The Second Time

Once I left my parents house I didn’t expect to experience the same things that happened in my house going on in another one. I figured the chances of that were pretty rare; after all in 19 years I had been in plenty of houses and none of them seemed to be haunted. However, I soon started dating a guy named John* that seemed to be experiencing the same things I had previously experienced.

John and I had been dating for nearly six months and I had never seen his house. Growing suspicious of why this was, I started asking him questions. All my friends told me he must be married and I was starting to think that they were probably right. John assured me it was nothing like that and finally agreed to take me to his house. The house was extremely old, once belonging to his great grandfather. Three generations of family had grown up in the house and now it belonged to John.

On the first visit to John’s house I couldn’t see why he was wary about inviting me over. But on my second visit the atmosphere of the house seemed different. I couldn’t explain it back then, but the energy of the house had seemingly changed. Within thirty minutes of being there, my almost fully charged cell phone had died and despite turning up the thermostat twice, the living room seemed chilly. John told me that batteries draining and random cold spots sometimes happened and I joked to him that maybe his house was haunted. The look he gave me told me that he believed just that.

Seeing that John believed his house was haunted, I told him the story of my house and what I had grown up experiencing. It was nice to finally share my story with an actual person and not just the internet and it seemed that John was relieved that somebody actually believed him. Upon telling John of my investigation of my own home he asked me if I wanted to try and see if we could get anything at his house. He told me he believed his grandfather was still in the house and it would be great if I could confirm that.

Once again I found myself armed with a video camera and tape recorder. Time and money had allowed me to upgrade to a HandiCam and Sony digital recorder and it wasn’t long before I found myself wandering around John’s house trying to catch something. I had seen on TV that paranormal investigators asked questions in hopes of getting a response so I started doing the same. After about an hour of walking around, both John and I went over what I had recorded. While I didn’t catch any voices, I was able to catch what sounded like somebody whistling a tune. It was very soft but it was there. John told me that his father often walked around the house whistling.

On video, I found some things that I couldn’t explain. A white mist seemed to show up suddenly at the bottom of the screen and then disappear, then white streaks of light about knee height would appear randomly. I was confused, and confident that I had caught something paranormal. A little research on the internet led me to a small local paranormal group. The group had three people and their evidence page seemed to be strictly graveyards and other public places. I was convinced that they could help me understand what I had caught, if anything.
I emailed the group asking for help and they responded with a PO Box for me to send my tapes to. I quickly sent them my tapes and never heard from them again.

After never hearing from the group, I was left a little put off with the paranormal community. I assumed they were out there to help people and instead my evidence was taken and never returned. I was torn between believing I had caught something great and thinking I hadn’t caught anything at all and that was why they had never responded. Either way I was hurt and decided that I would not associate myself with other people who were out there investigating things that were happening.

For months after that, John’s house seemed to lack any activity while I was there and I found myself being disappointed by the fact. I was always hoping for something (even something small), while John seemed happy, if not relieved, by the quiet. Then one day while visiting his house, I became very sick. I went upstairs to lie down while he went outside to mow his lawn. I was just starting to drift off to sleep when I felt a cold hand press against my forehead as if checking to see if I had a temperature. I opened my eyes thinking I would find John checking up on me but there was nobody there.

It seemed from that day on, whatever was in John’s house seemed to open up to me. I never could shake the feeling of being watched after that day, and sometimes I would hear footsteps behind me as if I was being followed. At one point I grew frustrated of feeling - but not being able to see - whatever it was that was seemingly following me around. I demanded that whatever it was show itself and immediately following, the front door slammed shut despite no one being there.

Though John and I long ago broke up, he continues to live in the house and will sometimes email stories about something he has no explanation for going on in the house. Now, with more equipment and a much clearer idea of what I am doing I have offered to return to his house. But, he has always turned down my requests, telling me that he is happy in believing that his father is there with him and he doesn’t need any further proof one way or another.


*Name has been changed