In 2003 I moved into a brand new house southwest of Phoenix in a small farming community that stands in the shadows of the Estrella Mountains. It is a beautiful area and many times I am still overwhelmed by it's beauty. It was a tough adjust for this city slicker at first, where the only noises I would hear at night were the baying and yips of coyotes. And yes, there are tumbleweeds here. I only thought they existed in "Roadrunner" cartoons but I was wrong. I never felt anything odd about this house or the area. It had been a cotton field before homes were built.
In early 2004 I decided to take in a roommate to help offset the cost of living. A friend of mine, Michele, moved in with her little bichon dog. A few weeks later I was out of town for the weekend and Michele offered to watch my ferret, Monsoon. I returned late on a Sunday evening and was surprised to see Michele up still reading. She said everything went well over the weekend but she had some concerns over some noises she was hearing coming from my bedroom. My bedroom was right behind hers. She said while laying in bed she could hear what sounded like boxes being tossed around. At one point it got very loud. Then she heard scratching noises. She got up to investigate and upon entering my room found nothing out of place. Monsoon was sound asleep in her cage. She returned to her room and suddenly the noises started back up. Surely thinking Monsoon must have somehow gotten out of her cage, she returned to my room. Again nothing was out of place and Monsoon was still asleep in the same position she had been in previously. After that the noises stopped. I have never witnessed this so I pretty much dismissed it thinking she must have heard Monsoon messing with stuff.
Soon after, we woke up at 5am to the doorbell ringing. I got up to see who was being quite persistent at ringing the bell at such an early hour. Michele was already in the kitchen looking out the window. The dog was going crazy. Michele said, "there's nobody out there..." You have a clear view of the front door from the kitchen window. I stood by her side and watched the front door while the doorbell continued to ring with no one pushing the bell. I brought a chair into the living room, stood on it, and disconnected the bell. It was strange but I really didn't think anything else about it other than being a malfunction.
About a week later I awoke one morning to Michele knocking on my door telling me to come quick. I leaped out of bed and ran to see what was going on. She told me that she walked into the kitchen in the dark and that the dog wouldn't follow her in. He stood at the threshold whining. She turned on the light and much to her surprise, the kitchen linoleum was swimming with thousands of maggots. They were everywhere! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The floor appeared to be moving on its on accord. I threw on some shoes, grabbed a broom, and started sweeping. Michele grabbed the dust pan and brush and did what she could before being overcome by nausea. She ran from the kitchen to her bathroom. I could hear her gagging. The dog remained at the threshold of the kitchen clearly agitated. I took a couple of deep breaths to keep myself from getting sick and began to sweep up the maggots.
I grabbed a trash bag and kept dumping them in. It took me about 45 minutes to get them all. I brought the bag outside and tied it in a knot. Upon returning to the kitchen there were more maggots squirming on the floor. Where the heck were they coming from? I checked the garbage, cabinets, under the sink and under the oven. They weren't coming from anywhere. They simply were just there. They were not confined to one area. I have a fairly big kitchen and they were spread out over the floor.
I started sweeping again and this time they did not come back. I got ready for work and grabbed the bag which I dumped into the dumpster on my way into the office. At the time I was working for a traditional Latin Catholic church (I was also working part-time as a Licensed Massage Therapist at a day spa but this will come into play later). I told the priests what had happened and they seem to believe that something more sinister was at work here. I really didn't know what to believe. I was the first owner of this house. How could this be happening? They believe that something was either attached to my roommate or an object that belonged to her, and that it was now in my house.
A gentleman from the church, who assists the priests in exorcisms, agreed to come to my house on a Saturday afternoon to bless it. I followed him from room to room as he prayed in Latin and marked the windows with a cross after he dipped his fingers in holy water. He placed St. Benedict medals (St. Benedict was an exorcist) in the four corners of my house for protection, as well as hang a St. Benedict crucifix in my bedroom.
Things did stop in the house but four months later I would wake thinking I had just heard the doorbell ring even though it was still disconnected. A couple of times I even got up to check. It made me wonder if whatever it was was waiting outside the door but couldn't cross the threshold in due to the blessing and the medals.
Not too long after the maggot incident, I was at my part-time job at a day spa when I had a woman come in needing a massage. She was a religious lady and told me that she was very active with her church. She told me she was trying to get her mother to stop practicing Catholicism. Being Catholic, I asked why. She said that her mother had called her one night and told her to come over because her kitchen floor was covered in maggots. I thought I was going to have a heart-attack right then and there. I asked her when this happened and it was determined that this happened the night before my incident.
She also went on to tell me that they could find no source for the maggots. She and a girlfriend of hers went to her mother's house and read the Bible out loud. She advised her mother to take down all her religious statues and pictures. My house is filled with religious pictures but I refuse to take something down that I have associated with good my whole life. In fact, they hang there to this day. I did not tell this woman that I was Catholic. I did not know her from a whole in the wall. This was a very strange occurrence. I couldn't help but wonder if whatever had caused this to happen at my house knew that in the near future I would meet up with this lady at the day spa. I'm quite puzzled with this one.
Regardless, after the blessing all strange activity in the house stopped. I still kept thinking I was hearing the doorbell ring first thing in the morning but that has stopped as well. I have long since reconnected the doorbell and have not had another occurrence. of bugs or bells.
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Thanks for the story. I find it interesting. I was born and raised in a small farming community in the shadow of the Estrellas. Actually third generation. These are good places to live. But, I can tell you... Your experiences are not out of the norm. For some reason, there seems to be a lot of odd activity in this area of the Valley. Like I said, my family has been there for quite a while and I've heard plenty.
As an aside, I have to take issue with Ohiowatha's comments. This desert has been a craddle of farming for over 1,000 years. Most of the major canals were actually dug by Hohokams. The Arizona desert has plenty of water both in the ground and in the resevoirs. We are in much better shape for such than many other places.
Yes, the environment has changed... Mostly do to the influx of people and the "heat island" effect of paving the desert.
But, like most things... People think they know a whole lot more than they actually do. And, surface appearances are not where the truth lies.