Tom

My Mum and her partner moved into our present house around 4 years ago after her separation from my Dad. For most of this time I had lived with my Dad until he sold his house and moved away, and so it was not until quite recently that I came to live here with my Mum.

The house she moved into was owned previously by a very old man who we later found out was called Tom. Due to him having no living relatives after he passed away his house was emptied of his belongings and they were discarded, and this is how my Mum came to get the house.

When she initially moved in the house was a mess, as Tom had clearly not been physically able to look after it by himself. So my Mum went about redecorating and changing it to her liking. It wasn't until about 2 months after she had finished that I started to hear the stories from her. As I was not yet living in the house when she started telling me these things to begin with I was very sceptical, but since living here my opinion has changed.

The first experience I had was only 3 weeks after I had begun living here. I was sat in the lounge watching TV, and as far as I was aware both my Mum and her partner were still at work. As it was winter it wasn't very late but already quite dark outside. I began to hear something which sounded like running water- so instinctively I got up and checked in the kitchen to make sure I hadn't left the taps running, and then went upstairs into the bathroom where I found the shower had been switched on. Not really thinking anything of it, I simply switched it off and went back downstairs, thinking that I must have left it on earlier. It wasn't until about half an hour later that the events started to frighten me a little. This is when, still sat watching the TV, I distinctively heard footsteps directly above me in my Mums bedroom and moments later I heard the toilet flush. This led me to believe that there was something or someone else in the house. I went to the bottom of the stairs and noticed the bathroom light was now on, when I was certain I had switched it off. I called out for my Mum, just to check she hadn't just come home and I'd not heard her come in. No answer.

On heading upstairs I first went for the source of the footsteps, but found nothing in my mum's room, except that the light was on in here too- when it had also been switched off earlier. As I went to check the bathroom, I got halfway across the landing when, right in front of me, the door slammed shut. I checked and it opened up again just as easily, I then checked for any open windows or loose hinges that could have made it close by itself- but found nothing.

I have since spoken to my Mum about these events and she had experienced much of the same thing, doors opening and closing of their own accord, fawcetts running by themselves, lights switching on and off, and so on. It wasn't until very recently, this New Years Eve just gone, that either of us ever experienced anything more.

On New Years Eve, my Mum went out drinking with her partner and some friends, while I stayed home with my best friend Vicki. We were watching a movie, again in the lounge, when we heard the family dog- Robby- start barking in the kitchen, not something he does on a regular basis. Our hall is very long and narrow and the kitchen is at the very end and doesn't have a door, so all I could see was the hall, which was light at my end, yet dark towards the kitchen where the light was also off. I shouted for Robby, who was still barking and whimpering somewhere in the darkness- but a little horrible feeling made me not want to go into the kitchen. Eventually Vicki went into the kitchen for me and switched the light on. It turned out Robby had been barking towards the window but we couldn't see anything outside.

Later that night, my Mum arrived home- shall we say "under the influence" and her and her partner went to bed, followed soon after by me and Vicki. I was woken up at around 3 in the morning by Vicki- who had been asleep in a sleeping bag on my bedroom floor- complaining that my bedroom door kept opening slightly and then slamming shut, and that she was hearing strange noises. Both a little bit freaked out, she got into bed with me and we attempted to get back to sleep. Vicki seemed to manage ok, but I couldn't because of the feeling that there was some other presence in the room. I heard my door open again, so I leaned over the side of my bed to check it wasn't Bruce, my cat, pushing the door open. When I looked back up I saw very clearly a figure standing at the end of my bed. I didn't see it for very long but from what I could see, it was definitely human-shaped or something very similar, and it was dark but still clearly visible, like a shadow. It didn't move or do anything. That's all I can remember because it shocked me so much that I screamed, waking up my friend, and when that happened it was gone. Almost as if it needed to be concentrated on to be seen.

I believe what I saw and whatever it is causing the strange events in this house could very well be the spirit of Tom- the old man who once lived here. It has been experienced by me, my Mum and her partner. And just recently I have found out that Joe's (my mum's partner) young son Ewan, who is 5, may have also experienced something similar to what I saw.