The Block House

First, let me start off by giving you a little history. I grew up on a fairly good sized family farm. Several of the children built homes surrounding the main house and raised families of their own. In the late fifties, my older brother built the blockhouse right beside the main house. He lived there several years before building a larger house further away. Being recently divorced and now single, I moved into the blockhouse in the late eighties or early nineties. The blockhouse consisted of three rooms. As you entered the front door you would be in the main room which was a living/dining room to the right of that you had a very small kitchen and further to the right was a small bedroom. Being right beside the main house there was no need for a bathroom and none of the interior doors had actual doors.

Now in most stories it takes a while before things start happening, right? WRONG! It started my first night there. Like I said I was single again and didn't need much furniture. All the furniture I had to start was a bed, table, one easy chair and a T.V. (you have to have a T.V.)

My first night there I watched T.V. until about midnight and then went to bed. From the angle my bed sat you could look out the bedroom door through the kitchen and into the living room. I lay there for a while trying to sleep and for whatever reason opened my eyes and looked toward the living room and saw a bright reddish orange glow. Thinking maybe the house was on fire I jumped up and ran to the living room. Now remember this was a very small house and it only took a few seconds to make it to the living room and when I got there, nothing. No fire, no glow, nothing. Well I lay back down and tried to sleep and I guess I dozed off for a while because when I woke up the glow was back. I got up and went into the living room and it was gone again. I sat down in my easy chair and stayed up the rest of the night.

I asked my brother about it the next day and all he said was to not be surprised at what you might see or hear in that house. Over the four or five years I lived in that house, I heard many things, too many to count, but I will tell two that stand out in my memory.

This first incident happened several times, but the most memorable was after my nephew Lee moved in with me. Lee had his bed set up in the far left hand corner of the living room. One night we were watching T.V., I, in my easy chair, and Lee stretched out on his bed. I got up to go to the kitchen for another cup of coffee (I have always been a big coffee drinker), as I took a step something underneath the floorboards pecked where my foot was, another step another peck, each step I took I got another peck. The pecks weren't very loud, you could barely hear them over the television but your could feel them on the bottom of your feet. Well I got my coffee and came and sat back down. The pecks followed me all the way to and from the kitchen. Just to see if it would happen again I told Lee that I had some cokes in the fridge and that he could have some if he wanted it. Lee started in the kitchen and the same thing happened to him. Step-peck step-peck. He looked at me all wild eyed and exclaimed "what in the hell in going on" I just grinned, Lee knew about the house too, but I think this was the first time he had experienced anything.

The second incident happened some time later. It was winter time and me and Lee was watching T.V. We had the door closed and a fire going in the old warm morning stove. Right in the middle of our show there was a rap on the front door followed by two or three more. It sounded like they were knocking on the glass of the inner door. Well, I jumped up and ran to the door thinking something had happened to momma in the main house and that they might need help getting her up out of the floor or something.

When I got to the door, no one was there. I went and sat back down and Lee asked who was at the door, I told him no one. He then asked if I had seen anyone running away and I said no one knocked on the door because the outside screen door was locked. We had a old fashioned screen door, not a storm door, and it was impossible to knock on the inside door without opening the screen door. Lee looked at me and grinned kind of sheepish like and said "We ain't going to get much sleep tonight are we?"

I moved out of the blockhouse in the mid nineties. It has sat empty for several years but has now been renovated and has had a bathroom added. My daughter is making plans to move into it. I wonder how long that will last.