Ghost Stories & Paranormal Encounters

Have you read the previous parts of this story? Growing up Haunted in Sydney Part 1

Now I’ve lived in a few homes all around Australia and all has been quiet in relation to paranormal activity in comparison to what went on in my mother’s house growing up. Until we moved into our current army house in Darwin, Australia. DHA (Defense Housing Australia) have a code that they dispose of any homes that have had a suicide in them – given the nature of serving members this sadly does have a higher incidence than the general population.

I’d arrived in Darwin in 2006 to get married before my husband was deployed the first time. My husband had not left for weeks for the second time when I got the news we had to move to another house suddenly. Why they couldn’t have done all this BEFORE he left is anyone’s guess! My girlfriend and I did the rounds of Darwin, looking at different army houses but I was constrained to choosing within a specific area due to the location of my children’s schools. The first was too small. The second was right on a busy main road. The third looked nice enough from the outside, it was built into a hill so you only saw the top floor from street level.

My girlfriend and I pulled up in the driveway as another military couple were coming out from having looked at it themselves. The husband looked flustered in his uniform and in a hurry to get to the car, he was almost running, the woman acknowledged us with a cheeky knowing smile “that was a strange one – you won’t like it” was all she said and walked away. My girlfriend put the army security code in the front lock and we walked inside.

The door literally opened into a tiny foyer and in front of you was an immediate 30 foot drop to the rest of the house on the lower floors. I felt sick instantly. I “knew” someone had fallen off this strange balcony in the entrance hall. A door and stairs to your immediate left took you up to the lounge and kitchen – long descending stairs on your immediate right took you down to the rest of the house on the lower floors. My head seemed to be spinning and I was disoriented – the house looked like an Escher painting, the perspective seemed all wrong.

Upstairs in the lounge/ kitchen seemed bright and light and the area there was huge (my husband would later have a go at me for not selecting this house!) but then we went downstairs. Downstairs had a different mood. It was oppressive. The main bedroom felt weird and one of the smaller bedrooms was dark and felt sinister, there was no way I was putting one of my kids in that room! I had already made my mind up this house was a definite no! But my girlfriend had gone to such trouble to drive me out to the location I felt obliged to have a ‘good look’ to justify my decision so she didn’t think I was being hasty.

After we had looked, we walked back up the stairs to road level and the front door without saying a word and got in her car. “If you pick that house I’m going to have to slap you,” she teased gripping the steering wheel until her knuckles were white. “Are you ok?” I asked. She went on to explain that she had also experienced every sensation I had, in exactly the same places – even though we had not really spoken during the examination of the house and were often in different rooms at different times. I didn’t pick the house!

The fourth house was tiny compared to what we were used to, but as we drove up the driveway my spidey sense told me, “you’re going to live in this house,” almost like an audible voice in my head. The fact the back yard was under water and full of mosquitoes and the back door fell off when we opened it, didn’t seem a good omen. Otherwise the house seemed bright and light and felt OK.

I called DHA to reject the house and tell them about their drainage issues and the fact their back door had fallen off. I was told this was the last house available in the suburb I needed! Reluctantly, I accepted the house only because I had no choice and time was running out from when we had to move out of the original house.

We moved in March 2009 and immediately half our belongings had to go into storage because the house was so small. The day we moved in the front door fell off which was not a good omen, over time fans fell out of ceilings, light switches stopped working, air conditioners blew up and towel rails all fell off in both bathrooms! But before you think this was all spooky and paranormal, no, it was just neglect. We later found out no-one had lived in the house for 2 years and DHA had not properly maintained it. Gardening had consisted of attacking the tropical garden with a chainsaw 2 weeks before we moved in!

But it didn’t take long before my ‘spidey sense’ told me we weren’t alone. At first I dismissed it as ‘wishful thinking’ and kept it to myself but one day when I was home alone I just KNEW ‘he’ was there. I had words with him to the effect I was aware of his presence and he could stay as long as he left my kids alone but if he messed with my kids – I’d deal with him. My son turned 18 in July and was no longer a kid and true to his word ‘he’ (whom I by now had christened Kevin) had left my kids alone… but my son was now 18 and he wasn’t a kid anymore, so apparently all bets were off.

I didn’t mention Kevin to anyone on purpose, as I thought my son and daughter would say something if they sensed/ saw him and I didn’t want to put any ideas in their heads. In July, my husband also came home for a two week visit. He was seated on the computer facing the verandah windows (same one I’m typing on right now!) when he suddenly raced outside into the back yard. He came back looking confused. “I think I’ve just seen a ghost,” he announced. Knowing what I did, this wasn’t exactly what I had wanted to hear.

My husband claimed he saw a tall, lean man in light blue shirt and long black hair and jeans walk in the side gate, onto our verandah and past the windows and into the back yard. Thinking it was one of my son’s ‘idiot mates’ letting himself in, he thought it was a bit rude and went out to have a go at the lad… except no-one was there. My husband’s description of long hair we found out, didn’t necessarily mean long as in ‘female long’, to him anyone without a regulation military cut has long hair, so the guy’s hair was still short just not cropped.

Later that night I told my husband, “I think you must have seen Kevin,” and I told him what had been going on. After my husband left to return overseas, my son who is a really easy going, laid back person literally went off the rails! He stopped attending school (which he had never done before and he only had four months of High School left!) He stayed at friends places and never seemed to come home. When he was home he was surly and swearing and touchy – which while ‘normal’ for many teenagers – was not normal for him.

Around the same time my daughter told me she just felt “spooked” in her room, nothing definite, just a feeling – given our history I suggested she ask her grandfather to come and keep an eye on her… which she did. My daughter claimed to wake that night and see the shadow of a broad shouldered man in a tailored suit and hat on her bedroom wall (wouldn’t be the first time that had happened – see previous stories) so she threw the covers over her head and hid. I told her later it wasn’t polite to invite someone to come and then hide! But none the less, she said her room felt fine after that and she was comfortable with the situation.

My son’s behaviour continued to deteriorate until eventually I had to confront him about it. There was much yelling and banging of fists and emotion until my son finally blurted out “its the house – I hate the house – he’s here all the time – looking at me – watching me – I see him on the verandah just watching me all the time – I am so angry in this house – I am fine at my friend’s places and I walk up that drive and its like a black cloud comes over me – I hate this house!” I sat there flabbergasted.

“You see him?” I started – not surprised he saw him but surprised he hadn’t said anything. “yeah – if I get up to go to the toilet, he’s standing at the verandah door just looking in – watching” he explained. “Well, we’ll start to shut the verandah curtains at night,” I suggested and my son seemed to like that idea. (living in the tropics, I had been leaving all the windows and blinds open of a night to allow the air to circulate). I was aware Kevin was not a happy chappy for some time but it seemed my son was picking up on his feelings and interpreting them as his own.

“How long has this all been going on?” I asked. “Oh since my birthday I guess,” he explained. Kevin was a man of his word but obviously cheeky enough to take me at my literal word and he did leave my “kids” alone technically, until my son wasn’t a kid anymore. “Its not the house – that’s just bricks and cement,” I started to explain and went on to try and explain how he was picking up Kevin’s feelings which were imprinted in the house and Kevin was decidedly angry and unhappy and I was aware of it as well. I later had words with Kevin myself!

A friend who is a sensitive visited and claimed Kevin’s wife had cheated on him and he had found out and there was a divorce – that was the origin of his anger and unhappiness. We don’t believe Kevin died here, but Kevin is back, attached to the house because of the extreme emotions of what he went through in this location. My son is now back “in control” and being able to talk about it and get some guidance has allowed him to put things back in perspective.

Only a matter of weeks ago before my husband was due to arrive for his Christmas visit, I was asleep in bed when I had an interesting experience. I was asleep on my back and I felt my husband grab my left arm which woke me up, and pull me up and towards his side of the bed, instinctively thinking he wanted to cuddle I started to snuggle closer to his side of the bed. Then when I felt a hand on me I thought my husband wanted to be intimate and a shuffled even closer, only to realize… I was alone in my bed! My husband wasn’t due back for another three weeks! I opened my eyes – to thin air and sat bolt upright in bed. I flicked the bedside light switch on and examined my arms expecting to see finger marks as the grip had been so distinct – but there weren’t any. “Kevin!” I yelled through gritted teeth, “get out of my bedroom now!” and I watched the bedroom door (which was ajar) click shut. That bothered me, in that I close and lock my bedroom door at night.

I got up and pressed the door locked for what I thought was the second time that night and sat there replaying it over and over in my head. I had been awake. I had woken up when (he) had grabbed me. I wasn’t afraid, the grip wasn’t particularly rough or nasty just firm and I remembered being a little confused as it seemed to pull me up and to the left and I remembered thinking ‘does he want me to sit up or move over?’ Either way, cheeky Kevin had pushed his luck a little too far.

I had my sensitive friend visit and we went through my room and cleansed it – I don’t totally need Kevin to leave – he just needs to respect some boundaries, and crawling into bed with me is off limits! That was only a few weeks ago and dare I say ‘all quiet on The Western Front’ – because I know as soon as I think nothing will happen – in my family, it inevitably will!

Written by Jennifer Mills-Young, Copyright 2010

Have you read the previous parts of this story? Growing up Haunted in Sydney Part 1 ~~ Growing up Haunted in Sydney Part 21