My parents had just recently divorced in 1983. My mother was seeing her first "new boyfriend". He was half Cherokee Indian and Irish. I remember as plain as day his house off of Reisterstown Road in Maryland; in fact, I could drive there today as it made such an impact. My mother would often stay over his house on the weekends while I was with my dad, grandparents, or Ed's house. I never spent the night there until this night.
One weekend it was my turn to be with my mom and I was going to finally stay overnight at this guy's house for the first time. As always my friend Ed (my best friend from the early 70's to present day) was going to come over to stay the weekend with me (which was common). It gave me a comfort knowing I had a buddy around for this new place.
We arrived at the house around noon from what I remember. Ed and I unloaded our 20 pound bags of action figures and toy vehicles. We were setup to sleep in sleeping bags in the large living room. This room was quite the central point of the house. The front door and dining room were open and visible to one side; the other side was a solid large, bay window view of the back yard; the opposite was the kitchen and the back door; and the other side was a wall and a Cosby like staircase which was fully exposed leading to the top floor. Seemed like a fun place to play.
Around 2-3 pm (just estimating) my mom and her boyfriend said they were leaving to go out to the food store to shop for dinner and they would be back in a few hours. Of course in these days at 12 years old many divorced family children were rather responsible and fended well for themselves when left alone (myself included). So Ed and I happily stayed behind like many times before. This was the perfect chance to explore the new battleground.
As soon as they left we dumped out all of our toys and divided our armies and built our bases. After a half hour or so we both heard a few loud thumps from upstairs. It stunned both of us but we ignored it. Not long after we heard a door shut upstairs. So we "bravely" grabbed some dumb weapon (can't remember, maybe a vase) and slowly wandered up the steps. We checked the rooms and all of the doors were shut and no one was there. So after returning to playing as most kids do, you ignore whatever happened. Soon after we would remember what was going on.
Not long later we heard footsteps (kinda like bare feet thumps) walking across the floor above us. The foot steps were going straight towards the stairs. We froze sitting on the dining room floor about 15 ft. from the staircase. Slowly a greenish almost translucent mist started to roll down the stairs. As the walking sound continued to the top of the steps the mist got denser and then the footsteps stopped. Suddenly the mist became tall and very full in size. It was greenish/white and moved in a flowing way down the steps. Both of us began yelling and throwing toys at it. It continued down to the bottom step and got larger. We without saying anything ran out the open front door.
(A little background of the day. It was summer, warm and perfect outside. The house had no air, so the windows and doors were typically left open back in those days.This day was no different then other summer days; all of the windows and doors were left open and unlocked.)
As soon as we got outside into the front yard, we turned and looked back. The front door slammed shut (loudly)! We then heard another slam or two; then we bolted off down the street towards the railroad tracks. No way were we going back until my mom was home. We spent it seemed like an hour or so playing on the railroad tracks discussing what had happened. After which we curiously returned back to the house. When we arrived, my mom was still not back yet. So we tried to open the front door and it was locked. We walked around back and the back door was now shut and locked. Then we thought we would peep in the windows and noticed that all of the windows were closed and the curtains and shades were drawn. So we sat on the front porch and waited.
When they returned we ran up to them yelling excitedly about what happened. I think they heard nothing of what we were saying. Proof came when they asked why we locked the front door and closed the windows. After they entered we got the typical parental yelling of how hot is was in the house and why we shut and locked all the windows and doors. I think it took until the next day for them to finally here us out at breakfast.
My mother's boyfriend never personally commented to me on the subject, but he definitely knew what was up. In fact, he was a cool guy and treated me well. However, they broke up not long after that. After which my mother openly told me that his Native American grandfather and grandmother died in that house upstairs in the same room. They had owned that house and had it built in the early 1900's after leaving a reservation in North Carolina. My mom's boyfriend told my mom upfront that his grandparent's still roam and protect the house and land around it. When his grandmother was on her death bed in the upstairs bedroom, his grandfather made all visitors and family be as quiet as possible for her peace. Years later his grandfather died in that same room and on his death bed he asked for silence in the house so he could hear her calling. He told my mother that she would see him, feel him and hear him every time she was in the house and she admitted to me that she had many encounters herself.
Till that day when I was a kid playing in that house, his grandfather was still protecting that house and his grandson. I guess strange children loudly running around and throwing toys around truly upset the spirits. I can't blame the old spirit for being upset now that I look back on it. I wonder if he is still there?
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