Interesting wasn't the word!!!

OK so I was about 13 years old when we moved from Detroit to Wyandotte, Michigan. We moved into a lower flat that had one upper flat above it, but it was a house, not a building. The street we lived on was 'Elm' street, believe it or not! Actually there were alot of syncronicities with scary movies tied to this house. Like the fact that the house behind us that happened to share our backyard as their front yard, housed two roommates by the names of 'Michael' & 'Jason'!! I swear on all that is close to me, that all of the details & events in this experience were real & true, despite the coincidences that seem to make it sound a bit corny.

Moving on, it was only about a month before we started to hear the noises. My mother had just left my father for good this time, so it was just mom, the twins (brother JJ, & sister Jen) & I (the oldest of the three).
As I said about a month into our stay at this house, we started to hear noises...coming from the basement. At night when the whole house was quiet, we would hear moving & shuffling, crying, rocking (like a creaking). My sister & I shared the biggest bedroom which was just over the part of the basement that we did not have access to. The part that we did have access to, was the front of the basement, the laundry facility. Then there was another open space just beyond that, that we were allowed to use as a storage room. Just beyond that, was the 'closed off' part of the basement. This part was a long rear wall w/a series of three doors on it, every single one of them locked w/a padlock! We were told nothing about this part of the basement, except that it was storage for our landlord, & to leave it alone.

Another part of the house that we had instructions for was the upper flat, which did not have anyone living in it. We were told that the woman who used to live there had just recently moved, & still had boxes there that she needed to come pick up. The landlord kindly asked mom to keep us kids out of there since we did have rear access to the upper, just by using our indoor back staircase. Also the door to the upper had a busted lock that didn't work, so she asked ma not to let us get nosy & go rummaging through this woman's stuff! Mom complied & told us that under no circumstances were we allowed to use the rear staircase, since the only place it led to was up. She also told us to keep our mitts off this woman's stuff.

Other than that, we were told nothing about the house, except that she had been trying to rent out the bottom flat for over a year now, & so she was very happy to finally have a nice family living there.

Before I take you ahead in the story, let me first tell you of moving day. We had started an assembly line from the uhaul truck to the basement, where everything except furniture was to be unloaded. I was the last person in the assembly line...in the basement by myself. The boxes were passed through 3 different people before they reached me. I was to find a spot for each box according to category. As I stood in this basement, I not only became very uneasy, but nauseous too. This was not because the house was new & creepy to me, I was the kid who would venture off into the woods by myself, to go explore & discover. What I mean is I was not the type of kid who was shaken or scared easily. I really couldn't explain what was making me feel so uneasy & sick about this space, but honestly I felt like I couldn't breath. This basements door was open to the outside for hours as we loaded boxes into it, so I doubt attributing the sick feeling to lack of air circulation.
As the day moved on, I had to step outside to get fresh air, as it became harder & harder for me to breath. I also noticed that mom didn't come into the basement that day, unless she absolutely had to. I found it strange that she left me in charge of the final organization of the basement that day, as she had always been somewhat of a control freak, w/a say in how everything was to be. But I just figured that she was feeling overwhelmed w/just having left my father, & was trying to learn how to delegate & not worry about controlling every aspect of the house. Letting go & learning that she doesn't have to do it all. I WAS WRONG. MOM WAS SCARED SH!TLESS OF THAT BASEMENT!!!!!

So now we had been living in the house for about a month, & every night my sister & I would hear the noises that I described earlier. The most recognizable was the crying & creaking. Each night, Jen & I would go to mom's room & tell her what we were hearing. Each night she would tell us that it was probably a cat in heat (mom was always very honest about things w/us kids, & we all knew about sex at this point. The twins were about 10yrs.old). And each night Jen & I went back to our room, hoping that mom was right, but knowing in our hearts that this wasn't the case. Nice try on mom's part though. She really did try to come up w/a legitimate excuse for what we were hearing. It is quite painful for a female cat to mate. It is a very aggressive act performed by the male that makes this so painful for the female cat. I've heard cats mating on the side of our house before, & there is quite alot of screaming , growling, crying & scratching. But what Jen & I were hearing was different...more HUMAN.

We humored my mother's reasoning for a little while, but it wasn't long before we started to vehemently disagree with her, & beg her to sleep in our room to experience it for more than 5 minutes herself. She complied. I did notice looks of confusion in mom's face that night, as she too became aware that these noises could not be coming from a pair of randy cats. Then the shuffling began.

The next day, mom was on the phone all day. She would not come out of her bedroom, & by the muffled tone in her voice that I could hear only through her door, I could tell she was worried. Later that night, she sent the twins to our me ma's to spend the night (her mother's). I opted to stay at home w/ma, I knew things were about to get exciting!

So there we lay mom & I in my bedroom, late at night. Me in my bed & mom in Jen's. Then the noises began....like we KNEW they would. Then the creaking sound seemed to be moving towards the basement stairs. Still in the basement, but now closer to the upper levels, like it was trying to get us to notice that it was not just a stationary noise, but traveling. Mom shot up in bed & said "It's getting closer, I think it's on the basement stairs!". Right away I wanted to go check it out, but ma hesitated. I think she was afraid that I might be damaged by this experience, but I soon convinced her that I was still her only child that didn't require a nightlight to sleep by. I was still the only one who didn't try to crawl into her bed at one time or another, & I was her metaphysical buddy who shared countless hours w/her for the past three years studying the paranormal & being tutored by her how to tap into spirit. She quickly changed her mind & realized that this was what she was trying to get me to grasp, this life after death concept. And I was grasping onto it quite tightly indeed. Together we walked, lights out w/only a flashlight in hand to the basement door in the rear of the kitchen.

As we got closer the creaks got louder. Once we were at the basement door, we looked at each other once, grabbed each other's hand & proceeded to go down the stairs. The creaking grew louder & in the back of the basement we heard crying...from a baby (I told ma, "There's your frisky cat!", her reply..."That's no cat!!!").

When we reached the fourth step from the basement floor, all noises stopped. It was the weirdest thing, it was as if we were now in a soundless void. Not just quiet, but almost one dimensional in sound, as if we were in deprivation tanks - where no sound exists. The air was thick with everything & nothing, all at the same time. It became harder & harder for me to breath. I whispered to my mom that this is how I felt the day we were moving in, when I was manning the organization of the basement. Her reply was "Me too, why do you think I put you down here?!". I was flabbergasted!! I thought "Great ma, way to protect your child!!". But later she explained that she felt the same ominous feeling that I felt down there on moving day, but every time she saw me go down there, she said that I seemed to return unaffected. She figured that I hadn't picked up on what she had picked up on, & thought "Well if she can't feel it, then she can organize that part". I know that on moving day, that if I had complained or shared about what I had been feeling down there, she would have pulled me out qucikfast & in a hurry, & sent one of the guys helping us move, down there instead. But that day I said nothing.

Just as mom & I started to move towards the rear of the basement, the crying & creaking started again, & got louder & more fast paced. And this shuffling became more like a sweeping sound, as if someone was frantically sweeping with a broom. This next moment was the most symbiotic moment I had shared w/my mother up until that point...She quickly turned me around to face the stairs & shoved me in front of her, as she said "run & do not look back to check on me!" Funny, that's exactly what I wanted to say to her, I couldn't imagine leaving her down there to face this alone. And so by her side I stayed. She actually threatened me to get me outta there, but I told her " Well your gonna have to ground me then, 'cause I ain't goin nowhere!". Her reply..." I love you baby!" . Hand in hand we walked again, this time both confidant that we were in this together!

Once the big BOOM happened, there was no more discussion, we both turned at the exact same moment, & ran to the stairs as fast as our four legs could carry us!!! One pulling on the other to make sure neither was left behind! When we reached the top of the stairs, I said what do you think that was? She said, "sounded like a broom handle, falling & hitting the floor!" I concurred. Mom looked at me & said " I'm calling Neal!", A friend of the family's that was like a brother to her & an uncle to us kids. "We're not staying here alone." she said.

Later that night at around 2:00 Am, Neal showed up. Once again we waited in my room to hear the sounds below & once again they started. Neal got gutsy & decided to venture down to the basement himself. Mom & I stood at the top of the stairs to keep an eye out. Neal got to the fourth stair form the basement floor, & again the noises ceased. We both shouted "Keep going they'll start up again." And he did...and they started up again. Mom & I kept talking to him from the basement stairs, until we heard the banging not once, but over & over again. As we yelled for Neal, we got no response.

To make sure Spam Filter doesn't reject this post because of length, I'll stop it here. We'll call it a cliffhanger! I will write & submit the rest of the story later tonight when I return from running some errands. Until then.....Happy hauntings!!!