A Maritimer's Unfinished Haunting

The following story is a recollection of experiences and encounters I have lived throughout my childhood, until the latest experience 9-10 years ago. The stories and events that I share with you are not fiction.

In the beginning, I believed I did not know better and interpreted strange lights, sounds, smells and physical experiences as being an unfocused kid. My intention is to share my story and to hopefully have the readers open themselves to another world that I believe coexists with our own.

Saint-Basile is a small town on the border of Maine, neighbor to Edmundston and Northwest of New Brunswick, Canada. When I was about 5 years old my family, and two neighbors, were offered to have our homes moved so a shopping mall could be built, which is currently Madawaska Center Mall (closed). This was approximately in the summer of 1982. The very same year, our family home was moved to a new development along with our adjacent neighbors.

About the same year, soon after being relocated, I remember having terrible nightmare ("Fright Mares") for several weeks, possibly months. My dreams were all happening in the same location, my bedroom. I remember seeing lights across my bedroom window one night. In what I believed was a dream, I stood on my bed and tried to pull myself to the window to see outside. There, back to my bedroom window, which was about 7 feet from the ground, stood a blue glowing being. What appeared as some humanoid form seemed to feel my presence and turned around. The only thing I saw before screaming and running for my parents, was blue glowing skin with gray dark smudges over him. The eyes were black; no orifices for the nose nor mouth and ears. My parents later tried to convince me I was dreaming. I believe there are 2 types of dreams: the imaginative/fantasy and an "out of body experience" where the dreamer sees his own surroundings, but with a transparency of the division from our world and the spirit world.

The nightmares continued with images of eyes looking at me from the wall parallel to my bed. One night I remember seeing an old picture on the wall with an elderly woman, dark, rocking herself and turning her head to see me. Naturally, my reaction was again to scream in terror and seek my parents. The vision continued even while I was desperately trying to keep my eyes shut, having images of monsters and demons' faces snarling at me. I was just a young child not exposed to horror films. Where such images would come from is beyond me?

The following summer I was playing in the garage with my father. It was mid-afternoon with beautiful clear skies. My father was listening to the local radio channel, as he usually did. A static sound crossed over the speaker, cutting off the French advertisement from the radio. Then, a deep and metallic voice appeared voicing something that I did not understand. The best way I could describe it was as ancient incantations, witchcraft speeches. I remembered that my father grabbed me by my shirt; pulled me out of the garage; closed the door and told me not to listen and to go play elsewhere. Several years later, I questioned my dad about the events, stating that he does not remember and was probably my imagination.

The next serious episode was approximately 3-4 years later. I remember being home alone, as my brother was at a friend's home and my mother went for groceries. I was pretty young and I assume at the time it was considered OK to be home alone for a short while. The basement was finished with a living room, open laundry room, picnic table and fireplace. It was raining outside, dark with rain clouds. I proceeded downstairs, turned 90 degrees to my left to face the living room. To my left side, where the open laundry room is as well for the toys closet, I felt something move on the corner of my eye. Instantly, I turned to the left again where I saw the most bloodcurdling images any child could see. There, down the hallway from the laundry room were two adult sized gray-misted figures, side by side, that immediately rushed towards me. My instant reaction was to drop on the floor, screaming with my hands over my head. To this day, I have extreme chills just by describing the vision. I can still clearly seem them bolting towards me; seeing darker mist where the eyes should be. The extremities of the arms and legs were invisible as of the end of the mist. The movement was swift but direct to me. I believe this was a personal attack.

The following years I continued to have an unbelievable fear of the basement. I could not take the stairs without any lights and always felt a presence in the dark, unlighted parts of the basement. My family also had some pets, at different times. We had a poodle for several years and some cats after. The poodle, Daisy, and the cats all behaved the same way. Again, I was getting into my teens and often did not want to follow my parents on visits. Therefore, I stayed home watching TV.

In the entrance of the living room is the bedroom and bathroom hall. One time I heard Daisy growling a bit, looking down the dark hallway towards the end. She was sitting close to me, fixing the darkness. I clapped my hands and called to her several time, unsuccessful to get her attention. I even put my head right over hers in an attempt to see what she was seeing; again nothing. I let it go. This happened another time, same scenario. I was alone and she was fixating down the hall, growling/crying. This time I decided to go down the hall to see myself. There I stood, turned toward her and tried to get her attention. She would look at me and quickly turned again her gaze to something she was seeing to my right. At that time, I was feeling curious and somewhat excited that there was a presence she could see. I could not see anything but decided to swing my arm through thin air. Immediately Daisy was somewhat surprised and looked at me while wagging her tail.

The exact same scenario happened a third time, this time with the family cat. She was sitting at the hall entrance, but looking to the dining room corner. I did the same gesture with her and same reaction, as if I displaced what she was seeing and came to me. This time, a general sense of fear passed through me.

Later events occurred while I was a student at the University. I was still living home and working full time during weekend. I would return home usually after 12am, during which my parents were usually asleep. I would take off my shoes, locked the door and proceed to the hallway to reach my bedroom. One night, as I was trying not to make a sound, I turned the hall corner and jumped back as If I was going to bump into my mother. She had a tendency to get up at night to snack. I told her I was sorry and I did not meant to scare her. There was no light in the home apart from the glow of the moon coming inside. I could clearly see my mother's figure in her nightgown, but just too dark to see her face or any clothes patterns. There she stood, not moving nor saying a word. I was flexing my eyes to see if it was trouble with my vision, but quickly realized this was an encounter. I could see the glow of the moon on the walls, the brick divider behind her, etc. I felt somewhat fortunate to have this experience and continued to look at her. I finally decided to swing my arm towards her to see if I would hit anything, to see the shadow disappear and after clearly seeing any objects that were behind her. The experience left me amused and curious for more.

Two other episodes occurred within the following month. The second was in the same scenario of returning home after work and going towards my bedroom without making a sound. As I was about to turn to enter my bedroom door, I had the bathroom door on my left. There I stood and heard a sound of someone blowing air. It was coming from the bathroom, which was completely dark. Immediately, I felt a great chill on my triceps, as if something was touching me. Again, I felt very scared as it was the first time I believe I had a physical contact. I went to bed again, closing the door and hoping for the sun to rise soon.

The third event happened about a week later. Same routine: after 12am; went to my bedroom. I was lying on my back and just about 2-3 minutes later, I heard the following. It was the sound of someone walking in the kitchen. The sound was of 4-5 footsteps; heavy as a full-size man with working boots. I could feel the vibration from my room. I stared at the tiny opening of my bedroom door, in beliefs that I would see something or someone walking by. Nothing. I finally got up and went to look at my parents; they were asleep. I went into the kitchen and could not see any footsteps; the door was locked, but again a weary feeling of being watched could be felt again.

I also remember a situation that occurred in the living room with my girlfriend at the time. We were home alone and watching TV late evening when she fell asleep lying on the couch. The light was dimmed so I remember sitting on the floor and leaning against the Lazy Boy as I was watching TV; I fell asleep as well. I must have woken up about 1 hour later to which I turned my head towards where my girlfriend was sleeping on the couch. I could not make out how she was sleeping, so I focused and saw her motionless, stretching towards me with her legs on the couch, one hand on the floor and another one towards me as she was trying to grasp me. Her face can only be described as if she was screaming mad at me, with me sound and no movement. I remembered jumping back and calling her name loudly so she could wake up. Then quickly, it's as if I focused again and saw her sleeping soundly on the sofa.

To those familiar with the movie "The Haunting of Emily Rose", there is a scene in her dorm where her friend wakes up to see her in a bizarre crooked pose... It was similar to that.

The most recent incident was about 2 years ago when I brought my girlfriend to meet my parents. We pulled out the sofa in the basement living room for the night. I had just gone to bed and soon closed my eyes. I do not believe I was fully asleep, but I had a vision. The basement is usually pitch black at night but I saw a white figure; a young women in a white dress. She walked slowly parallel to where I was laying; walked through the picnic table. She slowly turned to me; looked at me, then continued and walked through the cedar closet wall. The experience this time was... Soothing. I believe after 22 years later I finally got a message that someone or something was present in the home, watching over me, my family, from anything that would seek us harm.

I have told these stories many times, in hope to make a connection with the events. Where my family had their home moved is called the "Cyr's Family Land". The Cyr's were believed to be the first family to settle in Saint-Basile. I believe that some restless and lost souls are trying to make contact, trying to find rest, trying to find answers and to share events that happened during the first 100-200 years.

Soon after I graduated from the University, I worked for a special care home near downtown Moncton. There, other evidences of possible paranormal activities have been discovered. Old houses have stories, this one with a marking of an upside down crucifix tainted in the wall. In the Attic, armed with a camera and light torch, pictures of white orbs have emerged. The following describes how this late night hunting for evidences came to be.

I started working in a special care home for semi-independent adults living with serious mental health disorders. I was soon offered to work the night shifts from 12-8am, being the only staff responsible for about eight residents. Through my work, I had learned that two of those residents would often tell stories in the morning of a male adult waking them late at night by walking in their room and standing there. Of course, being diagnosed with Schizophrenia, their allegations were merely passed on as hallucinations and delusions. However, it surprised me that the woman on the first floor shared the same experienced as the other one who's bedroom exactly in the same corner of the house, but on the second floor. I was also informed of a stained symbol in the wall of an upside down crucifix, that had faded the paint, as a painting over prevents the wall to fade evenly.

I was also informed of rumors as to how to house was built, which was apparently from a doctor in the early 1900s, who had several children, and built a house with 8-9 rooms. The house was then sold to a lawyers firm, and then sold to become a Special Care home. It was told that when the special care was first open it was discovered that the attic contained a multitude of religious items such as paintings, crosses, status of the Christ, chaplains, etc. Therefore, I decided one day to wait until all residents were asleep to explore the house. The following describes my finding.

In the main living room is the front door which leads to a small balcony facing the street sidewalk. An illuminated EXIT sign had a small picture of the Virgin Mary resting on top of it and leaning against the wall. I stood on a tall chair and removed the picture to discover an area on the light green paint, that had a faded upside down crucifix, about 4-5 inches in size and clearly visible as if it had been there for several years. I then took my courage and proceeded to the second floor and opened the attic door. It was covered with a wall of insulation, easily removable. Maybe it was my fear of what would be behind it but as soon as I removed it, a great chill crossed my body. I started to walk up the cracking wooded stairwell, but had to turn around as I was not feeling well, probably from the nerves. I continued back upstairs to finally arrive in the Cathedral ceiling attic with two windows facing the outside. With my flashlight, I could see an old chimney in the middle of the room. Armed my camera I took twelve pictures where the flash and my torch were illuminating. Needless to say that I returned downstairs after the pictures were taken.

The next day I had them developed to find one of them had a transparent perfectly round white circle, which to me was clearly a grain of dust in front of the lens. However, the last picture had another white spec in the picture. This one was not round by rather as flowing deep white smoke, about a foot wide and 15 feet from where I took the picture. It was about 3 feet from the ground.

After looking at the picture, I noticed that it was in the same corner of the house where the two women's bedrooms are located, the women who claim to be often woken up at night by a man walking in. Was this evidence of a spirit lurking in this old house or just a defect in the camera? Evidence and open mind seems to lead at the idea that this house contains another guest.

My next steps are to seek counsel from a psychic. I do not want to have someone see in my future, but rather my past. If psychics have a sixth sense about these things, maybe I can get answers to what I have been experiencing these years. Now, I have lived in Moncton since the past 10 years. I have not had any encounters that I can remember. However, I had been waking up at 3am sharp for nearly every night for a period of about 2 weeks. Some say that 3am is the "witching hour", the opposite time as to when the Christ was resurrected; a time where the spiritual realm is at its strongest and forgotten souls are trying to make contact. These late nights wake-ups have always made me feel uncomfortable.

My next project is to visit Portage Island in Saint-John, NB. I hope that by investigating the island I could tune my perception of this world that sits on top of us. The island as experienced many traumatic events and many souls are believed to be hopelessly wondering. Please note that this island has "no trespassing signs". However, the City informs me it is "go at your own risk".

In conclusion, I hope that my stories caught the interest of some readers. I will continue to update my diary as more experiences occur. In the meantime, I can only welcome any friendly attempts to communicate with us, from someone who just wants to find a way home, or from another one that wants to share a bit of their world, to which I believe is coexisting with our own. I could only hope that should my soul be caught in this world someday, someone will have an open mind in listening to my calls.

Ps... In 2008 my parents sold the home after my father became ill with an aggressive form of Parkinson's. The new family has two little kids of about 7-8 years of age. I wonder if the kids have had experiences as well.