I’ve promised stories about the ten years I spent living in a real life haunted house. I hinted that some of our experiences were wilder than the movies,

and they are.

Well I’m here, and I’m glad you are too. I’m excited to share my ghost stories, tell you about my writing, and a discuss a lifetime of happenings that no one can quite explain. Unexplainable and thought provoking occurrences have followed me and several of my family members throughout our lives.

I look forward to sharing and talking and making new friends.

Everything I will tell you is factual. Believers will take interest in some goose bump raising encounters. Non-believers will think it’s lies or coincidence. Wherever you sit on the spectrum, I hope you’re entertained.

If you have questions or comments, post them. If you have something negative to say, I wish you peace and love across the miles. If you find yourself wanting to give me a science lesson or religious education on the great beyond, save yourself the trouble. We can all agree to disagree, and if anything I write offends you, see your way to another page more suited to your interests. I won’t be mad.

Before we jump into the good stuff, let me give you some history about the particular house in these stories. It is new. We were the first family to live in it, so the energy floating around had to come from the land. I was told the house was built on a Ley line. I was told the land itself was old and could be holding the energy. I don’t know exactly WHY or HOW the spirits were there, I can only tell you what happened to me when I took up residence.

For the record, I never asked my neighbors if they had any trouble, so I can’t say if it was isolated to my house only, or affected the neighborhood. I was very concerned about appearances back then (okay maybe I still worry a little too, I’m only human), and introducing myself with a Bundt cake and a good story about the guy in plaid hanging out in my loft didn’t seem like the right opener. With so many kids on the block, the truth is, I didn’t want to scare anyone either, my children included.

In fact, for over ten years I never talked about the occurrences with anyone in the house except my husband, my mom, and my oldest son who was thirteen when we moved in. The spirits like liked to mess with him.

My number one goal was that I never wanted anyone to be afraid in my home. I had the sleepovers and the big family dinners, holiday gatherings and game night. My home was the place where friends and family always gathered first, and you never knew who would still be there for breakfast by morning. If anyone knew what was happening, no one would have stuck around past dark.

So you’re ready for details, for spooky encounters. You’re here for the heart of it all, the actual ghost stories.

You want to hear all about the things that go bump in the night? Well you’re in luck, that’s exactly what I’m going to do, only I have a newsflash for you, the things in my house don’t go bump in they night,

they usually RING.

That’s right. One of the first pains in my ass about my haunted house was that the land line phone would ring at all hours of the night, only there wouldn’t ever be anyone on the other end.

At least I never stayed on the phone long enough to find out for sure.

There is something incredibly unnerving about making the groggy trek from my first floor master bedroom into the kitchen where the land line was at one or two or three in the morning. Even more hair raising is answering that phone, heart slamming against your ribs as your chest gets tight—actual family emergency or phone call from hell— only to hear open air silence with the slightest hint of static on the other end as if something just beyond the veil was indeed trying to muster enough energy to punch through and speak.

Hello? Why does anyone even have a landline anymore? Well, 15 years ago it wasn’t that uncommon. And besides, we needed a land line for the special alarm system we had for protection.

Back to the story, after many sleepless nights (no the phone wasn’t the only thing that woke me up or kept me awake there) this was one thing I could control. I disconnected the phone from the wall but left it there on the counter wrapped in the cord in case of emergency. If the phone rang now, we had bigger problems. Lucky for me it never did.

Yes I had a cell phone just in case I needed to make a call, but I’m that level of emergency prepared okay? A little phone on the counter in the event of an apocalypse never hurt anyone.

No phone, no ringing problem right? Well, where there’s electrical current, there’s a way, and the ensemble cast of spirits—yes I said spirits— in my home found a way.

Hint, they always found a way. Come back Monday and I’ll tell you more.