The “Real Haunted House”
Back in the 70's my dad was part of the group who took a old house on a hill at the edge of town and turned it into a haunted house. Little did they know that it had a history.
Soon after the house opened there were complaints about the stairs that lead to the cellar. The costumers would complain that although the stairs were well lite when they got to them someone would dampen the light. Then after the light was dampened someone was trying to “hurry” you down the stairs. They would complain that as soon as their backs were turned they would feel as if someone was trying to “push” them along. They complained with good reason “No one should be allowed to touch let alone touch them on the stairs.”
The guys running the house were perplexed. For one thing the stairs had a nice lightbulb right there over it. For anther thing no one was stationed at the top to scare anyone. It was just a staircase to the cellar. So my dad was asked to just stand on the top of the stairs and make sure everyone was safe. For a weekend nothing happened. The next weekend was slow and this big guy came to the stairs. Dad gave him the standard watch your step and hold the rail. As soon as the guy grabbed the rail the light bulb dimmed. The guy looked like he took one step but instead of going down it was like watching a cartoon character step over the edge and just float till he looks down. The guy did not “fall” It was more that he glided walking speed down the stairs without touching a one. Dad, who was in the corner of the stairwell just called out and the guy dressed as a goal at the bottom stuck his head. He appeared out of his hiding space just in time to smash into the guy gliding down. There was a small whomp, but no one was hurt The guy who “fell” down stated he was pushed. But as the guy who stuck his head out pointed out that my Dad was in the corner not close enough to touch the guy let alone push him over the edge. After that the cellar was no longer part of the tour. Which maybe for the best because that is where “it” happened.
Then there was the spider.
At night when locking up The last two or three guys would turn off the electricity power box outside. This was the main switch and the only power for the house. It was also only available for the haunted season.
After throwing this switch that turned everything off the place took on a unsettling quiet. The from deep within the maze of hallways was a single sound. wirr bang zip wirrr bang zip wirr bang zip wirr. My dad and another guy grabbed a flashlight and went deep into the maze of rooms that made up the bulk of the upstairs. They made it to the middle of the maze where they worked out that was where the sound was coming from. In the middle of the maze was a big fake spider that was to fall in front of those who wondered down the hallway. The problem was, they could not find the problem. It was broke and was not working just a hour before. The guys had given up and were heading for home. They were just content for the time being to just let it hang there instead of dropping from the ceiling. Only now it was not hanging there. They took there flashlights off of where it should have been and the bang zip noise came in loud and clear. They put there lights on the sound and there was the spider on it’s “web” rope. It had dropped. After a minute or two they both started to use the flashlights to once again look around. wirr noise was back and they tried to put there lights back on the spider but it was gone. Gone back to it’s hiding place. As soon as they flashlight was taken from the place the zip of the rope and the bang of the over head trap door cut thru the air. My dad and the other guy just stood there. They knew that was the sound of the spider and there eyes were getting used to the dark. So they just stood there and watched this spider wirr itself back into the hiding space, zip down the rope while the trap door banged open. After the 3rd time they tried to “catch” the spider with there flashlight. Only when the light was on it, it did not move! They tried a few more times and then just “quickly got out of there, into there cars and left”
The next day they tried to make the spider work with no luck. That night they heard the sound again but did not go up to find the problem. The next day they took they motor out so that the spider just hung there.
The other strange thing that went on there was the phantom wheels. My dads main job was to be the guy at the front door that took the ticket and “warmed” up the line. Without costume he would rant and rave and carry on. On slow days he would could just sit back and relax a keep an eye out for the next victim. The way in was just a pea gravel road just the way had been since the place was built. Dad said when the air was still and the road was empty you could hear and see rock being grounded under a tire. None was there. No car, wagon, person or animal just rock moving as if something was driving on top of it. Did not matter what time of day or how cold or how warm. The weather just had to be calm and the road empty and something that was nothing would come riding down the road It would “drive?” up and stop just down about where the old driveway ended.
Then there was what I saw. Even before the guys made this place the haunted house the police had on there list as a meeting place for vandals. The reason being is a lot of people would call into the cops saying they say lights on in the place. Now this was back in the day with no cell phones and the place was on the edge of town. So it would take whoever saw the lights a little time to drive home call the cops and the cops to show up. The strange weird thing is the cops never caught anybody there. The cops never saw nothing new that was vandalized. Sometimes during the day they would stop and “take inventory” of what was out there. But anytime they went out on one of these calls they would never find anything new. On rare occasions the cops would see the lights moving around in the house but could not find the source. No one was ever cited let alone caught for trespassing.
Once it was turned into the haunted house it was locked down twice as much before. The cops were happy to hear that, now it was someone else problem. But the lights kept moving in the house. The guys running the house unlike the police had keys. So now when someone called in about the lights they would go out and check on the house. One time they got there and they did see the lights. This had become a problem and this time just happened to be called in when a group of them were all together playing cards. Fed up with at least two calls a month they guys went to find the problem. Two went up and two staid down and talked with each other with the walky talkies they used to run the place. No matter how hard they tried they just could not be at the right window at the right time for the guys inside to see the lights.
Sometimes my dad can pull my leg. The thing is everything I have written I have talked with others that were there. They back up what my dad told me. To top it off, I have seen the lights with my own eyes. They were more a strange glow that moved more then lights. I did not stay that long and I only saw them from the turn in off the road. I was looking for a place to steam up the windows. But after I saw the lights I just turned around. It was Nov. and I knew no power and no one should be out there so maybe It would be best I did not stick around.
Not to leave you hanging but the history as it was told to me by three different guys three different times by guys who worked out there. The last owner of the house was a guy who did not get along with anyone. He owned most of the land around there. Some say he had a lot of money and did not trust the bank.
He died in the cellar hung up over a beam. The cops ruled it a suicide. The problem with that is they never worked out how the guy did it. The only way they said it could have happen is if he stood on a block of ice and jumped. So when they found him a few days later the ice had melted.