August 27, 2008
Laughter on the Spiral Staircase
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Zack, Springville, New York, February 24, 2008
For a while, my parents had been looking for an old Victorian house to fix
up as kind of a side project. After a few months of searching we found a
Gothic Victorian house in Springville, New York, which was good because it
got us away from city life (we live in Buffalo). It hadn't been more than a
few visits to the house that we started learning some of its dark secrets
from our neighbors. The house belonged to a Civil War Veteran named Mr.
Meyers. He and his daughter had the house built in 1880. After doing a
little research I learned that Meyers had gone out of town for a reunion at
Gettysburg, but never made it there nor did he make it home. His daughter
was left at the house by herself.
Then the house's secrets slowly came to the surface. We were told by
residents of Springville that a little girl, the daughter, has been spotted
roaming around in the tower of the house which stands on the front right
corner of the house and stands 66 feet high and looks over the town. It is
said that she is still awaiting the return of her long lost father. It was
also rumored that she is not too fond of anybody living in the house. After
two years of living in the house I never witnessed or felt anything unusual,
and with all honesty to the reader, I never believed in ghosts. I always
thought it was just over paranoid people who would let there senses get the
best of them.
Now for the encounter... It was my birthday, February 24th, and I decided to
have people over for my birthday at the house. It was early in the afternoon
and I decided to drive out the house by myself to get set up for everybody
to come over and do the usual: playing drinking games, and eating. I got to
the house and started blasting my CD player to keep me entertained as I got
the house ready. It hadn't been 10 minutes when the CD player turned off. I
figured the plug came loose (it tends to do that). Turns out the power had
just been shut off but I just ignored the sign and turned it back on. 5
minutes later it goes off again. Like I said before, I thought there was an
explanation for everything so once again I ignored it. But when I went to go
turn it on yet again I swear I heard a girl laughing. It sounded kind of
distant though, in the next room, perhaps. I would say it was then I got the
chills. Now that I was kind of freaked out, I listened closely to everything
around me and crept into the next room. I was too curious and wanted to
prove to myself that I was imagining it. It was when I entered the next room
that, clear as day, I heard a person run up the spiral staircase in laughter
and slam the door at the top of the stairs. Unfortunately the story stops
there. It doesn't sound that crazy, but I guess you would have to put
yourself in my position. I cancelled the party and haven't been to the house
since. It was the events of this day that I guess you could say made me a
believer.
