Haunted Childhood Home Or Just Old House?

Please excuse me this is my very first story for this site and I'm worried people here will not think I can write well enough to post my experiences here. But I thought there is no harm in trying. Nothing to loose. Just hope you enjoy.

I'm a long time site reader and I've just joined as I thought it was time to be more than a hanger on.

This story starts when I was 5 in 1975. Late Spring probably Mid-May and already quite warm for that time of the year even for Florida, according to weather people on the Night News.

I had been born in Cuba, in September 1970 to a unwed teen mother (I have since reunited with her and we are now doing well as friends). I was adopted on 14th December, 1970. When I first came to the USA my new family and I lived in a Cramped Apartment in Miami until my parents saved hard earned money to moved to a house in Ft. Lauderdale, FL a month after my 5th Birthday. So this is where our story starts.

The home was built in 1948, but hadn't been looked after particularly well so my parents bought it for a lot cheaper than it should have been for the area it was in. It was single story but had a finished basement, a pool and a large garage. I believe they call these houses Ranch Style homes? I could be wrong so excuse me. Antiques and Art I know but sadly house styles of that age not so much.

Describing the house so you can picture it in your head. The house was on a corner block which was slightly odd angled but had a decent yard and the rooms were rather large for the most part. The house sat on the block at a 45* angle from the front of the property so if you looked from the street you'd see the driveway and garage then part of the lounge room sticking out and the front steps and had to walk around the side to get to the door. Four steps led to the front door which was a double door which we mostly kept one permanently locked unless we were moving big things. Once in the door was the hall/foyer. Double doors again lead to the main lounge room joined to the main dining room (which could be made private by sliding shut the smoked glass door between the lounge and dining room). Back of the dining room were sliding doors to the patio /BBQ area. Turn right off the dining room your in the kitchen /breakfast nook/ laundry room (with separate exit door) off to the side through another door. Out another door further up the side of the kitchen led back to the Foyer/hall one way and a little hall with a phone nook in it to the left. Ahead was a door that lead to the main rooms hall. First door left was Mom and Dad's room, first door right was my bedroom (front of the house) , next to my parents was Mom/Dad's den/home office/library. Next to me was a linen closet then a huge bathroom (I loved it as it had a massive claw foot bathtub in it). Then the guest bedroom the other side of that bathroom that family and friends used to stay in when they visited.

Outside we had a large saltwater swimming pool which had been put in around the mid 1960's and had an amazing tile pattern of colourful fish on the bottom. Attached to the side was a brilliant spa.

Further back with access to the side road was the garage with side access and our two dogs' dog houses at the side of it and our vegetable patch.

The house was cream/off white With a dark green roof and dark green window shutters. The garage was painted the same colors. We totally repainted it soon after we moved in the exact same colors as the paint wasn't in good shape.

My mother, a keen gardener, spent hours making the garden look presentable and had it looking fantastic the whole time we lived there until we moved to Huston, TX for my dad's work when I was 14. I still miss that house. Freaky stuff or not. It had a lot to make you think about and often wonder what was going on. Below is just a sample of what we had to deal with. Sorry for the long story and the history lesson but this is my first post and I'm nervous writer for being first time on this site, so I apologize so very much to you all.

Firstly the double doors (smoke glass paneling like the sliding ones leading to dining room) would often be seen opening just an inch or two and closing quietly like someone was checking to make sure the people in the room were ok. Other times we'd shut the dining room sliding doors and go out the back or out to the laundry or somewhere else in the house and come back only a minute or two later to find them wide open by themselves (if others were home at the time they'd be asked if they opened the doors. Of course no one had). Other times we'd leave them open to go to bed only to get up in the morning to find them closed up (After asking again no one had been in there during the night to open the doors. We never went through there to get to the kitchen after bedtime we always used the adjoining hall).

Footsteps heard late at night in the kitchen and laundry with sounds of either the laundry door opening or the sliding doors opening then closing and footsteps then going back into the main part of the kitchen stopping near or in the walk in pantry. On checking no one was there and the doors were shut and still locked very firmly.

In our finished basement: To get into our finished basement you had to open a door in the laundry that looked hidden unless you knew it was there you'd think it was a cupboard set into the wall... Very cool I thought as a kid to me it was like having a secret stairway behind a secret door (I did and still do now love horror and mystery stories and books so please excuse me).

The basement was finished. A main room which we used to house our pool table, another lounge and TV etc for when we had parties (and my friends and I to use as a hang out when I was older with parents permission of course). It had a full bathroom, another small room we used for storage and a slightly bigger room that later we turned into another guest room when my older cousin who I got on well with lived with us for 4 years while she went to university nearby.

The basement bathroom toilet would flush on occasion when not used (got it checked several times there was nothing wrong). Doors would open and shut without us doing it (again asking everyone and no one else had been down there). A strange wet dog odour would come and go at times (it wasn't our living dogs as they dead set refused to go down into the basement no matter how much we bribed them with treats. And they were never down there wet). Balls on the pool table would move around in odd patterns when no one was playing and they'd been left on the table (again when asked no one had used or moved them since last games). We had a few book shelves down there full of all sorts of books for us kids and teens to read (including later my beloved Stephen King collection) which I had neatly lined up as I was very careful with my books. I'd come back down later and they'd be moved to different shelves, laid on their side instead of upright as I'd left them. Sometimes my books would be moved onto the floor or onto the lounge or stranger still on top of the shelf or on the TV. Once even on top of the toilet. I got angry and asked everyone to stop messing with my special books as it was going to damage them and I highly prized and cared for them. (Everyone promised me they hadn't touched them and if they had read them they'd put them back right). One night after yet again tidying my books and games (which were moved too) I yelled out to whoever or whatever to please stop messing with my special books and games or I'd be really angry. Soon after that the books and games stopped moving around and getting damaged but the other stuff kept happening. I didn't think spirits had that much energy to do so much but apparently I was wrong in the case of that house!

In the garage Dad would often hear footsteps and whistles of someone else while he was in there doing things. First time it happened he was under the bonnet of our car at the time (old Jeep Cherokee) doing something or rather (he can't remember what exactly now) and heard the footsteps and whistles. Thinking one of his friends has arrived he called out hello but received no reply so he looked up. Seeing no one living there he heard footsteps walk past him on the other side of the car still whistles until the footsteps reached the little one person exit door on the far end that lead to our other carport and driveway. When the footsteps seemed to reach the door both the footsteps and the whistles suddenly stopped.

My dad left and went inside and had a cold glass of coke cola and cooled down for a while thinking the heat must have made him hear things. (but it often happened when he was out there and it stopped bothering him. He thought oh well a nice friendly whistler who keeps to himself who just comes by to check on things it's no bother.).

The side roller door to the carport would be seen moving like it was being shaken sometimes when no one was around. No idea why or who or what was doing it we never saw anyone. And when it was done in full view of people on both sides of it no one saw anyone touch it. Weird!

Dogs would bark at the garage when no one was in or near it (phantom whistler maybe). We had two black Labrador dogs at the time Max and Donna who were great guard dogs mostly though they were the typical sweet Labrador dogs that Labradors are, but that garage really would set them off completely crazy at times. No other place but the basement did that to them. So insane I'd never seen dogs act so oddly.

My cat at the time Bonnie would purr and meow like someone was patting her the way she really liked it when she'd be resting in the lounge room sometimes. She was a shy cat in general and no one outside our small family of dad, mom and me, generally couldn't get near enough to her to pat or even try to talk to her or feed her (we had rescued her from a bad home). But whoever was the extra (or one of them) in our house Bonnie sure got a real liking too. They whoever they were must have been cat lovers in life. We were glad Bonnie had finally made a new pal. And she clearly loved the extra attention.

Other crazy things that would on occasion happen in the house.

The two pairs of double branch candle sticks we always had on our main dining table would now and then be placed in different places on the table. Candles would often be removed and laid next to the candle stick holders.

Family and friends photos and trinkets we had decorating shelves around the house would sometimes be moved around to different spots on their right shelves.

Radio in the lounge would turn on and go through the dial and back to our station spot and turn off as quick as it started (maybe someone was trying to say something? EVP trying maybe? We had no idea of that in those days my family but we do now and it really leaves us wondering).

Smell of perfume in my bedroom long before I was old enough to wear real strong perfume like it was and it wasn't my moms purfume and it would dissapear as soon as it arrived.

Smell of pipe tobacco on back patio would come and go when no one in the house smoked and no one nearby was smoking a pipe or anything else (my dad realised it was pipe smoke because it reminded him of the smell he'd smell when he was a boy and his family went to visit his grandpa who used to smoke a pipe which smelled exactly the same).

I was wondering what was your thoughts as a lot of you have a lot of experience in these areas. And I'd really like to hear your opinions. Please don't be abusive I'm a nervous first time poster. Sure I don't live there anymore but I've had a lot of other interesting interactions with the other side since, some of which I would maybe like to get some help with if I can as not all of my current living situation (my own house) has great interactions and a couple have left me seriously worried for me and my family. Please I'm looking for genuine help and guides.

Sorry this has been a very long post but a lot had to be said. Hope you enjoyed it.

_Texas-Lynx_