Sorry this took me so long to put together. These are stories from my friend's grandparents' house (the one with all of the creeeeeepy dolls).

In addition to having strange stuffed critters lining the walls of the only room that served as a guest bedroom, there was plenty to convince me that the house owned by one of my best friend's grandparents was haunted.

For most, truthfully, the look and feel was enough in and of itself. The place was a strange-looking, two story gray edifice that was a mixture of Gothic and quaint Victorian. The whole effect gave it a rather unusual and unnerving appearance as the styles clashed across its surface, especially under the half-light of a waning moon. Its windows were sufficiently dark and staring, and the whole place seemed to have a slightly brooding quality about it.

But the atmosphere inside the home itself was even -- if this is possible -- more oppressive. The interior always seemed somehow dim and unearthly no matter how much one would attempt to illuminate the surroundings, and it was easy to fancy that the shadows that gathered in the upper stairwell at dusk were malevolent shades huddled against the light and waiting for the coming of darkness to move freely through the night-shrouded hallways.

That said, I liked the house. It fit my (sometimes admittedly) unusual temperment, and even though it did on occasion frighten me, it intrigued me as well.

There were several ghostly incidents/legends associated with the place in my friend Jon's family, and I may have been witness to a strange visit from Jon's grandfather upon his passing.

Here are the stories.

THE THING UPSTAIRS

One of the most frightening stories of the house -- one I believe -- is an incident my friend Jon related to me shortly after his grandparents had purchased the rambling property.

It seems that there was an upstairs room -- and there was still evidence up until the time the family left the home -- which had been boarded up. Naturally, the new owners were curious and decided to open the room at the first opportunity.

The door was forced, and Jon was there to help his grandfather with the work of reclaiming the room. Untold decades of dust lay heavy upon the floor and a few simple fixtures that were found within, but within the thick layer covering the floor was also found a mystery.

In the dust, appearing as if they had just been freshly placed, was a set of strange footprints. Large and imposing, they appeared to be from someone or something that had winded its barefooted way across the floor. There was something vaguely disturbing in the way the prints were formed, but Jon and his grandfather -- not wanting to give in to supernatural explanations so easily -- dismissed it as the work of strange rats or other creatures that may have in recent months resided within the walls.

The work on the room was completed and the room was converted to a guest room. One evening not long thereafter, Jon stayed over with his grandparents and slept in the newly-reclaimed room.

That night he had a strange dream. In his dream, he was floating above himself, looking down as if from the height of the ceiling. From his vantage point, he could perceive everything in the room exactly as it had been in the waking hours and could clearly see the chest of his apparently sleeping form move up and down in a gentle rhythm.

Suddenly, he sensed movement from a closet near his bed, still visible from it if he had been awake. He watched in quiet amazement as a frightening scene unfolded before him.

From out of the closet -- which opened silently -- came a shambling, semi-human monstrosity with mottled skin, wide, grinning teeth, unearthly eyes that seemed to glow palely in the darkness and hideous talons both on its hands and huge feet that clicked malevolently. It approached him silently, licked its lips and opened its gaping maw to what seemed an impossible length.

He saw himself bitten in two. He awoke screaming -- just in time to sit bolt upright and see the closet door click softly shut.

Dream or no, he refused to sleep in that upper bedroom -- as did most everyone who made the attempt -- again. The room was finally converted to storage and overnight guests that were not close family were relegated to that infamous area mentioned in a previous post, the Doll Room. What a comforting change.

THE LITTLE GIRL

Reported by two separate witnesses and always in the light of a full moon, what appeared to be the shade of a little girl in a white dress was seen not only inside the house but on top of it.

the details are sketchy, but the long and the short of it was that the two little girls who saw the ghost -- if ghost it was -- didn't know one another and had no previous information about the house. Both, though, described to the satisfaction of of Jon's grandmother and his sister the same little girl.

Both had heard what sounded like a child's laughter outside and when they went to investigate looked up to see the form of a little girl dancing on the rooftop in the light of the full moon.

By the time an adult was found, the girl was gone. No other information was ever found to determine whether any little girls had made themselves up to the rooftop and fell, but the similarity was uncanny and the implications unnerving. It would have been possible to access the roof in the area the child was seen if someone really wanted to get there, but if this had ever happened it had not been recorded.

MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS

Many people were unnerved by the house, and strange noises of course were often heard there and dismissed as the sonic artifacts so commonly found in an older home. But some people were more than a little put off by the place.

My good friend, Donnie, refused to sleep there, saying the place made him too nervous and that he couldn't handle being there. Others complained of strange moanings and groanings that seemed to not quite be the usual floorboard creeks and wind whistling through shuttered upstairs windows. Still others fancied footsteps and the smell of strange perfume or cigar smoke when nothing was there to produce such oddities.

I experienced some of these things myself, but they really didn't bother me all that much. Still, among the rural homesteaders in the small, Texas town in which I grew up the house was known to have a reputation as a strange dwelling that wasn't "quite right."

Since I only work about 60 miles or so away from said small town, I on occasion run into individuals from there who come here shop and for entertainment. Not too long ago I ran into the mother of an old high school friend of mine and her current flame, a contractor.

She asked me if I had heard they were renovating the house. I told her yes. She told me that her current fellow was part of the effort, in fact one of the leaders.

"Didn't you always think that house was haunted?" she asked.

"Indeed," I replied.

"I know for a fact it is," said the contractor, although he refused to elaborate, only saying that he would be "glad when it was all over."

It wouldn't surprise me that something would get stirred up by such. The place is alive with spirits in my opinion, and my final relation of the events there proves it.

A VISIT FROM GRANDPA?

Not too long ago, Jon came to live with his grandparents and help them in their advancing age. Since he wasn't too far away, I would go visit him often.

Eventually, his grandfather began to sicken, and of course he died. Jon's grandmother was in frail health and soon they had to put the house up for sale.

During one of the visits while the home was up for sale, I asked Jon if he had experienced anything strange that would make him think his grandfather was still around.

He said he had, and related several incidents such as smelling his grandfather's aftershave wafting through the hallways or hearing his tuneless whistle echoing through the halls. Most interesting, he said, was the way the lights reacting had been since his grandfather's death.

Often when he and his grandmother would talk about Mr. Schule, the lights would begin to behave in a strange manner, flickering and flaring until the conversation stopped. A call to an electrician revealed nothing untoward.

I chuckled at this, and said out loud, "Well, he just wants you to know he's still here, isn't that right Mr. Schule?"

The lights flickered and dimmed perceptibly for a few, long moments and I felt a cold rush of air permeate the room.

Jon and I looked at each other for a moment and then changed the subject to more mundane topics.

I hate the renovations that the new owners have done to the house. It's incredibly bright, yellow and shiny-looking.

But I'm willing to bet on cold, dark nights, the present occupants are finding out that they are not alone in their fine, new-looking home.

Thanks for reading, gang.