Ghost In Apartment#216

I lived with my family in a beautiful apartment complex in Silver Spring, MD from 2000-2003. During our stay there we encountered quite a few strange incidents that I'm sharing here.

It all started about a month after we moved in. I was 17 and my sister was 11. I saw my family deity in my dreams. She said there was something in my apartment, but I need not be scared and that she will sort it out. (I am from India and we believe that each family has a guardian angel or family deity that keeps you safe).

I made no mention of this to anyone. Then, about 3 days later, I was in the shower when I heard a loud scream. Turned out that my younger sister, who was in the kitchen, was pushed by some unseen entity with such force that she fell onto the ground. Amidst sobs, she said she could clearly feel five fingers on her back pushing her.

Then, such incidents became more frequent such as: Once, a battery-operated dog started to function on its own. Ditto for a battery-operated toy piano. Once, I was organizing my closet while listening to music on the stereo system. I could literally see the volume increasing until the display said "Max". I couldn't figure out how it happened! Anyway, we chalked up the electronic occurrences to some crazy frequency thing and ignored it. But then pills would disappear, with the boxes, and then we would find them under the bed, right in the middle.

One night I was using the computer, when I felt a presence behind me at the door. The computer was near the window and the layout of the room was such that if you sat at the computer, your back would face the door to the room. Right next to the door, inside the room, was a lamp. So, I felt this presence at the door and I turned around to see the lamp shaking a bit as though someone just casually walked by and chanced to touch it. I was alone at that time and all the windows shut, so there's no chance of wind causing the movement. So, the next thing I did was open this walk-in closet that was there in the room, which doubled up as our prayer room (we are Hindus and so, idol worshippers).

What happened next still gives me goosebumps, almost 17 years later! I quietly opened the prayer room and got back to my PC. The next thing you know, the bulb on that lamp fuses. Luckily I had other lamps on, but it was creepy nevertheless. I left the PC as is and walked into the prayer room and stayed there until my family returned.

Then one day, my sister and I were on the couch watch something on TV. She was drinking Pepsi and I had orange juice with me, when something happened and the cable went off. We thought it was loose connection. (That used to happen at times.) So sis and I tried to fix it. We left our glasses on the center table and walked up to the TV and fixed it. When we came back to our seats, the orange juice was IN the Pepsi glass... Both drinks mixed up and trust me, we were both sure we hadn't done that!

The last incident which caused me to share my dream with my parents and have the house blessed was this. I am an avid reader and I read for about half hour, at least, every night before sleeping. At that time I was sharing a room with my sis. She was asleep already and I was reading something when my bedside lamp just shut off on its own. I initially thought the bulb fused, but no! All I had to do was turn it on and poof, it worked. It was as though someone had turned off the lamp. Actually, I even heard a click but I thought I was imagining things! Anyway, I turned the lamp back on and began to read, when the bulb made a loud noise and fused! Needless to say, I closed my book and disappeared under my duvet! But, it's not over yet... Now comes the scarier part.

I wake up at around 2 or 4 am to find every single lamp in the bedroom turned on (except my reading lamp, of course). And my bedroom had 4 to 5 lamps! I used the bathroom, came back, turned them all off and went off to sleep. The next morning my mom asks me why I kept all the lamps on all night. (We girls never latched our rooms door in that apartment!) I told her I hadn't and even though I found them turned on, I had turned them off around 4! But, my mom woke up around 7 and had found all the lamps on.

Finally, we decided to consult our family astrologer in India who confirmed there was an entity in the apartment. He said the entity won't go anywhere because it was existing there even before us. Nevertheless, he performed a prayer/cleansing ritual and gave my sister and me a talisman to wear which kept us safe during our stay there. Other than these few incidents narrated above, we loved the place and the apartment!