The History Of A House Is Not Dead

"The past is never dead, it is not even the past." - William Faulkner

We used to live in a beautiful house atop a hill where our pool was always warm, day or night because of the open-plan layout of the garden, and it had a beautiful inlet area with deep green creepers, luscious flower beds furnished with smoky silver pebbles and finished wooden fittings. The American Ambassador and his family lived next door to us in a double story house which was avant-garde and ostentatious, albeit primarily interior-design. We lived in the house for all of about a year before the owner decided to break-or-sell and the price didn't match our family budget, so my parents and I began the challenging task of house-hunting, although my Mother fulfilled most of the tick-boxing for the perfect-home-criteria.

My first choice was a house in the same area as the hilltop house which had a grand room located in the lower story of the house. When I opted for this house during a home-hunting dispute, my Mother explained that she was not comfortable moving into the house because a man had come home to find his wife and her lover together in their main bedroom, at which point, he had secured his gun, shot and killed his wife and turned the gun on himself. Henceforth, I had no arguable reason to continue polling for the option.

My parents eventually found a house in which they pledged their fondness and one evening, we took a family drive to view it as a final-step in the decision-making process of our perfect home finding. Personally, I found everything off about this house viewing! For one, the family looked terrified to me, the parents were constantly concerned with their children's whereabouts and both adults looked drawn, exhausted and spooked. To this day, I cannot believe that my parents could not see that they were terror-stricken. Also, the room viewings lasted all of about 20 seconds. They would mingle in general conversation for a little while at the door, and then quickly open the door and before we could even walk in to have a look around, the door was promptly closed in our faces and we were ushered with hurry to the next part. We were never taken outside and showed the garden area, even though the garden area is definitely a deal-maker with a sitting area, plenty of ground covered in lime and forest colour grass and a swimming pool (to give a very basic description, in truth). Once we had been shown around the house just-once, they would not consent to going back into the rooms or showing the house, further. I believe that they wanted us in-and-out, as quickly as possible. Even the setup of the viewing in and of itself was over the top (like trying to oversell the place), but, even with the rich-hues of red and yellow flames dancing in the fireplace and the determined cozy atmosphere, it seemed as though someone had tried to stick an idealistic picture over another picture of the truth - a picture of... 'something else'.

I was direct with my parents, I said "I don't like this house. Didn't you see how those people were acting? They were acting really weird and they would not show us any parts of the house again, even if we asked!" My parents put it down to being tired and on-edge about selling a house so naturally, they bought this house which has now been my residence on-and-off for about fifteen years. So much has happened in the following years, I will probably have to write the stories in parts.

The first thing I can note about living in this house is that since moving into this house, it has been bad for me and for my family in very obtuse and discreet ways considering ghost activity. Everything bad in my life, making bad choices and so on, began in this house for me. For my Father, it manifested in his work-life and for my Mother, embodied the negativity in her becoming more emotional about things and solitary from family. I know this is a website where I can write an article about ghost-stories but I am having a difficult time deciding on what I can put down and what I shouldn't. One thing I can say is that there is one undeniable rule amongst the para-energy/entities in our house and that is - once it gets its hooks in you, you will never be able to leave.

I can begin with a para-encounter from about 2 months ago. I went to the shops in the evening and returned around 09:30 PM, maybe later. I had managed to get my lighter lodged in one of the divisions of the car compartments and subsequently, I had to use my phone as a light while running back and forth to our garage-workshop to find various tools to take out the compartments and look for the lighter. At this point, I had a new phone and I did not know how to make use of the "torch" function but I did know that if I did a video recording, the auto-flashlight would turn on. All of the garage car parkings were utilized so I had to park in the driveway while it was pitch dark. I went about my business, dashing between the garage and the car while filming. When I was going through my gallery a few days later, I was stunned at what found. There were several people and creature-like figures in each area in the background. Most were familiar-looking beings which I sometimes snap in photos which look either like people or ancient Egyptian-like creatures or perhaps, the type of creature you might find in some tarot card picture prints. There was one or two figures that definitely gained my interest, one of whom I believe to be a ghost. As I got into my car, a man passed outside the window, and I could see him clear as day. He had shaved hair, wore a blue waterproof jacket with the hood folded-in and he was a colored man. Everything about him looked like a normal human being until I looked at his face. His mouth looked as though somebody had whacked it off with a spade! His top lip was bludgeoned and bloody, he had no bottom lip and his mouth was, well, a mess. He walked passed my car, as casual as day-and-night, as though he was walking to meet a group of friends.

On another occasion, I was walking through our lounge at night and found a man who looked quite similar to the man as described in The Haunted House - The Undertaker (and Family Stories), A Visit from a Past Relative. He looked completely human only in the form of a solid, black figure. He was running his finger over the dressing stand over the television. He was looking closely at the photos and ornaments, and moved over to the next wooden stand while focused only at the photos, once more. The next day, I went to go and inspect exactly what he had been looking at, it was family photos of immediate relatives, passed-on and living today. Shortly after this occurrence, I was taking photos in the lounge area and I got my first proper snapshot of an orb. You think that an orb will be very simple because of the way people describe it but it is actually, quite unique, symmetrical... I can't quite describe. It was a while ago so I can't remember everything except this was my first proper encounter with orbs and having seen only a few in my life, I must say orbs are... Somewhat magical in their nature.

I have done some paranormal automatic writing but it was not out of choice and is not something I can do out of my own or by force. The automatic writing took place shortly after we moved in, a morning after I endured a restless night without sleep. I got into the habit of writing poetry or a diary when I couldn't sleep but it only happens once every few months or so. I don't remember much except that I felt as though my head was going to explode, I could hear voices and they were talking but very clearly and to the point. Almost like, "I was driving and I found myself looking into darkness. Without hesitation I got out of the car. I could see my girlfriend sitting on the seat next to me -" at which point I would get an image or an immediate understanding of the situation and succumb completely to a, fierce-access / vent of, particular immense emotions. The voices would also be interrupted by other voices which made it more perplexing and devastating. At this point I had no knowledge of automatic writing but eventually, to ease the phenomenal pressure blowing up inside my mind and body, I picked up a pen and paper and began scribbling down everything I heard. Some of it was personal family information, some of it was random (I believe to be about the people who lived in this house before us) and some of it was foretelling. Some of the foretelling came true, although it was told like a current story, the events as described came to pass. Some of the family stories were verified as passed tense by my step-sister and some were never clarified nor confirmed.

The story of the girl who lives in this house is a dubious one. From the bits and pieces of information and para-sensing that I've processed over the years, I believe that she had an overbearing and abusive Father who kept her, her sisters and sometimes her Mother locked in the outside room. In a more recent meditation I did in this house with a guide, she came to me again and she told me instead that she had been kidnapped and was kept here by an abhorrent man who eventually killed her. Since the guide meditation, I have had no encounters or feelings of her again but she did say that when I had those feelings and saw those things in the past, it was her contacting me so I would understand her story better. Now that I do, I think she has found some peace and maybe even moved on to a better place.

Our house seems to need people in it to retain its energy or life-force. If a family member moves out, their room and living space slowly becomes a grey, desolate area - almost as though that part of the house has not been inhabited for years and years. The one place in our house that I will not sleep is the outside flat. It is a small flat, it has a modest-size room with a small bathroom outside. When I sleep in the room, I hear footsteps to-and-from the bathroom and I hear the light being turned on and off. If you close the door to the bathroom, the activity increases in attention-seeking and as a result, the door is always left open these days.

The night my step-sister's sister passed away, we were in the flat when she got the dreadful news. She was crying hysterically and I was comforting her, when we heard a loud bang from the bathroom. Upon investigating, the toilet lid had flipped off the toilet, although the noise it had made sounded like a gunshot. Also, my sister-in-law used to reside in that room and she was involved in crystals and other sorts, the length to which I do not know. She called me into the flat one night and she taught me how to work a pendulum. When my sister-in-law resided in the flat, it always had a welcoming, clean and warm atmosphere, but since her departure, I do not know one person who has lasted a night in that flat except my step-sister. Note: There is a side-story to my step sister living in the flat that supports The History of a House is not Dead article, but I have yet to find a way to write it.

Another instance in the flat was with my ex-boyfriend, who also adamantly REFUSED to stay in the flat for one night. I must say, he was right. One of the nights we were spending time in the flat together, watching movies and so on, I had an experience that bothered me immensely. I started falling asleep in his arms during the movie, and soon found that I was in the exact same room, only it was void of colour and atmosphere - just grey. I tried to wake myself up and I could not, so I used a technique of trying to push my chest up which with much perseverance normally works. I woke up to him watching the movie for a few seconds and then found myself back in the grey-place. This went on for what felt like forever. Towards the end of this experience, I actually felt as though something was trying to lift me up or yank my soul out of me, I do not know how it did not succeed because the will and the ferocity of the attempts was astronomical. I also started hearing voices and I made out three girls or maybe, two girls and a guy, standing by the bed talking and giggling looking at me. This experience sounds harmless, but it was actually terrifying. I do not know what could "yank" your soul out of your body but it was an invasive and disturbing experience. I believe I only lived because my body was strong enough and not ready to go.

I've also seen various lurkers through reflections on the bathroom tap and caught a few snapshots with ghosts in the background. My sister-in-law says that my baby niece can see them, and if you look into the reflection of her eyes when they are around, you will see them. I did see a few people in the background once, two of the ladies were blowing kisses, waving and laughing at her. But, when I looked into the reflection from the large glass door, I saw that we had laundry hanging in the garden... T-shirts, dresses and other items.