Ghost on Ballard Street
By Nate Yager

When I got out of the Marine Corps my father had bought a house for me and my family to move in. My family consisted of my then wife (who was pregnant for my youngest son), my 3 year old son and myself.  The house was built during the 1920s and in the middle of a crowded block.  After a few weeks of moving in my wife and I would set in the living room watching TV when we would hear someone walking around on the second floor where the bathroom and bedrooms were. At first we thought maybe it was our first son, even though the footsteps sounded heavier than a child's and were not quick steps like a child's.  One evening when I was home by myself in the basement I heard the footsteps on the first floor. Thinking that my wife arrived home I went upstairs and found the house empty. I went out to the porch and found no one.  I went back down to the basement and again I started hearing the footsteps above me. They were distinctly walking around from room to room. This time I slowly went up the stairs to sneak up on whoever was in the house and again found it empty. Many evenings my wife and I sat in the living room and heard the footsteps on the second floor of the house. We would hear it start in our bedroom and walk around from bedroom to bedroom. By this time I was thoroughly convinced that we had a visitor that I couldn't explain. I had listened to my son's footsteps while I knew he was on the second floor and they were quite different than the ones I heard when no one was there.  When we had company they would also hear the footsteps and ask who was upstairs. We would just shrug and tell them it was our ghost.  One evening, while two cousins were visiting, we were sitting around drinking beer when the walking began. One of my cousins said,"I thought we were alone here. Is your wife here?" I told him that we were indeed alone and that no one was upstairs.  He said,"I know what it sounds like when someone is walking around and you are trying to pull my leg. There is someone up there".  I invited him and my other cousin to join me upstairs and do a search. I told my cousin that if he found anyone I would give him my next paycheck. This challange he eagerly accepted.  On the way up the stairs he said,"I know you have someone up here. That was a person walking around. This will be easy money".  He searched in all the rooms, under the beds, in the closets, the bathtub, everywhere. I looked at him and said,"See, I told you so. There is no one up here but the ghost".  Quite convinced he speedily ran downstairs and vowed that he was never going up there again.  My family started becoming use to the ghost and accepted it. It had caused no harm and always seemed to be on a different floor than what we were, as though to respect our privacy. Until....

About a year later my wife and I were sitting on our couch watching TV, facing toward the dining room. There were still some toys my youngest son had played with laying on the floor and both of my sons were upstairs asleep.  I suddenly noticed a movement in the dining room and giving it my full attention I saw one of my son's toys slide across the floor about 3 inches. My wife and I looked at each other and said,"Did you see what I just saw?". We looked back and again the toy (a plastic GI Joe that was not made to move) slid across the floor about another 12 inches.  Stunned, I sat in disbelief for a moment and then got up the courage to investigate. The first thing I checked for was something slippery on the floor that would somehow cause it to move but the floor was dry. I looked at the window to see if it was open and to see if maybe wind blew the toy, but the window was closed.  I pushed the toy with my foot to see if it would move easier than what it should have but it moved no other way other than normal.  It was just a regular plastic figure with no moving parts and laying on its back.  A few weeks later my wife and I were in the kitchen arguing. I don't remember what we were arguing about, but I remember it was intense. My wife was standing a few feet inside the kitchen from the entryway where we had a round clock hanging over it. She began calling me names and suddenly the clock flew off the wall at about a 30 degree angle and flew toward her head. She ducked just in time before the clock could hit her. The clock crashed to the floor and it immediately ended the argument.  We were divorced about 6 months later and I had moved out of the house, but because it was my father's house, I ended up moving back in it after my ex-wife moved out. The ghost had decided to stay.  I had bought myself a cat and the cat would wander about the house seeking out new adventures and evil mice to slay. On one particular evening I was downstairs cleaning and I saw my cat go upstairs. Within a few minutes I began hearing the heavy footsteps walking from room to room. Suddenly my cat ran so fast down the stairs that he was a blur. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, looked up the stairway and began hissing and spitting, his fur standing along his back. I looked at the cat and said,"So, you finally got to meet the ghost".  I lived in the house another 2 years and never again did the cat go back upstairs. If I tried to carry him up he would claw and fight until I let him go and he would run back down.  I have no idea what he saw. He was friendly to all my company that came over, but for some reason he did not like my ghost.  I soon became remarried and when my new wife moved in I did not tell her anything about the ghost. It never bothered me when I slept upstairs or down. Sometimes I would even try to talk to it by saying goodmorning or goodnight. I'd try to use my sense of humor and tell the ghost that if he or she were going to stick around while I was asleep to please wake me up in case of any danger.  Soon after my new wife moved in she began to also hear the footsteps. The first time she heard them was when I was at work. She called me and said that there was someone walking around upstairs but she was too afraid to go up and look. I told her she could look all she wanted but she was not going to find anyone because it was a ghost.  She didn't know rather to take me serious or not, but after she looked and found no one she began believing me. We would hear the walking both during the day and the night. Sometimes it would be quiet for several days and other times it would be everyday for a week.  One day when I got home I found my house had been burglarized. This was when I decided that my ghost was not a gaurdian angel.  The house did not have an attic and at one time I thought that maybe a tree branch was hitting the roof and somehow causing noises. I went outside and though we had a tree in our back yard, the branches did not reach the house. The sounds we heard were distinct footsteps walking across the floor.  At one time I heard the footsteps when I thought I was home alone. It was the same sound as before, someone walking across the floor from room to room. I ran upstairs feeling brave and hoping to finally catch a glimpse of the ghost. I most certainly got a glimpse of something. After I got my heart back into my chest I asked my wife how long she had been home. It was her. I was in the basement and she had came home early and went upstairs.
I had asked a elderly neighbor lady next door if she knew the history of the house. She said she was born in the house that she still lived in and remembered when my house was built. She said that at no time had anyone ever died in it.  A couple of years after I moved out of the house I dropped by and visited the people who were now living in it and they assured me that at no time had they seen or heard anything unusual like moving items or footsteps. 

 

 

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