07 September 2020 | Haunted houses, Your Stories, Your True Encounters
I live in Montana, with my husband and 3 kids. About 6 years ago, we found the perfect starter house. At the time we moved in, my youngest son was 3, and my daughters were 6 and 9. That seems important, because as they get older, our mysterious 6th resident seems to bother them less and less.
The first time I heard her, I was alone in the house with my son. He was in my bedroom, watching Mickey Mouse, and I was in my kitchen baking. We have a partial wall with a window to the living room, from the kitchen. As I was taking a pie out of the oven, I heard a laugh. A high pitched, little girls giggle.. that could not have possibly come from my son.. he had never made such a noise before, and he was in my bedroom. The giggle came from the living room. I couldn’t see anyone, and my first thought was that some neighbor girls had come into my house to mess with me. I went flying around the wall, and only met a cold empty room. I immediately checked on my son. I even rewound the show he was watching to be sure it hadn’t come from the tv. Even though he was in an entirely different room. There was nothing. I shut off my oven, packed up my son, and headed to my moms. On my way out, I declared “I already have 3 kids, I don’t need another.. leave us alone.”
When I told my husband, he insisted I was crazy. There’s no such thing as ghosts. It had to be our son giggling.
About a week later, I had left to pick up the girls from school, and he was home with our son and my husbands brother who was visiting. They were playing with a foam bat and ball, and our 3 year old hit the ball from the living room (where they were) into the kitchen. And they all heard the eerie giggle. They were looking right at my son, he absolutely did not make that sound. My husband started checking the house, thinking I had come back and snuck in through the back to trick him. The windows were closed, the back door locked. Our back yard fenced, and the gate locked as well. And as he was looking, his brother saw my car pull into the driveway through our front window. I was not tricking him.
We didn’t mention our “4th child“ to our kids. We didn’t want to freak them out. Sometimes my 6 year old would tell me someone was talking to her in her room, though. And then one night, I was awoken to my 3 year old (possibly 4 by then) asking if he could sleep with me because “the little girl wants to play, and won’t stop saying my name!”
Not long after, we switched his room with his oldest sister. The room is always cold, but other than her things moving or disappearing from time to time, nothing seems to bother her. And certainly, no one keeps her up at night asking to play. (She is 15 now)
Sometime after that, I sat up in bed in the middle of the night. I don’t recall what I dreamt, if anything. But I announced to my husband, absolutely confident, “her name is Clara!”
I don’t know if that’s really her name. We can’t find a record of any other children living in our house since it was put on its foundation here in the late 80’s. What we did find record of, is that this house has changed hands many times over the years, and nobody has lived here for more than 4 or 5 years. Most stayed for 2 years at most.
Once, I thought I saw my youngest daughter run across the living room, only to realize, she wasn’t home that evening. Once, I was rocking my youngest to sleep, and out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw my daughter walk out of her room. When I turned my head, she jumped down behind the arm of the couch, and when I told her to go back to bed! My husband turned and looked, and there was no one there. I immediately sent him to check on her. She was sound asleep. On the top bunk. Even if she was faking, there’s no way her little legs could have carried her back in, and up a ladder, into that bed, before he opened the door. (Which it occurs to me, we hadn’t heard before)
Sometimes doors open or close. Once a strand of Christmas lights managed to “fall” from behind a tack.. even though the tack was still firmly in the wall. So.. they fell.. up and over?
Sometimes we’ll get home, and our dogs are out of their kennels when we know that’s where we’ve left them. Other times, we’ll come home to find our deadbolt locked. Even though we only lock it when we are in the house.
Lights flicker, shadows glide across walls where no shadows should be. Friends and family who don’t live here have seen or heard her, or sensed her. Many people ask how we can still live here. She doesn’t do anything harmful. She’s more active around holidays for whatever reason, but as the kids get older, we see and hear her less and less. Besides.. we have a 30 year mortgage, and we got a STEAL on this house. Wonder why?
Submitted by Nikki Morrison
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