Family Ghosts
by Jessica
(Bossier City)
I will start out by saying, as a child, I grew up in an old boarding house, which my grandmother owned. There were strange occurrences that were felt by all members of the family. For my own personal experiences there, I saw lights from the downstairs sitting room, heard voices and footsteps, and even witnessed a small, glass object as it was lifted physically (and by unseen hands) from the mantle (might I mention, that the mantle sat over a then-boarded-up fireplace).
Needless to say, I am a believer in ghosts, but I also have a good, skeptical brain. Many times, there are normal reasons for our seemingly paranormal events.
However, I have no explanation within the range of normality that describes my experiences in my last home.
At 16, I moved in with a friend's family due to issues with my own family. I had visited her home many, many times before, and had gotten strange "vibes" whilst there. One evening, when we were about 14, she and I were having a phone conversation at night, when she screamed as if she had been stabbed. After a moment of listening to her frantic breathing, I asked her what was wrong.
"I just saw a head outside of my window . . ."
I didn't know what to think for a moment. Meanwhile, she took her cordless phone around the house, wanting me to listen and calm her down as she looked for whoever might be outside. No one was there. When she told her mother about the incident, she offered, "Maybe it was an owl."
However, Kat (my friend) can recall to this day seeing a black figure looking in, with head and shoulders as a visible outline to its faceless form. From then on, she kept her blinds closed.
When I moved in, things stayed fairly usual. Nothing of huge import happened for many years, actually; but when Cat's mom moved out with her husband (to Florida), we were charged with the house. By this point, I had gotten into Paranormal Investigating, and had a small group going. When strange things started to happen around the house, I began taking EVP's.
Now, this is a reminder to anyone getting involved in Paranormal Investigations. Be very careful with who you team up with. My "friends" (who also moved in with us as roommates) were my teammates. After they were forced out of the house via police (they had stolen things from us, and would not get jobs) they took ALL of my audio equipment, and one of my cameras. The EVPs I took during our sessions in the house have been completely lost.
Some do still jump out in my memory.
I will list them for you briefly.
EVP 1
Date: I believe it was roughly September of 2006. I was lying in our bedroom (previously her mother's bedroom) where we had heard a child's laughter before. Here is what I got.
Question: "Are you happy that Paige (Kat's mother) is gone?"
The response that I received was nothing more than a small, somewhat unnerving laugh, and an incomprehensible whisper.
EVP 2
I think this EVP took place around August of 2008. By this time, the so-called friends had moved into the house with us. They had been complaining about hearing Kat and I talking at night. Their room was beside the staircase. We told them that we had not been talking at 3am (as I had work at 9am) and whatever they was hearing was, obviously, not us.
So, before we were set to leave the house for the day, I staged a recorder on the kitchen table. However, the ONLY EVP that we caught this session was in fact while all of us were still on the property. One of the two friends was outside, already in the car with Kat. Myself and the other friend (Jordan) were in the house. I was getting something from the kitchen, when the front door opened and Gary came inside saying, "I forgot my coat." As he was saying this, another male voice, deeper and unlike any other voice in the house (Guttural, to some degree) overlapped the other noises on the recording. It was very clear, and I still get goosebumps when I think about it. The voice said:
"They never took the body."
EVP 3
After this previous incident had occurred and we had listened to the tape, Jordan and I decided that it was time to attempt to communicate. This day, we were at home alone. It was fairly early in the day (around 11 am or so) and the house was uncomfortable. There was a restless sort of energy about the place. We took out our recordings and spoke casually for a long time. We began to hear a banging noise in the bathroom, but remained fairly cool about it. When the noise stopped, we addressed things directly. This was heard both on the recording, and at the time it was recorded.
Jordan: "Was that you, making that banging sound? If it was, can you knock for me? Two knocks for yes, one for no."
Almost as soon as Jordan had given the instructions, two very loud BANGS were heard from the hallway where the half-bath was.
The "Banishing"
As cheesy as it sounds, things got very intense on Halloween of 2008, which I believe was a Friday. I was off work, Kat didn't have classes, and Jordan was not working. The other friend, Gary and Kat's Brother, Mike, were on campus.
Now, it is of note that we were doing nothing of any merit. I believe I had just gotten up (as it was around 10 am) and Kat was still asleep. Jordan was playing his DS on the couch. We both heard, at the same time, very loud banging and sliding noises coming from the half-bath, yet again. The half-bath was in the hall just outside of my bedroom. This experience, I will never forget.
While I did not see anyone's hands on the drawers of the bathroom cabinet, here they were opening and closing, as if someone were looking, very hastily, for something inside of them. It only lasted for a few seconds after I had witnessed it. After I had stood, dumbfounded for a moment, I rushed into the living room and got Jordan, who was looking into the hall with a stunned expression.
That night, we invited a few other friends who were also into these things. We sat down, casually, in the living room and actually, "asked" the ghost to leave. Well, we didn't flat out ask, we asked questions, to which we got further EVPs. Such as, "What are you looking for." To which we got a reply "home".
After we had asked the ghost to either be polite, or leave, things did indeed calm down. We made it clear that we were not afraid, but confused, and that it was welcome, as long as it respected us as we did it.
Nothing ever really stopped. People would still hear the female voices in the stairs and living room (which we did catch on recorders) and sometimes, guests would 'feel' someone watching them at night.
This house was built in 1998, but was placed over the foundation of an old farmhouse which had burned down many, many years ago. The land sits on a lovely, pristine 4 acres, and is probably still occupied by special guests. I have since moved, so I do not know the state of house, as Kat's brother is in charge of its upkeep now. Whatever is there is not intent on hurting anyone, and seems quite happy that we accepted it as just another tenant.
