Ghost Stories

I have been asked so many times about my ghostly encounters. And to be honest I'm getting a little tired of telling the same stories over and over. So, I am going to put them here, then I will be able to refer anyone who is interested straight to this spot....

ONE
My first experiences started when I was pretty young, maybe 11. Whenever I would be alone for a good amount of time...with no noise, or distractions, just me focusing on what I am doing. Honestly the majority of the time it happened was when I was in the bathroom, at my parents house, straightening my hair (this takes a VERY long time).

So, I would be in the bathroom, for at least 20 minutes before it would start.....it wasn't gradual...it just hit fast. In my head I would hear commotion...like I was standing in a crowded train station. Loud voices all around me, talking, yelling, mumbling. Even when I was interrupted my someone or something in the house, mom calling for me, the phone ringing, etc.....the noises would continue and everything going on in the real world would seem to be in fast forward and slow motion at the same time. From me picking up the straightening iron, to the phone ringing....everything seemed not real. My hand would move in slow motion, then seem to speed up really fast.

These strange occurrences have not happened to me in a while....so I don't know if it was something about my parents house/bathroom, or if it is just because with a husband and 2 kids I am rarely alone long enough for it to begin.

TWO
When I was about 12 a good friend of mine who was an older woman passed away. When I was young (about 3) my family lived next door to her and her 2 sisters. I used to stay over night at their house, paint easter eggs with them, etc. In the evening Dot would pay me a quarter to sit behind her in her chair and scratch her back. From the time she died everynight as I laid in bed, I would feel slight scratching on my back.

THREE
The next thing I can remember happening was when I was 18, fresh out of high school I moved to Philadelphia to work in my aunts law firm. Eventually I ended up renting a bi-level 2 bedroom apartment on the 2nd and 3rd floor above a hair salon with a coworker. Our apartment was right around the corner for Rittenhouse Square, and we spent a lot of our time in the park people watching.

One evening after work we went to the park. It started to get late and my roommate decided she was going to head home. I stayed in the park a bit longer. As I was sitting there she came flying back to me. She looked a mess, like something very bad had happened. I had asked her what was wrong and she told me that when she got home she noticed light coming from under our door. So, being the brave tiny girl that she was she put her key in the knob and turned...as soon as she turned her key the lights flipped off. She took two steps into the apartment and heard what she described as silverware scratching on a plate. Then she started to hear furniture being moved around above her. That's when she left and came back to me.

I don't know what she thought.....if someone was in our apartment, or if it was a ghost. Either way we both made our way back to the apartment to investigate.

Things seemed normal when we got there....no strange noises, no lights on that shouldn't have been. We went upstairs to find her dresser drawer that held her checkbooks and pajamas pulled out, with the contents spewed about her bedroom. Still sounds like an intruder came in and was looking for something....

A few days later, when we returned home, the drawer was in the same state. Maybe it was just a loose drawer that somehow slid out on its own we thought. So, she moved her things around and put her PJ's and checkbooks in the bottom drawer.

A few days later, same thing happened......now with the bottom drawer.

By this time roomy and I were pretty freaked out. I called my grandad (he is a retired priest). He came up and blessed my apartment. While he was visiting I asked him to help Dot. He laid his hands on my head, said a little prayer, and I haven't felt her since. I know Dot was more of an angle than a ghost, but I also know that she is needed somewhere else. So I was happy to help her move on.

FOUR
After I had Ruby I lived with my parents for about a year. One day my good friend and Ruby's god mother came over to visit. Ruby was sleeping in her crib, and my friend and I thought it would be fun to play with a Ouija board. NOT FUN. As soon as we started playing we were contacted, the board told us a name, which I will never speak or think again. While we were 'playing my mom called us down to eat. We were sitting at the table eating when Ruby woke up screaming bloody murder. Ruby was a very happy baby, and never woke up crying. I went and got her......

My friend left, and was on the phone with her boyfriend telling him about our 'game'. As soon as she said the name her phone turned off. The call was not lost because of poor reception...the phone literally turned off. She turned it back on, and called me...said the name, both our phones turned off.

We never talk about it.

FIVE
This is by far my least favorite experience.

After I met my now husband we rented an apartment in Myerstown. It was a big brick building, that sat right next to the railroad tracks. Our apartment was on the second floor.

As soon as we moved in I knew something was fishy. I am pretty sure that the building used to board men who either worked on, or traveled on the railroad.

My first and most frequent experience in that building was in the bathroom. After a few months of living there I could not even take showers unless noel was sitting in the bathroom with me.

There was a man, he seemed to be 7 feet tall, but I never notice any feet on him, so he could have been floating. (?) He dressed in a well fitted black suit, with a white shirt, no tie. He had black short hair, and black eyes. I don't know how to describe his eyes very well...but there was no white. His entire eye was black. He was pale skinned, but all of his features were black. He used to watch me shower, over top of the shower curtain. The shower curtain rod would rest right around his nose, so all I could see was from his eyes up.

He also used to watch me sleep. There were many nights in that apartment that neither noel or I were able to sleep. Me out of fear of this man, and noel because I would cry hystarically all night and keep him up.

He would sit on my side of the bed, about here my knees were, with his face pressed up against the bed so that all I could see was from his eyes up, just like in the shower.

Noel used to get up and go to work very early. So when I had to get up for work it was just me and Ruby in the house. Ruby was about 17 months old at the time. I would get myself ready, and then wake her up and get her dressed. One morning was sitting on her bedoom floor, putting her shoes on. And I said to her 'ready to go?'. She looked at me and said 'do I have to say goodbye to the man mommy?' I said 'what man baby?' and she said 'him' and pointed to her closet, the doors were open....I didn't see anyone. I quickly scooped her up and left.

SIX
After living in that awful apartment for a year, we purchased our first home on the other side of the county. It was a fixer upper, and we had 30 days from the time we bought it, to the time we had to be out of our apartment. We would work from the time we got off of work into the wee hours of the morning each night.

One night while I was scraping the rubber back carpet off of the stairs I looked up to see an older woman, standing at the top of the stairs. She had her hair pulled back in a bun and was wearing a dress that bottoned down the front, was tight on top, then poofed out at her waist. She had on a white apron...the kind that ties around your waist, and does not have a bib.

She had a sad and confused look on her face...almost to say 'what are you doing to my house?' I glanced into the kitchen to see if noel was near by so I could see if he saw her, he wasn't, and when I looked back up she was gone.

SEVEN
In our home I am aware of 2 people dieing in the 80's or 90's. A brother and sister...both stayed in the living room, in hospital beds (which we found in the garage). I haven't gotten the whole story yet, but a neighbor tells me they died about 3 years apart.

Sometimes if you sit just in the right spot on my sofa, there is an overwhelming smell of poop. It is disqusting, but usually passes fairly quickly.

Two different people, my husband being one, and his brother being the other have told me (not knowing the other ones story) that when they fell asleep on the sofa, they woke up and were unable to move. They each described it as feeling like someone was holding them down.

This has never happened to me, or anyone else, so I can only assume it is a male thing.

EIGHT
In our bathroom, which is on the second floor across the hall from our sons bedroom, there is tons of what I can only describe as playful activity. Sometimes when I am showering the shower curtain will fly in at me...as if someone punched it from the other side. Once when I got out of the shower, the sink water was on full blast. And other times the tempature of the water in the shower would go from hot, to freezing to scoulding in record time.

The attic door is in our bathroom. I'm pretty sure our bathroom used to be a bedroom, before the time of indoor plumbing. Sometimes the attic door will bang, like someone pushed it from the inside. I keep it locked tho, so it has never opened on it's own.

NINE
This one goes along with number eight. Noel tells me that once when he was in the bathroom standing at the sink he saw ruby fly up the stairs and into our sons bedroom. He went in to see what she was doing....no one was there. Then he remembered, Ruby was not wearing a white dress that day.

The playful activity in the bathroom and the little girl that noel saw I believe are the same person. She seems to be about the age of 4 or 5...and just wants someone to play with her.

DONE
All of the things that have occured in our home have sparked my interest in learning about the history of our house, and who lived there. No one knows when my house was built, the records were destroyed in a fire...and it is not on any old postcards that I have found of the town. I have looked up the deeds, and thru research discovered that one member of one of the familys who lived there was name Phianna. She is on a census report from 1860, being age 7. No other information can be found about her anywhere. I'm wondering if maybe she is the little girl.