My First House
My first house I bought at 23, there was a man made of shadows who lived in the corners of the rooms. He never faced the room - he faced the wall. I started have intense sleep paralysis several times a night when I moved there - I never had that before that house, and never had it after I left either. I lived there 6 years and basically finally just fled. I only went back for the last of my stuff because my mom made me.
While I lived there, the neighbors acted all weird. The lady across the street thought I was the caretaker for some old woman. I lived alone. I told her so. She called me a liar because they could all see the old woman sitting in the big front window watching them and such, glaring. She was supposedly a grouchy old woman who never waved back, and always glared and looked angry.
That neighbor spread some BS small town gossip about me being mentally handicapped. Another neighbor told everyone that I didn't actually buy the house, my dad did, and I lived there - again - with the old woman because I wasn't capable of living alone. Like I lied about the woman to cover my mental handicap? IDEK. I never, ever, ever saw this supposed old woman. I never thought there was anything in that house with me but the shadow man, and he was in different rooms than the one the neighbors said the lady sat in.
When I finally fled that house, I moved to Cleveland, Ohio. I got a really nice apartment on the lake. It was golden. I made friends with the lady in the apartment next door.
She asked me one day who stays at my apartment when I'm at work. I was like no one, wut? I live alone. No one but me has keys. It's an old building and me and the lady share a bathroom vent so she said no, there is someone walking around my apartment during the day when I'm at work. It's clear as day - she can see my room lights through that shared vent, and there's no soundproofing in a building that old. She swore for a year that there was someone walking around my apartment when I was at work. I figured she was just hearing things.
I moved again to a townhouse down the street. This was on a corner of the street, and across the street was another townhouse. Neighbors and I would wave back and forth from our porches or dining room windows. It was really close, we were all really friendly.
One day, the lady in that other townhouse asked me how my mother is doing. I was like WTF, fine? (She lives an hour away, and only visited my apartment once for like 30 minutes. We don't get together much.) Then my neighbor proceeds to tell me about how when "we" first moved in (I live ALONE, ya'll), they all thought we were bitches because my "mom" was so unfriendly. Sat in the dining room window all day glaring, wouldn't wave back at them when they walked outside or past her on the sidewalk - like right under the window, mind - they could tap the window as they walked by, like right by her nose where she sat, they were that close.
I tried to explain that I live alone. Neighbor didn't believe me. So I dragged her into my place and demanded to know where this second person was sleeping. Where her things were. Where SHE was. Etc. Neighbor never came into my home again after that, but she and her husband would mention offhand now and then that the old lady "mom" was still in my place, they saw her that morning, etc.
I bought my next house two years later and moved about a mile away. I'd been there a week when my new neighbor knocked on my door (it was snowing) and asked if I knew the old lady in the driveway between our houses. I was like wut? He said that there was an old lady in the driveway between our houses a few minutes ago, and it was snowing, and they thought she must live with me, like my senile mom or something. They were about to call the cops, but wanted to check first in case she just wandered outside. I told them to call the cops, because I live alone.
That was the last time anyone ever saw her. My actual mom visited a few days later, I told her the story, and she went around my house shouting at the "old lady" to leave me alone. Like, it was weird - my mom is not that kind of person, doesn't believe in that kind of things, etc., but people have been telling me for years and multiple houses that the old woman lives with me. After my mom shouted all over the house, she seemed to be gone. It's been 4 years since anyone saw her, and I've moved again.
My current house is 202 years old, and quiet.
I've read that book, actually - book club like 15 years ago at work. I remember that I loved it, but I can't remember much else, lol. I'll have to see if I still have it.
I think it was that house I bought when I was 23. There was something wrong with it. My family wouldn't come over, even, because it just felt wrong. I could never really sleep. There was always water leaking, and I had roofers out 6 times - even tore off and replaced part of it. Plumbers for the piping - no one could ever figure out where that water came from. There was also water that would just randomly be in the basement 2-6 inches deep, sometimes after rain but sometimes not, just random. It wasn't a backed up sump. No one could figure that one out either.
The people who lived there before me were odd. Like, really weird. They had a chain on their fridge that they locked at night and they were just too eager to get out of there - they were so desperate to sell fast that they demanded a 30 day close, and moved into a sagging trailer on the guy's mom's land. Like, they dumped the house for that. I'm an idiot - I just thought I was getting a deal or something.
When I left, I just left. It foreclosed. It went through 3 owners in 5 years, sat vacant for much of that time. One of the next owners stayed 6 months and then apparently did what I did - left and let it foreclose. Just up and gone. (My parents live down the street from it still, and they always checked on it out of curiosity).
When I left that house, I think that the woman followed me. I honestly don't think that she meant any harm. The townhouse I lived in was on a row and had a smash/grab spree one day. Only my place didn't get broken into on the 8-plex, and the guys were caught. They told the cops that they passed mine by because the old lady was home and glaring at them, and they only went to the ones where no one was home. I found out from my landlord, who was ex-LEO and had an in with the cops on the case. She never bothered me. My oldest dog, when it was just me and him, would go into the spare bedroom at that place too and dance in front of the rocker the way he dances for me when I get home from work. I didn't really think about it, to be honest. She just...lived with me, I guess.
#Visual/Shadow #Unexplained/Paranormal #Person/Neighbor