Ghost Story #3 - "Moving Into Our New Townhouse"

This was by far the most paranormally active home we've ever lived in. Even on the initial tour, we should have guessed that there was more to it than the all new, wall to wall carpeting, fresh paint and great rental incentives. The lady showing us the place even eluded to the fact that the last tenants hurriedly packed everything up and left without telling anyone they were leaving. We'd just assumed it was because they were bad tenants and skipped out on their rent. After our three years living there, we often wonder if there might have been other extenuating circumstances that made them flee instead.

For the first few weeks after we moved in, in the summer of 1997, I was unemployed and spent most of my time at home alone when I wasn't at interviews and such. There were a few incidents I experienced back then that started to make me wonder if I was really alone or not. We were lucky enough to have a recreation complex in our little community that I quickly made a habit of visiting every morning after everyone was off for the day. I loved being able to swim every morning and having grown up on a small farm, I was quite naive and would simply leave the door to our home unlocked for the hour I was gone. The first couple of days were uneventful, but on the third day I was surprised to discover that I was locked out! A little flustered, I turned around and sat down on the front step to think about my situation...had I actually locked it this time, by accident? How was I going to get in? After a few minutes, I got up and tried the doorknob again out of instinct...and it opened! I was quite surprised, it didn't feel stiff to me...was I imagining the whole thing? I just went on with my day unpacking and didn't think much of it....until the next morning when I came back to a locked door AGAIN!!

This time it was really locked, I wasn't mistaking it as I tried several times and it was definitely locked. So, panicking about being locked out for the day, I went across the street to the convenience store and called my husband at work. Of course, being the voice of reason, he told me it would make more sense for me to go to the admin office to ask someone to help me than it would for him to drive all the way across the city to unlock it for me! LOL I was calmed down now and as I walked back I decided to drop my swim bag off on our porch step before making my way back to the rec centre. Something told me to give the door one last try before I went to get help...and the fricken thing opened right up!! I was STUNNED!!!

As morning turned into afternoon, my sense of thankfulness of not being locked out anymore gradually turned into uneasiness. I began to feel like someone...or something...was watching my every move. No matter what room I was in, I found myself frequently looking around to see if someone had walked in on me.   After a while I decided to take a break and watch a talk show in the living room with a coffee. While I was intently watching the show, I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye coming from the front hall. As I turned my head to see what it was, my heart stopped dead in my chest as I saw the telephone cord swinging rather quickly hanging down from the stand. I had been sitting there for at least 20 minutes, I know it wasn't because I would have brushed past it.  We didn't have any pets and I looked around to see that the windows in the living room and dining room were both still closed. Nothing could have made the cord swing like that and it's movement didn't start to slow down until I got up to walk over to it. There was no doubt in my mind afterwards that I definitely wasn't alone!

This was just the beginning of our paranormal adventure in this house and until I was called to go to work, I found many reasons to be out of the house during the day from that moment on! :S