Scratch Scratch

I would say this happened around 2004- 2005. This is all still in the London house, and things had remained relatively calm.

One day, I was just sat in my room, probably cleaning it or whatever, and I heard a sort of rustling, only very faintly but very constant. I did my best to ignore it, but you must realize how annoying it is, even the quietest sound, if it's constant, it grates on you. Once I started actually looking for the sound, it stopped.

I remember at one point my parents were sat in the dining room, and my Dad suddenly stopped what he was doing, he said something had shot across the floor, he said it was small and black, and he was obviously worried a mouse had got in or something. We searched, and nothing. So again, it was shrugged off. At the time, I didn't think it was of any significance, but since, I have read a little more on the paranormal to discover any form of black mass is not usually a good thing.

Before I carry on, our dog used to walk round and round a certain spot in our living room, just in an exact circle. When my parents decided to pull up the carpet in that room to change the flooring, they had great difficulty in getting it up, almost as if the underlay had been melted to the floor. When eventually it was taken up, there were a few giant circles carved into the floor in a formation, one of which were the dog would walk. There were another 2 in the dining room when the carpet was lifted off there, which runs off the living room. They were pretty worrying, because they looked pretty deliberate, but as I'm not well informed, I wouldn't like to even begin to speculate if these were markings for some sort of ritual.

I think in doing that, it's as if 'something' was disturbed, because events became a lot more intense. The rustling that I had heard in my room seemed to be happening more frequently, and getting more intense, they had turned to scratching. Even though it was generally above the same area, it also moved sometimes. I thought maybe a bird had got into the loft space, and I didn't tell anyone because I was worried if it was say, a nesting bird, they'd maybe put down bait, I just figured eventually the birds would hatch and fly away and it'd then stop.

...Of course it didn't stop. It started getting very loud, and happening pretty much every time I was in my room. I couldn't sleep at night, so I would try to get sleep in the day when I could. But... It was still hard to, as the scratching was still happening. I eventually told my Dad that I suspected maybe birds/ squirrels/ rats, whatever. I tried to show him the scratching, but anytime I called him, it stopped as soon as he got to my room. He got someone to come in to check it out, that maybe my shouting had scared it if it was a small animal and that's why it stopped. When the person came to look, nothing was in the space above my bed. There were no droppings or signs of animals there, and no way for them to get in, however, the guy still put bait down just in case and said he'd come check it in a week or two to see if it's been disturbed.

The scratching carried on, so I started to sleep in the lounge that was on the ground floor. I thought seeing as I only hear it in my room; I could get peace and a proper sleep there. And it worked. Then one weekend, my ex was staying over and I heard this scratching again in the ground floor lounge. This meant it'd be coming from the dining room. I sneaked up the stairs, and nothing was there. There was no explanation for it. I was glad someone had finally heard it besides me! However, he just said to ignore it and eventually it did stop.

The 'Bait-Man' came again as he said, and reported that nothing had even touched the bait, it was exactly as he'd left it. I tried to think of all manner of logical explanations for this scratching and could come up with nothing. The whole loft space is an open space, and I couldn't understand how no one else in their bedrooms would hear it, even faintly. I honestly was starting to think I was going mad. If it hadn't have been for the fact my ex heard it too, I think I probably would have gone insane, if only due to lack of sleep.

I started getting this 'feeling' that there was a small child in the house; I don't know where it came from. It seemed to be scared of adults, I and my sister would get lots of cold spots next to us, in front of us, sometimes actually on us, and if we asked one of our parents to put their hand in the cold spot, or sit where we were, it'd suddenly vanish. With this 'feeling' I sensed the child was almost being controlled to do the physical things that'd happen around the house (various things being moved, going missing etc.) but it meant us no harm, just whatever was controlling it made the child think it was all a game. I don't know where this feeling came from, if I genuinely sensed something, or if it was an over active imagination... Whatever.

At one point my Mum's inhaler went missing, and obviously, she relies on it. She started getting in a bit of a panic and we were worried this could cause her to have an attack. I went to the ground floor and I just started saying, 'Put it back, put it back now.' And then I heard a clatter in the toilet room. I looked in, and the inhaler was placed on top of the toilet. We had checked in there in our search, and it wasn't there.

I started to hate being on the ground floor, it started to seem so much more dark and gloomy than the rest of the house, and I avoided it as much as I could. Whatever energy was in the house even managed to drag the washing machine out a few inches. It wasn't switched on, so it's not like it had vibrated outwards a little as washers do. And no sooner had my Dad moved it back, that it moved again.

I know my Dad did a blessing of the house, said a few prayers and things all seemed to calm down a little. Even the scratching stopped. One night, I stayed up a little later than everyone to watch something on TV, and I heard a strange sort of almost rattling, with a whoosh and this small black thing had come alongside me, and gone through the dining room, and vanished into the kitchen. It was too big to be a rodent of any sort, and there's no way could a cat have got in, although I would say it was maybe the size of a cat, though it was ball shaped. It made me very uneasy, but I was too scared to go upstairs for some reason.

I decided to go on the Internet for a while, and I remember telling my friend over msn what had just happened, then went on to tell them about past events in that house, and how I thought it had all stopped. Then as if 'it' had been reading over my shoulder (Ha, I'm getting nervous again now...!) the scratching began again! Like it was on the walls this time. I looked all over again for an explanation, and again, as soon as I began to look, it stopped. Then would start the second I sat back down.

The next 2 or 3 hours were quite frightening, it looked as if the room literally darkened and felt as if I was pretty much frozen to my seat. Like I wasn't 'allowed' to get up. I would almost describe it as I was frozen with fear, I felt as if I was being watched from the other side of the room. I so desperately wanted to go to bed. When it got to about 4 am, everything lifted. And I rushed upstairs with my eyes closed.

After this, I would hear the scratching again; it also started to feel that at the top of the stairs, as if someone was there. And again, anytime I tried to show anyone the scratching, it'd stop. A few times, I tried to show my sister and it'd carry on, but very faintly. I couldn't bear it anymore. I told my parents about the scratching again, and also of the night where I just felt trapped by 'something'.

My Dad said he would bless the whole house, and if I felt comfortable with it, he would put a cross in my room. I was just happy to try anything! He also blessed the loft space. I thought maybe the atmosphere would feel lighter, but it all felt just as oppressive but I went to bed that night feeling a little better.

...It started again! Only this time there were thuds, scratching from more than one place... I just burst into tears. And now I really couldn't understand why my parents couldn't hear this in their room, it was so noisy. I called them, and they didn't wake up, but I was too scared to go and physically wake them. Thankfully, my sister heard me, the noises didn't stop, and it was relentless. Then we heard the sound of metal thinking on the floor. She looked really frightened and I didn't know why. But after that, it stopped. And that was it.

My Dad checked the loft space the next day, and it transpired, the sound of metal, was more than likely a crucifix he had put in the corner where I had said most of the scratching occurred. It was at the other side of the space, as if it had been thrown. Apparently when he'd initially blessed the loft, the same thing had happened, except it had been thrown at him. I know my Dad isn't a liar, and something like that, he wouldn't even jest about.

But as I say... That was it. I never really felt safe there afterwards though, and put up with it for another couple of years, but then I moved in with my Grandparents. Their house was full of strange noises and feelings of a presence, but it was like my old house, extremely friendly. The lack of activity almost seemed rather boring compared to the London house! I have looked into the stuff that happened though, and it seems pretty similar to the characteristics of a demon? I'd be really glad of opinions on this one.

[note from the webmaster: this is an update by the author on 2009-05-31]

I would like to attach a few pictures to this story. The first three are very recent, taken about 4 years after this all happened, and when the house has been emptied as my parents moved away. The second two are just from in my bedroom where I'd be where some of the activity was happening.