Randfontein Mine House

It was around the time that my third daughter was born, 1970, that I started to see strange things. This all happened in Randfontein, South Africa.

I don't know if it was a case of 'raging hormones'. Or the house we were living in.

We had recently moved into a very old mine house; brick on the inside, (plastered and painted of course), corrugated iron on the outside! I cried bitter tears when we had to move in. It was old, (back to the '30s I think) very dirty and utterly depressing. As my husband had left his 'old' job, we had to move out of our beautiful, light and shiny police flat. The council did not have a house available for us at the moment, so we moved into a mine house which was sub-let to the council.

One day, as I was cooking in the kitchen, I saw a dog near my foot, sniffing the ground. It was quite a large dog, sort of reddish brown in colour and very mange looking, like it was half starved. My first reaction was to wonder how the dog got in, I was sure I had shut the screen door. As I turned to look at the dog properly - it was gone! Yes, many of you out there know exactly what I am talking about! I did not understand at the time, what the heck was happening. Of course I checked the screen door and all over the house, but no dog was to be found inside or out. This was my very first 'sighting' ever, but not to be my last!

A few months after, I was again in the kitchen cooking, when I noticed a black kitten dash across our living room floor. Now, our kitchen was divided from our living room by an enclosed stoep (veranda), (I mentioned that it was an old house, it had a lot of add-ons) I immediately ran across to the living room to see where the kitten was, because my baby was in her pram. I had been told a lot of stories about infants, and cats laying on them and suffocating them. We did not own a cat at that stage, and I didn't want one in my house. I looked to the left, as I entered the living room as that was the direction in which the kitten had run. No Kitten, only an empty fire-place. I virtually turned that house upside down looking for that darned kitten, but to no avail!

It was not long after these happenings that new neighbours moved in next door. My new 'friend' from next door told me that 'hauntings' don't only take place at night. I was surprised, but luckily forewarned. The next time it happened, I would not be left doubting my sanity!

Thanks for reading my story.