Phantasms of the Future

The strangeness did not start for quite a while after we moved into the flat on Taggert Street.

I do not know if it was all the commotion brought on by settling in and moving or by the tragedy of September 11^th. For that tragic event took place just weeks after we moved into the two story flat in Wesleyville; but for whatever reason we were oblivious to any strange or malignant presence that abided with us in that century old building.

We were dwelling in the bliss that envelopes ignorance.

Unfortunately that ignorance would soon be shattered in a series of occurrences that would not only unsettle the foundation of our family but it would also cause untold stress upon all of us who lived in that upper floor on Taggert Street.

We moved in at the same time with another young couple, they had two young children a boy only 5 years old and a girl who was soon approaching the tweenage year of 11. Our son had just been born the previous year and we had moved into the old flat because of the spaciousness of the apartment.

At our new neighbors were very friendly and helpful. I was if we had found some unknown long lost friends or relative who were more than willing to reach out to us and do whatever they could to make us feel accepted and comfortable in our new home. But soon that all changed and our new found friends soon became very aloof and only spoke to us in short sentences, soon finding a way to escape any contact and shun anyone from the world outside of their family.

They quickly became entirely different, and for no foreseeable reason on our part.

My wife and I wondered if it had anything to do with us. Had we done something to precipitate this exile from fellowship? We really could not think of anything that we could have done that would have caused such a change in character with our new found friends

Then to our surprise we found that despite a year long lease our new found friends had abandoned their apartment within two short months.

While they were loading the Ryder van I tried to asked them why they had decided to leave on such short notice and why they had not gave any inkling to us. All that Ken coud say in a glazed eyed stutter was “ We saw…everything…” and then he shook his head and wandered off to load the moving van with the remnants of his furniture.

Needless to say we did not know what to say as they loaded up the van and pulled away to their next home. We were left perplexed, puzzled and feeling a little bit off put wondering what could have compelled them to make such a move at what we conceived as a whim.

But it was not a whim, as soon we were to find out.

Our first inkling that there was something otherworldly involved was to come soon afterward when the lower flat had been abandoned for a few months.

I was in the washroom alone. Just putting down the tri-weekly load of laundry I felt there was something there watching me as I loaded the washing machine and as I was quickly flicking the switch I turned around to confront the person there behind me.

But I saw nothing.

That in and of itself would have been no bother at all if it were for the unusual coldness of the underground washing room. It was February but the furnaces in the basement were blowing full, pushing the hot air to the rooms above and there were multiple vents throughout the area. But still in this dark and dank netherworld the heat from the furnaces seemed to dissipate into nothingness before they reached me.

It was as if something was sucking the heat from the air.

Then out of the corner of my eye I saw the shadows move.

It was not the normal shifting of darkness that you would usually see, it was something solid moving in the unlit

corner.

Something large.

Against my better judgment I quickly turned and investigated the shifting shape in the dark and for a few seconds I did see it move and then… it quickly disappeared.

I did not relate the encounter to my wife who usually did the laundry because I did not want to alarm her without a reason, for I was sure that it had been a mirage or trick of the lighting. But the overwhelming sense that we were not alone in the house only increased over time.

Families in the downstairs apartment kept moving in and out very quickly. The longest tenant stayed only 6 months. One of them did let me know that not only did they feel very uneasy in the flat but that they were sure someone was lurking about at night while they were sleeping. Things were moved about and missing, and at one time they were sure they saw someone standing over their bed. The person was a large man in thermal underwear, but he had simply vanished. This confession made me wonder if the other previous tenants had too experienced the night visitor.

One of the most interesting and alarming development over the next year was my son began talking about his ‘ghost friend’. After talking to him in detail about what he was talking about I was sure that it was not an imaginary friend like other children his age usually conjured up when they were lonely. Not this ‘friend’ was invisible to him also but he knew it was there. He not only could feel its presence but he said he caught it hiding some of his toys. When I asked him how he had caught the creature hiding his toys he said he could not find them in his drawer but he had a sudden flash of insight where they had been stashed. He knew that his ‘ghost friend’ had taken them. Over the years my son has had multiple such flashes of insight and has connected them to his ethereal companion.

But perhaps the most bizarre experience I had with the entities of the house came just a few years ago in 2006. I was once again putting laundry in the downstairs washer. The bottom flat was once again empty and the landlord had just begun to remodel it. On this afternoon no one had been in the apartment and as I walked up the back stairwell I passed the downstairs flat door. There came a great crash from the inside and immediately I heard the running of tiny footsteps across the bare hardwood floor. I was sure it came from the inside since I had heard children playing there before and it came from inside and not above where my son was playing on his game console. The footsteps were that of a tiny child as well, but my son at the time was almost seven years old- these were the frantic steps of a toddler.

I did not know at the time a neighbor that lives across the street was sure she had seen people moving in front of the large windows of the front room. But of course the apartment was empty.

When I heard the sounds and the report from the neighbor I was sure we had a haunting on our hands, but I was a little shocked when a few months later a new family moved into the lower flat.

They had two little children who not only ran across those hardwood floors constantly, but they were always getting into mischief as well. If it was not the sound of the small feet running to and fro the sound of heavy crashing was always coming from the apartment below.

Having lived there for over 6 years I had heard the running of children many times. But the rhythm and impact that I had heard from the phantom child in 2006 was the exact rhythm and impact of the children who now resided there.

This was not an ordinary family, they had many problems. Both parents had addiction and abuse problems. The children were taken from the home within a year because of abuse. Both parents were jailed.

A short time later I was praying in my makeshift prayer room that I had assembled in the attic. As I prayed there was an unearthly rattle on the floor and I felt a very evil presence. The sound was as if someone was dragging themselves roughly across the attic floor slowly making there way to me.

There was nothing there.

But the sound of the dragging body was clear and undistinguishable. I could actually pinpoint where the ‘thing’ was as it crawled toward me. Immediately I fell back into my training and I commanded the thing to leave in the name of Christ.

The sound stopped.

It never returned.

Since that time there was no longer any ‘strange’ activity in the two flats, at least to my knowledge. My son’s ‘ghost friend’ also never paid him another visit.

I am perplexed at what exactly was dwelling in that building. There were entities there, of this I am still sure of that. But the footsteps from the future really throws me to this day.

Was it an entity or a glimpse of the future? Many people have told me that the building might have been some sort of paranormal vortex, but I am still not sure. Could the turmoil the little children experienced at the hands of their abusive parents have formed this phenomenon as a sort of cry for help?

I have no idea.

All I know is what I experienced.

Until Next Time,

Pastor Swope

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