Thursday, March 20, 2008

The Neighbor in the Window

Sadie from Indiana sent me the following e-mail:

Okay, So I read your book, and (of course) absolutely loved it!
Anyway...
Have you ever heard of anybody who could see spirits?
Not just sometimes, but all the time, whereever they are.
Well I can, and I have a pretty creepy story about my neighbor's house if you'd like to hear...

Of course I'd like to hear! And so Sadie sent me this chilling tale:

Okay....

When I first moved into my house, my mom made me meet the neighbors (ick). And the one on our left was an elderly man who I guess didn't like kids very much. I ended up being best friends with the girl in the house past his. But being the strange person I am, I had to investigate.

I asked my friend about him, and it turned out he was really weird (and he used to be a circus clown, but that's not important). I convinced my friend to help me. After a few months of living there, I was walking home from my friend's house late one night and I happened to see out of the corner of my eye, my creepy neighbor watching me from his window.

I was a little freaked out, but I didn't think much of it. After a few more times of that happening, I got really annoyed. I asked my mom about him (not telling her about him watching me), saying he was really weird.

Turns out he had died a month before!

Somebody else lives there now, but sometimes I still see the creepy neighbor looking out his window at me.

Sadie-
Indiana

I've heard of being a good neighbor--this is ridiculous! And beyond CREEPY!! Thanks for sharing, Sadie.

Baby's Ghost is Mad!

Dear Jason,

My name is Aaron. My BEST friend Rain and I have experienced some paranormal stuff in Rhode Island. I swear this is real. One day at Rain's house, she took out a oiuja board and we contacted the spirits and believe us, we wish we NEVER had. We talked to a dead girl named Baby and she said she was at Rain's house. So we did some tests like we put out a tootsie roll and watched it with our own eyes move back and forth. After that we were going to visit her grave but it was raining really hard, so we went through some old photos and found a picture that had Baby in the background! We asked if it was her and it was. Now as you can imagine we were freaked out. The next day Baby started throwing and moving things around. We locked ourselves in Rain's room, but Baby kept throwing things at us and screaming like a banshee. But the weirdest thing was we couldn't figure out why she was mad. Then we realized that she was mad at us because we never visited her grave!

Still, after we saw her temper that's the last place I want to be!

>'_'< Aaron

I don't blame you one bit! I don't know if I'd venture to her grave. I might also hide the ouija board! :)

"Sara Jane, I Have Your Baby!"

Allison from Texas sent me this local legend that's so popular it even has a street named after it:

My name is Allison. I'm from Texas. There is a story here that is told every year at Halloween. Nobody really knows when it was started but it has plenty of truth to it.

In the pioneer days there was a woman named Sara Jane. She was traveling back to her home town with her new born daughter when she walked into a store only to find that it was being robbed. She raced out the door and the robbers chased her over what is now officially Pure Atlantic Road, but more commonly called Sara Jane Road. Sara wanted to save her child so she threw her into a near by bush, but the infant rolled into the river. The robbers soon caught up with Sara and killed her. Meanwhile the child drowned. Now, Sara Jane haunts the road looking for her baby. Some say that if you stand in the middle of the road at midnight on Halloween and yell "Sara Jane! Sara Jane I have your baby!" you will hear a baby crying and a girl shouting "Where? Where?" I am still a chicken and have refused to try this myself but I have plenty of friends who have and all the stories are the same. First a wind colder than you can ever imagine blows. Then you hear an infant crying. And finally you see a woman running down the road. I once had a teacher who lived on Sara Jane Road and refused to believe this, but I figure this was only because he was a science teacher. He also refused to call the road Sara Jane Road.

P.S luved the book

Thanks, Allison, for this great local legend. Next time I'm in Texas I'll have visit Pure Atlan--I mean Sara Jane Road!

Grandma's Ghostly Tale

Kate from Ohio sent along this tale that her grandmother told her about her own ghostly encounter years ago in Alabama:

Jason,

Hi my name is Kate and I'm from Ohio, but I have a story from Alabama to tell you. My grandma told me this:

I was staying with your father's cousin Ruthie and she had a cat called
Boo. Well, Boo liked to hang out in Ruthie's closet. She said I could pet him while she got ready for dinner. I went to the closet to say hi to Boo and when I did I felt someone tap me. I turned around and there was this little boy dressed in a little shirt and short pants. I turned to ask Ruthie about him, but when I turned back he was gone.

I later found out that a young boy by the name of Samuel Morriss Gregory had lived in that house about 80 years before Ruthie. He was 4 when one day he went outside and played in a pond. Well, the pond led to the river and he was swept away and later found. When he was found, his body was bloody and torn, and he was wearing a little shirt and short pants.

Hope you liked the story, Jason.

Kate

I'm still shivering, Kate! Thank you and please thank your grandmother for sharing!

White Lights and Black Shapes

Max from California sent me two tales of his encounters with the weird and unexplained. Here they are:

Hi, I'm Max, I live in California. I'm a HUGE fan of your site, and I have scary stories of my own, both of which happened to me. People say that I can see ghosts.

Here is the first one:

My mom and I live in this recently rebuilt house. It was all we could have hoped for. Nothing really unusual happened until about our eighth month living there. It was about 9:00 and I was watching tv when all of a sudden I saw what looked like a glowing hand shoot through the closed kitchen door. At first I was really scared but then I realized that it was probably just a trick of the light. About three minutes later I saw a big ball of white light come from the bedroom, pause in front of me, turn, and go through the kitchen door. At that point I was very scared. So I turned off the tv and was about to turn off my bedroom light when a freezing cold air engulfed me. It swirled around my body for about a minute then just dissapeared. We moved out two months later.

Here is my other story:

I lived with my dad in a 1950's house. Things started happening right after we moved in. All of them seemed to happen to me and my friends when we played video games. The buttons started getting pushed all by themselves. Knocks would come at the door but nobody would be there. But the scariest thing happened to me and my friend Liam. He was sleeping over when at about 4:00 in the morning we were awakened by the sounds of pots and pans being hit together. When we went into the kitchen the fridge door was open and pots and pans were on the ground. We ran into the living room only to be confronted by the tv rotating on its stand (it could spin). We were about to turn and go into my room when we saw a black mass crouching in the fire place. Nobody else believes us but we know what we saw.

Thanks, Max. The fact that both you and Liam saw this shape is very creepy indeed!

The Legend of Crybaby Hollow

Taylor from Alabama sent me this local legend that he actually experienced himself. Check it out:

Hey, I'm Taylor from Alabama. I LOVE your blog and book. Hope you make another Scary States of America.

So here is the legend: A young woman was so angry at her infant child that she threw him off the bridge. Now when a car goes across the bridge, it shakes back and forth or is pushed forward. Also tiny hand prints are seen on the car afterwards. If you leave candy on the bridge, the ghost will take it. If you pour baby powder on the bridge, footprints of a baby can be seen. The bridge is now called the bridge of crybaby hollow.

Okay, so here's what happened to me:

I was driving back to where I was camping out. On the way I drove my grandparents' car across the bridge of crybaby hollow. Then, the car starting shaking all over! The baby's cries filled the air. The ghost went inside my car! It grabbed my candy bar! Jason, I was so freaked out! The baby followed me as I went across the bridge until finally I sped off out of sight. People think I'm making this up. Do you believe me?

Your #1 fan,
Taylor
(T-Bone)

Wow, thanks for sending this along. Of course I believe you. I always trust that the people who send me stories are telling the truth. Thanks again for sharing!