Phantom babysitter

[<bleeding_heart>]

The following spooky story has lain neglected in the archives of a psychical research organisation, but recent evidence has come to light which might explain the supernatural incident. In the winter of 1998, a professional couple named Amber and Josh and their 13-year-old daughter Allison moved into an old but magnificent-looking house in Beverly Hills. Amber - who was a graphics designer, was heavily pregnant, and she and her husband Josh, who was a website engineer, were looking forward to the birth of their second child. The couple wanted the baby to be born at home, and an old retired midwife who lived less than half a mile away was on standby with her cellphone in readiness for the birth.

About a week before Amber gave birth, strange things began to happen in the old house. Allison said she had seen someone running up the stairs past her bedroom. The person had moved too fast for the girl to get a proper look. Allison had gone up to the attic, were the woman could be heard walking about, and the girl had shouted, "Who's in there?"

A faint voice had answered. It had sounded like 'Grace.'

Allison said, "Oh." and entered the attic to see that there was nobody there. She was naturally frightened and fled down to her parents. Allison's parents thought their daughter was just making up stories, perhaps because she thought she wasn't getting enough attention, because all talk seemed to be about the unborn child.

But later that night at 10 o'clock, Amber and Josh were sitting in the living room by the fire, reading a book of baby Christian names, when suddenly Josh said, "Hey listen."

"What is it?" said Amber, straining to hear a faint sound.

"Is that Allison singing?" Josh said with a grin.

"Singing in her sleep, ah." said Amber, and she and her husband went upstairs to their teenaged daugher's bedroom. But Allison was fast asleep. She wasn't making the sound they could hear; the sound of somebody singing. It was coming from the room above Allison's.

"Stay there." Josh said to his expectant wife, and sneaked upstairs one step at a time.

"Josh, be careful. Who is it?" whispered Amber, anxiously.

"I'm going to find out. Stay there." Josh said, and he went up the next flight and waited on the landing by the door, listening to the spooky voice. The voice was singing a nursery rhyme: Ring-A-Ring 'o roses, a pocketful of posies... Josh took a deep breath, turned the doorknob and pushed open the door. His hand reached out and switched on the light. The room was completely empty. No furniture, no wardrobe where the intruder could be hiding. Just bare floorboards. Josh switched off the light and went downstairs to his wife, who was starting to climb the steps. "There's nobody there. Maybe it was from the neighbors house across the drive. It's funny how sound travels of a night." Josh said, but he looked so sombre and pale.

Later that night, Allison came running into the bedroom in a terrible state. She said, "Mom, someone was sitting on the end of my bed. They sat on my feet."

Allison's father reprimanded his daughter, and reminded her of her mother's condition. He finally volunteered to sleep in Allison's bed and she slept with her mom all night.

Three weeks later, the baby was born in the bedroom and the old midwife, named Veronica, delivered it. A Doctor also came out and said that the mother seemed okay. The doctor left after having a small sherry, and then the midwife also had a drink. Josh said the baby was to be called Oliver, and suggested he and the midwife should toast the new addition to the family. As the glasses clinked, something fell out of mid-air over the bed and landed on the duvet. It was an old-fashioned baby's bonnet. Allison picked it up and said, "Daddy, where did that just come from?" Minutes later, Amber found an old rattle under the bedclothes. The midwife became nervous because of the supernatural manifestations and promptly left.

In the spring, Allison was told to babysit Oliver for half an hour while her parents went next door to the neighbour's wedding party. Allison sat in the parlour looking at Oliver, who was asleep in his crib, then she went to fetch her Seventeen magazine from the bedroom. When she came back into the parlour, Allison froze in terror. Oliver was levitating in mid-air over the crib as if he was hanging from an invisible thread. Then his stunned sister saw that the baby was in the arms of a faintly transparent figure. The figure of a woman. The woman's ashen face was just visible, and her expressionless eyes looked at Allison. The apparition gently placed the baby back in his crib, and he started to cry. The phantom then rushed towards Allison and passed right through her as it made its way out the parlour. Allison experienced a cold shiver and almost fainted with shock. She picked up Oliver and ran out the house. She went next door and in front of all the wedding guests she trembled and said to her parents, "A ghost tried to snatch the baby." Amber and Josh just smiled uneasily and Allison's father said, "She's got a fantastic imagination." Then left with his wife and daughter.

A social worker named Val got wind of the ghostly goings-on at the house, and suspected that something within the family was amiss. Amber and Josh told Val about the ghostly woman, but Val said she thought Allison had invented the spectre to win her parents' attention back from the baby. Amber disagreed and showed the social worker the old bonnet and the rattle. Val was still sceptical and she picked up the old rattle, but accidently dropped it. The rattle broke. Moments later, three books shot out of Josh's bookcase and hit Val in the face and chest. Allison was nowhere near the bookcase, and the social worker was so taken aback by the phantom book thrower, she left immediately without saying a word. The social services never got in touch again.

A month later, the ghost appeared a one o'clock in the afternoon in full view of the family. She materialised in the corner of the parlour a couple of feet away from the baby's crib and seemed quite solid. The woman didn't look at anyone but Oliver, and she studied the baby with an affectionate expression. Josh got between his wife and the strange vision, and bravely asked her who she was. The ghost didn't seem to be aware of Josh, and seemed fascinated with the baby. Allison ran out in fear. She went out into the street, and ran up to two workmen across the drive who had just gotten out of their van. Allison told the men that there was a ghost in her house and urged them to come to her parent's aid. The bemused workmen just stood there, then realised that the kid was not joking. They cautiously walked into the house and Allison directed them into the parlor. The workmen saw Josh and Amber frozen with fear as they gazed at a woman who was dressed out of date. The woman had her hair done up in a bun and wore a high-collared bodice and a long black dress. As one of the workmen said, "What's up folks?" The out-dated woman vanished into thin air. Josh made a dash to the crib and picked up his son, then headed for the living room. The workmen said nothing. They just looked at each other stunned and soon left the house.

After that startling encounter, the woman was never seen again in the house, but she was often heard singing nursery rhymes in the wee small hours for a number of weeks - then the ghostly activity came to an abrupt halt. A priest was brought in and he blessed the house, but no one could say why the ghost had been obsessed with the baby. But a month later, Josh heard from an old woman in the neighborhood that her mother had also witnessed the ghost way back in 1920, and she learned that it was the phantom of a woman named Grace Walker. Grace had a baby, but her husband died from an illness - possibly a tubercular fever - before the baby was born in 1909. Grace's baby was a boy who looked just like his father, but the baby died after choking on its own vomit, and Grace became deranged. She subsequently hanged herself from a tree that still stands outside the house. Not long afterwards, the neighbors of Grace Walker heard the tragic mother's voice in the nursery, singing the songs and nursery rhymes she used to sing to her baby when she was alive.

[marshmellow908]

Well that was a shock how the baby died. I wasn't expecting that. Good story all together though.

[Bleed49]

great story

[TurtleTeas]

that is a really kool sotry, but i thought you were going to mention the new evidence that supports the account, just having someone die there years before isn't evidence of how and why this mystery came about...

[<bleeding_heart>]

Sorry TurtleTeas it's a story by Tom Slemen, so the "evidence" could have been an old drunk could have mentioned something his uncles, friends, neice said to her cat while he was present. It could be a true story but he never really backs it up!