The "Bad House"

Nothing in this post sounds as scary as anything you'll see in a movie.  I realize that my experiences were mild to say the least but I'm not complaining.  If you read this and you're expecting something like The Exorcist  or Demon House you'll be disappointed.  Just because I didn't have those experiences though doesn't mean that what I did experience was any less frightening to me. 

When I was about 8 years old, my family moved into what I have come to call the "Bad House".  The house was bad for a number of reasons.  It was a tumultuous time for both me and my family in all ways possible.  It was also one of the scariest times of my life.

Before I continue further, a general description of the layout of the house with some room descriptions based off of how my parents labeled rooms.  It is a one story, three bedroom two bathroom house.  There is a good-sized front and back yard.  When I lived there there was a solid paved driveway with a garage.  The garage was open meaning it had no door.  We had only one functioning car at any given time and we generally kept the car parked in the garage.  There was a small flat covered porch at the front of the house.  The porch extended from one of the garage walls to the end of the outside of the end of the "front room" as we called it.  

If you were standing in the garage and facing the house (east), you would find a small laundry room/storage room in the far northeast corner of the garage.  The washer, dryer, and water heater were in the laundry room.  There were also some open shelves on either side of the door of the laundry room.  There was an average- sized window immediately opposite the door.  The window faced out to the back yard.  There was a small tree in the backyard just outside of the left-hand side (north) of the window when you face the window.  There was a light in the laundry room but the window was a good source of illumination while the sun was up.  Despite this the laundry room was "dark".  In hindsight this makes sense.  At the time, it was just a fact of life. 

 So, you exit the laundry room and you're back in the garage.  If you are facing the laundry room door and turn right (facing south), the garage door entrance to the house is directly across from you.  There are also two average-sized windows near the garage door entrance on the same wall as the garage door entrance.  There's a slight step up from the ground into the house at the garage entrance.  

Once you're in the house and you stay facing straight ahead, you would see the "front room" immediately to you're right, the hallway leading to the bedrooms and bathrooms a short distance away in front of you and one of the bedrooms on the far end of the house opposite you.  To your left you would see the part of the house that contained the kitchen and dining room as well as the way to the den/living room/tv room as we called it.  

Let's say you go to the left first.  Our fridge was to your immediate right and was the "boundary" of the kitchen.  The floor plan was somewhat open in this part of the house meaning there were no doors separating the kitchen, dining room, den, or front room.  The ceilings weren't high or vaulted.  There was linoleum in the kitchen, dining room, and den/living room/tv room.  

If you took a step or two forward past the fridge you would see to your left a small open windowless room area.  There was a ceiling light in the room.  We used that space as a play room when we were younger.  Eventually it ended up being an open room area with our old fridge in the far left corner.  It was a dark corner unless the light in the room area was on.  Even if the kitchen light was on, it was dark.  Not necessarily significant considering its location but I digress.  

If you turned your back to the open room area you are in the kitchen.  On the opposite wall, if you are facing the kitchen with your back to the open room area, was the sink and some cupboards.  In the far right corner of the kitchen was the stove.  Continuing past the stove you would be facing more cupboards and a counter.  Then you would come to the fridge.  To the left of the sink, cupboards, counters, there was the not functioning dishwasher and the main counter top.  There was a central ceiling light in the kitchen.  The dining room is plainly visible from where you are standing.  If you walk to the open doorway at the kitchen next to the main counter top and are facing away from the fridge, you would be at the threshold of the dining room to your right and the den/living room/tv room to your left.  

In the far left corner of the den/living room/tv room was the back door.  We had our furniture arranged with the tv against the far left wall and couches and chairs around the tv and a coffee table in front of the tv.  There was a small window on the wall behind the tv.  There was a small window on the door to the back yard.  On the wall to the right of the back door were two larger windows facing out into the back yard.  There was a central ceiling light in this room and there was dark paneled wood like from the 70s on some of the walls. 

As you stand at the threshold of the dining room and den/living room/tv room, a step or two directly in front of you was a weird barrier between the dining room and den/living room/tv room.  It was a narrow, approximately waist-high solid structure that had what looked to me like a long ashtray that went the length of the structure.  It was built of more of that dark paneled wood like from the 70s.  There were a four poles about the width of pool cue sticks going from the top of the structure to the ceiling.  The structure stood in the very middle of the back end of the house with space to walk around it on either side.  On the far opposite wall was a gas heater.  

Immediately on the other side of this structure was the dining room.  We had a dining room table and there were bar stools at the counter as my parents referred to the dining room side of the counter top as the breakfast nook.  In the far right hand corner of the dining room was a sort of office space for my parents.  We had a long wooden desk with the phone and files where my dad kept financial records and important paperwork.  There was an average-sized window on the wall above the desk and another average-sized window on the wall to the right of the desk.  There was a small chandelier type light above the dining room table and all of the walls in the dining room had more of that dark wood paneling.    

So you leave the dining room and den/tv room/living room and go back towards what we called the front room.  It was a large room.  If you are standing in the threshold of the front room you would see that the front room had all white walls and a white ceiling.  There is a front door leading to the front porch in the far left corner of the room.  There was a large picture window that was next to the front door near the far right corner of the room.  We had a couch, tv, and desk in this room.  The floor had sandy colored carpeting.  There was a small hall closet just outside of the open doorway leading to the hallway.  The hall closet had a dark-colored wooden door. 

Despite its seemingly bland look, the front room never felt safe.  I always felt exposed, like the room was an open meadow surrounded by a dark forest full of evil things that were just waiting for me to set foot back in their domain.  It was like the predator was watching me and knew that I could see it watching me.  All it had to do was wait because sooner than later I would have to reenter "the dark forest".   

The hallway had an open doorway.  The shag carpet in the hallway was the typical dark brown colored and the carpet went the whole length of the hallway.  To the immediate right of the open doorway of the hallway was the smallest of the bedrooms.  That room would eventually be my room.  Directly across from this room was the main bathroom.  At the end of the hallway was a larger bedroom that was my first bedroom in the house.  I shared this room with most of my sisters.  Immediately adjacent to the end bedroom was the master bedroom complete with the second bathroom in the house.  The carpet in the bedrooms was all different than the hallway carpet.  The bathrooms had vinyl flooring in both of them.  There was an attic crawlspace in the hallway as well.  Each bedroom had a closet the corresponded with the size of the room.  Each bedroom had adequate windows and central ceiling lights.  

As I said earlier this was a tumultuous time for me and my family.  A lot of painful personal things happened culminating in my father's untimely death.  Of all the places that I've lived this is the most frightening place that I've been.  Hopefully it stays the scariest place that I'll ever live in.  I've had other experiences in other places that I've lived but fortunately it's been no where near the fear.  That's not to say that there were no happy times in that house.  There were many.  I'm even going to relate a couple of good experiences and two that don't fall into good or bad but that occurred while I was living in the house.  Unfortunately, the scarier or sadder experiences in the house had such a strong impact on me that that is why I consider this house to be the "Bad House" to this day.  

The strangest thing about this house was that it was always dark even in the day time.  The darkest part and one of the most frightening places in the house was the hallway.  My parents had established a habit of leaving the bedroom doors open when the rooms were unoccupied and/or usually during the day.  I vividly remember being scared of the hallway especially when I was alone in the house.  I was almost always afraid of the hallway.  

My parents room was another dark place in the house.  I really didn't like going in that room when it was unoccupied.  It didn't matter if my family was in the house at the same time.  It didn't matter if it was day or night.  I remember being afraid that something was going to get me especially when I tried to leave the room.  I had a sense that something was going to come from my parents bathroom and get me if I didn't hurry out of the room and shut the door behind me.  

Interestingly enough I also had a very soothing, pleasant paranormal experience while I was showering in my parents bathroom.  This is all going to sound very weird but allow me to explain.  When I was about seven I attended a wedding in California. 

 It would be the last time that I got to see two of my uncles still alive.  One uncle was my biological uncle and the other "uncle" was in fact my biological uncle's longtime boyfriend.  The encounter was brief and happy enough.  Within a year my biological uncle died.  I haven't heard anything of what happened his boyfriend but I assume that he is dead since my biological uncle died as a result of  complications from AIDS.  I didn't know any of this at the time.  My family was reluctantly accepting of my biological uncle and his boyfriend but they didn't discuss their relationship in any way except to refer to both men as my uncles.  In my family I have a few members who aren't blood or marriage related but instead just longtime friends that I refer to as aunt and/or uncle.  As an adult I still consider these people to be my aunts/uncles but I digress.

Even though I was young, I was devastated by my biological uncle's death.  I didn't think of my uncle's boyfriend at the time because I didn't know the particulars.   Had I known I would have been just as sad for my uncle's boyfriend.  Both men had always been kind to me and I loved both of them.  

For some reason, I was particularly bothered by the fact that I had been (and continue to be) painfully shy as a child.  My shyness is much more manageable as an adult but I still struggle.  For those who don't know, to be painfully shy means that I literally feel emotional pain as a result of my shyness.  As a child my discomfort was such that I would run and hide when I could in situations where my shyness came into play.  Even though I loved my uncles, my painful shyness affected me accordingly around them whenever they came over to visit. 

 After hearing about my uncle's death, I felt so guilty because I knew that I had missed opportunities to spend around him in life because of my shyness.  It didn't matter that I couldn't control my problem.  I was aware of not taking people for granted at that young age.  

Around the same time both of my great grandparents died within a month of each other.  They lived in another state but I had met both of them once in my life.  As with my uncle, I was overwhelmed with guilt and sadness at missed opportunities.  This guilt and sadness continued for years.  

When I was a teenager I remember crying about this in the shower one night.  Suddenly I felt the warm embrace and I was comforted.  It was like a loving hug and I didn't feel fear or discomfort at all despite my physical vulnerable position.  I stopped crying and felt peace for the first time in a long time.  That night I had one of the best dreams I've ever had.  

There had been a hurricane some weeks before.  During the hurricane,  I foolishly went outside with my older sister's boyfriend and sister.  I stood near the end off the driveway and looked up at the red sky as the wind furiously wiped around me.  The tall pine trees both in our yards and the neighbors yards were ominously swaying and bending.  I was only outside for a minute or two before I turned and ran back into the house.  

In the dream, I was standing near the end of my driveway just as I had in real life.  I was alone this time and I kept looking to the sky.  The wind whipped around me, the trees were swaying, and the sky was red just as in real life.  In the dream, I was gently lifted up by the wind.  I felt no fear as I continued to rise straight up.  The next thing that I knew, I was standing in a place of light and warmth.  I don't recall any other details besides that.  Suddenly my uncle is standing in front of me.  He looked so happy and healthy.  He was smiling warmly at me and I felt happy seeing him.  He told me that he was happy and I didn't need to cry anymore because he was happy.  Then I saw my great grandparents.  They looked happy too.  Behind them I saw a huge crowd of people and I knew that they were my family.  I believe that I was given a glimpse of heaven so that I could be happy for them.  I woke up the next day feeling more at peace and happy.  I haven't cried sad tears for my uncle or my great grand parents since.  

One of the experiences that was neither good nor bad was brief but memorable.  It also happened when I was a teenager.  We had a number of cats while living in the "Bad House".  At the time of this incident we had one black cat.  He was new and an indoor/outdoor cat.  It was a bright sunny day.  He had gone outside and I had seen a large shadow of a bird on the lawn.  I hurried to get him because I thought that the shadow was of a hawk and that he was in danger of getting eaten or hurt.  In the front yard there were three large pine trees flanked by bushes.  Two of the trees were less than an arm's length apart from each other while the the third stood a few feet away.  The cat had headed for this very small grove of trees.  I looked up to see if I could see the hawk.  I was stunned and froze when I saw an impossibly huge white eagle resting on top of one of the trees.  It was so big and awe-inspiring.  I can't recall if the eagle looked at me.  I just know that I thought "Thunder bird" for some reason.  Then I blinked and the eagle was gone.  My only conjecture regarding this was that I got a glimpse of something that isn't of this world and isn't quantified by the usual supernatural monikers like demons, angels, ufos/aliens, ghosts etc.  I think that I saw something otherwordly and ancient and I firmly believe that I saw it.  As far as I know I was the only one who saw this magnificent eagle.  I never discussed it with anyone until now because I was afraid of getting laughed at.  

The second unusual experience didn't happen at the house but I was living at the house.  I was riding in the car with my mother and a sister or two.  We were driving home but we were going through an area that wasn't developed.  It was nighttime and I remember seeing stars.  I'm in the back seat and looking out the window.  I am startled and amazed when I see what looks like a glowing rope ladder in an area of a field that we were driving past.  The moon seemed to be illuminating this rope ladder and the ladder appeared to be suspended in air.  I had a curious thought of what would happen if I went to that ladder and what I would find if I climbed it.  I didn't say anything at the time because I knew that it was pointless.  My mother wasn't going to stop if I asked her to unless I had to get sick or something.  Also I had the feeling that no one in the car had seen the ladder except for me.  No one said anything if they did in any case.  Again I feel this was a glimpse of another world that most people don't see and it isn't easily quantifiable. 

Now to the scary crap that disturbs me still.  I'll try to relate it in order as best as I can.  Before the comforting shower moment but when I was being chased out of my parents room, I also had the sense that my bedroom or rather the bedroom at the end of the hallway was "safe".  Part of that may have been because most of my sisters shared the room with me.  I had an older sister who had the room across from the main bathroom at first.  As I think of these moments and this house I realize that that bedroom was the only truly "light" place in the house.  Still I felt chased to that room too especially at night.  I was safe as long as I hurried to the room before whatever could get me.  I never saw or heard anything outright.  I just had an intense impulse to run to safety or else whatever was chasing me was going to get me and tear me to pieces.  This happened many times whether even in day time. 

One of the most frightening experiences that I had didn't even happen at the house.  There happened to be school within walking distance of our house.  When the weather was good, my mother and sometimes my father, would take me and my sisters on a walk to the the school yard to play.  The school yard had a fence around it but it was never locked.  It was a typical evening.  I was probably around 8-10.  There were lots of swings, two slides, and various jungle gym/climbing things all sort of close together.  Near these playground equipment was a blacktop.  There were three baseball diamonds a short distance away all contained in the fenced school yard.  Near the blacktop was a sort of basket-type thing to throw medium-sized balls like basketballs/soccer balls/etc and the thing had holes on all four sides for the balls to fall out of.  My sisters and mom were close to the swings so that I was basically alone.  The sun had almost completely gone down and I was throwing my ball into this basket thing.  I was facing west and in the far northwest corner of the school yard was a baseball diamond.  The strange thing was that, even though the sun's rays were fading in the sky, the baseball diamond was pitch black.  I knew that it was there because I knew that it was there.  But it was so black that I couldn't see any details of the baseball diamond or even the fence that was behind it.  It was like darkness had swallowed the baseball diamond and that corner of the yard.  A cold wind suddenly kicked up as I looked at that blackness.  Then I distinctly heard my name being called from the darkness.  I froze in fear for a moment.  I know that I heard my name from the northwest corner.  My sisters and mother were to the south of me.  The voice that came from the darkness wasn't my mother's or any of my sisters'.  It was a cold voice and it chilled me to the bone.  Fortunately I had my ball in hand.  I had the very strong feeling that if I didn't have my ball in hand, it would have rolled over there and I might have chased it.  It seemed like the darkness was getting closer.  It was at that moment that I turned tail and fled to my family.  I didn't look back.  As far as I know no one else saw or heard what I saw.    

I remember the back yard was "dark" too.  The back end of the back yard was especially "dark" even in day time.  There was a large pine tree in the backyard, a regular-sized shed, a fig tree, our old station wagon, and a small outbuilding directly behind the dining room and my parents bathroom.  The outbuilding had a door with a window and had shelves inside of it but was otherwise open in the floor.  There was a lean-to attached to the side of the outbuilding.  There were also small trees whose branches overhung in our yard from the neighbors' yards.  The trees were mostly in the back end and in both far corners of the yard.  The shed was near the far left corner of the yard.  The station wagon was parked behind the outbuilding and under the fig tree.  The fig tree was basically in the middle of the yard.  The pine tree was near the middle of the yard (north) but stood right next to the fence near the shed but closer to the house.  The yard had a chain link fence all around.  In the southwest corner of the yard there was a tree in our neighbors yard and bushes on the outside of the fence underneath the bedroom windows of my parents bedroom and the adjacent bedroom.  

I remember one night when my baby sister had fallen asleep on the couch and I was the only one awake.  We were both in the den/tv room/living room and we had been watching tv.  It was summertime.  Suddenly I had a sense that we needed to go right now.  It felt like something was coming and that it would be bad for us if we didn't hurry.  The back door was closed and locked but that wasn't going to stop whatever.  It felt like whatever was coming was coming from the back yard, specifically from the northeast corner near the shed.  I had an image of a girl in white and she was "bad".  She knew that I was aware of her and she had an evil smile on her face.  I frantically tried waking my sister up but she wouldn't wake up.  She could have been in such deep sleep but I don't think so given how much I was trying.  She didn't stir or mumble or try to push me away or anything that you would expect someone to typically do when someone is trying to wake them up.  The girl in white was closer and I needed to hurry.  I quickly scooped up my limp sister and ran with her to our room.  My sister never once woke up during this experience but she was breathing as if she was sleeping.  She woke up the following day as if nothing had happened and never once asked me about it.  

Some years later my oldest niece once told me that she didn't like the back yard.  She randomly told me this while me and one of my other sisters were standing in the front yard.  She was about five at the time.  I remember being confused because we hadn't been talking about the back yard at all.  When I asked her why she didn't like the back yard, she said that she didn't like the girl that was back there.  I remember feeling chilled and I asked her what she was talking about even though I had a sinking feeling of what she was going to say.  She said there was a mean girl back there in a white dress.  As she said this I had an image of the exact same girl that I had seen in my mind's eye years ago.  It was a bright sunny day but all I felt was cold.  My niece was looking towards the northeast corner of the yard as she talked.  

I hadn't told anyone that story and I didn't talk about it until years later.  It turns out that my other sister who was standing with me and my oldest niece also knew about the girl.  She never told me until years later.  I think that we were both so scared in the moment that we didn't want to talk about it then.       

              

My most terrifying experiences happened when I was a teenager and they happened in that damn room across the hall from the main bathroom.  When I got older, I was moved into that room with my older sister.  We shared the room and the huge king-sized water bed that almost encompassed the whole room.  The shag carpet that had originally been on the floor had been pulled up and the floor was left bare by the time that I moved in.  When you walked into the room, a step or two away was the water bed.  It sat in the middle of the room and against the wall.  Immediately to your left was the light switch and one of two dressers that lined that wall.  My dad had rigged up a shelving unit with a mirror that sat on top of the larger of the two dressers.  The smaller dresser occupied the rest of the space and southeast corner of the room.  In the southwest corner of the room was the closet.  An average-sized window was in the middle of the wall facing out to the front yard and street.  The walls were white.  

I don't have an exact date or age when the trouble started.  I have no idea of any precipitating event or circumstance that led to it.  I just know that one night I woke up because I had a sense of being watched.  I happened to sleep on the side of the bed closest to the window and closet.  The room was dark except for the streetlight that shone in through the blinds of the window.  The blinds were closed but you could still see the light since the light was in front of our house.  I opened my eyes and saw a huge shadowy figure standing in front of the closet at the foot of the bed.  I instinctively huddled closer to my sister and away from the edge.  It felt masculine and was tall.  The darkness of this figure was pure black.  It had glowing red eyes and it was looking right at me.  I remember shutting my eyes and hoping that it was a dream but it was still there when I opened my eyes.  I started praying and pulled the covers over my face as I did so.  I eventually fell asleep, shaking with fear and praying.  This happened for many nights afterwards.  There was nothing that could have caused a shadow.  We had no other furniture in the room besides what I've mentioned.  The closet door was closed and I could clearly see the closet door behind and to my left of the shadow. 

Around the same time I started having dreams where I couldn't move and I couldn't wake up.  I know that some people call this sleep paralysis and that sleep paralysis is supposed to be a real thing.  Even if I was experiencing sleep paralysis it was terrifying.  I hadn't had sleep paralysis before or since that room thank goodness.  The dreams were always the same and they happened during the day.  I remember them especially happening in the afternoon if I took a nap.  

In the dream, I would be laying on the bed and something was coming.  I needed to wake up or else I would never wake up again.  I struggled and tried to will my limbs to move.  If only I could move then I would wake up and I would be safe.  I felt like I couldn't even breathe at times, like I was being smothered.  It always seemed like, at the last possible second, I woke up.  I always felt weak and it was hard to stay awake initially even though I was scared.  If I closed my eyes I could feel the pull of sleep coming over me and I would generally stagger out of bed.  I felt stronger once I got moving out of that room.  

Eventually my older sister moved out and I was left alone in the room.  The dreams and shadowy figure continued.  I remember once I was sitting in my room with the door shut.  It was quiet because anyone in the house was probably in the den/living room/tv room or away from the house.  It was afternoon and getting on towards dinner time.  I was sitting on my bed.  I suddenly heard the distinct sound of footsteps on the bare floor in the room.  The steps seemed to be coming from in front of the larger chest of drawers.  There was no radio on and I didn't have a television in my room.  The tv in the front room wasn't on.  Also, the sound was very distinctly the sound of footsteps on the floor.  I couldn't see what was there but I had a sense of whatever moving as a hunter moves to prey.  I happened to be sitting on the bed next to the window.  The footsteps sounded around the bed and towards me.  I quickly scuttled towards the door. The footsteps moved with me and cut me off.  I quickly moved back towards the window.  The footsteps sounded again towards me then stopped.  I had the sense of the footsteps stopping at the foot of the bed before rounding the corner to me.  I felt that I had to make a run for it so I took a deep breath and hurried to the door.  I didn't stop this time but opened the door with the sound of the footsteps heading towards me.  I got out of my room and hurried outside.  Lucky for me that was the only footsteps incident.

I did something stupid while in high school.  I "played with cards" with a friend.  What this means is that we used a pack of playing cards to try to "talk" to something.  We didn't have any real sense of what we were doing.  Despite the scary things that had been happening, I thought that I was safe since I was just "playing".  We never secured a circle.  We just took a pack of playing cards and asked it questions.  When we were done, we would always say goodbye and wait for the correct "yes" to pop up.  There were a few times where whatever we were talking to was insistent on talking to us even if we said goodbye.  We just kept laying cards down until it said "yes".  Fortunately nothing really significant happened and I know that I am lucky.

My friend came over to my house only a few times.  Usually I went to hers.  One afternoon when the house was empty she came over.  I told her about what was happening.  She said that she believed me because she had had her own experiences with the paranormal.  Anyway she came to the garage door and we were talking.  The bedroom doors were all open but the hallway was dark as usual.  I don't remember why but my friend started challenging whatever was there.  The hallway got noticeably darker.  I begged my friend to stop.  After a few moments, she did.  Lucky for us nothing happened in this instance. 

A strange incident happened when I was in middle school.  It was another night where me and one of my sisters were up late alone.  This incident involved the sister who turned out to be a medium.  We were standing and talking in the den.  We had been watching tv but the tv was off because we were both going to bed.  I don't know who saw it first or if we both happened to see it at the same time.  On the far wall across from the room divider, right in the middle of the wall between the dining room/office and the den was a shadow/silhouette.  What was bizarre about the shadow was that it looked like the silhouette of a man.  It was as though someone had taken a picture of the man's shadow but there was no one and nothing to cause the shadow. 

We both slowly drifted closer until we were standing on either side of it.  I think that neither of us wanted to stand directly in front of it.  You could clearly see the tip of this guy's nose and his eyelashes.  It was as though he was in the process of looking either to the side or behind him and he was running or getting ready to run.  The silhouette didn't move or shift even a little.  We stared at it, then looked at each other but I don't recall conversation.  I seem to remember us both quietly backing away and going to our respective bedrooms.  When I came to the dining room the following day, the shadow/silhouette was gone.  I never saw that shadow/silhouette again.  I didn't necessarily get a bad vibe from it.  It was just unsettling that it showed up at all.  

That's all that comes to mind regarding the "Bad House".  My paranormal experiences didn't end there.  I just had new ones at other places that I've lived since then.  Some were good, others were not.  All of them scared me at least a little.   

 That house scares me so bad that when I have nightmares or even just unpleasant dreams I'm usually at that house.  I've been told that the reason for the problems was that there was a portal in the hallway.  I have the dubious "honor" of having encountered at least three portals since so I think there may be some truth to this.  I also think that something bad happened in that house and that would have led to the portal being opened.  I've heard that there isn't any problems in that house anymore.  I hope this is so. 

For better or worse, living in this house opened a door for me that hasn't shut since.  I don't necessarily want the door to shut, I just don't want anything bad to happen to me or others because the door is open.