My Second Home

My name is James and as of writing this I am 22 years old. I come from the North of England and currently live just outside a small city called Lancaster. I have always had an interest in the paranormal from a very young age. Something handed down by my Mother and Aunties who have seen spirits all their lives. To this day I have only had a handful of experiences myself but there is one that will stick in my mind for a long time.

When I was about thirteen years old I became best friends with Jim who lived in a little picturesque village called Arnside and for the next three or four years myself and another friend Martin practically lived at his house. The whole family was very open and welcoming and anyone who was a friend was always allowed round. It got to the point where you could just let yourself in and where we as a group of friends just hung out. As time went on I got to know everyone really well and also became good friends with Jim's younger brother Robbie.

There was talk every now and then that the house was a little spooky. Things would happen such as the dogs going a little crazy, lights turning on and off, things being misplaced. But these were all things that could be fobbed off or explained in another way. Also some people can be very quick to ridicule people who are open about believing in ghosts so it was always a touchy subject.

After time I had began to realize that there was something going on at that house and decided to try and take in more what was going on around me. The sudden cold spots, the walking up the stairs. They all seemed normal things at the time but when it was a summers day or there was no one to claim the footsteps it was quite an eye opener.

Jim was always very skeptical when I spoke about ghosts to him and I never felt comfortable saying anything about what happened in his house until something happened I had to let out.

I was sat upstairs in Robbie's room as Jim had gone to bed early that night. Still by this time it must have been about 2am and Robbie was playing his play station like his life depended on it so rather bored and admittedly I was tired. I was staring out into space looking out of the bedroom when I started to notice a distortion in the air if you will next to the wall. I thought nothing of it but something made me keep looking. All I saw next scared me stiff. A Full body apparition of a man walked out of the wall ever so slowly. Where I was sat in relation to the spirit made him sideways on so not facing me. As I'm watching him walk across the room he turns his head and glances at me then turns away. Within a split second he turns to look at me again standing still as if he was shocked that I had acknowledged his presence.

As I'm scared stiff staring in disbelief at this figure no more than 2 arms length away from me he turns his whole body full on at me. From what I made out he was wearing overalls and carrying a tray with a strap around his front. A kind of tray they would use in old fashioned cinemas when selling cigarettes. It sounds so stupid but it was the only thing I could describe it as. I tried to get Robbie's attention who was sat no more than a foot away from me to turn around to ask if he can see what I'm seeing but nothing would distract him from the game and my words probably came out a mess.

As me and the spirit are both staring at each other he starts slowly shaking his head at me as if to say "you haven't seen me" and looking with this real sense of shame on me. I don't know how I got that feeling but everything at that moment seemed a little strange. After what felt like forever he walked back into the wall and was gone. I didn't say a thing after that and went to bed not really believing what I had seen. Scared but at the same time worried for my own sanity.

The next day I went upstairs to find Jim already awake so I asked him if I could tell him something on a serious note. I told him the story with the usual "you might think I'm crazy" and expecting Jim to have his typical skeptical reaction. But instead he looked a little shocked and asked if I had been speaking to Martin. I asked what martin had to do with this. It turned out martin had told Jim exactly the same story a few weeks earlier. I was obviously shocked and amazed that someone else had seen what I had seen and when I confronted Martin with it he did admit, describing the overalls the strange object he was carrying. I had decided to be very open in my telling of what I witnessed but Martin kept quiet as he was obviously scared of what he had seen.

Shortly after these events I visited Jim's house less and less as I was turning 16 and meeting new people. I have visited on occasion and the last time I went I was talking to Jim's Mother and was surprised I was telling her for the first time. I was convinced I would have told her when it happened. She was interested in the story and said she is forever hearing someone walking upstairs when no one else is in the house. It is definitely a spooky place. It was an intense experience and I will probably tell my other few when I get the chance.

Thanks for reading