The Visitor

My boyfriend has always said his house is haunted. I have always laughed at that. He’s told me stories about hearing strange running sounds on the stairs when no one else was in the house, sometimes even a loud THUD on the landing, like someone had jumped down onto it. He talks about hearing knocking from the downstairs bathroom, or from the kitchen where the refrigerator sits. Sometimes a closet door swings open on its own, or a chair creaks beside him when he watches a movie.

I’m always skeptical. I have been there many times, alone even, and had never heard anything unsettling. A few startling rattles from the bathroom pipes, and the occasional sound of the freezer making new ice, but nothing too alarming. Nothing ever happened while I was there...until it did.

This past weekend, I stayed at the house alone. The first day there I spent my time sitting by the warm fireplace, reading, and nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Before bed, I grabbed some rum from the liquor cabinet and made myself a cup of hot buttered rum(puts you right to sleep!). The cabinet has those annoying overlapping doors that wont close right unless you close one after the other in a specific way. I made sure to close them properly. The next morning, while sitting at the dining table with coffee and breakfast, I heard a CREAK next to me. At the same moment I looked over at the liquor cabinet, one of the annoying doors opened on its own. I watched it slowly swing open wider and wider, and gently tap the wall next to it. I was confused by this because I made sure to properly latch the annoying cabinet doors the night before. It seemed like a random time to suddenly open on its own. My mind didn't immediately jump to ghosts, but I was weirded out.

Later the same day, I heard the strange sound of someone running up and down the stairs, like my partner had mentioned. I knew no one was in the house with me, but I took a worried peek anyway--nothing. I bounced on each step for a bit to see if they were just naturally creaky, because it is an old house, but I didn't hear a single sound. I went about the rest of my day, keeping an ear peeled.

The third day was uneventful until the evening, just before it got dark. I was in the kitchen making tomato soup for dinner when I heard the distinct sound of the garage door opening. I ran to the door, thinking maybe my boyfriend was back, but no one was there. I peeked through all of the windows and didn’t see a thing; no kids or neighbors around. I shut the garage door from inside the house, closed all of the blinds, and double checked the locks on the doors. I didn’t feel like I was in danger, but things were getting strange. I stayed alert all night. Luckily, my partner was off of work late at night so I didn’t have to sleep alone. He kept telling me, “see! I knew it was haunted! I told you!”

The following day, all seemed well. No creaks, or rattles, or opening of doors. I kept an eye open and an ear peeled just in case.

I took the photo above in the house, both as a form of expression through self portraiture, and to make my experience a little more tangible and understandable. Was the house just old and creaky? Did I not close the liquor cabinet completely? What about the garage door? I’m not sure what happened, but I will probably believe my boyfriend when he tells me a story about hearing noises in his house now.