By Tom
I met and Married Susan around 2000, and we moved to Minnesota around 2007. She and I together have four kids from previous marriages, but we all came together so well. I'm a trauma Doctor and had the opportunity to move to Minnesota from the east coast. We moved to the northern part of Minnesota, not far from the Canadian border.
We looked around and found a home in a newer housing development. At the time, it didn't have many homes in the area, and it was a quaint, quiet area that we all loved. The house was new; it had only had one family that lived there before us, and nothing out of the ordinary had accrued there. It was a very typical home for the area.
For the first year, everything went wonderfully. The kids loved their schools; the home was beautiful and quiet. The house seemed to be a dream come true for our family. Our kids were between five and thirteen years old and loved living in the small community. After that first year, however, everything started to change.
My first encounter happened one late night after work. I was working the late shift in the ER and typically didn't get home until 2 am. When I work the late shift, I usually come home and relax with some tv before heading to bed. This early morning after work, I went to the kitchen, made myself a sandwich, and headed to the front room to watch the television. As I sat down, movement caught my attention. I saw a black shadow move from my left to my right. It was about 3 feet tall and deep black. It ran from behind one chair and across to the other chair. I sat frozen, wondering what it could be. Just as I had almost convinced myself I had imagined it, the black-figured moved again. This time it ran from the chair to a large planter that sat next to the TV. This time I had no doubt I had seen a small jet-black figure that shouldn't be in my home. I got up and checked the room but found nothing; the figure had disappeared into nothing. After calming down, I brushed it off as a one-time strange encounter and headed off to bed.
Little did I know, others in the house had begun to experience the paranormal as well. At the same time, my thirteen-year-old daughter began to hear heavy footsteps in her room at all times of the night. At the same time, my wife had started to see shadows in our master bedroom. She saw fleeting sightings of phantoms peeking from around corners and flashes of shadows running here and there. Susan had no idea I had experienced a shadow of my own, and she tried to rationalize them away. Finally, I approached Susan about the events, and she brushed them off. I believe none of us wanted to think there was something nefarious in the house at the time.
It became all too real one night around midnight when I received a phone call from a panicked Susan at work. She called to tell me she and my son was hearing deep growling coming from the office. I asked if it could be one of the dogs, but she explained all three dogs were with her, and the deep growls were coming from the dark office space. The growth had stopped before I arrived home; however, my wife has now convinced something was wrong with our quiet home. After talking, we decided we needed some help.
At this time, it was hard to find anyone with paranormal experience to come, so for out into the small community to help us out. The closest groups were 3 hours away, and none of them would travel that far. So after talking, we thought if we ignored it perhaps, it would go away, and for about six months, everything was quiet. We thought the worst was behind us; however, we were wrong.
After six months, we decided to remodel the master bedroom, which seemed to anger whatever was in our home. During and after the remodel, the dogs became afraid of the new room. If I tried to get the dogs to come in, they would cry and run from something unseen inside. At any time of the day, dark shadows could be seen going from the master bath to the walk-in closet and back again. At times Susan would lay in bed and see shadows walk around or pear at her from around the bathroom's corners. Susan would not shower without unseen hands banging on the glass shower door and frightening her. Susan had become the lightning rod for this angry entity.
At times a hanging plant in the bathroom would begin to spin uncontrollably as an unseen force would turn it. I checked many times, but no ventilation or staff should have made this plant spin. The house began to exude a heavy feeling, and it felt as though we were no longer welcome in our own home. Doors began to slam in the home, and footsteps could be heard at all times of the day and night.
Finally, we decided we needed to move. It had become unbearable in the house. We thought things couldn't get any worse; however, when the place went on the market, the activity increased. My youngest daughter, whom we tried to shelter from the action, began to have her things move and disappear. Even the younger kids could tell there was something wrong in the home. We would be in the front room on a few occasions and hear a massive bang from upstairs. It sounded as if someone was throwing a bowling ball around the master bedroom. Every time I ran upstairs, I found nothing wrong and no explanation for the loud sounds.
Finally, Susan and I made the decision we had to move out. We hadn't sold the home yet, but we needed to leave for our family's safety. We would go to the house and turn on the lights when we showed for the day but return to shut up the place and leave. One evening Susan returned to the home to turn the lights and lock up after the realter had finished as she turned off the light in the upstairs hall. The sound of heavy boots came running down the aisle at her. She turned and braced, thinking someone in the house was about to attack her. As the boots came to where she was standing, only an icy wind blew through her body, leaving her frozen and afraid.
It became very frightening to go to the home to check and lock up. One evening, Susan pulled up to the house after a showing to find a little girl standing in the second-floor window. Confused, Susan called the relator to see how long they would be in the home. The relator explained they had left 30 mins ago and the house should be empty. At that moment, the little girl in the window disappeared right Infront of her. Frightened, Susan called me to help lock up the house. Shortly after, Susan, my oldest son, and his friend were locking up after a showing. My son's friend called out loud to the ghost, "I think this is all Bull shit!" at that moment, all the cabinets and drawers in the master bathroom opened and slammed shut why all the lights in the house flickered in on and off. They stood icy as the banging sound and the light show went on for a few moments. They all ran from the house, frightened of the power and anger of the entity. From that point on, Susan refused to lock up the home.
To understand what was going on, I contacted three different mediums to walk through the home at other times. All three, to my surprise, came back with the same reading. They sensed three different ghosts in the house. One was a woman attached to the area. They felt a young girl spirit and an older man who was also connected to the site. All the mediums sensed that the older man was furious and not at all happy with the family. All the mediums agreed the older man was the cause of most of the activity in the house. After some research on the area and the home, I found the house was built on an old farm. The farm had been there since the late 1800s and had been burned to the ground in the fire of 1918. Named the Cloquet fire, it had burned much of northern Minnesota. The fire killed over 500 people and displaced thousands more. It was the largest fire in Minnesota's history. I thought these ghosts may be attached to that farm and were unhappy with the house being built on their land.
Ultimately, our realtor suggested we have a native American priest come in and bless the house. I was able to find one, and she came through and burnt sage and blessed the home. Everything calmed down after this, and we were able to sell the house. My wife and I were relieved to be done with our unholy experience and be free of the home's expense. It has been tranquil in our new home, and we are very thankful. We will never forget our experience with the unknown and our first house together.
Malevolent Ground is found in Book 6 Stranger Paranormal
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