When Rick was six years old he moved into an old farm house in Georgia with his parents, grandparents and siblings.
It was exactly what one would imagine a haunted house to look like. When they first arrived to their new home, Rick and his brother were excited about the old barn, out houses and sheds that were in the back of the house. His sisters were interested in the house and choosing their rooms.
This old farm house had a tin roof. The interior was wood, wood floors, wood walls, wood stairs and banister. The woodwork was extraordinary, but there were small images in the wood that somehow seemed creepy. Rick’s father didn’t notice it when he saw the house. He was interested in the 500 acres and the barn. He also noticed that the farmhouse was huge with six bedrooms and four bathrooms. There was a huge family kitchen he knew his wife would love. Some improvements were made to the house without taking away the charm of the original woodwork. There was also a three bedroom house on the property for his parents and another that would be great as a guest house for his brother and his family. The price was a factor that made this farmhouse an absolute bargain.
There was going to be a lot of work in clearing away debris in the yard, but Rick’s father was planning to start out small by planting a garden near the house and to build a chicken coop for fresh eggs and buying a cow for fresh milk. He didn’t think beyond that, but he believed he had plenty of time to decide. First he had to move his family from California to Georgia.
Rick and his siblings didn’t like the idea. Their mother was concerned, but she had every confidence in her husband and father-in-law. She thought a farm would be a great place to raise her children.
Rick’s grandfather had recently retired and sold his construction business. He thought a farm in Georgia was perfect for his retirement. They liked the idea that they would have a house of their own close to their son and grandchildren.
They arrived on a cloudy, windy day. By evening, it started raining. They noticed the roof leaked and the wind and rain seeped through the windows. There were eerie creaking sounds from the floors and the walls. Although the electrical wiring and plumbing were only about five years old, there were problems due to the house being empty for a couple of years.
The strange thing was that the house was fully furnished. It looked as though someone had packed up what they could take in their car and left, never to return.
That first night was an experience they would never forget with lights turning on and off and toilets flushing and faucets turning on and off. Not to mention mopping up the rainwater under the windows and emptying the buckets to catch the drips from the ceiling. And, of course, the creaking of the house.
The next day was cloudy, but no rain. Rick’s mother took them to register for school. Although they wanted to go back to the farm and get settled before starting school, they did begin that day. There was also a bus that dropped them off after school at the long driveway to their property. It would be there at 7:30 the next morning.
While the kids were busy at school, repairs were made on the farmhouse. There was a crew of workers packing up when the kids arrived home from school.
The overgrown grass and weeds were cleared away. The old farmhouse didn’t look quite as scary as it had when they arrived.
The smells coming from the kitchen were inviting to four hungry children.
After dinner the children settled down to do homework in front of the television. Their grandparents sat at the table playing cards. By 9 PM they went to their house. Their house came furnished as did the guest house. These two houses were in better shape than the farmhouse because they were not as old.
There were the regular creaks from the house, but Rick was tired from school and not getting enough sleep the night before.
He did wake up in the middle of the night. He felt a weight sitting on his chest. He tried to move, but it was impossible. He couldn’t even open his eyes which scared him. He tried to yell, but he couldn’t open his mouth. He remembered praying for Jesus to help him. In a few minutes the weight was off of him and he was able to move. He jumped out of bed and ran to his parent’s room, turning on the lights in his bedroom and the hallway and in his parent’s bedroom.
He told his parents of his experience, they checked his room, but found nothing and left the light on in the hallway.
He slept through the rest of the night undisturbed.
At breakfast in the morning he thought it had been a bad dream as his mother suggested.
The kids got on the bus and were off to school. Rick learned from one of his new friends that the old farmhouse had a dark history. They said it was built by an old ship builder, but his wife was a witch. Rick liked the idea of an old ship builder building the house, but he didn’t know what to make of a witch living in his house at one time. Then he thought about the creepy symbols carved in the wood.
Rick’s older sister was way ahead of him. She heard the story, too, and went into the library to look up some of the symbols she remembered seeing repeated throughout the house. She discovered these were for protection, but didn’t know what they needed protection from. She was level-headed for a 12-year-old and didn’t allow her imagination to run wild.
Rick’s 14-year-old brother looked up old newspapers articles from two years previous when the old farmhouse was abandoned. He was told about the murder of a small boy in the house and how the parents ran off leaving their son dead in the house. He couldn’t believe it and had to check it out for himself.
There it was in black and white. A picture of the old farmhouse, a black body bag on a gurney, policemen on the front porch and he noticed something dark looking out of an upstairs window. He made a copy of the article.
Soon Rick’s parents learned some history of the house. It is interesting how people seem to enjoy telling tales after someone moves into a haunted place, but no one is to be found to warn them from buying it and moving their family into it.
They had the house blessed, but that seemed to bring the stories into reality.
From what the family experienced that Friday night, they knew the little boy was not beaten to death by his parents, but some evil entity was in the house and did a repeat performance on Rick, but, fortunately, he didn’t die. His brother heard strange growling sounds coming from Rick’s bedroom and got up to check on him. He saw something dark on the bed hitting his little brother. He tried to grab it and throw it off him, but there was nothing for him to grasp. He was shouting for it to stop, walking up the whole house. His father came in and rush for his young son and was able to get him away from the dark entity.
It then turned on the elder son. His father returned with a shovel, swung it at the entity, hit it several times before it finally left through the ceiling.
It was tempting to leave the farmhouse, just as the previous owners had, but they decided to defeat this thing and banish it from the house.
The family moved into the guest house.
With help from the priest and church members, all the furniture was removed from the house, including the basement and attic. It was taken out into a pit the grandfather made in the middle of the field and burned. The fire department was there to make sure the blaze didn’t get out of hand.
There were plenty of witnesses to hear the screams, growls and cries from the burning pile of furniture and boxes left by previous owners.
The house was blessed again and the family slowly bought furniture and returned to live in the old farmhouse.
Rick was still bruised from his ordeal, but he returned to school. He became a bit of a hero among his peers for surviving the demon’s attack.
The girls seemed most reluctant to return to the farmhouse. They stayed with their grandparents at night, but did have dinner in the farmhouse. Eventually, they decided the farmhouse was safe for them.
The houses and buildings on the property were free from demons, but as for the woods, that’s another story entirely.
That was truly a creepy Real Ghost Story!
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
