GHOST BEHIND THE HIDDEN UPSTAIRS DOOR

Tale from Tonja Baker

"From August 1982 until April 1995 I lived with my parents in an old farmhouse outside Arlington, Nebraska. When we moved in, the house was 110 years old, with a machine shed, a big barn, and a garage about a hundred feet from the house.

Ever since the day we moved in, I remember being terrified to go upstairs alone. I swear I could just feel someone of something there. But my parents thought it was just my imagination. I knew it was more that that. Things would go missing from my parents' room, nowhere to be found, and of course I would get the blame for it. They'd always show up in the place where you had already looked like five hundred times. I would also hear unexplainable noises and feel presences. When my father died in the house when I was fourteen, it got worse. I always felt like I was being watched, and I even reached a point where I could not stay in the house by myself.

One day while cleaning, my mother and I decided to go ahead and open a hidden door in the upstairs hall to see what was in there. When we did, there was a cool rush of air. My chest gor heavy, and I couldn't breathe too well. We got to looking, and there was a very old crib in there, along with wallpaper rolls, old toys, and some other stuff, but I was too scared to look any longer. It seemed like someone had lost their baby or something. I just had to get out of there. Even thinking about that house right now gives me the chills.

Then there was the hall closet. One day I unscrewed the hinges and peeked inside. There was an old rocking chair, some baskets, and really old newspapers. All of a sudden I felt like I was being watched. I turned around, but nobody was there. The heavy feeling didn't go away, so I went downstairs. Whatever it was stayed with me. I felt panicky and ran out the door to the barn to get one of the horses ready to go to a neighbor's house. As I was leaving, I glanced up to my bedroom window, and I swear it looked as if someone was turning away from the window and walking away. My mom was at work.

After that day, I could not sit anywhere in that house unless my back was against the wall. Maybe I was just paranoid...but maybe I wasn't!"