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Strange Happenings In Our Condo

 

My husband and I were newlyweds at the time of this story.

We needed our own place and after we searched for a few weeks we found a nice, small condo community in Rocklin.

The condo itself was adorable. Small, but adorable. It was a two bed, two bath with a small kitchen area, dining area, and family room. It had a lovely fireplace and in front of the balcony was a nice large mature tree. The condo buildings were only two stories high, and our home-to-be was on the top floor.

We made an offer, did all the paperwork, and moved in. It was great to finally have our own place, and this was actually my first time moving out of my parent's house. That in itself was a relief for me since my parent's house was always 'active', but that's for another story.

First things first, we both claimed our own bathroom. My husband (let's call him Harry) claimed the main bathroom, the one located in our bedroom, and I claimed the one that was opposite the second bedroom. Both Harry and I didn't get a 'vibe' from the place. It was nice and quiet up until I noticed something weird going on with the mirror in my bathroom. I'll try explaining this without sounding like a total nutjob. For the record, I only used this bathroom for doing my hair and makeup for work. I never even turned on the faucet unless I was just rinsing my fingers off from some makeup. I took a shower, brushed my teeth and did my "business" in Harry's bathroom. I wasn't "afraid" of my bathroom, and trust me, I wasn't squawking about anything paranormal at this point, I just didn't like being in there for too long. Never thought much about it. In a pinch and when Harry was using his bathroom, I'd use mine to take care of nature's calling.

I believe it was around a month after moving in that I noticed a small 'mess' on the other side of the mirror that seemed to appear over night. The bathroom had a huge mirror that took up most of the wall. Whenever I used the toilet, my back would be facing part of the mirror and it was in that area (behind me) I noticed the dried up whitish droplets. I know, I know. Droplets. Really scary. Please bear with me, though. It looked like someone had brushed their teeth or flicked water with their fingertips, managed to make a royal mess, and it had dried up.

I, at first, thought it was Harry brushing his teeth and making a mess, and I did ask him why he was using my bathroom (peeved at this point for not cleaning up after himself), but he promised he had never. I found it weird that he would have taken the time to take his toothbrush into my bathroom and purposely brush his teeth over the toilet and not over the sink (the mess was no where near the sink). I thought he was fibbing but I let it go, cleaned it up, and thought nothing of it.

The next morning I woke up before Harry, got ready for work, and observed the same looking mess as I had cleaned up last night. From that point on the 'droplets' began to mysteriously show up on a daily basis and at an alarming rate, no matter how much I cleaned.

There was more each time I entered my bathroom. It was nowhere near the sink so it absolutely could not have been me splashing the mirror on accident. I tried to recreate it over and over, but the odd thing was those droplets/residue were white and powdery. I started to notice that there were streaks now, like drops of water had slowly traveled down the mirror before drying up. I thought that maybe the toilet or the bathtub had something to do with it but I always, always had my toilet seat cover down, and the bathtub/shower area was not used once in the time we lived there. We didn't even have any problems with plumbing. I knew that, but I convinced myself that that was the case.

Harry thought nothing of it. He was under the impression that even if it was a residual spirit, or a conscious spirit, that it wasn't bothering us. So we nicknamed whatever it was the 'Brushing Spirit', since we joked that whatever/whoever it was was brushing their teeth. We assumed that whatever was doing this would have to be 'sitting' on top of the toilet seat (or hunching over) while facing the mirror since the mess was starting to concentrate near the bottom of the mirror.

As days went on, I decided to stop cleaning it up and actually chart the droplets on a piece of paper along with the time. On several occasions I would leave the bathroom, wait for a few minutes while both Harry and I were in the family room, then go back in only to find brand new dried up droplets and streaks. I tried wiping the residue with my finger and it came off the mirror easily leaving nothing behind. It was white, powdery, didn't smell like anything. I never tried to taste it because that would be a bit too weird even for me. I had no idea what this stuff was. If I left the 'mess' alone and not clean it up, it would start to spread out all over on only half of the mirror. I never ever saw any of the mess appear over the sink. It might sound pretty lame as far as ghost stories go, but I wouldn't take the time to make up a lie about something as stupid sounding as this. And as stupid sounding as this is, it really unnerved me while I was living in that condo. Thankfully that's all that ever happened in that bathroom.

Whatever it was would just make a god-awful mess for me on that darn mirror. I didn't really want to tell anyone. I tried to tell my parents but they were under the impression that Harry was playing a trick on me, which clearly wasn't the case as I had proven before.

A few months later we adopted a lovely cat which we named Udon. It was around this time I believe that Harry started to experience things while I was at work. One day at work he texted me saying he saw a glowing orb fly through the tree outside by the balcony. When I asked him for more details, all he could say was it was around the size of a tennis ball, very bright, white, and solid. It 'danced' around fast, erratically, through the tree branches before zipping off out of view. There was also a time he was taking a shower in his bathroom when he said a small marble sized black orb appear in front of him, twist up into the air above him and disappeared over the top of the shower curtain.

I only saw one orb while living there. It was night, I was home alone and stressing out because I couldn't find the spice I needed for dinner. I decided to look one more time in the cabinets and when I looked up from what I was doing I saw a marble sized black orb zipping around in front of the cabinets which I at first thought was a fat fly (even though it was silent). To my surprise it just disappeared in front of my eyes.

One night as we were settling in for sleep, Harry wanted a quick gulp of water. There was a pretty bright moon out that night so there was no need to turn on the lights. He went into the kitchen, got his water, and came back. He asked me if Udon was still next to me and I said yes. He then explained how he saw a cat sitting at the end of the hallway which he thought was Udon. Our cat never left my side.

The only other time Harry experienced that ghost cat was when he was doing laundry outside (we had our washer and dryer in a separate room but you had to go out to the balcony to get to it). He said he was just doing his thing when he felt a cat rub itself against his leg. Soft fur and everything. Harry said he freaked out at first because he thought Udon had escaped (he's an inside only cat) but when he looked down there was nothing there. He checked everywhere in the small room and found nothing. He hurried with the laundry and went back inside.

We only lived there for nine months, I believe. At seven months I was starting to get very angry with the place. I didn't like the energy of the condo anymore. Everyone started to notice my change in attitude. My parents are very generous people and it was my mother who suggested that Harry and I sell the place and look for a house. With their help we put the condo up for sale and looked for a house closer to my parents' place.

We were in the process of selling the place when we experienced the following. We were getting ready for bed as usual. The only light in the condo was coming from the cracks of the door of Harry's bathroom. He was finishing up shaving when I heard heavy footsteps going up and down our very small hallway. They were heavy (like they were putting all their weight into it) and fast like they were running, though it was going a bit too fast for a person. It would start from the end of the hallway and stop at our doorway which was, unfortunately for me, open at the time. It did that around three or four times. The cat was next to me, asleep. It was clearly coming from the hallway, there was no way it could have been mistaken for an outside noise or the neighbors. Whatever it was, it was stopping right at my doorway. I was starting to get scared. When it stopped I asked Harry if he had heard the running footsteps, but he hadn't. For my sake he made me convince myself it was just the neighbors, but I know what I heard that night.

As you all will come to know, I am a huge chicken. I know most of you have experienced things way more frightening or strange than this, but the footsteps was the final straw. I wanted out of the condo and Harry agreed that we would move into my parents' house while we were in the selling process of the condo.

We packed our stuff in the next few days and began to transfer what we could to my parents' garage. It was our last night in the condo that the following happened. In Harry's bathroom we have a small metal attic door on the ceiling almost directly above the toilet. I always thought nothing about it and had on several occasions (before any of the strange things started to happen) tried to open the door out of curiosity but it was heavy and stuck so I was never successful. Anyways, once again it was night and we were getting ready for bed. Harry was in the kitchen for whatever reason and I had to answer nature's calling. I turned on the bathroom lights and I saw that the attic door, the one that I had always tried to open but was never able to, was open. The door was perfectly still and the attic was, naturally, darker than dark. I had a sense of dread wash over me and I really, really didn't want to be in that room but I really had 'to go' and at that point, I hadn't used my bathroom, let alone open the door, in months. I was scared but I decided that talking would help me focus my mind away from the fear. I began to call out Harry's name. When I had his attention I asked him if he had opened the door. I tried to be as vague as possible just to kill time and continue the conversation (poor Harry was starting to get frustrated with me towards the end of our chat). When I was done I flew out of the bathroom and got Harry to go to the bathroom and shut the door. It was heavy, sturdy as it always was, and locked into place when he shut it.

I didn't want to talk about it since we were just about to go to bed. When Harry took off his shirt (he hates to sleep with a shirt on), I was shocked at what I saw. His back was scratched to hell and back. There were long red marks every which way on his back like someone had dragged their nails down his skin. There was no blood and he said they didn't hurt at all, they just looked nasty and puffy. At that point I was very mad at whatever had done this but Harry said it was best to not agitate it or confront it. We left the following morning with the cat in tow.

The condos were built in 1997. The person we bought it from was a very nice old lady who had lived there alone for seven years. I do know that her cat had died while we were in the buying process. We found out when we had bought her cat a toy and learned the sad news. On the morning we left we did ask the cat spirit to move on and that their owner had loved them very much but had to move to another home. I hope the cat spirit did move on.

Before the old lady, based on the sale records, someone had lived there three years from when the condo was first built. I don't know anything about that person (s). I also don't know if someone had passed away in the condo.

I'm not sure what was in that condo, but I don't miss that place at all.

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The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, Udon555, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

Udon555 (4 stories) (12 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-11-16)
elfstone810- 😆 Oh goodness, that darn kitty...! But you do make a good point, and I was thinking something along those lines as well. I would imagine that I would have seen some mess elsewhere as well, and trust me I explored that bathroom top to bottom in search for a cause! Even Harry tried to find a logical reason behind the mirror mess, but he couldn't pin point anything either.

Spiritwaiting- It's funny because my mother is a neat freak as well, and she scolded me once for leaving my mirror dirty when she visited! She cleaned it herself (she's a 'if you want something done right, do it yourself' kind of lady), and that very same evening she asked me why I made the mirror dirty again. At that time I didn't like talking about any potential ghosts/spirits, so I took the blame for my ghostly roommate. She knows now that something wasn't quite right about that condo.

I don't recall the exact number (of those scratches) but it was somewhere between 3-4 red marks. There was a big one that went all the way down his back. Some scratches were horizontal, but his arms were clean and his sides weren't scratched. Oh and those heavy footsteps were frightful! The last thing I want to experience while settling into bed are heavy footsteps running up and down my hallway! I'm surprised I even got to sleep that night. 😉
elfstone810 (227 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-11-10)
Udon555, I get the feeling you like Zach's explanation better than mine. I can't imagine why that would be. 😜

The only problem with his idea is that the water running down would deposit the leached minerals in long, vertical streaks, not a spray pattern.

Here, Kitty! Kitty! Kitty 😆
spiritwaiting (42 stories) (843 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-11-03)
Udon555, I agree with everyone else here, it was defintely a good decision to leave when you did. Especially after mentioning your mood changes and the increase in activity. Also the scratches on your husbands back. Were there 3 long scratches that you can remember? That could mean an evil presence. The mirror and the white powdery substance crazy! I am a clean freak, and that would have had me just upset! Great story by the way. Oh and the heavy footsteps are the scariest aren't they?!
Triskaideka (2 stories) (388 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-11-02)
I'm with Zack84 on the mirror thing.
Http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf97786394.tip.html

As for everything else, CREEPY. I would've moved too.
Udon555 (4 stories) (12 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-10-31)
Zack84 - Amazing! Thank you for your input! In your situation, did the mirror also get muddied up by the leakage or was it just the wall? I do remember looking at the surrounding walls, the counters, even cabinets in search for any other 'white powdery stuff' in my quest for answers but found nothing. At one point I even wanted to pry the mirror off the wall to look behind it but Harry wouldn't stand for it. 😳 Would it be possible that something like that (a nicked pipe) could be missed by home inspectors?
Zack84 (8 stories) (32 posts)
+2
11 years ago (2013-10-30)
Many people here have said it and I think it's true, "haunting" events take energy from "the living" which would explain why issues in your condo escalated as time passed. The longer you lived there, the more you "charged the batteries."

I may have one scientific explanation for the residue on the mirror. When I was young we lived in a house where they had recently done some remodeling before we moved in. They had put up some wainscoting and in the process nicked a water pipe. The pressure of the water weeped it's way through the sheetrock, picking up minerals as it went, and when it came out the other end it would dry and this almost crystal like powder would "grow" on the wall in long streaks. It was just dried minerals from the sheetrock... Was quite a mess! We would wipe it up and the next day it would grow back.
Udon555 (4 stories) (12 posts)
+1
11 years ago (2013-10-29)
glesgaboy - No offense taken, just lots of grins and snickers over here! It's nice to be able to chuckle about it now that I'm out of that place. Thanks for reading my story and a special thank you for making Harry and I laugh!

SirenBelva- Correct. Harry didn't open the door, though he was in the bathroom before me and he said he did not see the attic door open when he was using the bathroom... And trust me, it's really hard to miss it when that door is open! So sometime between his visit to the bathroom and mine, the door somehow opened.
I find it hard as well to attribute the footsteps (and the attic door opening) to an animal ghost. The footsteps (truthfully it sounded more like someone stomping) did sound more 'human' than anything, but as I had said in the story, the speed of the steps were just a bit too fast for a normal person (which was one of the most unsettling things about that situation).
I think whatever was in that condo was getting too comfortable around Harry and I. I'm glad we got out of there when we did.
SirenBelva (7 stories) (64 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-10-29)
I am assuming that Harry didn't open that attic door. Can a ghost cat open an attic door? I have to say Udon555, if I were you I would be creeped out, too. The footsteps and attic door are hard to attribute to an animal ghost. It sounds like the activity was increasing. I think it's a good think you moved out of there.
glesgaboy (24 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-10-29)
Udon555, is it possible that the "ghost cat" had a bad breath problem from eating that stinky cat food one finds at supermarkets and pet stores?
This in turn may have prompted the cat to ingeniously learn to brush its own teeth hence the droplets on the mirror.
Mind you, I'm not sure if bad breath is a problem in the spirit world but its worth pondering.

Just kidding! Udon555, please don't take offense.
I liked your story very much.
Would have crept me out!
I admire the fact that you stayed so long.
Udon555 (4 stories) (12 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-10-29)
elfstone810- I nearly busted a gut laughing! 😆 I really, really hope that that is not the case (and only because I touched the stuff)!
elfstone810 (227 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-10-28)
I had no ideas at all what could have been messing up your mirror until you mentioned a ghost cat. This is pretty off the wall but... Have you ever seen a tomcat mark his territory by spraying stuff? There's an outside tomcat at my house who's always trying to claim my car. I can always tell he's been there by the white droplets dried on my windshield.

I don't know if a ghost cat would spray or even could spray, but I'm awfully glad you didn't taste that stuff! 😆

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