The Growl

I swear everything I'm writing here is 100% true and in one case I have another witness who would back all of this up. This took place in a small town near Boston, Massachusetts. It takes place in my mother's house, which is about 30 years old. We were the first owners. The land was an apple orchard before it was developed for housing, and before that was just woods. Many bad and stressful things have happened in the house, however.

In the winter of 2013/2014 I was at home with my mother. I walked into the bathroom and as I entered, I heard a low growl behind me. (NOTE - we do not own a dog.) I screamed, and my mother came running. I told her what I'd heard, and we hunted around for an explanation. We found a vacuum extension and she suggested it might have tipped over, dragging against the wall and creating the growling sound. I had my doubts, but for the sake of my sanity I agreed and forgot all about it.

About six months later, my fiancé and I went hiking. We got lost in the woods and were picked up by a really nice woman. She was a devout Catholic (her car was FILLED with religious stuff, I think she had a job at a church), and when she brought us back to our car she handed me a statue of child Jesus with a lamb. She said she had picked it up at a yard sale and felt that I was supposed to have it. I'm not religious, but I was touched by her kindness so I brought the statue home with me. I set it in the bay window of the kitchen.

The next day, around dinner time, my mom and I were in the kitchen talking. We were having a pleasant, normal conversation, just typical how-was-your-day stuff. As we were standing there talking we both heard a loud, menacing growl distinctly coming from the air between us. It sounded like an angry dog. We hunted for an explanation, but after much unsuccessful cabinet-wiggling and water-running, we were both thoroughly spooked. (Again, we don't own a dog, and she lives a ways off the road so we weren't hearing somebody else's dog. The only thing I can think of is it might be water pipes. If somebody has any ideas or non-paranormal explanations I'd love to hear them, because frankly this memory terrifies me and I'd really like a normal explanation for it.)

My mom said the statue had been creeping her out and told me to get rid of it. She was afraid maybe it was responsible for the sound somehow, so I put it outside. I wanted to blame the statue, too. My sister, who is a resolute skeptic, was laughing at us the whole time.

Later, my sister (the same one who had been laughing at us when we were freaked out) approached me and said that after her trip to Ireland, she brought home a small pane glass window image of the Virgin Mary and hung it up in her room. She confessed she'd started having bad nightmares and the sight of it creeped her out, so she put it away, and the nightmares stopped. My sister suggested that maybe instead of some growling spirit being attached to the statue, maybe the statue had pissed off something that was already in the house. That made me think of the growl I'd heard that winter.

Again, I promise that this is all true. My mother and I are both mentally stable. We don't drink or do drugs, and we are not religious or particularly interested in the paranormal, nor do we jump to paranormal explanations for things, but creepy stuff happens in her house that has driven me to be open to the paranormal. Thank you very much for reading!