Evil Stocky Specter

Witness: (Name withheld upon request)
Location: Iowa
Date of Encounter: 1999 – 2001

I don't know if I believe in ghosts. My Christian beliefs tell me I shouldn't — that it's not true, or just evil. But, throughout my life, so many unexplained things have happened that paranormal phenomena seems to be the only explanation. I have even been told by some people who notice weird things when I am around (that's comforting!). Most places I have lived have been creepy but nothing holds a candle to our house in Iowa.

We only lived in the house for a year — actually, I left after five months because it was just too creepy. I refused to be alone there. It just had a very mean, evil feeling, no matter what we did to the house.

I had the feeling that whatever was in the house was a woman — I don't know why. But, my then-boyfriend lived with us for a while and strange things used to happen to both of us (typical lights being dimmed, creaks, light footsteps, etc.). But the most petrifying event took place after my boyfriend had moved back to California. He and I were on the phone — it was about 10 PM his time, and midnight my time. My phone was on the wall in the kitchen with a chord that stretched to the dining table. About three feet away from the table was a door that led to the basement staircase. The house was dark because my parents were trying to sleep when suddenly I heard someone coming up the basement steps. I freaked out. My first thought was we had an intruder because the basement steps led straight to the garage — which didn't have a lock on it.

The steps were so clear that I told my boyfriend that I thought there was a burglar in the house and to stay on the line while I got my step dad. I ran in to my parents room and tried desperately to wake them up. Finally, my step dad came out and checked, but there was no one there. I still thought someone had been in there and escaped when they heard me talking. So I turned the light on and kept talking to my boyfriend. I was telling him about the incident when the footsteps started again. I got totally silent and listened as the "thing" came all the way up the steps, into the kitchen, past me, out the front door (without opening it) and down my driveway. I never saw anything! The event was so clear, so real, so undeniable that I am having a lot of difficulty writing about it. There was nothing faint or questionable about it. Someone or something walking through my house. I have never, ever, been that terrified.

Another incident which was beyond terrifying for me was when my mom and my boyfriend had gone into town to buy a television and I was left home alone (this was actually before the footstep incident). I was in the kitchen making rice and I could see the dining area in my peripheral. Suddenly… and I mean suddenly… there appeared a short, stocky, shadowy figure with a very distinct face which looked mean or evil, or both. I saw it glaring at me through my peripheral. The manifestation was so sudden that I jumped and dumped the rice on the floor. When I turned to look at it, the figure was gone. I was so distraught by the event that I went out and sat on the porch until my mom and boyfriend came home. The strange thing is my grandmother had passed away in the house a month or so prior. She was a short, stocky woman but in no way mean or evil. The glare that the "thing" was giving me was most certainly not something my grandmother would have done. My grandmother helped raise me and never showed anything but love toward me.

The house was not normal… that's for sure. They have trouble keeping people in there. People will move in and move out within a year or so. And this is not rental property! As it turns out, years ago a man owned the house who was extremely crooked and "evil." He actually swindled so much money from a local college that it had to shut down. The guy was just all around horrible and, if I am not mistaken, he died there. Maybe that explains the evil feeling of the house.