@2001 by Patty A. Wilson

A Haunted House in Youngwood

Throughout their tenure in the house, Melissa also found that a newborn baby seemed to haunt the house. Several times she has heard its cry and gotten up to answer it before realizing that it was not her baby. One day, however, she had an experience that convinced her once and for all that a baby haunted the house.

Melissa, the baby and Eric were at Leslie's house down the street. Duane was also out. Melissa and Leslie were talking about a certain book and Leslie asked if she could borrow it. Melissa said that it would be fine and got up to run back up to the house to get it before she forgot. She came in, grabbed the book, and turned to go when very clearly she heard the thin wail of a newborn crying. In her haste, she turned back without thinking. Her motherly instincts were working and she started up the stairs thinking that her own baby must have awakened. Suddenly it struck her that her baby was down the street with Eric. She went up the steps and looked around anyhow. The sound seemed to be coming from a room that was then used for storage. When she got there, though, the sound simply stopped.

Perhaps the most dramatic haunting would be that of the shadows. Three different times she has seen a black column about eight feet high pass through her bedroom. One night her skeptical husband also witnessed the black column moving quickly through their bedroom. This always happened between 3 and 3:30 a.m. in the morning and Eric explained that he had tried to come up with a logical explanation for this. He had explored the possibility that it was something about car lights going past the room. However, the lights looked totally different and always passed by from left to right. This column always moved by from right to left and passed by when no one was driving through. Melissa described it like this, "It's all dark shadow, not really humanoid, but that shape (a column) and it moved in one smooth movement."

Eric, for all of his skepticism, would have an experience that he would not be able to explain away. One day he was walking from the living room across the foyer to the kitchen which meant that he had to pass the stairs that lead to the second floor. As he did so, a quick movement caught his attention. He looked up in time to see a black shadow, clear, distinct and separate from the wall, making the turn up the stairs. This experience still puzzles him. He tried his best to explain what he saw and kept insisting that I understand that this was an image that stood out in space away from the wall. It was opaque enough that, though he could see through the black shadow, it would have been difficult to make out what was on the other side.