Ghost Story 1 - The Walker

The other day while waiting for a meeting to start we started sharing "ghost" stories. Some people will dismiss purported supernatural "events" and even ridicule the storyteller, but if you've ever had an unusual or upsetting experience that has no rational explanation, you become a little more open to hearing stories. So I have 2 big and 1 small ghost stories - just don't read them if you're a ridiculer.

The Walker

Before my junior year of college I moved with some girlfriends into an old, rickety house near downtown Grand Rapids (Michigan). It had 4 big bedrooms and another small room off the attic. Lu was already living there, and she warned me that there was a 'ghost,' and that her dog was regularly upset about it. The rent was cheap, and I really didn't care about a ghost as long as I got my own room.

The first incident occurred about a week after I moved in. I didn't see or hear a thing - but the dog stood up in the middle of the living room, stared into thin air, and just went nuts - barking, fur raised, teeth bared. It was pretty unsettling. She could not be calmed down. So we just waited it out, and that was it.

The dog did this about every 3 weeks, but nothing else happened for a few months. January came, and we covered the windows with plastic sheeting to hold the heat in. Another friend moved into the attic bedroom, which was the warmest. Marcy started complaining that she would hear footsteps coming up the stairs to her room, cross the attic, and then stop in front of her door. She thought we were playing a joke on her, pretending to be the 'ghost'. We were not. After a few times, she wrenched open the door to face whoever it was - and no one was there. I heard her yell "just show yourself, you m$&*f*@r," but I didn't hear anyone walking in the attic, even tho her room was right above mine.

Then, everyone but me left for 2 weeks, including the dog. We had interim semesters, and I chose to work rather than take a class, and everyone else either went on vacation or went home. One night I woke up because I heard the basement door slam. Then, all the doors on (my) second floor slammed in succession, including the door to the attic. Wide awake now, I just figured there was a huge gust of wind that tore off some plastic, and started to go back to sleep.

I had some clothes hanging on my closet door, and a bulletin board with papers on it. The clothes suddenly started swinging back and forth, and then the papers on the bulletin board moved as if there was a huge wind going through the room. But the plastic sheeting did not move around the window, and the door did not rattle.

A few minutes later, I distinctly heard the attic door open and close, footsteps going up to the attic, and then across it. I thought, maybe it was somebody's boyfriend, and they were looking around and thought nobody was home. That didn't explain the clothes swinging around, but I was trying to keep from being scared. A drunk boyfriend with an unauthorized key is still better than a ghost.

Well, I never got any sleep that night. Marcy came back to town first, and the attic walking continued - she just learned to ignore it. Nothing ever happened directly to us - it was just very annoying and cost a lot of sleep. It continued until we moved out about a year later - but we moved out because of a neighbor who used to sit on his porch and polish his gun and complain about college students - not because of the 'ghost'.

Next, is The Mischief Maker, which is much weirder.