Ghost Stories & Paranormal Encounters

I have always believed that ghosts exist, but now I know for sure that they do, without a doubt.  In 2000, I had moved into a very large house in Scottsdale, Arizona. I rented a room from the married couple that owned the home. After a couple of months of living there, the woman, Lena, at one point had told me about a ghost she had seen in the living room, one evening, as she was going to bed.  Her husband was already in bed.  I believed her, but had never felt any presence in the house before she told me this, so I never gave it another thought.

I had lived there several months before an entity decided to make its’ presence known.  I was rarely at the house, as I am not a home-body.  On the rare occasion I was home one evening, Lena and I were sitting in the living room, watching TV and talking.  Her husband worked until late in the evening, so he was gone and it was just the two of us.  We had been sitting there a few hours and a couple of times we heard noises coming from the kitchen.  Each time we would stop talking, look at each other like “What was that?”  It sounded like things were being moved around, but the noises were brief enough to not warrant investigation.  Not yet anyway.  She then told me that she and her husband heard odd noises all the time and things would be moved.

I needed to get up early, so I grabbed my comforter and headed for my bedroom. I got half-way down the hallway, where “my” bathroom was – next to the kitchen. At the very instant I was near the bathroom, I heard a loud thumping sound coming from the attic, just above the bathroom. It sounded exactly like someone had walked on a board – like those found in attics – after they shifted their weight. Mind you, I had never been in their attic. I was now officially freaked out.  I ran back into the living room and asked Lena “Did you hear that”? She said “I thought that was you”.  I said “No, it wasn’t me.  Someone is in the attic”. At this point I was suspecting a ghost. But I wanted to investigate, so that I wouldn’t lie in bed all night wondering if some homicidal maniac was in the attic.

I asked Lena if she would allow me to go up there.  I had previously seen the attic door/ladder in the ceiling of the garage converted to an office, so I said I would meet her there after going to the bathroom. I really had to go.  I was in “my” bathroom while Lena was in the garage-office pulling the door/ladder down. I was in there about 30 seconds until I heard “someone” knock on one of the bathroom doors – very loudly. I knew immediately that that was a ghost. There were two doors to that bathroom and you have never seen anyone run so fast out the other door, toward the garage-office, where Lena was pulling down the door/ladder. I very excitedly asked if she had heard the knock. She said she hadn’t. It was a large house after all.

On my sprint to the garage, I made a point to view the area where the knock originated, and no one was there!  I searched all over the attic with a flashlight, where after all, there were boards making paths to walk upon.  All that I did see up there was antique furniture.

Later that evening she said that the moment she saw me run into the garage, she knew I had a ghostly experience. Now, as an adult, I have never slept with the light on. I do not scare easily. However, that night and the next, I slept with the light on in my walk-in closet.

The next day she told me that she and her husband were going to California for a week. This was the couple that never went anywhere, that was now leaving me alone in the haunted house. Talk about bad timing.

I didn’t see or hear anything else after that evening, thank God. However, I started a conversation with the neighbor across the street, where she had grown up and knew the previous owners that lived in Lena’s house.  I asked her to describe what the man looked like. She described the very man that Lena had described she had seen in her living room as a ghost. They even used the word “distinguished”, separately, to describe him, even though Lena had no idea what the man looked like – while he was alive. The previous owners had passed away before Lena and her husband lived there.

Interestingly, Lena asked me one time if I had adjusted the grandfather clock. I told her “No, of course not”.  I wouldn’t be inclined to do so, nor would I know the first thing about doing so. She asked me again. My reply was “Why would I?” Evidently, the clock was damaged or something. I don’t think she fully believed me. I’ve thought about this since, as it bothered me that she didn’t believe me. I think I now know what did mess with the clock.

Written by Andre’ Cole, Copyright 2008