Growing up in a haunted house

by ArabellaMortimerHendry

My childhood home was haunted, by a ghost of a woman. Throughout the years many strange things happened in the house. Here I tell of some of my experiences.

Poltergeist activity started to happen throughout the house. Glasses moving on their own, doing circular motions around the table. One of the other incidents happened one evening when I was laying my uniform out for school. I put my socks on the chair which was in the corner of my room. Coincidently Lucy used to sometimes sit there and watch me sleep. Within seconds the socks had vanished into thin air! I had only turned my back for a few minutes. It made no sense and I couldn’t quite believe it at first. I looked around to see if the socks had fallen onto the floor. There was no trace of them.

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Haunted house

article by Arabella Mortimer Hendry

My Haunted House

Over the years there have been many stories about hauntings. From Headless spirits to Grey Ladies. But what would you do if you lived in a haunted location? This is my story.

I grew up in a Georgian house in Nottinghamshire. The house was in a rural area in a small village just outside of Lincoln. The first encounter I had with a ghost happened when I was twelve years old. A family friend had died and I was crying in the study. A strange atmosphere started to engulf the room making me feel light-headed. I looked up to see an outline of a woman standing in the doorway. I knew exactly what she was and she knew I could see her. I was not scared but fascinated by her presence.

Since that day I started to see her more and more. I called the ghost Lucy and she would follow me around the house. I never saw her face only the outline of her and the dress she wore. When I used to go to the bathroom at night-time she would be at the bottom of the stairs looking up at me. Or sitting down near the grandfather clock, in the hallway. Obviously I was eager to tell everyone about Lucy! However when I did they did not believe me. As I reached the age of fourteen Lucy began to scare me a little.

Poltergeist activity started to happen throughout the house. Glasses moving on their own, doing circular motions around the table. One of the other incidents happened one evening when I was laying my uniform out for school. I put my socks on the chair which was in the corner of my room. Coincidently Lucy used to sometimes sit there and watch me sleep. Within seconds the socks had vanished into thin air! I had only turned my back for a few minutes. It made no sense and I couldn’t quite believe it at first. I looked around to see if the socks had fallen onto the floor. There was no trace of the socks at all! I then called out to Lucy asking her to return my socks. Within a few seconds the socks were back on the chair.

Our dogs picked up on Lucy one time. One morning I came downstairs and all three of them were standing round one of the windows, which used to be the front door in the Georgian times! Growling and barking. As time went on I became more and more obsessed with the paranormal activity in the house. I didn’t used to talk about anything else!

It was almost like something had a hold of me. I started having reoccurring dreams that used to seem so real. About a spiritual force throwing me around my room. I used to wake up in cold sweats paralyzed by fear not being able to move. So I started sleeping with the light on.

One day my mother went shopping and I stayed at home with the dogs. Watching television in the sitting-room I tried to ignore the atmosphere which had started to form. Before Lucy would manifest or supernatural activity would happen I would feel dizzy. A few minutes passed and all of a sudden I could hear footsteps coming from the upstairs landing. Being home alone I knew no one was up there. I sat still hugging the dogs as the footsteps continued above. I remember feeling quite scared by that incident as I was becoming more aware of Lucy. And I knew that I was the only one who could see her out of my family.

It wasn’t until I was sixteen that my mother told me that she had seen a woman around the house. Before I was born she saw a woman walking down the hall-way. As well as a little boy on the public bridleway which used to belong to the house decades ago? However my mother could no longer see the spirits when I was born. Unlike before I wanted to find out why Lucy was still in the house and wanted to help her move on. I didn’t know a great deal about the history of the house only that it had once been a farmhouse. As time went on Lucy would start to mimic my mother’s voice and call my name. I would always answer thinking that it was my mother.

One incident sticks out like a sore thumb to me. The most terrifying experience I have probably ever had. One rainy cold evening I was in bed. I used to have a mirror in my room next to my bed which I always used to sleep next to. While nodding off to sleep I became aware of Lucy’s presence in the room. The previous night my best friend had come round for a sleep-over and she would never sleep in the guest-room by herself. So I bunked in with her and while we were talking we would hear foot-steps around the bed. That only happened once when she came round.

Lucy’s presence was different from before it was more intimidating. Opening my eyes I froze as I saw a reflection of a dark figure looming over my bed. The figure was roughly about six-foot and was black. I’m not sure if it was a shadow ghost but it frightened the hell out of me. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t know what to do. So I fell back to sleep and prayed for it to go away.

 

Three years ago I moved away from that house. I stopped seeing Lucy during the moving process so hopefully she has moved on. However that was not the end of my paranormal experiences

Updated: 12/04/2015, ArabellaMortimerHendry
 
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frankbeswick on 08/27/2022

A sustained phenomenon that lasted years, included physical effects such as disappearing socks,had animals responding and included mimicry cannot be dismissed as an hallucination.

DerdriuMarriner on 08/26/2022

It looks like there was a 12-year gap between when your mother stopped, and you started, seeing Lucy.

Were you or your mother ever able to reconstruct what Lucy was doing to whom, where and why during those 12 years?

DerdriuMarriner on 05/06/2022

Revisiting your wizzley caused me to recall something that I had meant to ask way back with the first reading and as part of the reactions that I shared below.

Did you and your mother discuss Lucy because you brought her up, or because she brought her up, in a conversation?

Did you ever see the boy that your mother saw? It would be interesting to have a description of his appearance and of his deeds -- and misdeeds, like Lucy imitating your mother and taking away the socks that you needed to have to go to school properly dressed -- and a name for him too.

DerdriuMarriner on 04/03/2017

Arabella Mortimer Hendry, Do you have any ideas as to why Lucy became more and more frightening as you got older? It seems that with time some accommodation, like friendship, would develop although perhaps the contrary indicates either her great unhappiness or ultimate unfriendliness.

ArabellaMortimerHendry on 12/07/2015

Thank you for your kind words :) Hope you are well x

sheilamarie on 12/06/2015

I have had some strange experiences myself, and I know that you need to pray with all your might when you feel that strange feeling or begin to see something. There are powers that are beyond our understanding. Prayer is powerful, too. Focusing on those apparitions is dangerous.

Veronica on 12/05/2015

This is very interesting and it is fascinating that you are a Christian .

This is lovely to chant in fearful times .

Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy.
Psalms 86.1

ArabellaMortimerHendry on 12/05/2015

I am a Christian and I go to church regularly. But thank you for your concern. And the house used to be a farm house back in the day, However that's all I know about the property.

frankbeswick on 12/05/2015

This is interesting, an enduring paranormal experience that went on over years and worsened. The dark entity is worrying, and is never good. In situations like this keeping up an active prayer life is important, and I don't just mean meditation, but actively directing your heart and mind to God and seeking his presence/power. The key phrase is from the Lord's Prayer, deliver us from evil.

Rose on 12/04/2015

Have you researched the history of the house to see who lived there and whether one of the previous occupants could be Lucy?

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