Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-26512885-20150701020359

About  three weeks back I moved out of my parent's house and onto the housing market myself. Now, I  don't  have a particularly well paid job and as such was forced to buy from the lower end of the house market. It was that search that lead to my current residence, a three bed  Victorian  town house that had been reposed by the bank due to failed loan payments. At first everything was as expected, but for several weeks now I've been noticing things, not much mind you. Little things. A fleeting shadow across the room, a slight scrapping as I lay in bed at night. At first I assumed it was rats, so I called out the exterminator and even bought a terrier. I had hoped that the noises would have stopped after that but.... they didn't. If anything they have only become louder and more frequent. I've tried going to the doctor, he checked my eyesight, my hearing. In the end he came to the conclusion that I had acute paranoia. Most likely caused by the stress of the new job. He told me to get an early night and said that if  symptoms  persist, to return. Yet I swear, despite getting extra sleep, the exterminator and the company of my new dog, the problem is  definitely  getting worse. Which brings me onto why I'm posting this. Having failed to fix the problem myself, I hope that someone on the forum can help me find out just what is causing this. I'll try to keep this updated as much as possible over the coming weeks, my brother is coming over next week and I'm going to ask him his opinion. I had wanted to keep this quiet from family and friends, we all know how judgemental people can be, but enough is enough. _ Well its been three days now since my last update and I'm surprised, as well as grateful, for all the support you guys have offered. I saw people were asking questions about these occurrences, as to get a better idea of what is going on, so I'll start by answering those. I haven't actually ever seen anything as such, only shadows. The shadows seem.... twisted, like some kind of animal. The moment I look they dart away so I never get a good enough description to get a better look than that. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">As for the sounds, it's like... nails, being dragged down a blackboard now. They started as little more than a slight scratching but have become louder. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">_ <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">This morning my brother looked as if he hadn't slept a wink last night. His eyes were grey and he had large bags underneath them. I asked him if he slept well and he said that he had been kept awake all night by a scratching that sounded like it was just under the bed. He checked but nothing was there. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">Apparently he wasn't going to say anything because he felt silly worrying about such a minor thing. When I told him about my experiences the last few weeks, he looked even more unnerved. We have both agreed that it's best if we stay at his for the next couple of weeks or a least until we find out what is causing this. I'll keep this updated with any new information I uncover regarding the source of these events. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">_ <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">It's been a few days since I checked this  <span class="hiddenSpellError" style="cursor:pointer;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">blog <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> and I have, thanks to a few links posted in the comments section, found some more information about how to find out about what this thing is. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">On theses sites I visited I found several cases where people had experienced strange events such as this, but sadly the threads had all been closed due to their age and I was unable to ask the authors any questions. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">One useful thing I did find was that one person claimed hearing something crawling under their floor boards at night. My brother and I are going to my house tomorrow to check if anything has been under there. The floor hasn't been lifted in years so it should be pretty easy to see if there has been any disturbance. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">_ <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">I've just arrived back, having been to the house, and I am not moving back to that house until we find what is causing those noises. My brother and I had lifted some floor boards to in the hall to check underneath, the first couple were normal, dusty and undisturbed. But when we lifted the board where my brother had reported the scratching, what we saw chilled me to the bone. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">All along the length of the board were... deep scratches, as if someone had been trying to get out, clawing  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">their <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> way up and into the room. We didn't hang about much longer after that, we were both really  <span class="hiddenSpellError" style="cursor:pointer;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">creeped <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> out and scarred and so jut left. As much as I want to go to the police at this point, to have them lift all the boards and find whatever is in my house. I know that a few scratches and some noises don't constitute evidence. Especially with the previous owners never reporting such a problem, I'd be ignored and swept under the rug as “just another lune”. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">Thanks for all the help everyone has offered, as well as the links I've been sent. I'll keep you posted. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">_ <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">Okay, this is going to sound crazy but I was looking into the history of the house, to see if previous owner had  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">problems <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> too and I turned up some really disturbing things about that place. It turns out that although the owners had  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">defaulted <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> on payments on the house, it wasn't  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">because <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> they  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">couldn't <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> afford the place. In fact they were both in their 60's and had well paid jobs. Apparently they used to pay their  <span class="hiddenSpellError" style="cursor:pointer;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">morgage <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> out of a  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">separate <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> account and transfer the money each month, and because they lived away from their relatives, it  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">wasn't <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> until the money stopped being  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">transferred <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> and they  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">defaulted <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> that  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">anyone <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> went to their house. Upon arrival the house was found empty, a missing person's report was filed a week later but the couple were never found and the house was sold. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">As much as I dread returning to that house after last time, my brother and I have decided that we need to return in order to find solid evidence. I'm going to take my cam-corder and my brother and I are going to give that house one last  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">thorough <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> search, hopefully we'll finally get to the bottom of  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">what's <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> causing this. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">_ <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">I apologise for not posting on here this last week but what happened at the house.... I'm struggling to put it into words. Upon arriving, it was exactly how we left it. I had just set up the camera under one of the floor boards when we heard a wheezing from upstairs. We both froze and listened to the sound before, camera in hand we crept up the stairs. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">As we  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">ascended <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> it only became louder, until we could clearly hear a laboured wheezing, like a wounded animal gasping for air. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">Once upstairs, we could hear it was coming from the loft. My brother climbed the ladder first while I just stood on the top rung and looked in. I was using the night vision on my camera look in the corners of the loft, where the light was blocked by the beams when I saw it. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">It squatted, facing the wall, rocking on the balls of its feet. It was small, like a child but despite my telling myself it was a lost child, it just seemed wrong, unnatural somehow. The surrounding boards had rotted away, reviling how it was able to travel around the house. As I starred I noticed how its bones stuck out, covered only by a near transparent layer of skin and some soiled rags that hung loosely from its emaciated frame <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">I whispered to my brother, and slowly he turned on the thing in the corner. H-Hello? I stammered. Slowly it turned to face us, Its neck cracked suddenly to one side and it slowly started to contort its twisted body to face us. It wasn't until it moved its hand that we saw the long claws protruding from each finger. It's body moved in jerky  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">unnatural <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> movements causing  <span class="hiddenGrammarError" style="cursor:pointer;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">its' <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> long, yellowed  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">talons <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> to drag across the floor boards. Its  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">wheezed <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> louder and began it let out a light childish giggle. Seeing such a creature let out such an innocent and child-like giggle turned my blood to ice. At this point my heart was pounding against my chest, everything about this creature was wrong and  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">unnatural <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">. I had never seen anything like it but something told me that I was in danger, some primal fear at the back of mind  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">screamed <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> at me to run. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">When he saw he hand my brother turned white and screamed to run. Dashed down the ladder, dropping the camera in the process. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">We ran. Not even bothering to lock the door behind us. We just wanted to get as far away from that place as possible. Once we were in the car we called the police, we had no idea what to call it so we just reported a break-in. One of my friends agreed to meet the police at the house the next day. We were too shaken up. In the end they found nothing other than a few broken floor boards. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;">It's been a week now and I still can't shake the images of that thing from my head, I still hear its wheezing when I close my eyes at night, echoing around my head.. as <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'SourceSansPro',sans-serif;font-size:18px;line-height:30.6000003814697px;"> if it's lying right next to me. <ac_metadata title="I asked for some advice on how to improve this and have since improved Scratches. Anymore pointer you guys could give would be much appreciated =)"> </ac_metadata>