Please note that names and associations have been disguised to protect those who still don’t believe me 😉

So I’d like to think I’m a fairly level-headed individual, regardless of how much time I spend indulging my more fantastical pastimes. However, I also acknowledge that my imagination can sometimes get a bit carried away. Whether this incident is such an occasion or not, I’m still not sure. All I do know is that it still sends shivery currents through me whenever I think about it.

One summer during my misspent youth, I stayed with relatives in their always lovely house that made lots of lovely noises. Things were always…settling. Floorboards would pop and shift with the cycling of the HVAC unit, keeping up an almost steady symphony of creaking. This creeped me out the first few days of my stay, but after a while I got used to it and I learned to tell the difference between this temperature-induced shifting and the more substantial creak caused by physical weight.

So on this particular day, I was in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher. As I remember, it was around 1 or 2 in the afternoon, and I was the only person inside the house at the time. I could see the two others who were home with me outside in the backyard.

At the time, the house was outfitted with an alarm system that ran sensors to the doors and windows so that whenever one was opened, it would activate an electronic chime. I heard one of these chimes, coming from the region of the basement where one of the doors that led to the yard and the door for the garage were located. I looked up and saw that both people were still outside. Since they were in the yard near the back door, I figured they would have noticed someone coming in that way, so I assumed the chime was to the garage door.

A few seconds later, I heard the creak of someone walking up the stairs, with a pause on the split foyer before continuing up to the floor where I was. Again, I knew that the stairs sounded a particular way when someone walked up them, and this was definitely that sound. I also recognized the pause before continuing upstairs as similar to the daily ritual of, let’s call this person AB, coming in from work and stopping on the split foyer to hang up her bag and keys before continuing upstairs.

Logically, therefore, I assumed that what I was hearing was AB coming home early. I also assumed that she must have heard the others outside and thought that I was with them, which was why she wasn’t saying anything. I remember calling out her name and saying, “You’re home early.”

Rather than a response, I heard the creaking continue down the hall toward the bedrooms. Again, though, this was what AB always did: came home, dropped off her stuff, and went to the back to change. She must not have heard me, so I just continued putting away dishes.

When I finished about 10 minutes later, the others were still outside, so I decided that I’d join them. I looked down the hall, thinking that I would shout that I was heading outside, but I noticed that the bedroom door was open. I called out AB’s name. Nothing. So I walked down, thinking maybe she was in the bathroom or the en suite.

I don’t think I can properly explain the feeling when I got to the end of the hall and realized that no one was down there…not even the family dog, which was outside with the others. I remember the physical sensation was a sudden sweatiness combined with chills. Plus, there was the flip-floppy feeling of riding a roller coaster going on inside, but without the intermingled fun feeling. This most definitely was not what I would deem fun. Still, I persisted in believing that I wasn’t hearing things. I called out for AB one more time. Still nothing. I went into the room, looked into the en suite and bathroom. Empty. I checked the other bedrooms, but I already knew I wasn’t going to find anyone.

Needless to say, I hauled ass outside as quickly as I could. I went out through the front door and circled around the long way so that I could pass the garage. The door was down and when I looked inside, there were no cars.

I didn’t go back inside by myself the rest of that day.

I’ve always wondered about the extent of our mental abilities, what the untapped regions of our brains are actually capable of conjuring. Could I have subconsciously picked up on a noise that made me think AB was home, and my brain just continued filling in the noises that I expected to hear?

Or maybe AB was at work wishing she was at home, and that somehow triggered these phantom noises in the house, mimicking what she wished she was actually doing? Or was I simply imagining it all? Letting slip loose the reins on my imagination and conjuring a scene that plays out all the time in the scary movies that I love so much?

I still don’t know. Not long after this incident, I had another unsettling experience in this house. Again, I was alone. This time I was sitting in the living room. I had just put in a VHS recording of Dune. From my position on the couch, the previously mentioned hallway was to my left. It was a dull, drizzly day, so the house was darker than usual. I had on one of the table lamps, but there were no other lights on upstairs.

About 10 minutes into the movie, I noticed a flicker of something to my left. I didn’t pay it much attention, though, until I noticed it again a few minutes later. I looked down the hall. Nothing but darkness. Maybe another 10 minutes went by and I noticed the flicker again. I looked down the hall…and now there was light coming from the first bedroom.

Again the sweaty chills. The first encounter still unnervingly fresh in my mind, I decided I wasn’t going to pay attention to this little “issue.” I went back to watching the movie, but I noted the flicker of the light going out a few minutes later.

When it clicked on again, I decide that I needed to figure out what was going on (if this was actually a horror movie, I’d obviously not be the character who survives to the end). I walked into the room, which was of course empty, and saw that the light was coming from a nightlight next to the bed. I checked the plug, thinking that it was maybe loose. Nope, didn’t seem to be. So I turned off the light by its switch…and then unplugged it. Just to be on the safe side.

I went back out into the living room, where the dog was still sleeping on the love seat like she’d been ever since I started the movie. Aren’t dogs supposed to get excited in the presence of something paranormal? She barely registered my return, so I decided that I was just letting my imagination get the better of me again. I moved to the end of the couch closest to the loveseat and sat angled so that I could see the hallway and the stairs that were right next to the living room. I watched the rest of the movie, but I think I was watching the hall more. To this day, when I think of Dune, I think of that afternoon. However, I can’t tell you a damn thing about the movie itself.

Later, I told AB that I thought the plug on that nightlight might be faulty and explained what had happened. They checked it out, it seemed to work fine. Never flickered on and off again as far as I know.

I’ve been in this house many, many times since that summer. I’ve even stayed there alone a few times since then. The settling noises can still leave me feeling unsettled every now and then, but nothing like these two experiences has ever happened to me since.

AB still scoffs at me when I talk about these incidents. But it’s that kind of scoff that leaves me with the impression that she’s seen or heard things there that she wasn’t quite certain of either. Isn’t that right? 😉