Some of my experiences at The Flat...

After reading some of other people’s stories about paranormal experiences here, I feel encouraged to share some of my own.
I’ve had many spooky experiences in my life so far, the house where I grew up in was quite haunted (although it did admittedly go through phases, sometimes there would be large periods of time when nothing spooky happened for a long time), but my most recent and vivid and regular experiences happened over a year ago to a couple of years ago when I used to rent out a flat just out of the town where I now currently live.

The flat was a small barn conversion of sorts (it was primarily a cattle barn, but was also used for storing hay in the old days)- and as far as I know had only been converted in relatively recent history (probably in the 60’s or 70’s- will have to check). I lived in the top floor, while in the floor below my landlord had his antiques storeroom- my landlord was an antiques dealer and did a lot of his business in his storeroom below me. I could always hear him doing his work below as the walls and ceilings of the flat were very thin and sound travelled well- he often worked very late or early hours, sometimes he would still be working past 2:00am or as early as 4:00am. He would often have other antiques dealers/traders or general antiques enthusiasts around every day, the driveway/parking area around outside the storeroom often had many cars parked in it. Sometimes I would go down below and check out what antiques or general stuff he had in stock and sometimes buy things- he was a very nice hard working and honest guy with a lovely wife and kids, he would even give me stuff sometimes. He was one of the best landlords I have ever had.
So I was used to hearing a lot of noises in the place because of all this activity down below, not just from my landlord working, but also because I had pet Syrian hamsters at the time which would often make a lot of noise at night (they are primarily nocturnal animals). But as time went by, I started to experience really spooky stuff which would often scare the hell out of me or leave me feeling very nervous and paranoid. So I will tell you some of the things I experienced;

One day I had my brother around to the flat for the night, he came down in the late afternoon and we stayed up talking long into the night even after my fiancé had gone to sleep as we had a lot to catch up on (I don’t get to see him that often).
In the early hours of the morning as we were talking, my brother stopped talking and said he heard footsteps in the storeroom below- I heard them too. But I told him not to worry and explained that it was probably just my landlord working late again- my brother was quite concerned, but we left it at that and continued on with our conversation.
My brother left to go back to his home the next day and I decided to pop down to the storeroom and chat with my landlord- although it didn’t really concern me a great deal, I decided to ask him whether he was working last night at all in the storeroom in the early hours of the morning. He said no- I asked him if anyone could have been there that night, he again said no and asked me what was up- I quietly replied that I thought I had heard noises down there the other night, and then shrugged it off- we left the conversation at that.
But it didn’t explain why both me and my brother heard loud footsteps walking around in that room in the early hours of the morning…Because the initial experience didn’t spook me out a great deal, I decided just to not think about it, but that was only the start of many much spookier experiences to come…

I started to have bad sleeping problems, so would often just end up lying in bed at night trying to relax and go to sleep.
One night while I was staying awake in bed, I heard a really loud smash downstairs in the storeroom- no kidding, it sounded like a huge vase or thin ceramic pot had fallen off a high shelf, a really loud and distinct noise! More in a mo-

[edit on 5-1-2007 by Tokis Phoenix]

(continued)Again I told myself the landlord must have been working late again and had just dropped an antique vase or something while moving it.
The next day I went down into the storeroom and as I was chatting to him I asked him what he dropped last night and told him I hoped it wasn’t too expensive- but he looked at me as if I’d said something really bizarre or random like “what did you think of the purple daises flying past?”. He said he hadn’t broken a thing nor discovered anything broken, and wasn’t even in the storeroom that late at night. He then had to excuse himself for a couple of minutes, so I was left in the storeroom b myself- I looked around trying to find an explanation- I don’t think an animal like a cat or rodent could have made such a noise nor knocked anything off the shelves, the doors to the storeroom were practically airtight so nothing could get in (they were huge heavy metal doors, couple of inches thick, with massive padlocks on them etc so they were very secure) or out.
I never did explain the huge smashing noise, but it did shock me and spooked me out for quite some time.


A couple of months later we had a mouse in the flat (I assumed there were a few mice, but it just turned out to be the one), the presence of the mouse made me very aware of my surroundings and heightened my senses as I spent a lot of time in the flat and would often see it running around the place.
I eventually caught the mouse (left a bag of hamster food out and waited ‘til the mouse jumped in it, then I just closed the bag and my fiancé released It into a field many miles away), but even after it was gone my senses were still very heightened and alert. A recent series of similar spooky happenings had gone on over the last couple of months similar to the ones described above (unexplained footsteps, loud noises, or sounds of things been moved or dragged around below). I started to get random attacks of “fear”- it was a random fear but was like a fear so strong that it was a fear of doom- the thing the fear was directed at was not clear, but I felt absolutely terrified. It was very random- one day I’d be sitting down watching tv, drawing art or on my laptop very happily by myself, and the next moment a huge fear would grip me like it was out of this world.
This obviously unnerved me quite a bit along with all the spooky stuff going on. My sleeping problems got worse, and my old childhood fear of the dark returned so I had to keep the light on (which is quite embarrassing because I’m 20yrs old now)- I would often get the fears while I was lying awake in bed with my fiancé sleeping next to me, I’d often be so overwhelmed with fear I could not move, and my thoughts could do little to help or comfort me as my mind raced with fear.
I started to get really bad “vibes” from the far end of the bedroom- I always tried to avoid staring at in why lying in bed as if I did it would often bring the sense of fear and dread on. I couldn’t get to sleep unless I hid under the bed covers- I did not tell my fiancé about this until many months later.
On night I had a particularly bad night. I felt a thick and heavy presence come closer to me in the bedroom as I hid under the covers. I could feel “it” incredibly strongly as it neared me and drew up close by the side of the bed, I didn’t dare open my eye’s to look and see what it was. I lay there under the covers absolutely frozen- my mind was beginning to panic- but after a couple of minutes, something rebelled in me- I couldn’t take this any longer. I was no longer trying to hide away in denial, but I desperately wanted to prove to myself that nothing was there. So I said to the presence “If you are really here, just give me a sign so I know. If you are going to do anything to me, just get it over and done with”. I waited for a couple of moments, I felt the presence grow heavier, and then all of a sudden something firmly touched/pushed the bed covers over my head! more in a mo-

(continued)I was absolutely petrified- I have never felt a fear so strong in my life, it was so strong it was almost irrational (I’ve never felt so much fear in my life as that experience), but when the entity touched me after I spoke to it that really scared the cr*p out of me as it was like it was proving to me that it was indeed very real. I felt the bedcovers move a little at the bottom of the bed, I know it could not have been my fiancé as I was clinging to him in bed and he was totally motionless.
I lay there frozen still for god knows how long like I was petrified- I lost track of the time I was like that for, but after a while the presence and fear slowly faded away and I quickly accepted sleep as the whole experience exhausted and drained the energy out of me.

I had some really messed up dreams during that time, because of the experiences I had very bad sleeping pattern problems for a long time.
Numerous other times would I feel the bed covers moving like they were being pulled from the bottom of the bed.
I can’t deny what happened, there were too many vivid experiences at that place. Regardless to say, I was very happy when I was finally able to move out and buy my own place with my fiancé (which thankfully is a lot better). I can only explain what went on there as paranormal, I was not the only one who experienced them (although my fiancé was quite oblivious to these things until I told him)- before I first moved into the flat I had had paranormal experiences before, but even so I was still not truly convinced of such happenings, but living at The flat changed all that. I know myself, but I can’t explain what happened to me any other way.

Anybody else had similar experiences to mine?
(Sorry for the long posts)

Oh yeah- i forgot to add that i also used to see a black figure there. I'd be sitting down doing something and all of a sudden i would see a figure out of the corner of my eye but the figure black completely black, i would turn around to look at it but in a moment it would be gone...This happened a lot during my stay at the flat, more and more so as time went by.
Whatever occopied that place i'm sure it was not a nice thing. I would try to not think about all the spooky stuff going on as much as i could, but it was like as soon as i was managing to get such events off my mind, something would happen again to re-spark my fears.
I noticed that my landlord would often have a lot of general junk mixed in with his antiques like hoards of spoons, knives, forks, mugs, pots, pans etc; i asked him why he had so much of this stuff and he mentioned that a lot of it came from house clearance sales i.e. someone would die and not leave all their belongings in their will, so these belongings would be sold off cheaply at auction. My landlord bought a lot of this dead people's stuff.

HI Tokis :-)

Well, the good part is ----------- you're safe and far more relaxed in your new place. That's great. And you and your fiance are still together, despite the harrowing experiences and mood and sleep difficulties imposed by your experiences ---- so that's also great !

It often happens that once we 'escape' these troubled dwellings and settle down somewhere 'normal', we feel safe enough to look back and discuss the things that scared us silly. And this is a great place to come to share, discuss and analyse !

Obvious question of course, but have you ever popped back to your old place in the hope of striking up a conversation with the new tenant ?

This is something I often wish I'd done, several years ago, after living in a place with similar goings-on.

What I've personally found (and your post indicates you've felt this also) is that I tend to downplay my experiences, in my own mind. We don't realise just how strong our programming/conditioning is, until we find ourselves doubting our own paranormal-type experiences.

I mean, we were there -- we remember the experience/s --- we were scared witless at the time. Yet later on, we wonder if we've exaggerated what occurred, or if we simply read too much into it.

We don't do this about other experiences, do we? If we see a collision between two cars, we don't go home and talk ourselves out of what we saw. If we go to a party, we don't tell ourselves we 'imagined' or exaggerated what occurred.

Another thing we tend to do is 'over-explain' when recounting our experience/s, and this is because we attempt from the outset to pre-empt those who'll respond with: ' Oh, the noises were probably caused by the cat or a mouse or the breeze ...' etc. So we report our experience/s in detail to explain it was NOT the cat, etc. etc. And THIS can sometimes result in others saying: ' I don't believe your story because it sounds too well written, too detailed, too long, too rehearsed', etc. What they mean is:- You haven't left me room (or angle) to play the sceptic. Lol.

So, one way and another, those who've had paranormal experiences are often effectively silenced and dismissed ------ or themselves silence and dismiss their own experience/s. It's a wonder, really, that anyone troubles to try to share what's happened to them. So glad you made it here to Above Top Secret, which I've found to be the BEST forums with the best members and moderators :-)

that is most interesting.

eventually you learned to pick out the presense if it was in a room with you right, there is a distinct feeling, much like the feeling when someone is looking at the back of your head.. but a little different

ive had a simliar set of experiences while growing up, and i have my brother (and parents, who tried to deny it at first) as a reality check to confirm i wasnt imagining things.

i posted this in 2005 :

www.abovetopsecret.com...'

I will update that thread soon maybe, the tenant will be moving soon, or buying the house, *thats being discussed*.

I will ask her some pointed questions when I have the opportunity. she has three cats so one of the questions will be along the lines of if shes noticed the cats acting strange from time to time or randomly running from nothing and hiding etc etc.

ill pop by sometime and take some pictures of the house, i dont see a big deal, since i wont tell anyone where it is geographically located.. and if you live in the area and recognize the place , I might actually know you and in that case i can probably arrange to get you into the house with the blessing of the tenant.

Originally posted by Dock6

HI Tokis :-)

Well, the good part is ----------- you're safe and far more relaxed in your new place. That's great. And you and your fiance are still together, despite the harrowing experiences and mood and sleep difficulties imposed by your experiences ---- so that's also great !

It often happens that once we 'escape' these troubled dwellings and settle down somewhere 'normal', we feel safe enough to look back and discuss the things that scared us silly. And this is a great place to come to share, discuss and analyse !

Obvious question of course, but have you ever popped back to your old place in the hope of striking up a conversation with the new tenant ?

This is something I often wish I'd done, several years ago, after living in a place with similar goings-on.

Thanks Dock6 , but no, unfortunately i never got to meet the last tenant who moved in after we did- after me and my fiance moved out the only other person to live there was a girl (around 19-21 years old) and apparently she only stayed there for 2months, she said she hated the place (apparently it made her allergies go crazy a lot of the time); since she left, no-one's lived in the flat (must be over a year now). My landlord has the place up for sale as he's bought a larger place to live at, so i don't think anymore people will live there again for a while.

I tried to downplay my experiences as much as i could at the time they were happening as they made it very difficult for me to live happily there, but no matter how hard i tried i could often find no logical and sound explanation for the things that happened there. When the entity/ghost/thing touched me and started moving my bed covers, there was no way i could deny what was going on any longer.
I've had quite a lot of other paranormal experiences living at other places (often my other experiences are a lot more extreme than the ones at the flat), but something made me fear that place so badly, and i think it was deliberate.

Originally posted by Davood
that is most interesting.

eventually you learned to pick out the presense if it was in a room with you right, there is a distinct feeling, much like the feeling when someone is looking at the back of your head.. but a little different

ive had a simliar set of experiences while growing up, and i have my brother (and parents, who tried to deny it at first) as a reality check to confirm i wasnt imagining things.

i posted this in 2005 :

www.abovetopsecret.com...'

I will update that thread soon maybe, the tenant will be moving soon, or buying the house, *thats being discussed*.

I will ask her some pointed questions when I have the opportunity. she has three cats so one of the questions will be along the lines of if shes noticed the cats acting strange from time to time or randomly running from nothing and hiding etc etc.

ill pop by sometime and take some pictures of the house, i dont see a big deal, since i wont tell anyone where it is geographically located.. and if you live in the area and recognize the place , I might actually know you and in that case i can probably arrange to get you into the house with the blessing of the tenant.

That is interesting that you have experienced very similar spooky going ons to what i had- was the child ghost that haunted your place a good, neutral or bad ghost though in your opinion?
Be careful when researching the house though- it would be bad to upset it. The house where i was raised is very haunted (its over 600 years old so naturally has a lot of history to it), i wouldn't dare taking picture's there (at least for now) as the paranormal activity there is easily sparked off or agrivated by doing certain things. Its not that i greatly fear the activity there like i did with the flat, but there are quite a few distressed/disturbed ghosts there, its not a nice place to live there when its not peaceful.

it was mischievious but i wouldnt say it was evil