Not a joke and never made up! I was about 13 or 14....closer to 13, I think! There was this old house....about 5 miles down the road from our little comfortable neighborhood...some friends and I always joked about Old Man Withers, who used to live there! Some said he killed his wife and children, as well as the house keeper, then himself. The only thing was...while his body was found, his head had never been discovered! Didn't sound much like a suiced to us! So, we thought, in our youthful inoncence, and stupidity, that WE would stay a night there. Each of us would pull the old,,"staying at so and so's house" so Mom wouldn't catch on! Trust me...Mom was the least of our worries that night! It was warm summer night...late May, as I recall..and we four packed our dinners, a picnic style dinner...there was no electricity or anything, of course, since the house had been vacant for nearly 50 years. It didn't take long to get in...and it didn't take long for us to want out!!! After night fall, it was 10:00 by my watch, which is an unusual time for a haunting to begin, but it did....this ghost knew nothing about the rules! We stayed, at first, in the great hall....now called a foyier...for a long time...we wanted to search the house, but MAN was it scary in there! The lights left with the sun. We were all alone...or so we thought! First, there was a screaming sound...like a woman who had fallen..it started loud, then trailed off. If that wasn't enough, there was a baby crying...ok..we had no babies! The sounds came from upstairs...so, scared to death, we all agreed to go up..on step at a time...as we did, a door slammed downstairs...behind us...even with the flashlights, we could barely see 2 feet in front of us...we kept going up! Never was there such a sight, as four girls, terrified to let go of the others! We were scared to death, but too curious to leave! On the first landing...that's where it happened...the body they found..it was found, here...on the landing....we didn't see anything...but we heard it!! As we ventured a little further up...3 steps, maybe...behind us...the landing..there was a window on that wall to the outside...I swear there was a SHADOW! A man's! RIGHT there...3 steps behind us, in that window..but nothing on the landing to make it!!! Pammy...one of more jittery friends...lost it...screaming like there was no tomorrow...that was it..she let go...and jumped down the stairs...You would almost swear she sprouted wings...we never saw her hit a step! At the bottom, she was screaming for us to hurry up..which we were trying to do...she had the only flashlight and now we couldn't see...BUT Pammy could....she was flashing that light and screaming," Oh my God....he's there! Can't you see him?" We weren't looking for him! WE wanted OUT!! Stumbling down those steps, we finally made it to Pam! She stood there...shocked and dazed, with that light fixated on that landing...and she was right..he was coming down the stairs...and..Pammy said exactly what we were all too terrified to admit..."He's got no head!" And that was that! Thank God we were downstairs...I would hate to think of that apparition coming at us..upstairs..with no way down...so, out the door and down the street we ran..as fast as we could...we could have won the Olympics! WE left everything..our sleeping bads...dinners....everything we took...I'm sure it's all still there, somewhere...and I don't care! I wasn't hungry, anyway! That was the most terrified I had ever been...and it would more than like still scare me today...and I don't frighten easily! That was in 1980! I hear, now, that it is a bed and breakfast...actually inherited by some of Old Man Wither's grandchildren! I haven't been back, but, as a ghosthunter...it would make for an interesting re-visit, today! Maybe....still get goose pimples remembering that!!!

Very cool story raventlyn ,
Thanx for posting it . Where on earth did you sleep that night then?

Good Story.
I have another Question, If Old man Withers killed his wife and kids how did he get Grandchildren?

OOooo!!! Halo your clever

He! He! Ohhh so nice to be called clever. Thank you Kismit, Buddy!

No problem Halo

QUOTE

it was 10:00 by my watch, which is an unusual time for a haunting to begin, but it did....this ghost knew nothing about the rules! We left everything..our sleeping bads...dinners....everything we took... and I don't care! I wasn't hungry, anyway!

LOL

Good question Halo

Also lol@LoonBoy, I never knew there were rules for Hauntings, Do the Ghosts know about this ?.

...apparently they have to start no earlier than 10:30 after the sun sets, wear propper white sheets and stick to the 'boo' script...

Clever! Clever! Very good question...you were paying attention!!!! Actually, Old Man Withers had been married, only briefly, to a young girl, who had one son, and shortly after his birth, she left her husband! He was nearly twice her age...well..maybe about 12-15 years older than she was. She was just out of high school when they married and he in his early 30's. Rumor had it that he had strange habits that she feared and took their son and left in the night. HHMM...maybe it was around 10:00 p.m. when she left?? That could explain the unusual time of the hauntings.

And, to answer the question...where did we sleep? We did not sleep! We all went to my home...yes..we walked the distance...telling my Mom that the electricity went out at the other house so we decided to stay at my house...clever, huh? Yeah, right...I don't think she bought it! Anyway, we sat up all night going over it and over it. I think we just wanted to stay awake!

Hi Raven , I am just wondering what makes 10:00 pm an unusual time for a haunting ?

Not trying to be a pain in the bum mate, genuinely interested.

No, not an unusual question, at all, and I don't mind questions. The hour of 10:00 isn't the usual time, as I stated, only because, for the most part, hauntings have been reported between the hours of midnight and 4:00 a.m.! I don't know why, to be honest, that is the most reported time. AS for myself, hauntings occur all the time! Apparantly, they don't set their alarms!!! I have many many EVPs, from as early as 10:00 a.m. to sunset and all hours after! Last night, my daughter and I visited the ruins of an old Fort, as well as a nearby cemetary....and yet another cemetary, in another little suburb....in each, we got many voices...one called her name...another said, "Get her" and yet another said," I know you." The last recording...a small cemetary...there was this dog....obviously lived at the nearby trailor house...but we went into the graveyard, with our recorder. This dog came into the graveyard...stayed on the path...only went to a certain point....began barking...to get our attention..not meaning any harm! We were still recording...as we made our way back toward the entrance, the dog would bark...walk...stop...look back, as if to make sure we were following...he did this about 3 or 4 times...when we did finally get back in the truck to leave, the dog went back to his trailor...and lay down at the end of the drive...as we drove off, he looked at us. He was a friendly dog...we weren't afraid of an attack or anything....but as we listened to our recorder, there was a man's voice which said, "Go with it." Just after my daughter said, "It's like he wants us to go with him." Dark had not even fallen, yet...it was dusk. So, you see, I think that is just the most extreme hauntings that take place so late. Perhaps when ther is a poltergeist present.

I'm not sure how much credence I give EVPs but I like that story about the dog.

I wonder why it was important for you to follow him out of the cemetary. Was it because there was something dangerous in there, and you were in peril, or was it because the person speaking was not happy about you being there and the dog was in league with it? Lol.

I understand being leary about EVPs which I was, as well, before I began doing it myself. I used to listen to some and thought...wow..they sound kind of mechanical. Then I had one...who..believe it or not...says, in a very clear voice, "That's that bitch!" She was not happy to have me on her turf. I have had one, in another cemetary, man, who said, "I'm not dead, yet...listen." And, those are only to name a few. They have, in case you are wondering, been analyzed, by a recording expert and found to be very authentic! And, since I know and my daughter knows, that we were the only ones there...we are pretty sure we aren't making it up. As for the dog...I am thinking the second answer. I think we were not really welcome there and he was politely asking us to leave. We didn't feel threatened and My daughter and myself are both precogs, so we would have felt something. I usually do when something is wrong.