Creak And Cackle

several years ago I moved out of my parents house and into an apartment on my own. The first night I slept there I heard an unusual creaking noise from the corner of my bedroom ceiling. It sounded so much like that creature from "The Grudge" that I looked at the corner to make sure that my walls weren't growing hair. Eventually I settled down and figured it was just some old pipes or something.

About a week later my now wife moved in. That's when it started getting worse. The sound began moving around the room until eventually it sounded like the whole ceiling was creaking. We had stored some of my wife's belongings on the floor of the bedroom closet and were startled to find that one morning, everything in the bottom of the closet was soaking wet but all of the things that were off the floor were completely dry.

After that we started sleeping in the living room. That didn't help. On the first night the sound was coming from the ceiling near the bedroom. And eventually spread until it would move all around the living room. It always seemed to want to be near us, but I don't remember it ever being right over us.

My wife and I, still only engaged at the time, loved to go on walks. On these walks we would walk past the mental asylum, which was right next to the grave yard, to get to the park. On one such walk, just after sunset, we were enjoying our time together in the park when we heard an odd cackling sound. We looked to where the sound came from and saw a dog, just sitting there, looking at us. All the sudden it stood up on its hind legs and ran off into the trees. We never went back to the park.

Back at home, in the middle of the day, we were sitting together in our living room, when a child's head pokes through the window, says something I didn't understand, and goes back out followed by children laughing. I check the window and the screen is shut and intact no one could have reached the blinds to move them.

On another walk, far from the park, we started hearing footsteps following us, but when we turned around there was no one there, and when we stopped, so did they. We began noticing figures watching us from houses as we passed.

About a week before we moved, I left my wife home while I went to get some something from the store. During my trip I notice shadows moving on buildings that I pass, but I don't stop and look. I'm too afraid.

When I return to the apartment my wife is hysterical. After I calm her down she tells me that while I was gone the creaking sound had filled the entire room and the lights were violently flickering on and off. That's when we decided to move.

On our last walk we enjoyed the company of a few friends, hoping that their presence would prevent anything unusual from happening. As we walked down a dark road near the hospital, not the asylum, just a regular hospital, we heard footsteps behind us. We all stopped and looked, but nothing was there. A moment later a car came from one of the side streets, followed us a block, and turned off. We moved to the main road, hoping that the streetlights would be some protection. On our way back to our apartment we had to travel through an empty lot. Halfway through the lot, with the closest building 50 feet away and nothing above us, we heard the creaking sound from the apartment. It was directly above us, and everyone heard it.

We ran back to our apartment and our friends went home. My wife stayed up all night and watched the ceiling as the sound moved all around. We were far to scared to sleep. The next day we packed and left. We stayed at my father's house for a night, then moved to live with my wife's parents halfway across the country. We both still fear that it will somehow follow us.

Can anyone please tell me what it is and if we're safe? I haven't heard anything for six years, but I'm still nervous.