Around the Horn by Jason M

This story is not my own but my wife's. I have gotten permission to retell it.

She was nine years old, and their block was closed off for a block party. Kris (my wife) was across the street when her father asked her to go home for more barbecue sauce. When she got to the front of their house she saw a gentleman dressed in a brown pin striped three piece suit, A gold chain attached to a watch, a bowler hat, and spats. She looked up and asked, "Can I help you?" -- to which he looked right back at her and simply smiled. Then Kris turned to call her parents -- but when she turned back around, he was gone.

Her parents came and she described the man down to his "white covers on his shoes." Kris' parents told her not to tell anyone else about this. Kris felt terror in her parents room and also in the basement, but no where else in the house. (This was always the case, not just after the block party event).

When kris was 14 years her parents had bought a brand new 1984 Audi. During the first week of possession the car, its horn starting going off late at night and early in the morning while it was parked in their garage. Everytime Kris' dad went down to check, the horn stopped when he reached the door to the garage -- but when he returned to bed the horn started again. When he went back down to the garage, the horn stopped again.

Kris' dad checked the house, garage and exterior of the house to see if someone was playing a joke. He then went to the kitchen for a drink of water and the horn started once again. He went out (who knows where, this is really hard to relay) and the horn continued until he disconnected the wires to the horn.

He (Kris' dad) went back to bed, when he heard the horn start again. He took the car back to the dealer where they found nothing wrong with the car. Kris was 15 years when she was baby-sitting her younger brother who was sleeping in his room. She was downstairs watching TV and the chandelier in the dining room started swinging slightly. Kris thought it was the air vent, which she checked and it wasn't on.

The family Labrador, Sidney, came in from breezeway entering through the dining room barking at the chandelier and at the corner of the room. Kris told her to be quiet, but she kept barking. Kris went into the dining room and brought Sidney into the family room when she noticed the chandelier was swinging harder. The dog was going crazy and Kris was getting scared. She started running through the house and ended up running right through the through the window glass in the breezeway to get to her parents who where next door.

Her parents came next door and saw the glass, checked on Kris who didn't have a scratch on her.

Around the same time (give or take a couple months) Kris' dad went to bed one night and while he was brushing his teeth in their attached bath he asked a question to his wife who he saw was looking out the bedroom window Just outside the bathroom door. She responded from the bed, when he Looked again the person he saw was gone.

That was the last of their experiences in that house. Kris' parents divorced and her mom was forced to sell the house. The following was told to her mom from the neighbors later.

The new owners started remodeling and pulled up the white carpet in her parents old room. They found a brown stain (Kris's parents put that carpet in and there was no stain at installation).

The house had archways all through the house, and the new owners squared it all off. In the morning they found both front and back doors wide open after locking them the night before. (The front door was heavy and the handle had to be jiggled to open it.) This happened a just a couple of times.

This couple sold the house before a year of ownership. Since her mom sold the house in 1989, the house has changed hands six times. Out of curiosity, I went to the hall of records to see who in the past had owned the house. Kris and her family stayed in the house the longest since the records started approximately 1910 to 1920 (it has been awhile since I did the research). They stayed about 18 years.

As of this date 9/5/98 the house is up for sale again. I should note that the only other person that felt anything really bad in the house was her dad, who disliked the basement and, of course, their dog.