The Haunted Reading Chair

Witness: [Name Withheld Upon Request]
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Date of Encounter: January 2002-2004

I lived in an old house in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia for several years. It was a "twin" style building and the house on our side of the twin had been divided into flats. My husband and I lived in the top floor apartment and experienced a long-term haunting.

I don't remember a clear beginning to the feelings and events. Just ill ease, a feeling of not being alone and oppression that slowly gained strength over time. However, the haunting seemed to ramp up after I acquired an antique chair that I placed in a corner under the eaves in our bedroom as a cozy reading chair. I would feel uncomfortable, ill at ease, pushed at, whenever I tried to sit and enjoy a book. I began to feel watched, oppressed, and depressed in our bedroom. At night I would see amorphous white trails moving across the ceiling of the room. Both my husband and I on many occasions experienced being woken from a deep sleep by someone urgently whispering our name close against our ear. One night I woke from a deep sleep to see my sleeping husband bathed in red light that emanated from the corner where the reading chair was located. I felt cold, and when I looked at the chair I saw the silhouette of a tall man (like a dark, opaque figure) sitting in the chair, back lit by dark red light. I began to feel more and more oppressed by heavy dark feelings and depression whenever I was in the apartment, especially the bedroom. I finally began to talk out loud and tell the spirit to leave me alone, that it was frightening me. But to no avail. My father visited and saw (in his mind's eye as he was trying to sleep) a man dressed in World War I clothing standing over him while he lay in bed. I had not mentioned any of the problems we were experiencing to my father before he told me of his vision. Other friends and family expressed that they did not like our apartment, that it made them want to leave. The haunting seemed to extend to the twin house next door as well. Our neighbors experienced sounds, oppressed and depressed feelings, and two different people saw a tall man/beast on the third floor of their house adjacent to our apartment. I was touched and pushed in the twin next door while visiting. Finally we moved! Now I wish we could go back and do a paranormal investigation of that building. Now that I'm out of the environment, I'm very curious what is going on there.