The 100 Year Old House

My mother, brother, and I lived in an older house in a small town near the Kansas and Missouri border several years ago. The house was built around 1905, had three rooms, a large front porch, and an added on kitchen with a back door. I remember thinking the house was kind of creepy to begin with, because of its creaky wooden floors and old style. In fact, in the cellar below the house, there was an old closed off well. The well lay in the middle of the house, directly on the main floor. You could still see where the previous owners had boarded off the hole that used to have the well in the center of the living room.

The first year we lived in the house nothing really unusual happened, other than the typical sounds an old house makes when it's windy outside. I remember the first time something strange happened rather clearly. I was home alone, about the age of 13, and sitting in the living room watching TV. The backdoor to the house was part of the add-on, which had been done in the early 70's, and had a distinctive sound when opened. I remember hearing the door open with its familiar screech sound, and jumping up to meet my mother in the kitchen. However, when I arrived in the kitchen, there was nobody. I thought it was strange, but didn't question it.

As the months went on, I sometimes heard the backdoor open and shut, but though it was only the wind. Besides, I didn't need to freak myself out in the old house, anyway. Then, one night, my mother and I were both watching TV in the living while my brother slept in the room adjacent to it. Suddenly, we hear the back door open and look at each other. This time I knew for sure I wasn't the only one hearing it. My mom mentioned that she'd been hearing the noise for quite some time and had even checked the latch on the door, but never could figure out why it was opening. I revealed that I had been hearing the noise too, and had even noticed that the door would not open when I would hear the noise. We eventually just became used to it and didn't think much of it.

Sometime later, my brother and I were sleeping in our shared room (we slept on bunk beds, and I was on bottom bunk and he was on top bunk) and we were woken abruptly. Five loud knocks rapped quickly across the top of our room, near the ceiling. It was so loud that my brother, who was only ten at the time, began to cry and ran for our mother. She convinced my brother that it was probably just the house settling, but I didn't believe this. The knocks sounded distinctly like a human fists banging the wall very quickly and loudly.

Two weeks later, my mother calls me almost sounding alarmed. She had been reading in her bedroom when five loud knocks ran across the wall above her bed. It startled her so much that she jumped out of bed. She described the knocks as human fists as well. I'm not sure what these knocks were, but we could never explain it. There was no way of getting into the attic because of how unstable it was. Also, I remember the boards outside of my room often creaking when nobody was awake, and sometimes I would see shadows pass by the door outside of the room. Nothing ever seemed like it wanted to hurt us, so we never investigated much further into it. The only curious thing about door making an opening sound was that it was a part of the add-on. I haven't done any research into the background of the house but I may soon.