Photo shot at SL Teddi’s Egret Key – actually a quite warm and sunny place, when it wants to be….
A rather Exuberant thank to (Ghost Editor) Teddi for helping to get this Ghost story off the ground in a proper manner!
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A bit of a prologue…
To Quote:
“Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone."
…The Haunting of hill house by Shirley Jackson
Unlike Shirley Jacksons story, the house haunting events written below, although a bit fictionalized, are all based on actual experiences. Not my own( to my chagrin), but by others I have had the pleasure to know personally enough that they have confided them to me.
The house described actually exists, but, although by my opinion it has every rite to be haunted, has never given up its ghosts to anyone yet. The events depicted in this chronicle have actually occurred at several different houses, all quite old, all located in the same general area.
The story below may not be an incredibly horrific ghost story….but then, when supernatural things got bump in the night in real life, it does not necessarily have to be….. now does it? Unlike Shirley Jackson's story, the house haunting events written below, although fictionalized, are all based on actual experiences of others whom I have the pleasure to know well enough that they have confided them to me.
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It has taken me many years to find the steel within my soul to write down my story; the marrow-freezing tale of my experiences inside the walls of the old Froes house.
I freely admit that I am not an author of stories, and since I'd already recording the chilling events in me Journal, that venue is the one in which I chose to share my experiences.
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While in college, a friend of mine rented an older house, along with a group of her friends. She failed to mention whether it was dark and stormy, but one night she was alone in the house with the good-natured German Shepherd Dog belonging to one of her roommates.
Barron (the dog, not my friend), seemed perfectly content, laying on the couch beside my friend, when he suddenly raised his head, baring his teeth and snarling with uncharacteristic ferocity. Staring in the direction of the stairway leading to the upstairs bedrooms, hackles rising, the dog drew my friend's alarmed attention to the stairs, and as she did, a small wisp of shadow slipped moving out of sight, just on the periphery of her vision and she heard the sound of small footsteps retreating up the stairs,
Rising from the couch, she approached the stairs with caution and slowly put her foot on the bottom step. As she did so, Barron came to the bottom landing, barking, and causing my poor friend to nearly jump out of her skin -- figuratively, of course. Her heart pounding furiously, my friend steadied herself and took another step, motioning for Barron to accompany her, but the dog refused, laying down at the foot of the stairs and beginning to whimper in distress when he couldn't obey her command.
Just then, my friend heard the distinct sound of two sets of feet, one small and one large, moving quickly along the upstairs hallway. Determined not to be frightened by what could be a stray cat that had gotten inside, or maybe even a raccoon, through an open upstairs window, my friend continued to ascend the staircase, turning on every light she passed, until she reached the upstairs corridor.
But there was nothing unusual to be seen.
She also failed to find or hear anything out of the ordinary in any of the 4 bedrooms, or the single loo, that were built off of the corridor. Giving up, she went back downstairs to where Barron was laying at the foot of the staircase, still whimpering. She petted the dog, as she gazed up the staircase, wondering what it had all been about.
Later, when she'd told the landlord the story, he confessed that the old house in which they were staying at one time had a small wing just off of the main bedrooms, that had burned to the ground. That wing had a loft bedroom, and 3 people perished in that room, in the fire; a grandmother and her two young grandchildren. He never revealed if there had been any previous unearthly activates witnessed, or reported, by anyone.
Despite the strange occurrence I've just related, me friend still does not believe in ghosts to this day, but she has no rational explanation for what she experienced.
As for me, I used to agree with her feelings on the subject, until --
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Part 1 coming next
