Ghostories: Knock Knock

Knock Knock
from Barbara
Hailing From: Ft. Walton Beach, Florida
Where it Happened: Bitburg, Germany

We had just been stationed in Bitburg, Germany and were on the waiting list for base housing. In the meantime we needed a place to live, so my father found a old farm house for rent that was owned by an older couple.

We had only been in Germany and in the old farm house for about two weeks when things started happening. It was a three story house complete with attic and basement. On the first level was the living, dining and the kitchen area, the second floor consisted of four bedrooms and a bathroom, and the third floor had two more rooms and the attic. My father was reluctant to unpack all the boxes so he had left all the extras in the third floor rooms.

It was a Thursday morning and my sister was getting ready for school. I decided to sneak into her room and hide in her closet. I was watching her. Her back was to me and she was reaching for her brush, but before her hand had a chance to grasp it, it flew off the dresser and out the window! All on its own!

Realizing what had just happened, my sister freaked out and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her and leaving me in the closet still screaming. My father came in to get me and I told him what had happened. All he could do was keep telling me, "Your imagination is running wild, child!"

That night my imagination must have been rubbing off on everyone. My dad had just locked up the house for the evening and was headed up to bed when the door bell rang, and kept ringing. He opened the windows to look at the front door, but there was no one there -- yet the bell was still ringing.

Since we had to go to bed, he took the bell out (it an old pull string bell) and we started to get ready for bed) -- but the door had those old heavy knockers in the middle of the door and it started "knocking!"

Oh boy! My dad once again looked out the window and, just like the last time, there was no one there. I have never ever seen my father so scared. Big ol' "Mr. Macho G.I." ... LOL! But that night he was "ghost white" as he opened the door and took the knocker apart, hoping to dismantle it.

Finally, with the house all quieted down, he got to bed. He was almost asleep when the shutters on the window in my sister's room started to slam, opening and closing repeatedly -- and here is the kicker, there was no wind blowing!

My sister ran screaming down the hall to my parents room, crying and was totally unable to be consoled. My father tied the shutters closed and we all decided to sleep in the living room. We awoke the next morning tired and still trying to figure what had happened.

My older brother played the guitar and had been playing it the next morning before school. I had been outside and when I came in I heard his guitar still playing and so I thought he was still in his room. But when I made my way to his room, and walked in like normal, I saw the guitar on the bed with the strings still moving!

Well lets say I nearly had to take a bath to get cleaned up!

My mother must have finally had enough too, because she grabbed me and we left the house until my father got home.

We all agreed to start sleeping downstairs and we started going to the bathroom in pairs. He also blocked off the third story of the house, the one with all the unpacked boxes, and the rooms where my brothers slept so they couldn't scare the rest of the family.

That weekend I was playing ball with my little puppy and about an hour later she came yelping down the hallway. She ran in from the direction of the kitchen and I had just gotten her calmed down when her ball came bouncing from the third story staircase. Now remember my father had just blocked that off, and since the dog couldn't climb the stairs, my only conclusion was that the "spirits" wanted to "play" with my puppy ... LOL!

This all happened when I was four years old. Now, 23 years later, it still freaks me out. A lot more happened in this house before we were able to get into base housing. I would be here all night just typing away to tell all the stories that happened in this house.

When I was 17 I called the people that now own the home and asked them more about it. They told me it was built in the late 1890's and was used for the employees that worked the cow farm. Many people were born in that house, and unfortunately many had died there too. It had seen a lot of history and believe me it was felt. My brothers and sister are still reluctant to talk about it, but they say that is an experience that they will never forget.

O'Neill's

Super cool story Barbara. I wondered about the boys on the third floor. Are you absolutely certain they weren't playing pranks? Would it had been typical of them to do that kind of thing, to freak their sisters out? Let me know and I'll add whatever you send me to the story -- because if it wasn't a prankster in this life, it very well sounds like a prankster in the next one.

~~Keno

Keno,

You had asked if my brothers had been the ones doing all the scaring. Well, to clear things up, when we first moved into the house my brothers would go exploring in the attic and they were making very loud noises, my father started up the stairs to get them out of there. He didn't have to go very far cause my brothers high tailing it out of the third floor when they had just about run my father over coming up to the second floor landing.

My brothers explained that they had found an old spinner and were playing with it when they heard knocking coming from the closet on the other side of the room. My older brother thinking it was me inside opened it and you guessed it there was no one there but while the door was opened they could still hear the knocking but it was like someone was banging with their fists. So they bolted the hell out of there.

Until that day they did do a little scaring, but they tell me that they decided to give up the "haunting" because there were more "things" qualified for the job!

~~ Barbara