This is the time of year when our family shares tales of things that go "bump in the night." It reminds me of when I'd stay with my siblings in my grandmothers scary old house that seemed to have something else living in it besides us. She had crosses on the walls in every room except the bathroom, and for good reason it turned out.

At night, I slept in my aunt's middle room, while my sister was in my mom's and uncle's room, with grandmom in the back one. This woman was absolutely fearless and would actually talk to "whomever" it was and order them to leave her house. There were no doors to lock shut, only a flimsy curtain separating each room from whatever undead creature inhabited scary house.

At night, she'd turn ALL of the lights out. It was so black, you could hardly see your hands in front of your face due to the blackout shades and thick curtains covering the windows. During a full moon, just a sliver of glow from the pale disc would peek above the top of the window frame. So you see, the environment was just right (or wrong), for what was about to happen.

Now, we all know that old houses "settle" and I've heard that as an excuse for what we all heard in the dead of night. My response to all that? POPPYCOCK!

We're in bed with the covers pulled up to our eyeballs while something is landing slow, thumping step-by-step up the stairs. We would hear grandmom sleeping and would call out to her. "Oh it's nothing but the ghost" she'd reply, then order it to leave in the name of Jesus! Upon hearing our voices, the thing would stop and obey the order to depart. You could actually hear the footsteps heading down the steps before fading into the distance.

One night, I decided to turn the hallway light on to try and see what it was that was visiting us at night. Me and my sis stayed up, and like clockwork the footsteps started again. As usual we called out to our grandmother, but she wasn't feeling well and didn't respond. The thumps would always stop whenever we called out, then resume s-l-o-w-l-y it's march up the stairs.

At this point, me and my sis are hugging each other while watching the glow of the light behind the curtain. Reaching the top, the shape of something huge could be seen and the breath of whatever it was disturbed the curtain whenever it exhaled. Now we're whimpering and expecting the worst, when in the nick of time grandmom wakes up, realizes what's happening and with cross in hand orders the thing to leave at once!

It did, and me and my sister spent the rest of the night in my grandmothers bed with her sleeping on the outside just in case. I swear that woman was fearless. She was not afraid to march downstairs and tell the presence to leave. We never saw anything besides the curtain episode, but she said one of the visitors was a woman who'd been killed inside the house ages ago and didn't want to leave. This woman considered it her house and saw us as the interlopers.

In the morning, I'd undertake an extensive search of the house for a break-in, and of course there was none. Anyone who doesn't believe, can go pound sand, we know what we saw! There was never a sign of someone having broken in, whatever it was, was already inside the house... Now, some of you may recall that I blogged about The Hole Under the Stairs in my grandmother's basement. I'd wonder if that could have been the source of whatever was entering the house. It was big enough for my older sister to climb into and then lose sight of her in the darkness.

Years later, we were asked to choose between my aunts and gradmoms house to inherit when each of them died. They went by age, with my older sister choosing first. I had fingers, legs and anything else croseed hoping she would choose the haunted house and she did. It was picked because she surmised that grandmom would pass first and she wouldn't have to wait for my aunt to pass as I would have to. I was never so happy to "lose out" to someone else in my entire life. That place scared the bejesus out of me! My attitude was If you want it, you can have it! Fuck that, I'll wait.

The hole that my sister climbed into was there when grandmom bought the house, and no one ever explained why it was there or where it went to. My train set was right next to it, and we'd hear things scurrying around in there that would send me running upstairs, while locking the basement door behind me. The house was eventually sold because I sure as hell didn't want it, but the hole under the stairs is still there...