A Homecoming To Ghosts Of The Past

After my mother passed away, my father re-married and moved away. Soon after I received a call from the people who bought the old house from my dad. They told me that they got my number from the neighbors and they wondered if I could help them with the otherworldly activity that was going on in that house. They had heard that I used to experience the paranormal presence there too. They did not know who else to turn to.

I agreed to come and see them, and when I finally pulled up in the driveway all the feelings from the past, of all the hauntings that I had experienced there, hit me quite hard. I knew once I walked in that door it was still going to feel the same.

Ghosts could walk freely tonight, without fear of the disbelief of men; for this night was haunted, and it would be an insensitive man who did not know it ~ John Steinbeck

After the new owners bought the house, about three months went by before strange things started to happen. First they smelled cigar and pipe smoke. The woman told me that there would be times the phone would ring, but there would only be silence. The paranormal activity was all over the house, but the smell of smoke came from the area of the refrigerator in the kitchen. It was the same spot where we used to smell cigar smoke.

She also told me she didn’t want to venture the bottom of the basement, because she felt scared. As a child I would not go down there for a long time either. Upstairs we also would hear footsteps and someone shouting, like an old man yelling at the top of his lungs. The lady told us she had the same thing happen to them and it was getting to the point that they were getting ready to put the house up for sale.

I told her to give me a few days. We would be back to help her and see if we can possibly get rid of the ghosts. At their age they really couldn’t afford another house. We called some paranormal investigators to assist us with the project and returned a few days later.

The “ghostbusters” where a group of young people and I could tell they were not taking this matter very seriously. I explained to them that we were not joking around; some weird things happened to me in that house when we were growing up. Whatever was in there was not happy! When the owners choose to leave and go live with their daughter, something must have had scared them really badly. It must have taken a lot of guts for them to step back in this house. After going over my notes with them of the information I had collected, their attitude changed.

Ghosts seem harder to please than we are; it is as though they haunted for haunting’s sake – much as we relive, brood, and smoulder over our pasts ~ Elizabeth Bowen

When we were ready to start I told the owner it might be better if they would leave for the night. Then we turned off the lights and began our ‘ghost hunt’. One of the young investigators went down into the basement with a young psychic in training, who also came with them. They eventually asked us to come down, because they felt the temperature down there was dropping rapidly. It was not like what I could remember when we lived there; it was like you could smell death and it was not pleasant.

The psychic in training was very nervous and the look on her face spoke volumes. She felt something around her that had yanked on her hair and she also felt like it was trying to take over her body. I knew at that time we needed to stop the session, because I didn’t want harm to come to her, or anyone else.

I told the owners that I felt more things needed to be done. The energy down there was out of control. The energy the psychic in training felt was similar to what happened to my brother there in the past. The next day I went to a local Catholic church to talk to the priest. He said he would come over later that day.

I told the owner that I needed to bring the priest in. He was going to bless the house and that they needed to come back to the house to take back what is theirs. It was my hope that the exorcism ritual would bring them some peace. When the priest started to read from the Bible and toss holy water in areas like the basement, I could tell that the energy was shifting. The heaviness in the air lifted. Not only did the new owners get there home back, but I closed a chapter on my sometimes disturbing childhood experiences in that house.