From: Scott Lents <pony@mail.sat.net>
Subject: Rather spooky
Date: Friday, October 24, 1997 1:04 AM

To the readers of this article, I have read many of your stories and been fascinated and delighted by them. This is my first post to this Ng I hope you will enjoy this story.

I had just turned 19 and made a deal on a rent house. Do the fix up work and get a years free rent. The home was sound, merely neglected, as no one had lived in it for some time.

I moved in and found it quite suitable as it was just me. I was raised next to the railroad tracks and can sleep through any amount of noise that can be made. This is relevant later. Being 19 and a single guy I had very little use for the kitchen other than the icebox. So having no garage, I store my B.S.A. and trump in there. Motorcycles in lay terms.

I noticed the cabinet doors were often open when in the kitchen sometimes after I would walk out the door and come right back in thinking about weather , house out of level, etc. I rehung them a couple of times. One night after doing this, I was at the bar and a friend of mine came in and said he had stopped around a few minutes before but hadn't knocked as he assumed I was "kicking the shit out of someone, getting the shit kicked out of me, or having a temper fit." From the sounds emitting from my house, "lots of banging and crashing goin on man." Well I jumped on my scoot and went back to the house. There I found That my Beeser had been moved about 3 feet and all the cabinet doors opened and every beer in the fridge as well. I was not amused at all. I checked for signs of forced entry, found nothing. Worried for the safety of my scooters I spent the next week building a garage with one entrance and one helluva lock I put a fridge in there also to keep beer in (I was thinking kids you see)

A couple of weeks went by with no incident. One night after partying alot, I passed out on the couch in the front room When I got in the middle of the night I felt something touch me and woke up to find a throw on me. I didn't remember getting it out. It usually stayed on my bed and if I would have gone in the bed room why not stay there?

Not long after, my sister's friend spent the night after some trouble at home (now now) When I got home from work the next day she asked me who the elderly woman was that she had seen in the kitchen that afternoon was. What! There aint supposed to be anybody in here but me and you. Did you ask her who she was? No. I said hello and she gave mean, a very mean look and left out the back door.

I checked the back door and found it locked. I asked Stacy had she relocked it after the woman had left. "no." I knew that it had been locked that morning as well. Some things were finally becoming clear. There was a old woman in the area that had a key, perhaps from the previous occupant who I had been told was also a elderly woman. She had died some years before, a stroke in the kitchen I found out later. I changed all the locks that same day. There were only 2. Easy job.

About 4:00 am Stacy was crawling into bed with me. She had been staying on the couch. Got me all woke up real quick. She said she was scared of the noises in the kitchen. 'What noises?' I whispered. "It sounds like bare feet on the linoleum." I heard it last night too but tonight I got to thinking about that old lady this afternoon coming in the house and I got scared.

So I'm off to investigate now. I'm a little nervous. Finding some nutty old bat in the house at 4 am isn't conductful to a calm demeanor. Yep, I could here the sound of feet walking around. The lights were off but there was plenty of light coming in from the back porch light to see the old lady looking in the cabinets and leaving them open (ah ha).

I stepped into the room and politely asked what she was doing. It startled her and she spun around. She immediately turned again and headed for the back door. At this time I was annoyed...... Until she crossed the window in the back door. Then I near peed my pants. I could see the light through her and then the door opened and she literally disappeared and the door shut!!! I stood there for about 10 minutes totally freaked out, before I realized a sharp biting pain in both of my biceps. It was Stacy. Later she told me she had come up behind me when I talked to the woman and grabbed my arm when she saw the porch light through her.

Stacy found another place to stay after that night. I called the owner the next day and asked him who had lived there and got the story. Her name was Gertrude Staatz She had been born in the house and had died in it. Steve really pissed me off when I told him my story and he laughed and told me to cut back on the chemicals. THIS WAS NOT A HALLUCINATION.

Stacy saw and so did I . I never saw Mrs. Staatz again but often heard her over the next 10 to 12 months (I lived there 3 Years). The only other trouble I had is when a friend spent the night and stowed a 6 pack in the fridge. Evidently Mrs. Staatz didn't care for beer in her kitchen...... it was still in the fridge in the morning opened of course. One day I just noticed I hadn't heard her in quite a while. I tried beer in the fridge..... a few day's later it was unopened in the morning.

That was my only experience with a ghost but that real scare she gave me was quite enough .

Hava Gudun

Scott Lents
pony@mail.sat.net