Dcember 13, 2006
Our Psychic World: Haunted Real Estate
By
Richard Senate
Looking for a house is one of my least favorite things. Granted, having a root canal is worse but, not by much. The same can not be said of my wife, Debbie. Being psychic, she delights in the undertaking, deriving some perverse joy into looking at other peoples homes.
We had moved out of the area several years ago and were trying to come back to Ventura
County, California. Anyone who knows anything about the housing market knows that this is a real challenge. We looked at over fifty houses, all over the place. Most were far too expensive for us,
or they were too small to meet our needs. Some of the places were incredible dumps, tottering in their dilapidation, almost uninhabitable.
We knew that we must find something soon, or we would be reduced to being homeless and living on the streets. We spent one full day looking at places all over western Ventura County and as the hours passed, each place was deemed unacceptable for one reason or another. The sun was going down, and there was one house left on our sheet. As a lark, I urged our real estate agent to take us there. Out list of homes had a small picture of the house, and it didnt look too promising. Still, once we got there, Debbie was ready to leave. I urged her to look the place over before we called it a day. Upon entering, we found it was a roomy house with a brick fireplace, wrap around decks, a hot tub, and large bedrooms. It was the best we had seen and well within our price range. We learned the house had been on the market a long time, and the owner had just reduced the
price.
Debbie and I felt the same thing. Something must be wrong with the house. The inspectors report indicated the foundations were fine and there were no termites. Still mystified we put in a bid. The house was too good of a deal to pass by. It wasnt long before we discovered the truth. The house was haunted!
Several years ago the owner faced many personal problems, compounded by chronic depression, and took her own life in the house. At first she tried to gas herself by closing up the garage and running the car motor. That attempt failed because the garage isnt air tight. Next, she took a rope, lashed it to the garage door opener and hung herself. We learned she hung for two weeks before her body was discovered.
Acts of self destruction always leave negative energy behind, and many times where such thing have happened are haunted. Debbie had felt something strange in the garage when were first walked in, but it wasnt evil or threatening. We were not bothered by this disclosure and moved in. After all, shouldnt a ghost hunter live in a haunted house? At first nothing happened as we settled in. We did notice that our dogs refused to enter the garage and would bark at nothing at all. Dogs are more sensitive to supernatural things than people. This wasnt a good sign.
Debbie began to smell lavender perfume from time-to-time and she began to feel a presence in the house. Once she saw a dark form moving down the hall at night. She did have one odd experience. While walking down the hallway, a wicker basket flew out of the den and hit her in the head. The basket was in a closet, and to fly out,
it would have had to make a turn in midair. It didnt hit very hard, but it did un-nerve her. Then, I saw the apparition.
As a ghost hunter I am a night owl. I was up late watching TV long after everyone had gone to bed. I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a moving form. I quickly turned and saw the shadow of a woman moving from the kitchen
toward the door to the garage. It vanished as it reached the door. It didnt last long but it was enough to send me to bed. The strangest event happened when Debbie was doing the laundry in the garage. She smelled the distinct exhaust of a car. She called me out to the confirm the smell. I smelled it as well, yet the garage was empty at the time and when I checked, there wasnt any cars running near the house. It was a very strong odor. Then, it just was gone. Our daughter, Megan, saw something in the bathroom mirror when she was getting ready for school. She said it looked like a
lady's profile. She too smelled the lavender perfume. Megan said she was creeped out by the odd events and having grown up with ghost hunting, she isnt a shrinking violet when it comes to the paranormal.
In time, the events seem to become less and less. Our dogs became less skittish and would even go into the garage on their own. Whatever was haunting the place had moved on. The ghost did one good thing, it helped to lower the price of our new home. Perhaps on the anniversary of her death the ghost lady will return for a visit. If she does, she is more than welcome.
Richard Senate is a California-based author and lecturer and a
regular contributor to Ghostvillage.com. His latest book,
The
Ghosts of California Missions, is available now. Visit his Web site at:
www.ghost-stalker.com
