Hauntings at Home: California!

During a lonely night...

Uncle Scotty is my boyfriend, Leo’s very eccentric great uncle.  He’s in his late eighties, is legally blind (though he can see shapes), and although he is widowed and suffers from cancer, he outright refuses to move out of his home and go to live with my boyfriend’s dad (Uncle Scotty’s nephew). There’s also the drinking and the womanizing that he was famous for in his earlier years…but as this is a paranormal blog and not a partying blog, we won’t delve into that.

Uncle Scotty was unaware of any death on his property in Palmdale, CA prior to his own wife’s (Aunt Vera) passing, so no one has a clue where the ghost(s) have come from, but not many who visit the home have a doubt that the ghost(s) are in fact there.  The activity has picked up since Aunt Vera passed, but it doesn’t seem to be her who is haunting the home….for the most part.

Each of Leo’s sisters have had experiences at the home. One visit when his parents and his sister Peggy were all staying at Uncle Scotty’s house for a time to help take care of him while he was being treated for his cancer, Peggy slept on the pull out couch in the living room while her parents slept in the guest room. It was in the middle of the night when she was awoken by the kitchen light being turned on.  Then she heard the faucet turn on and she lay there for a while listening to the water and wondering why her great uncle was messing around the kitchen at four in the morning.  Finally, after the water had been running for quite a while, she got up to make sure he was okay and hadn’t fallen or otherwise hurt himself. She peeked around the corner and saw her uncle standing at the sink, seemingly just fine. She went back to bed, but in the morning she asked him what he had needed in the kitchen so late at night and he was nonplussed.  He hadn’t gotten out of bed at all…it was hard enough getting around for him during the day, he seldom arose at night. Peggy was left wondering who it was that she saw, standing at the sink with his back to her the night before.

Leo’s sister Annie visited Uncle Scotty, along with her cousin, Scotty’s son.  His son stayed in the guest room, which was closer to Scotty’s bedroom, and Annie took the fold out couch in the living room. She was sound asleep on her stomach when she awoke to the feeling of someone on top of her, trying to get intimate with her from behind.  Outraged, she struggled until she could sit up, but when she did she found she was alone in the living room. The doors were all securely locked and there was no one else stirring in the whole house.

On a different occasion, Leo’s sister Nicky was staying in the guest room while her parents slept outside in their RV which they had driven from Idaho for their visit. Nicky was asleep in the bed when she heard the door open.  She looked to see who was coming into the room, but although the door was open and she could see out into the hall, there was no one there. She lay there, coming fully awake and was telling herself that she must not have latched the door properly and that’s why it creaked open, when the door closed again, decisively.  She didn’t get much sleep that night after that. And for the rest of their visit, she slept out in the RV with her parents.

Which brings me to Leo’s mom and dad and the reason that they stay in the RV when they visit Uncle Scotty now.  Originally, when they would visit him from Idaho, they would take their smaller car and just stay in the guest room.  It was much cheaper on gas that way.  But one night, during a visit, they were asleep in the guest room when Leo’s mother felt the distinctive sensation of hands on her legs, lifting them off the bed.  She came awake as her legs slammed back down on the bed.  She was shaken, and told her husband about the episode.  He was very consoling, but was naturally convinced that it was a nightmare.  Until the same exact thing happened to him the following night. After he felt it for himself, they never spent another night in the house. They always bring the RV for their visits and sleep in the driveway, separated from whatever is roaming Uncle Scotty’s house at night.

As for Uncle Scotty himself, he claims to see the shapes of black cats darting around his house.  As mentioned earlier, he is legally blind and can only see fuzzy shapes, but he swears there are things that are black and the size of a cat moving around his house. He also says that he sees his deceased wife, Vera, and although he talks to her, she never speaks. All in all, Scotty is comfortable in his house and doesn’t seem bothered by the sometimes malevolent presence that can menace his visitors. And I think the whole family agrees that’s for the best!

 

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