The Haunted House

Whenever we hear of haunted house, it usually entails a long history of strange and unexplained disturbances but this story is quite different and inspired by true events. I won't be mentioning any names or an exact location but i will tell you that it happened in the mid-nineties somewhere in North-Devon England. We were a family of four and had lived in the house of around eight year without any paranormal events, so it was very surprising to experience this on the very same day. We were moving out. The truck was not quite large enough to fit all our things so we ended up squeezing everything else in to the car which meant that there was not enough space for all of us to travel together. I was asked to stay behind while my parents unloaded everything from the car in to the new house which was not too far away so i had no reason to suspect that i would have to wait long. I was left with a single key to the front door that i locked as soon as they left and my mother instructed me to keep all the windows upstairs closed because the neighbor's cat kept wondering on to the property and getting into the house. One of the things that surprised me though as i went in to my old room was seeing a haunted mirror hanging.

we were moving out from that Haunted House

On the wall that i never seen before as it had been previously hidden from view by the wardrobe that was there knowing that the mirror had been there all these years without my knowledge was kind of strange and it only provided a blurred out reflection due to all the dust. It appeared to the firmly secured to all the wall which i guess is why my parents decided to leave it there. After locking the entire upstairs window and making sure there were no uninvited felines inside the house. I waited patiently for the sound of dad's car pulling up on the drive way but three hours later, i was still waiting and it was already getting dark. Remember, this was back in the nineties and cell phones were not all that common just yet. So there was no way of contacting my parents and i remember feeling extremely bored at the time.

moving down from haunted upstairs

 A cell phone would have been a real lifesaver back then for more reasons than one but i would have settled my old hack sack or even one of my sister's Chittagong to kill the time. Unfortunately, most of the light bulbs in the house had been removed expect for one above the staircase which i turned on although i decided to stay in the living room because the temperature of upstairs  was lot colder for some reason so about an hour later, it started to rain and i was feeling hungry, i regretted not taking anything to eat with me although i did not expect to be waiting this long so i went into the kitchen to see if there was any food that had been left behind in one of the cabinets.

Searching of food in the Haunted House's kitchen

As i searched the kitchen i could not ignore this thought in the back of my mind of being out. I had not even seen the new house yet and the fact that my younger sister got to see it before. I did kind of bother me a little. After realizing there was not any food in the kitchen, I returned to the window in the living room. As, i contemplated several scenarios as to, why my dad had not arrived, yet i heard something moving around the haunted house. At first, i suspected it was the sound of the trees blowing in the wind outside until i saw something that sent a cold shiver down my spine. The sight of passing in front of the window caused me to huddle in to a corner where i waited motionless and completely terrified. Then i heard tapping on the glass from the kitchen window but i could not bear to look to see who it was instead just imagined the same dark figure staring, it got really quiet, at least for a while. The sound of terrible shattered glass coming from upstairs caught me completely off guard. I suspected that someone assumed the house was empty and decided to break in for whatever reason, a though that became even more horrifying as i began hearing footsteps descending the old staircase with no curtains or furniture, even the slightest sound would reverberate through the entire house and there were very few place to hide so immediately suck in to another corner facing away from the hallway to avoid being seen.

Haunted knocking sound from the door

As i anticipated the horror of coming face, to face an intruder the loud footsteps suddenly came to a stop at the base of the stairs likely blocking my only exit through the front door. I could hear the window probably howling through a broken window upstairs chilling every room in the house. I was in a state of panic, until suddenly; i could hear footsteps again but this time heading up the staircase. Now i was faced with a dilemma because the intruder was probably going to wait until the rain stopped before leaving the house and could decide to head back down stairs at any moment. I was not keen on the idea of running outside and the down the street in the pouring rain but i no longer felt safe in the house so i cautiously headed towards the front door. As i approached the door, the risk of being seen seemed extremely likely but i thought if i was fast enough, i would be able to escape and call for help. The horror knock on the door sent me running back to the dining room as i immediately assumed that the intruder had an accomplice and was waiting to be let in. After, anticipating the sound of more footsteps on the stairs, i heard a horror voice at the door. I could not make out what was being said but it sounded desperate.

my father completely soaking wet from the rain 

Then i heard knocking on the living room window so i slowly peeked around the corner to see if i could get a glance of who it was. The poor lighting only provided a silhouette and i still was not sure who was outside, although i did begin to think it was strange that no one had come down the stairs yet. I positioned myself for a clear view of the front door which is when i witnessed the letterbox slowly begins to open. That's when i heard my dad's voice calling my name. I did not hear a car pull up on the driveway or see any lights. I quickly opened the door and was surprised to see my father completely soaking wet from the rain ironically, he asked me why i took so long to answer the door which is when i told him about the intruder upstairs. He seemed strangely convinced that i was making it up and despite pleading with him not to go haunted upstairs, he went anyway only to discover that no one was there. We both searched the whole house and found nothing. No signs of a break-in windows and doors were closed and locked and the carpet was dry. The sound of shattered glass came from the old mirror that smashed despite never falling from the wall and there was no plausible explanation for the loud footsteps, i heard on the staircase. When i asked my dad why he delayed so much to pick me up, he went on to explain that the cat got boxed in by the truck at the other house and had to wait until everything was unloaded before, he could leave and make matters worse, the car broke down just a few blocks away.

THE HAUNTED HOUSE

To this day, i still get a sense that my dad doesn't believe me and thinks i was just too ashamed to admit that i smashed the mirror out of frustration because i was left alone for so long but i knew what i experienced was real and it's something that has stayed with me even after all these years. As for the person who passed in front of the window facing the backyard, we later confirmed it was the neighbor looking for his cat. However, the events of that night came up shortly after in a conversation with my dad and i asked him why he wasn't afraid of going up those stairs after telling him that there was an intruder in the house. What he said next just left me completely speechless and shook me up pretty good. He told me that he was not afraid because just as he was approaching the house, he saw me in the window upstairs. He tried to wave to get my attention but he said i had this strange scary expression on my face so he gave up and knocked on the door instead. The smashed mirror on the wall, loud footsteps on the staircase and an apparent doppelganger in the window upstairs were enough to keep me away from that haunted house never to return.