I Was The Only One That Noticed

I had a number of small things happen in my family home when I was a kid, but it seemed that they were either only happening to me or I was the only one noticing.

This is a collection of short stories of these of occurrences.

Footsteps

The most common 'weird thing' that would happen was when I'll be downstairs at night watching TV and I would hear movement and something that sounded like footsteps on the floor above. Which was where all the bedrooms were. I would go up and check if anyone was out of bed and no one was there. A few times I even woke up my mum, to ask if she had been walking around, but her answer was always no.

Every time I would stop and listen it would also stop right away, so I was never too sure. And it would usually happen a few times in a row. But there was one night when I was home alone and I heard the footsteps louder and clearer then ever. A distinctive thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, across the upstairs floor. There was no mistaking it. No one was in the house but me, and all the windows were closed. It didn't sound like anything falling, it sounded exactly like footsteps. I called a friend and ugly cried on the phone to her and didn't go upstairs until the sun came up.

The creaky Stair

My house had two staircases that weren't old but were very creaky and would snap and creak in the middle of the night all time. This never bothered me that much, because I knew it was just the house resting and wood expanding and all that.

The very, top step of the upstairs staircase, which lead to all the bedrooms, would make a particular creaking noise when you stood on it, especially if you swayed your weight side to side. This particular sound is something I could probably recognize anywhere, because of how often my siblings and I would stand on the step and sway, just to make the sound for fun, and then mum would yell at us.

One day I was upstairs in my bedroom doing homework. It was around 3 in the afternoon and it was a nice sunny day. I was alone in the house. My parents were in the backyard watering the garden, and I could hear them talking outside, as I worked. My bedroom door was open and if I looked to my left I could clearly see the hallway and the top of stairs.

I'm sitting there doing my work and I hear that creak. I turn and look without even thinking. Funny creak on stair equals somebody's there.

But no body was there. And this was that particular creak only made when weight is on that step and it is moving. I even called out hello, guessing maybe one of my siblings was home. I just sat and stared for a good minute. And then got up and checked the whole house. But I was the only one inside.

To be sure, the next day, I went and asked my brother and my 2 sisters if they have heard the step make that sound by itself before. My brother actually called me silly for asking because,

"That step can't make that sound by itself. Someone has to be standing on it."

Both my sisters assured me they had never heard it make that sound on its own and were confident it couldn't. And they were a bit spooked when I told them what happened.

The Vanity

In the same upstairs hallway, opposite the stairs was an open vanity area for the bathroom, that didn't have a door. The toilet, shower and bath had its own room with a door. The vanity had 2 sinks with matching, ceramic hand towel holders, on the wall. When you dried your hands the ceramic would squeak and thud on the wall. They were basically heavy rings hanging on the wall.

I would occasionally hear them make this sound as if someone was drying their hands. But no one would be there. I often would hear it and then look, but the sound would stop. I even heard it once visiting my parents after moving out. Same thing.

The Falling Frame

A year or so after moving out of my parent's house I was back visiting with some of my other siblings. My sister and I were sitting at the dinning table with my mum, talking about the family. We had moved the chairs away from the table and we were sitting in a semi circle. I was in the middle, my sister to my right and my mother to my left. In front of me on the wall was a framed and hung family portrait taken at Wonderland Sydney. It would have been taken 1990-91 before I was born. My parents and siblings were all dressed up like they were from the Wild West. They were told not to smile so it would be more authentic to the time, and it was in black and white and made to look grainy. It is kind of a weird and creepy family photo.

So my mum, sister and I are chatting away and then out of nowhere, the weird picture frame slides down the wall with huge force and crashes to the floor. The three of us all jump up and are really spooked. We all fell quiet and exchanged looks. We didn't say it but we were all really freaked out and had no idea how it happened. We checked the back of the frame and the nail in the wall, to see if something was faulty or broken. It all looked fine and there was no huge gush of wind to knock it off the wall.

Sure, things can just fall of the wall sometimes but it was the force that went with it, that was really weird. It was just like 2 strong, hands grabbed it and dragged it down the wall with all their strength.

It wasn't a natural fall.

A heavy silence fell upon the room and none of us knew what to say. We commented on how weird it was and how it scared us but I don't think my mother and sister dared question it any further. We then put the frame aside and left the room.

It wasn't until later, looking back; I realized just how strange it was. I also remembered that I looked up at the photo seconds before and thought how it was weird we were having this serious family conversation under this weird and creepy family photo. I looked away for a moment and then it fell.

I don't remember exactly what it was we were talking about. But not long after this event, a lot of things happened that changed my family forever. We went into to some pretty dark times. I had a thought then. What if this is some kind of warning. But just brushed it away, thinking, that only happened in movies. I could be reading too much into it and it could just be a coincidence but its still weird.