1996/1997

I moved in with my dad after high school. He had a condo in Westlake Village, CA. I had a lot of weird experiences there so there are a few mini stories here. He had vaulted ceilings and I would often lay on the couch and read but I always had a strong feeling like someone or something was watching me from above and I would have to stop and look up to check. One of the times a spider crawled across my chest immediately afterward and I no longer chose to read on the couch. There was a clubhouse at the condominiums with a large pool and hot tub, a gym and a game room. We often snuck into the pool and hot tub at night and everyone would say the clubhouse was haunted. I thought I saw the curtains move once, but it could’ve been a trick of the steam from the hot tub. My brothers band rented the building out to have a show one night so I helped to set up. I was in the tiny kitchen area stocking the fridge as my brother and his friend brought in the food and drinks. There was a pool table and some chairs in the room just outside the kitchen. I grabbed some sodas from my brothers friend and turned around to put them in the fridge as he went back outside to get more and when I turned back around all of the chairs were stacked in a tower on the pool table. At first I thought my brother and his friends were playing a prank on me but they weren’t on the room and there’s no way anyone could have stacked those as quickly and quietly and precariously without me seeing. My back was only turned for a few seconds. They came back inside and asked if I did that. I was like no but I’m done setting up, I’ll be outside ? I would often stay up late on the computer and talk to my friends back home in Maine while my brother slept on the couch. One of these nights I heard a loud crashing in the kitchen like every pot and pan and dish fell out of the cabinets and crashed onto the floor. My dad was asleep and would be mad if I was up on the computer and this was so loud and startling I jumped up and looked over at my brother to see his reaction. He was still asleep. I stood frozen for a min to see if my dad would come out. Silence. And then my dad snoring. I walked into the kitchen to see the damage wondering how I would pick everything up quietly. Nothing was out of place. Not one thing. Another day I was alone in the condo as my brother and father were both at work. I stood in the bathroom mirror putting my makeup on for the day. The bathroom door was open and we have a linen closet across the hall from the bathroom that was ajar. I am facing the door as I put on my makeup. It wasn’t a particularly hot day so the ac wasn’t on and I had only just got up so I hadn’t opened any windows either. But I noticed the linen closet door start to move. It very slowly swayed back and forth about an inch or two. I froze mid eyeliner stroke and stared. My blood turned to ice bc I was trapped. I knew I’d have to walk right to the moving door to get out of the bathroom. I gathered my courage and threw down the eyeliner, slammed the linen door shut and tan out of the house to my friend’s condo on the other side of the complex. And the last thing that happened there and would happen quite often was that my blankets would be pulled at night. Verrrry slowly the would be pulled back and forth over me from right to left. That was the scariest of all. I would lay completely still and hold my breath in case somehow I was moving them. No. I would pretend to be asleep and roll over very exaggeratedly and tuck the blankets between my legs or pretend I just woke up and turn the light on to read. It was terrifying. Neither my dad or my brother experienced any of this.

Submitted by Elina S