I would love to come in and say that we've carved pumpkins, hung decorations, have picked out our costumes and so forth, but the truth is that, we haven't.
My children are grown, they no longer pay any attention and so, neither do we. I won't say I don't miss it, I do, I miss the kids being excited, the anticipation of going around getting candy, dressing up and having a blast. I miss those days.
But times have changed and so we no longer get to do these things, which makes me feel extremely nostalgic.
As I sat this morning thinking about my own childhood and missing it so much, I remembered one of the houses we used to live in. This house was THE one house that made me a believer in ghosts and the paranormal.
I know a lot of people think it's all a lie, there's no such things and so on, but unfortunately I've had my fair share of experiences and sightings that really affected me for the rest of my life. They've stayed with me and I think in a way are the reason I enjoy anything supernatural.
So since I'm not doing anything Halloween specific this year, I thought that today would be the perfect day to do something a little different. I've mentioned some of my experiences with ghosts, quite a few years ago in a different blog post, but I figured that I would tell you all some spooky stories today, more specifically about this house that really started it all.
167 Church Street in Turffontein, Johannesburg, South Africa.
There were so many things that happened to me and to some other family members in that house, and I hope I don't leave anything out, but if you're interested in some spookiness this Halloween and find this kind of stuff interesting, then I suggest you grab a cup of coffee or tea, and sit back.
I'm going to start by showing you the house, and keep in mind it looked very different back then, this was 30 something years ago, but I'm showing you what it looks like now, which is just appalling.
Those two metal gates were not there, the smaller one which was the entrance to the house, was a wrought iron gate, and the one in the driveway (orange gate on the left), was not there at all, it was open.
The house was pretty big, there was a bedroom for my parents, one for my grandparents, one for my greatgrandma, one for me and one for my 3 brothers. It had a fireplace, two enclosed patios, a dining room and a big living room etc.
Now before my greatgrandma had her own bedroom, she shared mine with me, and that is when I had my very first experience which completely freaked me out and started this whole journey of turning me into a believer.
When you walked into the bedroom, my bed was on the left, hers was on the right up against the window. Here's an example of the layout:
It wasn't too long after we moved into the house, couple months maybe.
I woke up in the middle of the night, I din't know why but just did. I remember looking around the room in the dark and then I noticed someone standing at the window, by the curtains, just looking out.
It was my greatgrandma, she was wearing her white nightgown and had her crochet shawl around her shoulders. I remember thinking "what is she doing? did she hear something or see something out there?". She was standing still, just facing the window and staring out. I found it strange but wasn't really thinking anything other than it being weird, and just as I was about to call her and ask her what she was looking at, I had this thought come over me that told me to look at her bed. I don't know why, I can't explain it, but I looked from her figure at the window to her bed and there in bed, she lay, sleeping soundly, snoring away.
I was so scared, I kept staring at her in bed and in that moment questioning what I was seeing, almost debating in my mind or trying to make sense, and as I looked over to the window again...POOF!!! Nothing.
There was no one standing there.
I pulled the sheets over my head, and lay there until I fell back asleep. The next morning I asked her if she was up the night before and she was so confused. She didn't get up, she didn't look out the window and she had no clue what I was talking about.
That was enough to set me on edge, but little did I know that was just the beginning of my experiences in that horrid house.
A few months after that, I woke up in the middle of the night to see hands right above my throat as if wanting to choke me, I couldn't see anything other than just darkness and these white hands moving closer and closer. I tried to scream and couldn't make a sound. It was terrifying and by the time I got a scream out, they vanished. I remember running out of my room and jumping into bed with my greatgrandmother. I refused to sleep in my room for the longest time.
There are so many stories involved with this house. It got to the point where a lot of us were having experiences and started hating the house, but my dad absolutely loved the house and never understood what the problem was.
Anyway, I've been sharing these stories over on my Instagram stories as well, so if you want to hear them go on over and take a look. I'll be sharing more tomorrow :)
I'm only sharing the experiences I've had and in no way am I telling you that you should believe in ghosts or what I have to say, I'll leave that up to your own discretion.
But it's a little hard to not be a believer after going through some of these things.
