I am hoping to get some feedback from someone who understands this kind of phenomena more than I do. My story has changed my life, beliefs and understanding of reality.
It was a bright and sunny day in Burlington, Ontario in the upscale suburban neighbourhood of Millcroft. It was just after 4pm mid September 1997. I was 11 years old and my friends and I spent most of our time biking and exploring the corn fields and forest that were slowly turning into new subdivisions. Occasionally we would explore houses under construction and this day was one of those occasions.
It was myself, my brother and 3 friends; 2 of them were longstanding childhood friends that lived on our court. The other child I can no longer remember his name. We were riding our bikes up Millcroft Park Drive and stopped to play and explore in a partially constructed home in the village of Turnberry. We spent a few minutes walking around on the plywood floors, opening and shutting doors and just messing around. We heard a voice coming from the basement, it sounded like moaning. The voice was discontent and I immediately thought it may have been a construction worker who may have fallen into the basement. At this point there was no stairs leading to the basement but a square hole was cut out in the plywood floor so we could see a block of light streaming into the basement. Besides that it was pitch dark down there, I noticed it was completely unfinished, just gravel and looked like a few inches of water.
We ran around outside the house and gathered around the small window well looking into the basement. We couldn't see anything, it was pitch black but we could hear the moaning still. The drop was at least 6-7 feet in the basement, based on our previous explorations, and the concrete was sharp (fresh) at the edges making it dangerous to grasp or touch. We don't know how someone could have gotten down there. I yelled in the basement asking if he was all right (sounded like man's voice). He replied with a short but audible, "No." At this point my friend Ben started crying and was really scared and begging us to leave. I still wanted to rule out that it wasn't a worker but after hearing the voice say that I became cold with fright (the only time in my life). I asked if he was hurt and he replied with another, "No."
Throughout these two questions we could hear faint moaning. I was convinced that someone dangerous was in the basement and I instinctively moved away from the window, as I was terrified of being pulled into the basement. We took our bikes and rode them down the street to the contractors' building (Monarch Builders at the time). There were two men in their 20's inside who were surprised to see us storm into their Sales Office. I told them frantically that there was someone in the basement of the house down the street, and they brushed us off saying, "Get out of here" but my friends and I pleaded saying, "We heard a man downstairs and we thought he could be hurt." They explained nobody was in that house and that all the workers have gone home for the day. We persisted and they reluctantly hopped into the white pickup, following us down the road.
This is where it gets really weird. As the men pulled out of the driveway and started driving, white smoke started coming out of the engine and they stopped and got out. At this point my friends and I bolted. The contractors seemed pissed off and we were startled by the whole incident.
We rode home and briefly discussed everything. None of us had an explanation and we were all dumbfounded. My brother trying to brush the whole thing off as a psycho in the basement and the truck just being a breakdown. I still told my mom. She didn't believe us but I convinced her as she knew I wasn't the kind of kid who made these thing up.
My family, friends, Monarch Builders and the police were involved now, but they found nothing down there. The contractors said they walked over to the building, checked the downstairs and the police verified this. Case closed?
I'm 27 now and I still do not have a logical explanation for that day. My brother and our childhood friends still remember and really don't like discussing it. One of them is a firefighter, the other a star quarterback at Canadian University, I manage my family business and my brother is a stonemason. I think we are all trying to forget but I can't! I cannot find any incident like this online involving newly constructed homes and the like. I'm hoping that given the details maybe you can offer me some piece of mind.
I can confidently say that this wasn't a person (as no one was ever found and it would be very difficult to get down there and get out quickly and undetected). I also want to note that this was an affluent neighbourhood and city. I have never seen a homeless person before or a junkie (I've thought about all of this). Even so, there were hundreds of houses closer to the corn fields and forests that a person would have squatted in first rather than down the street from the main office of the construction company.
The only other information I have is my avoidance of that area ever since that day. I never walked, biked or driven by there again willingly. I would be happy to to provide more details to anyone who is interested. The actual house is inhabited now. I've thought of talking to the owners, but I'm worried about how they may take it.
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I almost forgot about this post. I got a call today from my girlfriend who just explained my story to her hairdresser who lived on that street at this time (may not be exact house). She said all the picture frames fell off the walls at the same time in front of her family, that they could hear footsteps and voices in one particular room of the house.
To Valkricry:
I appreciate you reading my post and carefully looking for inconsistencies and areas that may explain this incident. Like anyone who posts a very personal experience like mine, naturally, I'm a bit bummed out that (time) was the focal point of your comments and not the content I posted (considering the nature of the website), I didn't know I was writing to the Ministry of Information and Adjustments.
So just for your record:
Like I mentioned in my original post there were "Hundreds" of houses being constructed in the area. So if it was a practical joke, the prankster would
1) require advance knowledge of where we were going
2) what exact house we were going to
3) leave earlier than us to get there undetected
4) have equipment and assistance to lower them self/selves into the unfinished basement (which was pitch dark, had noticeable amounts of water and probably very dangerous with nails, boards etc)
I can assure you that we had no idea where we going that day, what area and house we were to explore and at what time. Moreover, every kid we knew was with us and we didn't have a stereotypical bully that followed us around all day plotting against us.
The house in question was geographically located 100 meters away from the construction office and 100% visible during the entire movement from point A (the house) to point B (the construction office).
So, I can assure you that the likelihood of someone pre-selecting this location is quite improbable. Whether it was a bully, homeless man etc. They wouldn't have slipped into a dank basement of one of the closest houses to the construction office. There was plenty of almost finished homes far away from the sight.
The area was once a cornfield in the village of Appleby (albeit northern part).