My Friend Came Over To My Haunted House

I debated adding this, but I can't seem to stop thinking about it so...

Just to catch you guys up real quick. The area I live in is one of the oldest in my country. The city I live just over the bridge from dates back to the late 1600s. The history of the region as a whole is rather blood soaked. And the city itself is notorious for its hauntings.

My home was built in the early 1900s. Making it one of the oldest in my section of the town. The only buildings that are older date back to the 16-1700s.

My home has two sets of staircases. A more ornate staircase at the front of the home, obviously meant to impress guests. The other is a steep, dark, fully enclosed set of stairs at the back of the house. A staircase that is obviously meant for servants. It even leads from the kitchen (which has a butler's pantry) to the 2nd floor of the home.

My house even had a carriage barn in the back. My Father had to tear the barn down when I was a kid. It had become dangerously unstable, and there was just no saving it. The foundation however, is still there.

I have a friend I hang out with pretty regularly. She has had paranormal experiences as well. While we don't consider ourselves mediums or anything. We do consider ourselves a bit more open to the world around us then most people are. A few months ago, she came over to my house for the first time. There was a concert going on at a nearby park that we were planning on attending. We met at my house because the concert was outdoors and it was too hot to meet at the event. So we met at my house, had dinner, and had my Mother drive us down to the event.

When she got to my place, the first thing she did was marvel at just how heavy the air in my house felt. She said it felt like the house was welcoming her in. We had a good hour or two before we had to get ready, and she had heard all about my experiences. So I took her through the home and showed her where the "hotspots" were. I took her everywhere, from my old bedroom, to the upstairs bathroom. Everywhere. Even the basement. I even went so far as to point out all of the pieces of furniture we had in the basement that my Grandfather had made before his death in the 90s.

While we were walking around my friend kept remarking on how heavy the air felt, how she felt like she was being watched, and how the atmosphere seemed to shift and change depending on what we were talking about. Shortly before dinner, we went down to the basement so my friend could throw something in my washer (she had gotten a stain on her clothes earlier in the day. So being pressed for time, she simply brought a change of clothes and asked if she could wash her clothes at my house). While she was standing at the washer, she mentioned that she felt like there was someone standing directly behind her, staring over her shoulder. Something that I had felt so often down there, that I had actually grown used to it. She said that it didn't so much feel threatening; just that whatever was down there wanted us to leave.

We went upstairs to sit in my Living Room and talk while we waited for her laundry to finish. While we were talking, I realized there were two places on my property that I had had experiences that I hadn't shown to my friend. So, I got up and took her to those places. The first place was my backstairs.

The second she walked through the door that leads to the backdoor, her demeanor started to change. She went from smiling and joking around, to scared, and saying that she was starting to not feel well. So, we left the back stairs and went back to the living room (I took her to the backyard as well, but nothing really happened, and it was too hot to stay outside).

My friend started talking about how she felt like there were at least a few familial presences in the house (which makes sense. We have a memorial statue for a baby my parents lost shortly after birth sitting on our porch, and we have a lot of family heirlooms in the house.) But then she said something that left me pretty shaken. She looked me dead in the eye and told me that whatever familial presences were in the home, as well as whatever other entities were there, we're almost certainly protecting my family and I from whatever was up the backstairs.

It was just after she said that, that we both felt the very air around us change. It was like the spirits were telling us to stop talking about them. It was in that moment that we both realized that even though the "good" spirits in my home were protecting us, they didn't like people talking about them at length. They were the sort of spirits that wanted to be acknowledged and then left alone.

As soon as we came to that realization, I pulled out my phone and started texting a mutual friend of ours. I had been planning on doing a bit of "ghost hunting" around my house to celebrate the coming Halloween season. We were never going to do anything beyond sneak around my house at night and scare ourselves sh*tless, but our mutual friend had purchased a couple pieces of actual equipment and was acting a little too eager.

We had originally been planning on doing a little adventuring to celebrate the coming of Fall and the start of "spooky season" (we all love Halloween). I was planning on telling her and anyone else we had with us something along these lines: "No ghost hunting equipment is to be brought into my house, no EVPs, no EMF Gauges, no digital audio recorders, etc, cameras are ok but if I tell you not to record in a certain area I'm going to expect you to respect my wishes. I was going to make it so the rules would be as clear and easy to follow as possible. I realized that if I let her anywhere near my house, she would most likely get over excited and ignore the rules that I was planning on putting in place on our little "ghost hunting adventure" And by doing so, she'd unleash something that I wouldn't be able to stop.

I ended up cancelling the entire hunt out of an over abundance of caution. And I unfortunately had to tell the person I was texting that I didn't think it would be a good idea for her to come over at all... Ever... I feel like I dodged a major bullet. But I also feel like I'm now responsible for protecting people from my house; as well as protecting my house from people looking to take advantage of the situation.

It's important to note, that in the days after my friend came over, the air in the house felt lighter. Almost like the spirits were thanking us for acknowledging them. I've also taken to quietly announcing myself and my intentions whenever I go down to the basement (I'll usually say something along the lines of "Hello. I'm just coming down here to deal with my laundry. I'm not here to disturb you. I'll be leaving the basement as soon as I'm finished with my chore). Something which has helped with the overbearing feeling a great deal.