The Second Apartment

Pregnant with my first, my husband and I moved into a one bedroom apartment while waiting on some VA paperwork to go through. We were planning on buying a house, but had to wait for this paperwork.

The apartment was across the street from a cemetery, and I thought it was just normal and fine. We were at the very end of the row of apartments and so had parking on three of the four sides. Every apartment had a backyard too.

My vacuum was old and not working correctly, so it was a bit dusty but otherwise, everything was as right as rain. I stayed home while he went to work and school, so was able to observe the neighbors throughout the day.

Across the parking lot was a long row of apartments, two story, two and three bedrooms. People seemed to move in and out frequently. We were in the one bedroom for about 11 or 12 months and I watched 4 or 5 different people move in and out again across the way in this one particular apartment. A big odd considering the apartment complex required year long rent contracts.

After having the baby, the manager told us we needed to go to a second apartment or risk being fined or something because baby did not have her own closet. Odd. Anyway, the apartment across the way opened up and we signed over to that one. We were given 2 days to move over because she had someone lined up for ours. Basically she wanted all apartments to be filled and was moving us over, whether we liked it or not.

So we called my husband's grandma to sit and watch the baby in the living room while we took a laundry basket and filled it up, moving everything as fast as we could into the second apartment. We couldn't find any boxes on such short notice, so we used whatever we could find, bags, baskets, etc. And of course it was snowing as we moved. And night.

I was the first one in the second apartment, as husband was tearing things apart at the first apartment and grandma was minding the baby. As soon as I walked in, I felt complete dread. I hauled things upstairs into the two rooms, but there was some dark energy type thing I could see out of the corner of my eye in the second room, so I threw everything into the master and ran out. I tried to go as fast as I could but every time I went in, the dark thing still seemed to be "observing" or something. I didn't like it at all. We finally got settled, but we kept the baby in her crib next to us. I think she was maybe 5 months old or so.

While in the second apartment, I could see the cemetery out the master bedroom and watched the ceremonies that would happen on occasion. It wasn't a spooky cemetery at all. While the first apartment seemed on its own, this one seemed crowded. We had neighbors on either side, to the left was a couple who would have a battle every Sunday, and to the right was a couple who were pretty friendly. Both couples also had children.

We still avoided the second bedroom, I put my furniture in there but shut the door and stayed out of it. There was no dishwasher, so I would wash the dishes at night alone but would always feel eyes peering at me from the entrance of the kitchen. I'd turn around shaking and scared, but nothing was there.

Everything broke in that apartment, the upstairs toilet, the garbage disposal, the A/C, the heater, the washer broke at the water source flooding the place, there were no locks on the window and once the dryer had a terrible gas leak. I figured it was poor maintenance, cheap stuff or something, although that never happened in the one bedroom apartment. In the second apartment, it was one thing after another. I bought long narrow poles to lock the windows but that was as far as I was going to go. I planted roses too, but took them when I left. The rest I left for the maintenance man to figure out.

My husband bought a larger crib online and it arrived fine. We opened it up to put it together, but it reeked of stain, so we let it air out. Instead of moving the stinky crib into the creepy room, we slept in the creepy room, I figured it would be a day or two at most. It ended up being almost a month.

At night I would have nightmares of a medusa-like woman leaning over the baby, and see shadows everywhere. I chalked it up to whatever it was, it was coming from the cemetery, told it to go away, and left it at that. My husband finally gave up and packed the crib, taking it to the consignment shop. When he opened it to show the buyer, there was no smell. It was odd, within 2 hours the stain smell went away, even though it had still stunk as I was putting it in the box. We had let it air out with the window open but no change in smell. Another annoying oddity on top of everything breaking.

We then had to move the bed down into the living room because it was so hot at night, since the a/c was broken. The baby and husband could sleep, but I never rested too easy. It always felt like eyes were on me constantly. It was very unsettling. I would open the window and the back door for a cross breeze, but then would shut them again immediately.

Finally the VA paperwork went through and we were told (again by the manager) to be out in a month, or our rent would skyrocket. This time though, I was ready, and we went house hunting the following day. I wanted out of that second apartment yesterday!

We agreed on a house with the best resale value, even though I had strange dreams about the old river behind it prior to moving into the house. It was also the only house in our price range that passed VA inspection, and seemed happy and normal, despite the dreams.

The movers came to the apartment and took everything but a few random items, the fans, the vacuum, the broom, etc. Things I would need to clean up before turning in the keys. Or that were too awkward to fit into boxes.

I was alone again at night at the apartment, loading things into the car. Baby and husband were at the house. I tried to go as fast as I possibly could, because it was extremely creepy. I was hauling things to the car for maybe the third time when I looked back into the apartment and saw a man standing in the living room. A tall black shadow man just staring at me. I was about to get into the car and drive away with the front door still open, but I took a deep breath and stood there a minute to gather my wits. Two people walked by on their way somewhere, so I gained some courage to run back in there with the man, grab everything and go. I even managed to lock the front door, but I was terrified.

The first week in the new house was really weird. I could hear static voices in the back room, and over the course of the year, my husband and I both saw shadowy figures in the bedroom and hallway.

I've spent the last two years "cleaning" the things out of the house, and blessing and all of that. I've managed to remove the strange shadows (they are still outside but not in the house) and get rid of the weirdness everywhere but the toy room and hallway.

They seem most active August/September. Voices, missing items, toys turning on and playing alone. Day before yesterday we were all asleep, and the printer, disconnected from everything, started printing and making all of these funky noises. It has no ink or paper, so nothing came out, but it kept going until my husband shouted at it to stop. It was 6am or so, had never done that before, and the second he yelled at it, it stopped and did not continue. I assume, like everything else, it was just a fluke.

I still can't figure out if whatever was in the second apartment came with us, or if I have been dealing with a whole new set of energies, or both, it's extremely annoying. The shadow I saw at the second apartment seemed like an angry human, while the shadows at this house seem more like the typical non-human "shadow people" with the funny hats. I get the feeling that the problem lies with the land itself, and the house is in the way. They seem to be traveling from the front yard through the north rooms of the house to the old river in the back by the big tree.

There seems to be a "playful" thing in the toy room and hallway. I am afraid to leave my second daughter in the hallway to roll around while I go to the bathroom, because it just seems like something is jumping over her or going to grab her or something.

At night in the bathroom washing my hands I can feel something peeking around and making faces, and again as I'm washing the dishes at night or cleaning the counter. Similar to the second apartment experience. I try to ignore it as much as possible, although I am seriously considering getting and hanging a Zhong Kui keychain on the vanity in the toy room.

Just last night I took my oldest (now 3) outside to find the moon. We couldn't see it, but she yelled and pointed and we both watched a shadow move from our yard to the back of the house where the old river used to be. There are two streetlights next to the house, we are at the end of the cul-de-sac and no cars were driving, so a shadow of unknown origin, basically. We went back inside quickly.

I don't know. Things have been so weird since that second apartment, I really wish we had never ventured in there. Here's hoping I can get the toy room "cleaned" out this winter. Enough already.

The only thing that is consistent is that I put my childhood furniture in the bad room in the 2nd apartment. The same furniture is now in the toy room with similar problems. I've never had a problem with that furniture before, and I've had it all of my life. My mother had it before me, it had been left at a house she moved into when she was 6 years old. Maybe there's a problem now?

Timeline: 1st apt Jan/Jan: 2nd apt Jan/Aug: House: Aug/present