Reader Submission: Haunted Nursery

“My junior year of high school, my family moved to a new house in Ohio. I loved the house because it was huge. It was built in 1892 and everything in the house still looked original (i.e the floors, the wooden stair case, the wooden detailed trim on the walls.) It was beautiful, a dream home for any large family.

I’m not easily scared. I watched every scary movie you can think of from the time I was able to choose what I watched. I’ve even been ghost hunting with my boyfriend and his friends. I’ve never considered myself a ‘chicken’ and I’d never say I was easily scared, but I can promise you this, I’ll never step another foot in that house again.

When we moved, I was given the master bedroom because there was a door to a nursery that was perfect for me, since I was eight months pregnant with son Dalton. My boyfriend, Ryan, was also moving in with me so we needed to space. My mom and her husband, Scott, had the second largest room across the hall, and my older brother, Dean, was down the hall by the bathroom. My youngest brother Jamie was in the smallest room that was originally the room where the maids or slaves would’ve been kept.

Something at the Door

Within a month after moving, I’d given birth to Dalton and was getting in a routine. Every morning I woke up Ryan around 5:30. While he showered, I fed Dalton and laid him back down then went and helped Ryan get ready. After he left, I normally would either go back to sleep or work on my online school work. That particular morning, I decided to try to go back to sleep. I’d brought Dalton into the bed with me and left the door to his room open, which I never did because open doors freak me out and I can never sleep with them open. As I laid there trying to fall asleep, I had the strange sensation that someone was staring at me from Dalton’s doorway. I opened my eyes to see if it was Jamie, since he normally would crawl into bed with me as well if he got spooked. No one was there. I rolled over thinking my imagination was getting the best of me.

Almost ten minutes later, I was in a dream state where I was still awake but almost asleep. That’s when it happened. The door to Dalton’s room slammed shut with such force that it knocked a picture off my wall and felt as though it shook the whole house. My brother came storming into the room thinking Ryan and I were fighting as I sat there in shock staring at the door. He kept asking me who slammed the door, and I finally told him it just shut on its own. Immediately we started investigating as to why it had happened. After several minutes of looking, the only possible explanation was the wind, but even that didn’t add up because none of the windows were open. We ignored what had happened and I didn’t tell Ryan about it.

I went on with my day as I normally did, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was staring at me. Dalton, who hardly ever cried or fussed, was extremely irritable that day and wouldn’t stop crying. He would stop the second I took him downstairs but if we entered his bedroom, he’d cry and scream at the top of his lungs.

Thing in the Bathroom

The next morning, I woke up as usual and while Ryan was showering I went into the nursery and gave Dalton his bottle. From the door to the nursery from the hallway, I could see the bathroom door since it was across the hall. Ryan suddenly burst out of the bathroom, pale as sheet of paper (he’s got Cherokee Indian in his blood and is naturally tan and dark haired.) He ran into the nursery looking horrible. I asked him what was wrong but he just kept staring at the bathroom door like he was expecting someone to walk out any second. When he’d finally calmed down he told me what happened.

‘As I was wiping the mirror off, I felt like someone was behind me. There obviously was no one, I could see that in the mirror. But when I looked down at the sink, I felt a hand on my shoulder.’

Here was my 20-year-old boyfriend who went to the gym, wrestled his entire life, has played football since he was able to walk, and rode dirt bikes since he was four looking as if he was about to have a nervous break down. He refused to go back into the bathroom and even made me grab his tooth brush so he could brush his teeth downstairs. For about a week, he was skeptical about using that bathroom but he eventually moved on and we never talked about it again.

Screams in the Night

For months, small things would happen around the house that made it obvious we weren’t alone. Though whatever it was was never violent, it made its appearances in ways that chilled us to the core quiet a few times. But it was never something we talked about or shared with anyone outside the family.

The whole time we had lived in the house, we’d never had a huge gathering. We went to Tennessee where we were from for almost every holiday. But now, it was September 15th, and was Dalton’s birthday. As it was my son’s first birthday, I went all out. We invited practically our entire family, most of which showed up, and most of my friends from school and most of Ryan’s friends came too. While everyone was at the house, not a single thing happened.

That night, it was a different story.

Around midnight, we were all awakened by a bloodcurdling female scream. No one knew where it had come from but it lasted several seconds, if not a full minute. When the female scream finally stopped, Dalton started crying at the top of his lungs. Ryan and I ran to the nursery as fast as our feet would carry us but the door would not open. No matter how hard Ryan tried, he physically couldn’t get the door to open until finally he and my brother Dean busted it down. We didn’t see anyone in the the room, but the room was so cold and you could practically feel the anger in the air.

Whatever was in Dalton’s nursery wasn’t happy and didn’t want us in there. We left that night. Ryan and I spent the next week at his mom’s and the rest of my family stayed with my grandmother.

A Night of Terror

We returned when we felt it was safe again. We didn’t put Dalton in the nursery though. We kept that door shut with a dresser against it at all times. We heard things move around in the nursery but never any screams.

Exactly three months later, to the day actually, we were again awakened in the middle of the night. Jamie woke Ryan up, telling him something was saying his name from the attic stairwell. He said he kept hearing a man’s whisper saying ‘Jamie.’ Obviously, we thought he was just having a nightmare and let him sleep in our bed.

Around 1 a.m, we were awakened by a several loud booms that sounded like every single wall was being hit. When we turned on the light, the door to the nursery was open and though the light was off in that room and it was dark, there was a spot that just seemed darker, as if someone was standing there looking at us. After a moment or so, the spot seemed to just disappear and then there were several more loud bangs that practically shook the house and made pictures fall from the walls.

Then, all the doors slammed shut and we heard the same bloodcurdling scream only it was louder and lasted longer.

This time, the neighbors heard the screams and called the cops thinking it was me or my mother screaming. When they showed up, we were all sitting on the porch ready to leave.

I haven’t stepped foot in the house since that night and neither has my child. Ryan and the others packed our things and we moved out. Now, was there really a voice in Jamie’s bedroom? I’m not sure. I wasn’t there, but I don’t believe my brother would lie. It’s not a part of his character. Could the dark spot in the nursery have just been our eyes adjusting? Yes, possibly. Do I believe I didn’t see something staring back at me? No, I know something was looking at me, and I believe I looked back at it for the first time. Where did the screams come from? I couldn’t tell you, but that was the scariest moment of my life, and I don’t doubt for a second that whatever was there is still there.”

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