Almost 10 years ago I rented an apartment in an area of Worcester, MA called Quinsigamond Village. It was in a three decker house that once was home to many generations of Swedish immigrants that worked in the mills nearby. Thinking I had a really sweet deal on rent for such a huge place with so much charm, I quickly signed the rent papers and moved in.
This place boasted an old cast iron bathtub with the lion's feet and a built-in china cabinet. It didn't take long to realize that things weren't exactly right in this place. I was single at the time and lived by myself. My first experiences started off as little things; a fawcett left on, a picture I had hung being upside down, or a coffee cup I could have sworn being left on the kitchen table would be in the bathroom, etc. I attributed these experiences to my own carelessness but still felt they were kind of odd.
One night I awoke to the phone ringing in the kitchen only. The phone in the bedroom did not ring and the caller ID was not picking up the call. I still thought this was kind of odd but again wrote it off as just one of the quirks of living in an old building with old wiring. I awoke another night to the sounds of shattering glass. I ran to the window and did not see a thing. It was so loud that I thought someone else surely would be up at their window investigating, but there was no one. The next morning I inspected the area and didn't find so much as a shard anywhere.
A few months later I was getting up to make coffee and felt a cold breeze. It was the middle of winter and the window was open in the pantry. Being an old house, the kitchen had a long walk-in pantry with a window at the end. My Dad tried to tell me that the vibration of traffic going down the street had raised the window. I really wanted to believe this. It happened again but this time in the bathroom. I would also hear what sounded like the front door opening and upon inspection would find the door still locked like I had left it.
Perhaps the scariest things that happened were one day while home from work sick, I was sitting in the living room watching a movie. The sofa was against one side of the wall with the closet door next to it. All of a sudden I saw something out of the corner of my eye move along the baseboard with great speed. It appeared to be white. It disappeared behind the chair in the opposite corner and then reappeared just as fast from the other side before disappearing under the TV stand. My blood went absolutely cold. I have never felt a sensation like that before and I hope to never again. I stayed on the sofa with my eyes peeled to the TV stand. I wanted to believe it was a mouse and that maybe I had spooked it instead of the other way around.
After what seem like an eternity, I mustered up the guts to inspect the back of the TV stand. I hopped onto the chair and tilted the stand forward to see if there was anything behind there. I couldn't see anything. I knew by my body's reaction that I had just witnessed something very unusual. I started to cry. I didn't know who to call. Who would believe this? I also became angry. I walked from room to room and called out to whoever it was that they had to leave. I also recited the Lord's Prayer out loud. That night I dreamt that I was chasing something that I couldn't see around the apartment. When I woke the next day I felt as if the air had lifted. Unfortunately it did not last.
About a week later I came home from work and was making the trek up to the third floor when I started to feel very uneasy. I inserted the key into the door and a large spark flew out of the metal door knob. It literally left a red mark on my thumb and hurt like heck. I walked into the kitchen and felt a very awful presence. I could not see a thing but I suddenly felt terrified. Again I recited the Lord's Prayer out loud, the entire time thinking that I was going to be lifted off the ground by some unseen force. I was actually holding on to the back of the chair. Finally it went. I slept with the lights on and wondered if I should just get the heck out of there.
The last really frightening thing that happened before things started to die down, happened that Spring. Being young and single, I spent a lot of time going to bars and clubs in Boston. I would pack a bag, head east on the Mass Pike and then crash on a friend's sofa until Sunday. I had three ferrets at the time and before leaving I would make sure their cage was secure and that they had plenty of food and water for the weekend.
I returned one Sunday and when I opened the kitchen door, there was an empty milk jug sitting upright in the center of the floor directly in view of the door. It had somehow moved over the hard wood floors and over the lip of the throw rug I had under the kitchen table. The milk jug had been in a box I kept for recycling. Then one of my ferrets walked by. All three were out of their cage. I went to their room and found the center door of their condo cage wide open. I never used that door as they were always at the top or the bottom -never the middle. They had no access to their food or water all weekend. Had one of them pushed the door open somehow? Had they managed to work the milk jug out of the box, scoot it across the floor, over the rug while it remained upright? There could have been a logical explanation for this one I suppose but to this day it has me baffled.
I moved out in September 2001. At that point most things had stopped. I had worked with a man that claimed to be a psychic. He had a near death experience after being struck by lightening and says he was left with these gifts. He told me that my apartment was a highway for spirits and they were attracted to a grid that ran underneath the building. I don't even read my horoscope so this was all very bizarre to me. I don't know why I even stayed there so long. I guess I'm just very stubborn (or crazy).
When I finally packed up the living room during my move to Arizona, I moved the TV stand completely. There, tucked in a corner underneath the stand, was a little white power ball... The kind that you get out of a bubblegum machine for a quarter. I felt a shiver run down my spine. Needless to say, the power ball stayed behind in the house. I stayed in touch with the other folks occupying the other floors for awhile. Although one lady admitted there were spirits there, I did not hear of anyone else experiencing what I did. I've since lost touch. Thanks for reading. I know this was very long.
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