The Man in the Hall
By John
As I’ve mentioned, I grew up in a home built in 1883. My dad had remodeled the home with my help over time and even added on to it. It has always been a paranormally active house. It’s interesting how the activity works. It has months at a time when it’s a quite typical home, and then things will ignite and get very active.
I have picked up a few things like EVPs, but very little “evidence” has been gathered, I have had plenty of personal experience. I’ve had people from my friends growing up to my kids and their friends have experienced the ghosts. I have allowed groups in the past to investigate, but the spirits seem to just ignore them.
Remodeling or changing things in the house is a big trigger for the paranormal. One extreme encounter happened to me when I was in my later teens. I had been helping my dad with a few house projects. Some small remodeling on the house.
One Saturday night, I got ready for bed after a long day of working on the house. I slept downstairs in the basement in the summer. The house had no AC, and my upstairs bedroom was a sauna of heat. It was like trying to sleep in a sweat lodge.
I had fallen asleep when I woke around 2 am to a slap on my leg. I stirred, wondering if someone was trying to wake me. I looked around but found no one. Thinking I must have dreamed it, I rolled over and closed my eyes. I was just about to sleep when I was grabbed again on my leg. I jumped and sat up in bed. Although I could make out everything in the dim light, the room was dark. Suddenly I froze. There standing in the doorway was a man. My eyes focused, and I could see it was the “Man in the Hat.” This ghost is one we have seen often in the house. He is tall and skinny, with overalls, a white button shirt, and a wide-brim hat. I could see everything but the details of his face.
I sat upright in bed, staring at him. I am not usually frightened by the paranormal as I grew up in the depths of it, but this had a tinge of fear attached to it.
The man stood looking at me, and I could feel his anger. After a few moments, I spoke, “It’s just a small remodel; it’s nothing to be mad at! Leave me alone!”
I sounded braver than I felt at the moment. Finally, the man turned and walked out. I lay in the cold of the bed for a couple hours, trying to sleep. I eventually fell back to sleep.
The next day kept the encounter to myself. At the time, my dad was insistent we do not talk about the paranormal in our house. It took a couple days to feel safe, but I realized the man in the hat was just feeling frustrated. It was his house, too, and he had no say in what was happening.
To this day, it’s still one of the scariest experiences I had in the home where I grew up.
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