Winchester: The Witch At The Gate

We normally kept to ourselves in the neighborhood. We stayed inside, and if we went out, it was by ourselves. We would occasionally see the neighbors across the street and exchange hellos but that is usually as far as that went. I did, however, get to know the woman who lived next door to us quite by accident. It was a gray and cloudy day. Lilly was just put down for a nap. Her naps made it easy to get a lot of things done around the house as she always wanted to be held. I was doing some cleaning while Elliot and Tonka were playing out back in the yard. They were having such a great time, running around and chasing each other. I looked up just when I saw something hit my son in the head. My dog was sniffing it and then backed up growling. It looked like a moist piece of pink flesh. It was absolutely revolting. My dog couldn’t even stand it.

I ran outside and had my son run inside. I saw whatever came into my yard, came flying over the fence into my backyard. It came from next door. I, pretty angry, ran to the fence and started yelling at the neighbor telling them not to throw things into my yard, not mess around with my child, and to be careful because I didn't want my dog to get a hold of anything and get sick. Not to mention that messing with my 200lb dog that was almost 6 feet tall when on his hind legs and bigger than a pony was not smart, and getting mauled by him when he jumped through the fence after pissing him off would be potentially dangerous. I was so livid and yelling at this person, honestly, expecting a man on the other side. As I looked closer toward the fence and walked closer, I noticed a hole in my wooden fence and there was a blue eye in it. As I approached, there was a very frail, and skinny old woman in a white night gown standing on the other side. She looked aged more than any other person I had ever seen, and her white hair was all over the place. Like there was an electrical shock that went right through her body. Her eyes were pale and milky blue and sunken into her skull. Her skin was pale and sagged from her bones. She had a very worn rake in her hand and was always out back raking.

I was quite taken back when I realized that I was cursing at an old woman, then I realized that I had a right. This was my yard and family, and she had no right. She began to talk to me with her low and screechy, tired voice. She said she liked my dog and wanted to play with it. I explained to her that he was protective and large and could hurt her if he got over our fence and to just leave him alone. She started to get louder while pointing her finger at me and shaking it violently and chanted that I would like her. She said “I have always lived here, and you will like me. You will be my friend. You will like me”. She said this until she was screaming it then started laughing in this sort of eerie cackle. Finally I was done with her. I went inside. I bathed my son since what looked like human skin hit him earlier and we stayed in for the night.

I began to notice over the next few days that there were dead crows in my yard, right by the hole she looked through the fence at. I would even notice her watching through this hole. I thought about covering it, but in reality, there were so many little cracks she could still look through. I did not know if she was killing these crows or if they were just dying there. I approached her at the fence one gloomy and rainy day. I confronted her about it. She told me “Everything dies here, everything dies hereeeeee” along with an odd growling at the end of the sentence. She continued to tell me that my home was “full of evil and that everything died there...even the children”. This last statement was accompanied by a wicked laugh under her breath. I asked her what children she was referring to. Not mine I had hoped. She ended with “They’re already dead” with a malevolent smile on her face and she then began mumbling some rhyme to herself like a witch reciting a spell.

Everything dies here, even the children? The children are already dead? Was she talking about Tommy?

To be continued ...