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Home Sweet Home

 

Normally I am not one to be easily scared. Rather, I prefer to play practical jokes on others, scaring them senseless used to be a great pass time but unfortunately one single experience has drastically changed my point of view, now days, I tend to avoid anything to do with the paranormal.

My family moved to New Zealand from Fiji when I was thirteen. For the first year we stayed with my aunt as we could not afford the rent on a house of our own. However nearly eleven months later, my dad finally secured a steady job and we moved into a little two bedroom house not far from our aunt's house.

Mum was happy to finally have a place of our own, at that time she couldn't work as my little sister was barely two years old, as child care was expensive, and she opted to look after my sister until situations got easier. In the morning dad and I would leave for work and school, mum and my sister would stay home.

The house we rented was old, moldy and not in very good repair but it was all we could afford, in the winter months we nearly froze as the temperature dropped below 0 and the house was insufficient for heating. There were also unexplainable cold spots often in the oddest of areas, like when a patch of sunlight in the living room would feel like an ice box when it should have been warm, or when the gas stove was on but the heat was non existent despite the flames that was clearly visible. Then, a few weeks later, things became really odd. Things would disappear and often never turn up. Mum was not superstitious but being in the house all the time she was beginning to get spooked. Dad was hardly home as he worked two jobs so dismissed our fears as paranoia.

For a while we believed him, Dad was the most logical person we knew so we simply tried to come up with sensible explanations for everything. However it only got worst, I had an assignment due at school and as usual, didn't start on it until the last minute, everyone was asleep, I could hear my dad and mum snoring and my little sister was sleeping on my bed. It was nearing one am when I heard voices in the living room, a heated conversation was taking place between a man and a woman, it was so clear and loud that I thought my parents were talking and got up to check. My room opened directly into the living room, so when I opened my door, imagine my shock when all I saw was the dark room empty and completely silent. Thinking it was the neighbors talking I checked from the living room windows but no one was about. Spooked, I returned to my room.

The next night, my little sister needed her bottle so I decided to make it for her instead of waking mum; I walked through the living room into the kitchen turning the lights on. As I made her bottle, I heard footsteps behind me, thinking it was mum I turned to tell her I was making the bottle and nearly dropped the milk in shock. A dark shadowy form loomed near the kitchen entrance, a person's silhouette; the room was freezing despite it being in the middle of summer and me wearing only a night shirt. My family is quite religious and I began reciting verses even though I was scared, eventually the thing went away and I ran back into my room. I never told my parents knowing they would scoff at me but I was not prepared for what my dad asked me the next day.

At breakfast, my dad asked if I had come into their room last night, I shook my head but he insisted I had, he had seen a shadowy figure at the foot of the bed around two am. I realized that it was around the time that I had shooed the thing away from the kitchen.

The hair on my head prickled and the house seemed to become more depressing, my sister, normally a sweet tempered kid, began to get irritable, crying at odd hours, my parents became moody. Now the entity was making no effort to hide itself and we all were constantly startled at finding shadowy figures moving, people arguing in the living room and now the sound of children crying.

Often at night, I would hear thudding sounds on the roof like someone walking slowly and deliberately on the steel roof. It didn't sound like cats; they were quicker and for some reason avoided our house. Even the neighbor's dog, who was often friendly when we went over, would growl at us in our yard. Finally, one day seven months after we moved in, my mum asked my dad to find a new house. She had been in the bathroom sometime during the day after putting my sister to sleep and thought she heard a little child crying before hearing sounds of a little child running into the bathroom behind her. Thinking my sister had woken up, mum turned to comfort her when she realized that no one was there. Spooked, she checked on my sister who was still asleep, but mum had had enough and eight months later we moved out.

I don't know who or what was in that house with us, but when we left immediately my sister stopped being irritable, my parents no longer fought and I was no longer depressed. Thankfully, the house has since been demolished, deemed unfit to live in. But I always wonder what exactly was in the house.

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Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, Anjoubelle, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments but I won't participate in the discussion.

leenieweenie (9 posts)
+1
14 years ago (2010-12-05)
Haeeee! How are you? You may think I'm a phsyco but I live in NZ aswell! OMG did you hear about the 29 miners? I am soooooooooo sadd!: (
faerielike (15 stories) (268 posts)
+1
15 years ago (2009-10-15)
Spooky! I enjoyed reading your tales of terror! I hope to hear more from you! 😊
jazzeyjay (3 stories) (215 posts)
+1
15 years ago (2009-10-13)
Try doing some research. You may find that the hauntings were not all associated with the house itself but with the land as well. I can honestly say I know how you felt living there. I grew up in a very haunted house, but we unfortunately were just too poor to move and there were so many of us children that it was impossible to find someone who would rent to a couple with a bunch of kids.

I thank God you all were able to escape and get somewhere safe.

Thank you for sharing your story.
God bless you!
JamesRobiscoe (419 posts)
 
15 years ago (2009-10-13)
Anjoubelle--Your dad is stubborn but has the love to move after 7 months at your mother's request. The house probably had mold or fungal problems that affected everyone's health to some extent or other, but from your descriptions there was far more going on. If you have others stories to write, it would be of interest to know your thoughts on spectres and what they might mean.
Anjoubelle (2 stories) (16 posts)
+2
15 years ago (2009-10-13)
Well we discussed the cold spots and decided the lack of insulation in the house was a satisfactory explanation, the shadows itself I had no idea what to make of them but our dad insisted that it was merely our imaginations. The noises my dad decided was simply the old timbers settling down... Though I am quite familiar with such noises and know for a fact that they don't sound like footsteps... But dad is stubborn. We left because the house was also a health hazard which mum insisted was the reason us kids were always so sick but I know we left because mum was very scared about the hauntings. As to the previous tenants, none of them stayed longer than a year... The shortest being five months, no reasons were listed and the owner finally had to have the house destroyed. Though this isn't the first time I experienced hauntings or lived in a haunted house, this was the first time I felt evil in the area. Previous places we encountered either curious or friendly spirits but the shadowy figures in that house emitted a strong sense of danger... If you know what I mean.
JamesRobiscoe (419 posts)
+2
15 years ago (2009-10-13)
Anjoubelle--You might have titled your story Home Haunted Home, what with all the activity. Perhaps a check on the property's past tenants would give you some insight as to the identity of the spirits, but your parents did well in leaving the place. Since you and they must have discussed your experiences, what explanations did you arrive at?
Remember what Hamlet says: "There are more things in heaven and hell than your philosophies ever dreamed of, Horatio."

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