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.