outing or ask her over for dinner, she had no real reason to speak  to me, and so we just lost touch. That is, until she needed my help.

I made up my mind at that point not to waste my efforts on someone that clearly doesn't care about me.  I can't say that she was always so callus. There were times when I recall that she was there as a friend when I needed her. When my dad died she was by my side, when my kids were born she came by the house to see them. I think though as we got older we just became too different. She was more into partying, doing drugs, drinking and having fun. When my children were born I put aside that life and focused on my kids, my career and trying to better myself. Jess and I just didn't share the same interests anymore and certainly not the same values.
I wasn't really hurt emotionally when she called me recently though, I was more angered by it. I didn't care anymore that she was only calling me looking for a handout. I didn't need her approval for anything and I didn't care if she liked me or not. I have people in my life now who do care and who are there for me when I need a friend. I have people in my life whom I matter too and so they too matter to me. For the first time I can honestly say that it no longer saddens me to think that Jess doesn't care about my feelings because Jess no longer matters to me. I've seen her true colors and I realize now that there was nothing wrong me with. I did everything that I good friend should do. Jess was the one that failed to appreciate me and in doing so she's forever closed the door to a relationship that could have been mutually beneficial, if she'd only cared enough to meet me half way.
Life is way to short to spend your time and energy on someone that doesn't respect or care about you.  As hard as it may be, sometimes though people, you just have to cut them out of your life, and make room for the people that truly do matter.

Truth or lies? Harrington Estate Haunting

Everyone loves a good ghost story. The problem is, it's hard to tell if the story is true, or if someone is just pulling your leg. 

Many stories about ghosts and hauntings are stories passed on by family members or even friends. Some become local legends shared throughout a community. Others are simply just made up stories meant to give you a good scare. The following story could be just that. A fictional tale created for the purpose of entertainment; or...it could be completely true. I'll let you be the judge. Enjoy.

The Harrington Estate was an old farm house located in southern Ohio. It wasn't easy to find and even harder to get to. The house had been abandoned in the late 1970's and has sat empty ever since.  Most people hardly remembered it, or even knew that it was still there. It was set apart from the rest of the town, having been built on a large stretch of land near the end of Greaves road, an area that was over run by large trees, weeds, and shrubs.

The location and isolation of the Estate made it the perfect place for exploration and vandalism, though remarkable, it still remained in fairly decent condition. Obviously it wasn't ready for a new family to move into, it had been untouched for so long that dust had accumulated in almost every corner and a community of spiders had taken up residence along with other woodland creatures that were looking for a warm, dry, home out of the elements.
Besides the creepy crawlies and dust bunnies that ran rampant throughout the home, it was also rumored to be haunted. This was what initially got the attention of Amber Jacobs and her crew of wanna be ghost hunters.

With the popularity of found footage movies, and ghost hunting videos that swarmed the internet, Amber decided to take advantage of the public's interest in the paranormal and unexplainable, and maybe cash in on some of the action.
She'd never made a video before. Well, nothing other than family videos of graduations, birthdays, and holidays. She'd never gone to school for photography and didn't really have the greatest equipment with which to start her little venture but none of that seemed to deter her from her mission.

She loved exploring haunted locations and she wasn't one to be easily scared away by local stories or warnings. The more dangerous the place, the more she wanted to go. Callie, Amber's best friend, wasn't as adventurous. She preferred the safety of her own house or a well lit library. She was an excellent researcher though and so made a very valuable member of Amber's team. Along with Amber and Callie was Jesse Barker, a self-proclaimed sensitive and psychic, and Heather Kern, a wiccan with a real love for the supernatural.
When Amber mentioned going to Harrington Estate and filming it, the others were skeptical. None of them had ever heard about the place before. Amber had heard about it while looking up abandoned houses on the internet. She came across a picture of the house and immediately was drawn to it, almost as if something wanted her to go. She told Callie first and Callie went right to work researching the property.

It was privately owned by a woman named Alice Carver. Alice was in her late sixties and lived alone in town. Callie contacted her and asked about the house. Alice was more than happy to answer all of her questions. She seemed like a really good natured woman, maybe a bit lonely, but otherwise very friendly. She explained to Callie that her parents had owned the house and she had grown up there as a child. She moved out when she was eighteen though, leaving her parents and three younger siblings alone in the house. When Callie asked if there was a specific reason that she moved out at such a young age Alice just shrugged and said that she felt it was time to be out on her own.
Alice's parents had stayed in the house until they were too old to keep up with all the repairs. Her mother had back issues and wasn't able to keep house very well. Eventually they stopped using the upstairs all together and so the children got together and decided it was time to move them into town where they would be closer to their kids in case of an emergency.
Alice had attempted to rent the place out, just to bring in a little extra money for her parents, but none of the families that rented the place would stay more than a couple of months. That's when Alice decided it wasn't worth it anymore and left the house sit empty.

"Why didn't you try to sell it?" Callie asked her.

"Oh, I could never do that." Alice replied. "That house has been in my family for generations."

"Why do you think no one else would stay there?"

Alice shrugged. "Old superstitions, rumors from town. I never put much stock in the stories but I guess a lot of people that knew about the house did. It scared a  lot of potential renters away."

"What are some of the things that  people have reported in the house?"

"Noises, foot steps. Doors opening and closing on their own. It's an old house. It's had a pretty colorful history. I think people see things because they want to see them. They go in thinking a place is haunted and their minds create things to back up those beliefs."

"Do you, personally, believe it's haunted?"

Alice paused for a moment, thinking over the question carefully. "I believe, the house has seen a lot. Things affect a place like they affect a person. Houses have memories. I think some of those memories have left an impression."

"Would you be opposed to us doing an investigation of the property?"

"What would be the purpose of this investigation?"

"Well, we would go in and see if there is any real truth to the stories about the place being haunted. At least you would know for sure and that could give you some piece of mind."

Alice pursed her lips as she thought it over. "I guess I don't see any harm in it.  As long as you kids are careful. Like I said, it's an old house. There hasn't been any upkeep on that house in years. Some parts of it could be a little dangerous."

"Oh don't worry, we're professionals." Callie lied, "We do this kind of thing all the time."

 Alice agreed to meet Amber and her crew the following Saturday and let them into the house. They planned to stay overnight as Amber believed the best time to investigate a haunting was at night. Alice didn't intend to stay with them but said she'd return Sunday morning to let them out. For  the duration of their stay though, they would be locked inside, with only the front door as any way in or out as the rest of the house was boarded up to keep out potential intruders.

Amber was excited about the mission ahead of her. She even drove out to the house during the day to take some still shots of the place from the outside. It was a large house with two main floors, an attic and a full cellar. The area around the house was mostly bare. There were remains of an old barn that had burned down several years before. Behind the house was a densely wooded area. Even at mid day the house looked dark and foreboding. This thrilled Amber even more. She was certain that they were going to  get some good, ghostly activity once inside. She just couldn't wait to get started.

Everyone met at Amber's house around four PM that Saturday. They packed Amber's parents mini van full of their sleeping bags, snacks, drinks, and what equipment they had which seemed somewhat lacking for documenting a haunting. Amber didn't really have any professional ghost hunting gadgets, like EMF meters, or even a ghost box.  She didn't own any specialized type of camera equipment either. Armed with her cell phone, a digital video camera, some candles, and a Ouija board, she was as ready as she was going to be.

They piled into the car and headed out for the house. Alice said that she would meet them there at five PM and urged them not to be late as she didn't want to be caught there after dark. "There's no lighting." She explained. "I don't see as well as I used to and it's harder for me to drive at night."
Amber wondered if that was really the case or perhaps Alice knew something that she wasn't quite as forthcoming with.

The closer they got to the house, the darker it seemed to get. With the trees hanging over them and the long, narrow, winding road they had to travel down to reach the house, Amber could definitely see how the place got the reputation of being haunted. The entire area seemed sinister somehow, especially when going there later in the evening. With the sun only just beginning to set, and night not upon them quite yet, Amber could only imagine just how eerie the property would seem when the black blanket of night fell upon them.

The dirt road they were on curved to the left and then disappeared. There were remnants of a drive that once paved the way up to the farm house but years of neglect and bad weather had all but worn the path away. Winter loomed over them and the nights had gotten colder. This wasn't such a bad thing though because the cold, dry weather ensured that the ground was firm enough to drive over without fear of being caught in the mud.

As the house came into view Amber looked around for any sign of another car but didn't see one. They were a bit early though so she assumed that Alice just had not shown up yet.
Undeterred, Amber pulled up in front of the house and cut the engine off. She reminded everyone that there was no electricity in the house, so each of them would need to keep their flashlights close. There was also no running water so Amber had filled some milk jugs with water and put them in the back of the van before the others had arrived. She'd also brought along some drinking water, in case anyone wanted something more than just soda's. She got out of the van and took a quick inventory to make sure they'd not forgotten anything, not that she was prepared to go back. It was already getting dark and Amber didn't really want to leave in the middle of an investigation, not unless it was absolutely necessary. If they had forgotten to bring anything, they would just have to make due.

As luck would have it, everything seemed to be there. Between what Amber had packed and what Jesse had brought along, they had enough food to feed a small army.

"Let's get this show on the road!" Jesse clapped his hands together eagerly as he looked up at the house.  The look in his eyes told Amber that he too was excited about the investigation. Jesse was always looking for a real ghost encounter, something that would totally knock his socks off. His entire life he'd had feelings, heard whispers, and at times would catch glimpses of things from the past, but he'd never actually seen a spirit. He wanted a real "Amityville" experience. As he put it, he wanted a ghost to reach out and say boo!

 "What time is it?" Amber asked.

Jesse looked at his watch. "It's almost five." He said.

Amber smiled. "Good, Alice should be here any minute."

"Let's get this stuff unpacked then." Jesse started pulling bags out of the back of the van. Amber nodded and grabbed a bag too.

"Just set the stuff on the porch." She told the others.

Callie and Heather came around and took out their sleeping bags and back packs. Amber carried her stuff to the old porch and set everything down beside an old, wicker, rocking chair. "Creepy." She whispered as she looked at the chair. A gust of wind caused it to rock back and forth, giving the illusion that someone was actually sitting in it.

Jesse came up behind her and smiled. "Hey, dude, haunting rocking chair!"

Amber smirked. "Just the wind, buddy." She laughed. "The real freaky stuff will be inside."

"Can't wait." Jesse grinned wide, showing his excitement.

Heather came up behind them and plopped her bag down beside Amber's stuff. "So, when is this woman supposed to get here?" She seemed a bit annoyed that they were having to wait for her.

"She said five." Amber told her. "Give her a few more minutes."

"I hope she hurries." Heather hugged herself tight. "It's freezing out here."

Jesse turned on his flash light and shone it on Heather's face. "Where's your sense of adventure?" He asked her.

Heather frowned. "At home with my electric blanket."

Callie was hanging back, looking up at the house, as the others finished unloading the van. She had a slightly disturbed look on her face.

"What's up Cal?" Jesse asked her.

"I thought I saw something or someone move past one of the down stairs windows."

"Like a ghost?" Jesse's eyes brightened. "Coolness! Which window did you see it in?"

Callie pointed to the one on the porch, next to the rocking chair.

Jesse took off, running up the steps and over to the window that Callie had pointed out. He peered inside, his face pressed against the glass and his hands on either side of his face. "I don't see anything." He reported. "Just some furniture and an old fire place."

"I don't know what it was, but I did something move in there." Callie looked around, almost as if she expected to see Alice's car parked someplace that they had over looked, but it wasn't there.

"Hey Jesse," Amber called up to him. "Check the front door, see if its unlocked."

Jesse nodded and walked to the door. He reached out for the knob but before he could even touch it, the knob turned and the door slowly opened. Jesse moved backwards, caught off guard. "What the..."

The door opened all the way to reveal a young man, about nineteen or twenty standing in the door way.  He was good looking, with a thick head of dark brown hair, and large blue eyes. He was dressed in a pair of blue jeans, and a grey sweater.  He smiled at the group and greeted them. He seemed friendly enough but the group was still a bit concerned. They had no idea who this guy was or why he was there.

"You must be the group that Alice told me about." He said. "I'm Joseph." He extended his hand to Jesse who took it reluctantly.

"Nice to meet you." Jesse said as he shook his hand. "I'm Jesse, this Amber, Callie, and Heather."

Joseph nodded to the girls. "Welcome to Harrington Estate." He said. "I bet you're all pretty excited to get started. This place is pretty well known for it's paranormal activity."

Amber stepped up to the porch. "I'm sorry, but who exactly are you? Alice never mentioned that anyone else would be here."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Joseph laughed. "I should have told you up front. Alice is my aunt.  She had a little car trouble so she asked me to meet you guys here instead. Probably for the best anyway, Alice doesn't like coming out here much. I think it scares her too much. I'd rather have someone here with you all in case of an emergency. This house isn't exactly in the greatest shape. The floors are weak and some areas aren't that safe to walk on. Besides that, I know all the best stories and the history of the place, and I'm much more forthcoming than aunt Alice." He winked at Amber and smiled. "She doesn't want to admit there's any truth to the stories but I have first hand knowledge."

"Really?" Jesse perked up at Joseph's confession. "Can you tell us some of the stories?"

"Absolutely." Joseph seemed just as excited to spill the good stuff as the others were to hear it.

Amber figured that he was more like them then his aunt was.  He seemed really excited to have them there and more excited to talk about the ghosts of Harrington Estate. Amber was actually glad that Alice had sent him in her stead. He was eager to help them and closer to their ages which made him easier to talk to.

 "Come on in." Joseph stepped aside to let them enter the house. "You can set your stuff up in the living then once you get settled in I'll tell you the history of the house."

"So, you're planning to stay here with us the entire night?" Heather looked Joseph over suspiciously as she walked into the house.

Joseph shrugged. "If that's alright with you guys. Honestly, I think it would be for the best."

Heather looked to Amber for advice. "I don't." Heather said. "I think we can handle things on our own."

"It would be nice to have someone here that knows the history though." Amber told her.

"Yeah, " Jesse agreed, "Plus I want to hear some real ghost stories."

Callie shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me." She said.

Heather sighed. "I guess it's okay then." She wasn't convinced but she'd been out voted. When it came down to it, Amber was leading this expedition and Heather knew that Amber almost always got her way. If she wanted Joseph to stay, he was going to stay, and there was nothing that Heather could do about it.

As they entered the first room of the house the girls groaned and complained. While the structure of the building seemed firm enough, the interior left much to be desired. There were a few chairs and a sofa located in the sitting room, but there was also a lot of trash and debris scattered around. Mostly leaves, old papers, and a few soda cans. The furniture wasn't in the greatest of shape either. Most of it was weathered and dirty looking. Cob webs hung from the ceiling and door frames, the windows were covered with dirt and dust. The entire place needed a good cleaning but the mess wasn't the worst part. The house had an old, musty smell to it. Years of water damage caused by the rain had left mildew like stains on the walls, and a thick stench of rotted wood pervaded the air.

"You have got to be kidding me." Heather dropped her bag on the ground and sighed.  "There's no way we can stay over night in this place, it's a total dump."

"Did you expect the four seasons?" Amber frowned. "This place has been abandoned for over twenty years.  It's not like the owners just moved out yesterday."

"It's not that bad." Joseph laughed. "The bedrooms aren't nearly as messy, and a couple of them still have beds, though I don't know that I would sleep in them. Their really old and well, who knows what kids of animals might have left some little gifts behind."

"Oh gross." Heather wrinkled up her nose.

"Good thing we brought sleeping bags." Amber giggled. "So, is there a clean place we can put our stuff?"

"Yep." Joseph smiled and motioned for everyone to follow him. "I took the liberty of sweeping out one side of the living room.  There's a couple folding chairs that you can use if you want, and a small tale that I wiped down, and it's pretty close to the fire place."

"Any chance the fire place can be used?" Jesse asked.

"I don't see why not." Joseph told him.  "There's actually some wood out back you can use, and matches on the mantel."

"Wow that's awesome." Jesse sat his bag down. "How do I get out back?"

Joseph point him in the direction of a small door off the living room. "Through there, you'll find the kitchen. There's a back door and the wood is piled up right outside the door, under the awning."

"I thought everything was supposed to be boarded up." Callie raised an eyebrow as she looked at Joseph, questioningly.

"Some parts still are." He answered her. "But over the years kids have come around and broke in.  Plus, I don't think the ghosts like the windows being boarded up." He winked at her.

"Why would they care?" Heather asked him.

Joseph shrugged. "Would you want to be trapped in a place for all eternity with no way to look outside?"

Jesse left the group only briefly to get the wood for the fire. He returned with an arm full of thick fire wood that looked like it had been recently cut. He dropped them down in front of the fire place then brushed his arms off. "That should be good to get us started." He told the group. "There's more out there if we need it."

"Where did all the wood come from?"Amber asked.

"Alice's son, John, cut it up." Joseph told her. "A tree pretty close to the house was leaning far over and Alice was afraid that the next big ice storm would cause it to fall on the house so she told John to come over and cut it down. I helped him pile it all up beside the house."

"Oh that's cool." Amber smiled. "So, I guess not everyone is scared of this place."

"Oh he didn't come inside." Joseph said. "In fact, I don't think he's ever been inside the house. He just does some yard work here and there. Not as much as he used to though. He used to keep the grass cut, at least up near the house, but something spooked him pretty bad this one time and he left.  Didn't even bother to take the mower with him. I think the next time he came back was to cut down the tree. He hasn't been back since."

"How come you're not scared to be here?" Jesse asked him. "Haven't you ever seen anything to freak you out?"

"Oh, I've seen a lot." Joseph told him. "I just don't think there's anything here that can hurt me."

"So the ghosts here are friendly?" Amber asked.

"Most of them I would say are pretty friendly. If not friendly more or less just benign. There is one though that likes to play tricks.  He doesn't really do anything dangerous unless you piss him off. I think more than anything he just wants people to know that he's here."

"So would you say that this ghost is the most active one here?"

Joseph nodded. "Compared to the others, yeah he's the most active."

"What's his name?" Heather asked.

"Elliot." Joseph told her.

"Do you know anything about him?" Amber asked."Like who he was or how he died? Did he die here?"

"Yeah, I know quite a bit about him. Let's get the fire going then you can all sit around and I'll tell you about him. I'll tell you the whole history of the house. I really think you're going to be intrigued. There's a lot that I'm sure my aunt Alice never told you. Some real juicy family secrets. I hope you're ready to be scared."
The others laughed, growing more excited. It was turning out to be a pretty interesting night.

The group sat in a semi circle in front of the fire place. Joseph had also furnished some candles and placed them around the mantelpiece above the fire place and one on the floor.  He seemed as eager for this little exploration as the rest of them, he certainly had come prepared. Amber liked the idea of having their own personal tour guide though. He knew the history of the house and he could show them all the hot spots for paranormal activity. It was more than she could have hoped for when first planning the trip.
Jesse broke out the soda's and passed them around. He offered one to Joseph but he declined.
With the candles sat around, everyone seated on the floor, and the darkness encompassing them, it set the stage for the perfect ghostly tales and everyone, Callie and Heather included, were on the edge of their proverbial seats.

The group readied themselves, all focus on Joseph as he began. "As I'm sure my aunt told you, this house has been in our family for generations. It's called Harrington Estate due to the large number of Harrington descendants that had lived, and died here. No one really knows the exact number of people who have died on the property but we estimate that there were maybe ten deaths in the time since the house was first built. There could be more but we know of at least ten. In 1915 a woman named Maureen had hung herself after finding her infant daughter dead in her bassinet. I little later a young man died as a result from injuries he sustained during a farming accident. There are two children I know of that are said to haunt the property, both boys. One was about ten years old and the other was around seven. I think one of them died from pneumonia and the other, I'm not too sure, but I think he got lost in the woods over winter and froze. Both boys are said to have been seen around the woods and playing in the fields.
Most of the deaths here were from illness or injury. Tragic, but not necessarily unheard of for the time. Children especially were lost from injuries and sickness because they just didn't have the medical care that they have today. It's sad, but it was part of life back then.
The most shocking death though I think would be the case of Molly Rose.  She was sixteen when she and her mother moved here from up state. Her mother was a widow and the two were struggling financially.  When Molly's mother had met Burt Harrington, she thought all of her troubles were over. He was a widower himself, his wife had died in child birth and he was left with a baby to raise on his own.  When he met Molly's mother, Edna, it seemed like a match made in heaven. He needed a wife to help with the baby and marrying a man with a house of his own and a steady income would definitely help her and Molly.  After a short courtship they decided to marry.
Edna and Molly packed up their belongings and moved to Harrington Estate, ready to start a new life.
At first everything seemed perfect. They both fit in well and assimilated to life in the country with ease. Molly attended the local high school where she made new friends, even caught the eye of a local boy named Teddy. Teddy asked Molly to the fall dance that was held in town each year. All the young kids went to it and so Edna had no problem letting Molly go. It was a mistake that she would forever regret though.
Molly's friends had all stated that Molly was in good spirits throughout the night. She and Teddy danced, enjoyed the refreshments, and mingled with friends. It was close to midnight though when things took an ugly turn. A couple of the girls in Molly's class said that she and Teddy had gotten into an argument. Molly was  visibly upset and she demanded that he take her home. Teddy was angry but he reluctantly agreed and so they left the dance. That was the last time anyone would see Molly alive.
When Molly didn't return home that night, Burt and Edna contacted the police. They found Teddy at his home and he claimed that he had dropped Molly off just outside the front doors of her house after leaving the dance. He denied that they had had an argument and said that Molly was just tired and wanted to go home. The sheriff questioned each of the kids at the dance but the last anyone saw her was when she'd left with Teddy. Her disappearance sparked a search led by the sheriff and Burt.
It was around sunup the next morning when they finally found her body. She had been assaulted, but the cause of death appeared to be from a wound on her head.  She was found face down in a creek along the road that led back to the house, her blond hair a matted, bloody mess.
For months after her death, locals would leave flowers near the creek where she was found. The entire town mourned the loss.  People speculated that Teddy had done the deed but there was never enough evidence to convict so her killer was never brought to justice.  Maybe that's why her soul has never been at rest. People to this day say that on the anniversary of her death, you can hear her cries and see the phantom figure of a young girl with bloody hair, walking along the road near the creek, forever searching for her killer."

Amber had tears in her eyes as she listened to the story. An eerie hush had fallen over the room.

"Man, that's brutal." Jesse finally broke the silence.

"Yeah." Heather said. "That poor girl."

"Have you ever seen her?" Amber asked Joseph.

He nodded. "Once. It was a long time ago but I was out looking for my dog. My dad had come out here to check on the house and I was waiting in the truck. Max jumped out and took off towards the road so I went after him. It was getting dark and I had a real uneasy feeling. I wanted to get back to the truck as soon as possible, but I also wanted to find my dog. He'd ran back down the road and was sitting beside the creek whimpering. I wasn't sure what was wrong at first but then I saw her. There was a girl standing on the side of the road, she was crying. I ran back and told my dad about her and he got real quiet.  The next thing I knew he had grabbed me and practically pushed me into the truck. I asked what was wrong and all he said was that we had to get out of there. I didn't know then that I had seen a ghost but I found out later that that's what she was. I'll never forget that day, and the way she looked. Sad, broken. I don't think she would have hurt me, but my dad was terrified of her. I just felt sorry for her."

"Me too." Callie said as she looked down at the floor sadly. "I can't even imagine what it must have been like for her. Or what it's like now, wandering around, no family or friends, always mourning your own murder."

"It's a sad and lonely existence I imagine." Joseph said. "Maybe, that's why spirits haunt people. Not to cause harm or to scare them but just because they want recognition. It can't be easy to see a family living each day, happy, doing all the things that only the living can do.  After a while I would think it would either make that spirit very angry or cause them to sink into despair. Either way, you end up with one very resentful apparition."

"What about the other spirits?" Amber decided to change the topic to something less depressing.  "I want to hear about Elliot."

"Okay." Joseph smiled. "But to tell you about Elliot we're going to have to go up stairs."

"What's upstairs?" Jesse asked.

"You'll see." Joseph grinned as he stood. The others followed as he led them out of the living room

and up the steps to the second level. The upstairs was as dirty and cluttered as the downstairs was. More old, and worn out furniture littered the hallway. Dust covered everything, dirt, leaves, and trash were scattered about. Despite the poor condition of the house, the stairs and banister seemed sturdy, though the floors did creak a bit when they walked on them.
Amber expected him to take them to one of the bedrooms on the second floor but he didn't. Passing each room he finally stopped at a door located at the far end of the hall. He opened the door and allowed the others to shine their flash lights into the darkness. The could see another set of steps leading up to what looked like an attic. "This way." Joseph said as he ascended the stairs.

Eager to learn more, the others formed a single file line behind him.  When they reached the attic landing Joseph led them to a small room in the back. It was darker in that tiny room than anywhere else in the house. The small windows only provided limited lighting. Amber imagined that it would be brighter during the day but not by much. Joseph lit a candle that was sitting atop an old dresser and then turned to look at the others. "This was his room." Joseph told them.

The group surveyed the room. Like the rest of the house it was dusty, dingy, and seemed uninhabitable. Besides the dresser, there was a desk and a chair, and a small twin bed that sat against the wall.

"He actually lived up here?" Amber looked to Joseph, questioningly. She almost couldn't believe that someone could actually have slept in that room.

"Well, sort of." He told her. "It was in the early 80's.  Elliot had been rebellious through most of his teen years and by the time he was nineteen his parents just couldn't deal with him anymore. They told him that if he wasn't going to go to college that it was time for him to just move out.  They loved him and cared about him but they felt that they were enabling him by allowing him to live at home. Their hopes were that he'd get a job, find a nice apartment, and maybe grow up a little.  He tried to make it on his own. He just couldn't hold down a job. He was more interested in partying than working and supporting himself. He ended up losing his apartment, had no money, and was so overwhelmed with everything that he begged his parents to let him come home. They refused though. I'm sure it was hard for them to turn him away but they figured he would never learn if they just kept bailing him out every time he found himself in hot water. Well, things went from bad to worse. He was became withdrawn, very depressed, and just felt like there was no hope.  It was getting colder out and he still hadn't found any place to stay so in desperation he came here, knowing that no one was living in this old house. No one really knows why he chose to move into this tiny attic bedroom, but I speculate that it was just his way of escaping the rest of the world. He probably felt safe up here. Isolated from everything and everyone. If anyone came looking for him they'd never think to check the attic and so he knew he'd never be discovered. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened.
He locked himself away in here, downed a bottle of sleeping pills then laid down on the bed and went to sleep."

"So he just killed himself?" Heather was shocked. "How could he do that?"

Joseph shrugged. "I guess he felt like he was out of options. When someone is that depressed, sometimes death feels like the only way out."

"Well apparently someone found him, right?" Jesse asked. "I mean there's no body here and obviously you know the story so someone must have found him."

"They did." Joseph nodded. "But that's not really something I can go into details about. He was up here for a long time so when they did find the body, it wasn't pretty."

Amber grimaced. "Yeah, gross."

"Do you think he's still here?" Heather asked. "I mean his spirit?"

"Oh yeah, he's here." Joseph told her. "He's always here."

"Do you think we'd be able to contact him?" Amber asked.

Joseph raised an eye brow and grinned. "Oh, I think that's a definite possibility."

The group looked around the room for a while longer then Heather said she felt uncomfortable up there and wanted to leave. Jesse agreed. He felt the sadness in the room that Elliot must have felt. The feeling of dread and hopelessness that seemed to cling to the air.
With Amber leading the way, the group headed back down the stairs, Joseph following close behind. Once they reached the main floor, Amber was surprised to see Alice standing in the living room. She smiled when she saw them.

"Hello." She waved. "I was just starting to get worried about you all. I saw your van out front but when I didn't see anyone I came up on the porch and noticed the light from the fire through the window."

"We're all fine." Amber assured her as she led the others back into the main room. "We were actually upstairs exploring."

"Oh, goodness." Alice laughed a bit uneasily as she looked around the room. "How exciting." Amber could tell that she wasn't comfortable being inside the house. That was apparent by the way that she lingered close to the door, ready to bolt at any given moment. Amber suspected that the only reason Alice had risked entering the supposed haunted house was because she was worried about the group, or perhaps the light from the fire had alarmed her. Whatever the case, Amber found her apprehension to be a bit humorous. In the short time that she and the others had been in the house none of them had seen or felt anything that was necessarily alarming.

"It was very exciting." Amber told her. "This old house is amazing. We haven't had an opportunity to explore all of it yet but I am definitely looking forward to it."

Alice smiled somberly. "Well, I just hope that you know what you're getting yourself into. This house has many secrets and not all of them good ones.  By the way, may I ask, how did you get inside? I was sure that the doors were locked and boarded up."

"Oh, Joseph let us in." Amber told her.  "He told us how you were having car troubles and wasn't able to meet us here yourself. He's been a very gracious host. He's told us a lot about the history of this place."

"Joseph?" Alice narrowed her eyes, confused.

"Yes, your nephew."

Alice smiled nervously. "My dear, I don't have a nephew. I did once, but he passed away some time ago.  In this very house actually. He never went by Joseph though, we always called him Eli."

Amber took a step back. "Eli...was...was Eli short for something?"

Alice nodded. "It was short for Elliot. His name was Joseph Elliot but he never liked Joseph.  He was named after his father and they rarely got along so he refused to use his name."

Amber turned and looked at the others who seemed as shocked and confused as she. "Did your nephew by chance die in the attic bedroom?" Amber asked.

Alice nodded. "It was tragic. So young, but also very troubled.  He took his own life. His parents were devastated. How did you know that he passed away in that room? It was never documented that I'm aware of."

Amber shrugged. "It was just a rumor that we heard." She said sadly.

Amber scanned the room for any sign of their host but just as she suspected, he was no where to be found. Still, Amber remembered the haunting words that he had spoke in the attic room, "He's here, He's always here..."

( I hope you enjoyed this story.  As I stated above, this could be a complete work of fiction or it could be based off of true events. The images that are shown here are images that I found online and not actual images of the house or grounds. Also, I am not claiming ownership of any image here.  If you see an image that is yours please contact me and I will give you credit for your image. Thanks, C. McGinnis.)

Freaked out today! Ghostly pranksters at it again!

Everyone loves a good prank, apparently even the spirit world. Poltergeists are truly the pranksters of the after life. 

There are many theories as to why these things happen, what causes them, and whose affected by them. From vengeful spirits to adolescent psychokinesis. (The ability to move objects with the mind). I personally don't have a good explanation for this phenomenon. In my experience, a poltergeist haunting is usually connected to a particular person and can happen spontaneously then stop just as abruptly.  Things could be quiet for months, maybe even years, then suddenly start up again with no rhyme or reason. Some are harmless. Things move around, doors open and close, things go bump in the night, and occasionally shit will fly through the room. Sure it's annoying but in most cases there's no real intent to cause harm to the living. Other cases it's the exact opposite. The intent to harm is obvious and the situation can go from bothersome to dangerous real quick. People have been pushed down steps (this happened to me once), other times large and heavy objects are thrown at people or a particular person in general. In these types of cases action usually needs to be taken quickly to protect the family involved. Often times moving just doesn't work because the spirt or spirits will attach itself to someone in the family.

For me, these intrusive encounters with prankster ghosts have been far and few between, and for the most part, non-violent. In most cases they leave us wondering, what it really a ghost, or can the event be explained away rationally. Those of you who know me have heard about my ghostly visits. I do live in a haunted house and most of the time my other worldly occupants tend to keep to themselves. I have had a few encounters that have been somewhat dangerous, especially to me and my husband. As I stated above, I've been pushed down the stairs. I have had a printer fly off a shelf above my computer and once the same printer nearly hit my husband in the head. Pictures have flown off the walls or shelves at us, and things have been moved around. Lights go on and off, doors open and close on their own, and occasionally my cats go nuts chasing things that we can't see.

The things that normally go on in my house are what I consider normal aspects of a haunting. Cold spots, orbs, whispers in the night. We have gotten a few good EVP's here, mostly in the basement or upstairs. I knew when purchasing this house that it was haunted. It sat on the market for two years with no interested buyers, despite the owners doing some major remodeling on it. The house itself was built in 1909. Its a two story home, three bedroom, with a wet, murky, musty basement that I hate, and an attic. The attic is pretty nice, They did some renovations up there and added two separate rooms. New carpeting was added to the house, new windows, and the dining room and kitchen floors were replaced. The price was low as well, much lower than a house like this is actually worth. So, why did it stay on the market so long, and why did people avoid this place like the plague? Well, three years before I bought the place, the previous owner had murdered his wife here.

The murder was so recent and it had really rocked the community at the time that it had happened. It's no wonder that the house remained empty. When we first moved in there were still memorials to the

wife all over town. People had posters of her, asking for justice, in their cars and yards. We live in a small town and when something like this happens, it affects everyone. Out of respect for the family I'm not going to name any names, especially since the husband is still in prison, I don't want to ruffle any feathers. I'll just leave a quick in memory picture here and move on.
I do want to say that I don't believe the murdered wife is responsible for any of the negative encounters we've had. She was a mother and a good caring woman. I think at times she does interact with my children, but not in a bad way. She's more protective than anything else.

So, back to my point, I know I have one. When I moved in here I knew that I was moving into a home where something terrible happened, and I knew there was bound to be some spiritual baggage along with it. I've had numerous house blessings done and I sage regularly, but that doesn't seem to stop me from bringing things home with me. I've always been sensitive to spirits and they seem drawn to me as well. This isn't always a bad thing but then I do tend to encounter my fair share of nasties, as well as the more friendly kind. In most cases I think they are playful spirits that are just that...playful. They want to make their presence known and what better way to do that than to float your coffee cup across the room when you're trying to watch your favorite episode of supernatural.

With that said, something happened today that I was not expecting and it genuinely freaked me right the fook out! Now, anyone that is a real horror film buff is probably pretty familiar with the movie Poltergeist. Most notably the little girl, Carol Anne, and her iconic television scene where she announced, "They're here!"  

Clip from the movie Poltergeist

Yeah, that scared the bejesus out of me for many many years and left a permanent scar on my otherwise normal childhood. Thanks dad for letting me watch that when I was five!
I won't even get into the lasting effects of witnessing a tree attempt to eat a little boy or the corpses bobbing up and down in the muddy swimming pool.  But dude, when the clown suddenly pulls the kid under the bed and we hear that maniacal laughter coming from a supposedly innocent toy, that's when I lost my shit! No lie, to this day I hate clowns and that's before I even watched the movie "It" by Stephen King. I never really gave it much thought until today when I started thinking back on all the horror films of my childhood (yeah I was a horror fanatic even then) and one thought kept creeping into my head. What is up with all these ghosts and children's toys? Seriously, why are toys always the first things that get haunted? Chucky and Annabelle aside, who were possessed by evil and sadistic killers, there are still so many movies out there depicting either ghosts inhabiting children's toys or toys that are just flat out evil. As if child ghosts weren't creepy enough, now we have demonic toys coming after us. What the hell man?

Clown from Poltergeist

Well, as it turns out, creepy toys aren't just in the movies and believe it or not, I have one of my very own that, until today, I'd actually forgotten about. To give you some background, when we moved into this house there was a garage sale right up the street. My mom, being an avid garage saler, just had to stop and check it out. I was actually looking for things to decorate my new home with so I decided to go with her. You can usually find some nice things at garage sales or even estate sales. Yeah, my house is filled with things that once belonged to dead people. (And I wonder why my place is haunted). So, while looking through the things at this garage sale, my mom comes across a doll house. It was nothing fancy, just a plastic doll house that opened up to reveal the inside, three levels. It had a nice sized kitchen, bath, living room, dining room, three bedrooms, and even an attic. What was really nice was the box of furniture and dolls that went with it. They wanted fifteen bucks for the whole ensemble, and being that the thing was massive and all the pieces were with it, it didn't seem all that unreasonable.

Mom figured the doll house would make a nice addition to my daughter's room. My daughter was eight years old at the time and loved dolls. I agreed that she would probably love the doll house so my mom went ahead and bought it for her. I decided to put it in her room, arrange all the pieces, set the doll family in the rooms and then surprise her with it when she came home from school. She came home, went to her room and immediately started crying. Now, she has autism so at first I thought that it was just the change in her room that upset her. Autistic kids are hell bent on routine and having this huge doll house in her room was something new that I thought she would just have to get used to, then eventually she would love it. That didn't happen. The first night she refused to sleep in her room. She didn't want to play with the doll house. Hell, she didn't want anything to do with it. I tried to show her how fun it could be but she wasn't having any of it. After a few nights of her being terrified of the thing, and consequently sleeping with me, I decided that the house had to go.

I didn't want to make my mom feel bad so I decided to take the doll house and stash it in the hall closest. It was out of sight, out of mind. My girl seemed happy with this new arrangement and that night went back to sleep in her own room. For the next five years that doll house has been tucked safely away in the hall closest and even I forgot about it, until today that is. I was downstairs, watching a movie on my computer, when I heard a loud bang from upstairs followed by the thud of something heavy falling over. I sighed and shook my head. My cats were trapped indoors because of the snow and they had been extra annoying lately, darting around the house, fighting playfully, and knocking shit over. So, when I heard the noise from upstairs I had assumed it was my cats at it again. I put it out of my mind and went back to watching my movie.

When the kids had come home from school my girl said that she was sleepy and wanted a nap so I told her to go ahead and lay down. She got halfway up the stairs and called out to me, saying that the hall way was blocked. I went up to see what she was talking about and found my old dresser that I kept on the top landing, toppled over and the clothes baskets on top of it knocked down and clothes strewn all over the floor.

The dresser, you can see it to the left, is pretty heavy. I didn't really think that the cats could knock it over but since only my husband and I were home all day and I know that neither of us had done it I just assumed that somehow my pesky kitties were the culprits. I sat the dresser back up and allowed my daughter to go to her room. I was busy picking up the clothes, not paying attention to anything else, when I suddenly heard my baby girl scream a blood curdling scream that seriously scent chills down my spine.

She came out of her room crying, "I don't want it, I don't want it!" I had no idea what she was talking about but seeing that she was so distressed I made a bee-line for her room and was literally shocked at what I found. There, sitting in the middle of her bed, was the doll house that had been stashed away five years prior! I was dumbstruck. No way could I blame that on the cats. That house was heavy. Even my ten year old son would have trouble moving it and he wasn't even home yet.
My daughter was in such a state of panic that I didn't even have time to think. I grabbed the house and carried it back out into the hallway and that's when I realized that the hall closet was standing wide open. I don't think that doors been open since our cat snuck in there to give birth about three years ago. I was perplexed as to why it was open now and why in the hell the doll house was out. More so, how the hell it had made it's way back to my daughters room!

I wasted no time shoving the thing back into the closet and closing the door. It took me a good half hour to calm my little girl down enough that she was able to finally take her nap. Afterwards, I snapped a picture of the doll house, now back in its rightful resting place, just so I could show you all how creepy this thing really is.

The actual doll house

Maybe it doesn't look outwardly creepy, maybe it does. I'll let you be the judge. It's approximately four feet tall, and when the sides are open it spans the entire length of my daughters twin bed. It may not seem that sinister looking at it now, but trust me, seeing it suddenly appear in a place that I know it was not in earlier, tends to give one pause.

Not much is known about the doll house, or the family from whom we bought it. I think the grandmother who sold it said that her granddaughter had simply out grown it. Whatever the case, it's here now but for how long I'm not sure. I may end up just getting rid of it all together. Perhaps the previous owner had had similar issues with the house moving around on it's own, maybe that's why she sold it. Maybe it's just my own household spirits having some fun with us. I don't really know for sure. What I do know is that my daughter is sensitive like I am. She sees spirits and has been known to even talk to them on occasion. The first day she laid eyes on this doll house, something about it inspired such fear and terror in her that she refused to sleep in the same room with it. That hadn't changed in the five years since purchasing it, as evident by her reaction when she found it sitting on her bed. Maybe she knows something that I don't and just can't communicate it to me. Then again, maybe it's just a harmless toy. What do you think?

Nursing Home Ghost Stories: Winchester Manor and the White Lady

Not the actual nursing home. Picture found on internet.

 Winchester Manor was like every long term care facility I'd ever worked in. 

Despite it having once been a large Victorian home at the turn of the century, it still had the same sterile smell, and institutional feel of about a dozen other nursing facilities in the area. The lower addition was constructed after the city had taken over the property sometimes in the 1980's. It consisted of a small nurses station, two shower rooms, and eight residents rooms.

A wheel Chair ramp led from the new addition to the upper level that was part of the original house. This area was where the two small dining areas were located, the kitchen, living room, two more bathrooms, and four more residents rooms. There were two rooms located on the first floor and two more located upstairs. There was also a door that led down to the basement where all of the frozen foods were stored, safely locked up, and off limits to the residents.

When I was first hired at Winchester Manor, I was in awe of the building. The outside was grand and very welcoming. Fresh, soft yellow paint had been recently applied. A beautiful white fence wrapped around the front and sides of the building with a gate that led into the back through a small patio that was decorated with beautiful flowers of every color. The entire structure had a warm, inviting vibe to it, and I was thrilled when told that I would soon be added to the staff. I had wanted to work there ever since I had first seen the place when driving past it with my mother one day. I was already working at another facility at the time and didn't want to leave but when I had moved that summer it made sense to apply at Winchester since it was closer to my new home.

The inside had a real homey feel to it, at least the part that was the original house. It seemed more like a group home than an actual nursing home until you stepped into the lower half. But it was a nursing home and although it wasn't as large or housed as many residents as places I'd worked previously, it was still run by the city and had strict rules of conduct for the staff and procedures that were state wide requirements for any long term care facility. We were required to wear uniforms, limited jewelry, and we had to maintain a somewhat professional appearance.

Proper hygiene was required by all staff and residents. We had two house keepers that worked Monday through Friday, but no laundry staff, and aside from the cooks we had no dietary aides. The nurses aides were required to fill in these positions as well as do house keeping on the weekends. Usually it wasn't a problem though. We never had all the beds filled at any given time and the residents that lived in the older part of the home needed only limited assistance. The more severe residents, the bed ridden ones, and hospice patients, were kept in the new addition.  We usually ran three aides and two nurses on day shift, along with one cook, and an activities aide. Therapy aides came in from an outside agency a couple days a week, and the nurse aides did their own showers. On third shift we had two aides and one nurse.

Because we were so small we typically only ran two shifts. The six am to six pm shift, and the six pm till six am shift. I worked the latter. Usually when I came in dinner was over and the residents were getting ready for bed. At eight pm they got a snack and by nine usually everyone was in bed. There were only a few residents that we actually had to get up or change during the night so the rest of the time we would work on laundry, passing ice water (we passed it twice on a 12 hour shift), and cleaning. This was, of course, between answering call lights.

One of our cleaning assignments (and one that I absolutely hated) was cleaning wheel chairs. It wasn't the cleaning that I hated so much, but where we had to clean them. The easiest way to clean the chairs was to take them into one of the shower rooms in the old part of the house, wheel them directly into the shower and hose them down.  It wasn't a hard job, but I hated to do it mostly because I hated that shower room.

I couldn't really put my finger on why I hated it so much. The few times I'd actually used it I was with a resident and I just had the odd feeling like I was being watched. I'd keep looking over my shoulder, thinking I was going to see someone staring back at me but of course, there was no one there. I was never so happy to leave a room as I was when I left that shower room.

I'd been working there maybe a month and looked on the chore chart and saw that it was again time to clean the wheelchairs. Normally when we cleaned the chairs there were always two of us, one washing them, the other drying them just outside the shower room door. When we were done we'd store them in an empty bedroom adjacent from the dreaded shower room. On this particular night though one of our hospice patients was critical and so we had to do vitals every fifteen minutes and assist the nurse with changing his dressings and other things.

The aide that worked with me that night did her best to help me with the chairs but she kept getting called away which left me in the older part of the building, in that shower room, cleaning the chairs on my own. I absolutely hated it. I would wash a chair as quickly as I could, sometimes cutting corners just to get done sooner. I'd shove it out the door and grab another one quickly as I rushed through the job. I was nearly done, at least with the washing, when I got the same eerie feeling of being watched.

It was different this time though. It felt somehow more malevolent. The shower room itself seemed

Close to what the actual room looked like

darker. The lights over head flickered and I prayed to what ever God was listening that they didn't go out. The shower room was small. One walk in shower that I was using. One toilet and a bathtub that hadn't been used in God knew how long. The area where the tub was located was crowded with un-used wheelchairs, walkers, and bedside commodes. The toilet was free of clutter but save for a privacy curtain, was pretty much out in the open. I don't know why, but I couldn't seem to take my eyes away from that old bathtub. Every fiber of my being was telling me to stay as far from it as humanly possible, but my brain was telling me to keep an eye on it. I tried to ignore both my brain and the feeling of dread that was building up in me and just finish my work, praying that my co-worker returned soon. I shut off the shower head, hung it back on the wall then shoved the chair out of the shower and into the middle of the room. That's when I looked up and my heart leapt into my throat.

Across from me, standing next to that old tub was a woman in white, with long black hair and dark, red rimmed eyes, and she was staring right at me!

Not actual photo of the woman but close

The actual woman I saw that night looked a lot freakier than the one in the image to the left. I could see her eyes, they were glaring at me, staring into my soul and the look in those eyes turned my blood to ice. I could sense so much anger coming off this spirit, she gave me literal chills. She looked old too, much older than the picture I'd found online. I wish that I could have taken a picture of her but at the time I didn't have a camera and there were no smart phones then. All I knew was that I was looking at something other worldly and it didn't like the fact that I was in that shower room.  I grabbed the wheel chair and pushed it out into the other room, pulling the shower room door tightly closed behind me. I didn't even stick around to dry the chairs I'd already cleaned, I ran down to the newer section where I knew the nurse and the other aide were. When I'd found them I was out of breath and visibly shaken. I explained to both of them what I had seen and why I refused to go back up and finish the chairs alone. Neither of them said much, they didn't even scold me or say that I was being silly. In fact, they seemed more inclined to brush the incident off and not speak of it. I was adamant though about not going back up front alone and neither seemed to argue with me about it.

As morning came upon us and the day shift staff began to come in I found myself in the kitchen talking to Linda, one of the two cooks we had on staff. She was an older woman, probably in her 50's and she'd been working at Winchester for years, before the new addition had even been built. She'd started off as an aide there, back when aides had no real schooling and could be grandfathered in. She was a young wife with a new born and a husband who was over seas. She needed the work and since the home was within walking distance, it was the perfect place for her. She worked there along side her mother-in-law who later became a resident there until her death.

Linda loved to tell stories about her youth. She was always a bright, and jovial woman. I found her extremely easy to talk to and so anytime I had a question or just wanted a chat I would go to her. When I asked her if she'd ever seen or heard anything strange in the home she was more than forthcoming. She had some stories to tell and she was more than happy to share them but when I specifically asked about the dark haired woman in the shower room her expression became somewhat dour. She looked around to make sure we were alone then whispered, "We're not supposed to talk about her."

It was then that I learned that I wasn't the only one who'd seen this apparition. Practically everyone who was employed at Winchester had seen her, as well as some of the residents. No one really knew who she was. She had never been a patient there but apparently she'd been a resident ghost since the place opened as a nursing home, possible before that. Some thought perhaps she was a member of the original family who'd owned the home, and was angry that we were now in her house. Another rumor was that she was the spirit of an Indian woman who'd died on the property.

Who ever she was, she wasn't friendly and had been known at times to do some rather not so nice things to the staff.  She mostly stayed in that shower room but had been known to show up in other areas of the building, always in the old parts though, never in the newer addition. The upstairs had been converted into a offices, aside from the two residents rooms, and even the offices weren't off limits to this specter. For some reason though she only seemed to appear at night. Either she didn't like the attention from a fuller staff or she liked to scare the bejesus out of people in the dark. I don't know which. All I did know was that my happy ass wasn't about to go in that shower room alone again, if ever. I could handle a little ghost here or there, but I was certain that one wanted to kill me.

I eventually fell into the same routine as the rest of the staff. We all knew she was there but we didn't talk about her. Talking about her seemed to make her more real and the sightings more frequent. That was the only time I'd ever seen her, thank God, but I'd always felt her presence around in that same, icy cold stare from invisible eyes watching you as you went about your nightly duties. I'd get the chills, I'd look over my shoulder quite a bit, but there was always no one there. No one that I could see anyway.

In early 2000 the nursing home was shut down and the remaining residents were placed in other facilities. The house still stands now, nineteen years later, empty and sad looking.  I drive past it every so often and remember my first day walking through those beautiful doors, then I think of the white woman (as she was often called) and wonder, is she still there, still watching? Perhaps still walking the halls of the long since abandoned house warning all who venture too close not to enter.

 (Note: All Images in this post are ones that I found online and NOT original images from the nursing home. It's been closed down for many years now and is in very poor shape and not accessible to the public. If I do go past it and am able to get a picture of the outside I will post it here at a later time. Also, the images here are not my property and I am not claiming them as mine. They were used merely to give an example of what things looked like at the time. If you see an image that belongs to you please contact me and I will give you credit for it. Thanks for reading my post and feel free to comment.)

Nursing home ghost stories: Death Watch

When I was in my twenties I worked at a small nursing home as an aide. I was one of two aides on third shift, each of us working one of the two halls in the place. There was only one nurse on staff during the night and between the three of us, we were the entire staff.

Third shift wasn't too bad though. We came in at ten each night, did our first rounds then, checking to make sure all the patients were dry and comfortable. After that we would pass out fresh water pitchers with ice, replace the towels and wash rags in the rooms for morning, and do the laundry. Every two hours we would again do rounds, checking people to make sure they were dry, getting the few ambulatory patients up and helping them to the rest rooms, and then just checking the rooms to make sure everything was in order. Between rounds we would of course have to answer call lights but we didn't have a lot of people that woke during the night and in the three months that I had worked there, it had mostly always been pretty quiet.

This one particular night when I went in we had a patient that was on her death bed. I had honestly expected her to have passed before I made it back in that night, but she hung on all during the day. The nurse on staff was certain that she wasn't going to make it till morning though so we were told to keep an extra close eye on her. At this point, there were no orders to try and save her, we were told to just make her as comfortable as possible and wait for the inevitable.

Sandy, the other aide that I was working with, had just gone in to check on our patient. She was non-responsive, and had what we referred to as a death rattle. A death rattle is a raspy kind of breathing that patients get right before they expire. It was a sign that she was ready to go. I'd always sort of had a sixth sense as well about when a patient was close to dying and this night was no exception. I had an eerie feeling all night like something dark was hanging over us. Not really anything bad, just a dark cloud that seemed to follow us down the hallway, always stopping outside of our dying patients room. At one point I even thought I'd heard foot steps stopping outside her door.

I mentioned this to Sandy who was really interested in the paranormal. She was in her late forties and had been an aide for over twenty years. She had some good stories that she would often share with me. Being new to the profession I hadn't really had any over the top ghostly encounters at work. Just the shadowy figure here and there or a whisper in an empty room. The few really scary encounters that I had had were while friends and I had ventured into areas that we heard were haunted such as abandoned houses or graveyards. This was way before smart phones and youtube channels so I don't have any photographic evidence of any of these encounters, but I can say that they made a believer out of me.

When Sandy had come back from the patients room, she joined me in the lounge and we began to fold linens. The nurses station was a small space directly behind us that consisted of a half moon shaped desk that the nurse sat behind, and a locked medication room located behind her. On the desk was a small black and white, soundless, monitor that looked directly into the dinning room that was at the front of the building and out of our immediate view.

While our night nurse was doing her paper work she happened to glance into the black and white screen where she saw two people sitting at a table near the dinning room doors. She looked up at us and asked who was out of bed. Sandy and I both looked up and shrugged. We hadn't noticed any of the patients being up let alone out of their rooms. I got up and looked in the monitor and sure enough, there were two people seated in the dinning room. They appeared as two dark, silhouettes. They were sitting there, just casually talking with each other. We could see them move around, turn their heads, and lean forward or sit back. It was obvious that it was not some trick of the light, there were two people in the dinning room seated at one of the tables.

The nurse instructed us to go down to the dinning room and ask the two patients to please go back to bed. There was no kitchen staff in yet and the dinning room was dark. With no one to stay down there with them it was just too dangerous to allow them to remain there on their own. Sandy and I got up, thinking nothing of going to the dinning room, and made our way out of the lounge.

The dinning room was located at the end of the main hall where all of the offices were located. We had to walk down a corridor that lead from the main hall to the nursing hall, and then turn to the left. Once we'd turned the corner we could easily see the dinning room. The lights were off but the large double doors were standing wide open so that we could see directly into the room. The table that we had seen our two rouge patients sitting at was right in front of those main doors. As we came closer to the doors we saw the table, the chairs had been pulled out where the two had been sitting, but there was no one there.

I shrugged. Maybe they'd went back to bed on their own. That seemed the least likely case though since they would have had to pass us in the hall but I couldn't figure out where else they could have gone. The kitchen was locked and there were no other doors in the dinning room. All of the offices were locked, as were any doors that led outside. If they had gone down the main hall towards the front entrance we would have seen them walk in front of us, but we didn't see anything. Still, I couldn't really wrap my head around where these two people could have gone.

Lacking any better ideas, Sandy and I decided to just push the chairs back in, and go back to the lounge. As we came back up the hallway to the nurses station the charge nurse looked up and asked us where the patients were. We were a bit confused and so explained to her that there was no one there. Now, it was the nurse who was confused.

"I just saw them." She told us. "When the two of you pushed the chairs in, the people got up and stood behind you. After you left the dinning room they pulled the chairs out and sat back down."

Sandy and I both looked in the monitor and sure enough, there they were again, seated at the table and back to talking as though we'd never interrupted them. The nurse again told us to return to the dinning room and fetch the patients. Reluctantly we obeyed though I had a sneaking suspicion that we weren't going to find anything other than two chairs that were pulled away from the table. Just as I'd thought, no patients, and the chairs were in deed pulled away from the table.

This time we left the chairs where they were and returned to the nurses station to tell her once again

that there was no one there, even though she'd seen the two people in the dinning room look up at us when we'd entered.

We went about our normal duties the rest of the night, though we kept an eye on the two guests in the dinning room. They remained there until around four-thirty in the morning when our patient down the hall finally passed away. After her death, we no longer saw the two people sitting in the dinning room, though I'd once again heard footsteps going down the hall towards the room were the woman had died. Two sets of foot steps stopped outside that room, but I heard three sets of footsteps leave.

We believe that the guests in the dinning room where there waiting.  Maybe they were angels, or maybe they were family members that had already passed, and were waiting to welcome their loved one to the other side. Either way, they had left that night as mysteriously as they had arrived and we never saw them again after that, though it was far from the last ghost sighting we'd witness in that facility.