George
Sent in by: Undisclosed
This story is a bit long.
For the past 22 years my family has shared our residence with a ghost that we call George. George has never harmed anyone and usually stays on like the top floor. He makes his presence known to us by walking around upstairs when we are alone.
Our house consists of a main floor, a second story, attic and basement. My father is a disbeliever and attributed the footsteps to the house settling or the floor boards expanding etc. However, my mother, grandmother and I felt differently.
George was most active from 1978 through the early 80’s. Many times we would hear footsteps on the top floor of the house when no one was up there. George never harmed any one and possibly saved me from danger.
The first time I really “noticed” George was during the summer of 1978 when I was 11 years old and it was quite a terrifying experience for me. We had a “summer camp” located at the local elementary school about two blocks from my house. Well, one day I decided that I was going to stay home instead of attending camp. I wanted to be able to raid the fridge and watch TV instead of staying out side for 8 hours until my folks came home from work. By the time Mom and I got up Dad was already at work. Mom would leave for her work then I would go to summer camp. This morning was a bit different. When Mom and I woke up Dad was already gone as usual. We went in the basement to get clothes out of the dryer. While we were there Mom and I both checked the basement door and it was locked tight. We proceeded upstairs where mom dressed and left for work. I pretended to get ready but after mom left I went back to bed.
After a half hour or so I heard some one walking around upstairs. The foot steps started to get louder and heavier. I swear I heard some one running and stomping their feet all over the place up there. When I went to the door that led to the top floor it got even worse. It sounded like some one with combat boots was jumping up and down. The “ghost” ran from one side of the house to the top of the stairs and grabbed the railing. I saw the railing actually move (it was attached to the wall loosely). That was it! I ran to the police station located a block away.
When the Police came to investigate they found the basement door unlocked and wide open. That really freaked me out because when mom and I both checked the basement door it was locked tight!!
I used to think that George was trying to get me out of the house to go the summer camp, which I absolutely hated. He must have had enough sense to know that an 11 year old kid shouldn’t be left alone. But I also have another theory as to why he made such a ruckus. My father usually left for work by 6:30 or so. I think that maybe he inadvertently left the front door unlocked and somebody came in our home. The intruder may have heard Mom and I getting up and headed downstairs to wait until we left so he/they could rob us after we left. That may be why the basement door was wide open. At that time the basement did have a few good hiding places such as underneath the stairs or behind the built in bar. It’s possible that someone was hiding while we were getting clothes out of the dryer. I often wonder if George was trying to warn me of possible danger. This was the only time he made any LOUD noises.
After this incident I was too scared to go upstairs. Eventually I overcame my fear and the only noises we heard from George were his trade mark footsteps.
Another time my mother was watching TV and heard someone walking around up stairs. She thought it was either my father or me until she realized that dad and I had gone out for dinner and she was home alone.
When my grandmother came to live with us we remodeled the basement into a 4 room apartment for her. We were so used to George we never thought to tell her about him. During the first few weeks she complained of hearing noises and footsteps in the house. When she would come upstairs to check it out no one was there. She was nearly leg less from climbing up and down the stairs. Grandma wasn’t too please when Mom told her it was our resident ghost.
George did come downstairs one time. In ‘93, I moved to NY for three years. I was planning to come home for a weeks vacation. The day before my arrival my mother and grandmother’s nurse were sitting in the kitchen. Mom and the nurse heard George walking upstairs. He walked down the stairs into the living room, walked in a circle around the coffee table and proceeded to knock on the front door. The nurse went to the door to answer it and no one was there. Needless to say she was a bit spooked.
There also have been other weird things that have happened here too. I used to come home for the weekends to visit. On Saturday morning my father was in the kitchen standing near the basement steps when he heard me call out “dad”. Dad thought that I had arrived late the night before and went straight to bed. He went downstairs expecting to see me but didn’t because I was not there. My mom called me in NY that morning to see if I was okay. She said my dad was a little shook up about the incident. He thought that maybe I was in trouble and was calling out for help. The odd thing is that everything was okay on my end. I wasn’t sick or in any type of trouble what so ever.
Things are pretty quiet in our house now. I haven’t heard George in a while. There have been other strange occurrences, but that’s another story.