I've got a bizarre story that I
just have to share with you. So, a while back, some distant relative who I barely
even remember left me this huge, creepy old house. It's out in the middle of nowhere, miles
away from the nearest neighbor. But hey, who am I to turn down a free house, right?
So, there I was, my first night in my new, yet old and secluded home. The place was a
labyrinth of creaky floorboards and eerie echoes. It had 6 bedrooms and a massive upper
floor, a bit too large for my t
aste. I was still unsure whether to keep or sell it, so I decided to give it a week
or two to make up my mind. Which meant to move in for several
days to get the feel of it. I was just getting settled in, trying to make
the unfamiliar feel somewhat like home. After a day of unpacking and exploring, I hit the sack,
bone-tired and ready for some solid shut-eye. I was just about to fall asleep
when I heard it for the first time. It was the sound of the squeaky
floorboard in the hallway. I ini
tially thought it was just the old
home making noise, as they typically do. It took me several seconds to realize that wasn’t
the case – the sound was more like footsteps. An uninvited guest, in the middle of nowhere, was
the kind of thing that horror movies were made of. I forced myself out of bed, heart
pounding in my chest like a bass drum. If that was a homeless dude, I should
be able to scare him away easily. But you can never discount the
occasional meth head with extra determination
and a scrambled brain.
So, I armed myself with a flashlight and a kitchen knife (fortunately, I like midnight
snacks) and opened the bedroom door slowly. I immediately flashed the thin flashlight
beam into the hallway hoping to blind and scare the intruder away.
But the hallway was empty. No burglar, no uninvited guest, not even a ghost.
Just an empty, quiet hallway. Maybe it was indeed the old house squeaking
and crackling in the night after all. I checked the doors and windows
and they al
l seemed fine. But I was certain I didn’t imagine the noise.
Anyway, I was too tired to play Sherlock Holmes at 2 AM, so I decided to get to sleep.
I made sure to lock the bedroom door beforehand. The following day I investigated
the home more thoroughly, hoping to shed some light
on the nature of the noise. No success.
The night came and this time I went to bed later. I made sure to double-check all the locks,
pushed a chair against my bedroom door, just for good measure, and went to bed
wi
th a baseball bat within arm's reach. I had barely closed my eyes
when I heard another noise. It sounded like a repeated
thud coming from the kitchen. This time there was no mistaking: someone was making that noise.
It wasn’t the home. My heart skipped a beat as I realized
someone was actually in my house and I was pretty much locked up inside.
I reached for the baseball bat and held it tightly, ready to bash some uninvited heads.
I slowly opened my bedroom door and peaked into the hallway in
silence,
waiting for the noise to repeat. I could clearly hear movement in the kitchen and
it sounded like there were at least two people. But the hallway was getting darker toward
that area and I couldn’t see anything. I knew I had to do something.
At least take a peak and see who that was. Before that, however, I called 911 just to
be sure and waited for about five minutes. I kept hearing noise in the kitchen during that whole time.
I eventually started moving slowly through the hallway,
trying to
make as little noise as possible. Then I stepped on a squeaky floor board
and my stealth went out the window. I instantly froze and I felt
my heart stopping in my chest. The noise in the kitchen had suddenly
ceased. Whoever was there clearly heard me, so there was no point playing the ninja game.
I hit the light switch in the hallway and screamed out the top of my lungs
as I lunged into the kitchen. My bat was ready to swing.
To my surprise, the kitchen was empty. To my even bigge
r surprise, the
fridge door was slightly open. I looked inside and some food was missing, which
actually creeped me out more than anything. I searched the entire house and I
couldn’t find any sign of break and entry. Then the cops came shortly and I had to file a
report. They couldn’t find any sign of forced entry either, which was bizarre to say the least.
At this point, I was beginning to freak out. I didn’t believe in ghosts, but sometimes you
have to reconsider your beliefs, you know? F
ortunately, I had a plan.
The next day I got three indoor cameras and placed them strategically in
the hallway, living room, and kitchen. The infrared mode should capture everything
even in pitch darkness. And capture it did. I went to sleep early that night due to
working on my Master thesis, so I didn’t get to experience anything out of the ordinary. Until around 3 AM when a loud noise woke me up abrubtly I was still groggy, so I
couldn’t identify the noise at first. Then my brain came onl
ine and I realized it was the sound of glass breaking. Adrenaline flooded my veins and I immediately went into a defensive mode.
I grabbed the bat next to my bed and slow walked to the door, making as little noise as possible.
I could no longer hear anything, which was even more unnerving.
Then I suddenly remembered about the cameras. I had the app on my phone already, so I
immediately logged in to check the feed. Nothing could have prepared me
for what I was about to witness. I was expecting
a homeless guy,
but I got an entire family instead. My living room and kitchen cameras captured four
adults, two men and two women, and three children between the age of five and seven or eight.
I simply could not believe my eyes. They appeared to be relatively well
dressed and appeared to be a big family. Here’s the awkward aspect, though. They
were acting as if they were at home. Eating out of the fridge, resting on
the living room sofa, watching TV, and even playing with one of my board
games.
What struck me was their supernatural silence. They would move and interact with
each other in nearly perfect silence, which made me question
whether they were even real. I turned the camera volume up to the
point where I could clearly hear the TV. No sound from them, though.
I was watching the recording of the last 5 minutes when I saw one of
the kids breaking a vase by accident. This caused all of them to rush
into the small hallway leading from the kitchen to the maintenance
stor
age area. In perfect silence. They didn’t return into the
camera view. Which made no sense. The storage area was very small and couldn’t
fit more than two children or an adult maybe. There was also no door, not
even a window, to the outside. So, there was virtually nowhere for them to go.
I kept watching the cameras to make sure they won’t return. I slowly opened the door and
advanced through the hallway into the kitchen. Everything seemed in order with the exception of
the broken vase in t
he living room. I slowly and silently made my way to the storage room, getting
as close as possible and listening closely. I didn’t hear anything at first. And then I did.
There were clear thudding sounds, as if something or someone was moving there. However, the
noise was coming from under the floor. I freaked out, but kept my cool and
backed down into my bedroom to call 911. Long story short, the cops came
and they unveiled a truth that I still find hard to believe to this day.
There were
nine people living under the house’s floors, into a hidden living quarters
that was impressively complex and cozy. The subsequent investigation lasted
for approximately three months and the findings were surreal, to say the least.
Apparently, those people were living there for 19 years and there were multiple
generations sharing the same space. They have been coexisting with my
dead relative for nearly two decades, without him being aware of their existence.
The officer on the case informed
me that they were part of a religious cult that taught their
children that there are two types of people. The ground dwellers and the underground dwellers.
And that the latter would live on the expense of the others and that’s how things
are everywhere in the world. Apparently, they did so to protect
their children from the world which, if you ask me, destroyed their lives even more.
The entire story was too uncanny for me to swallow, so I sold the house and never
stepped foot into that neig
hborhood again. Last time I heard, the adults were standing
trial for child abuse, among other things.
Comments