poltergeist | PARANORMAL PLACE

THE RIDGEWAY CHRONICLES

As mentioned in Chapter One, the Ridgeway home was rented to my cousin and her husband after my parents moved out. They too would report strange disturbances in the home. While I did not encounter these events first-hand, they are worth repeating, and I feel that I can do it with enough accuracy. After all, we’ve been rehashing these events over and over throughout the years, so I do feel that I can recollected well enough to pass the details along.

There are actually two occurrences that I would like to cover here. The first involves voices in the wall. My cousin’s husband at that time was a congenial guy, one who liked to joke around, but was certainly not known as a prankster or jokester. Knowing his personality, I was surprised when he phoned my cousin one day while she and I were together, claiming to be hearing voices in the walls of the Ridgeway home. He claimed that the voices started off sounding like a conversation between two people, but later sounded like more.

He placed the phone directly to the wall so that we could listen in, and sure enough, we could hear the sound of many voices. The voices did not sound menacing, but instead lively and happy. In truth, it sounded as though a party was taking place within the walls, as crazy as that sounds! I would have sworn that I heard glasses clinking, as though there were a toast taking place. We did, of course, accuse her husband of playing a joke on us. It was the obvious thing to do, but he never did admit to playing a joke and held to his story throughout all the years to come.

The second story that I wish to add to these chronicles involves my cousin. At the time they lived in the home, she was frequently claiming to be feeling a presence. One day, she started telling me of how she was hearing whispering in her ear during the early morning hours while she was still asleep. At the time, she was not able to make out any of the words. She only knew that there was a voice very close to her ear and it was loud enough to cause her to wake up (quite scared, of course).

whispering-in-ear One day, she phone me, frantically recounting the most recent event. As was frequently happening, the whispering in her ear had taken place, but this time the voice was louder and more clear. “Wake up Mark!” She said the sentence was clearly heard and demanding. Obviously, she had no idea who Mark was and verbally announced that to the room. “Who is Mark?” Complete quiet. No response (although I’m not sure she was really hoping there would be one).

In the days that followed, the whispers would die down (no pun intended). It is often said that it takes quite a lot of energy for a ghost to show itself or to make itself known. If this is true, it could have taken a lot for the ghost to tell her to awaken Mark (or Marc?). My cousin and her husband did not live in the Ridgeway home much longer after that. Their reason for moving was not entirely the haunting, but it did factor into their decision to move to a new home within the same town.

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THE RIDGEWAY CHRONICLES

The home on Ridgeway Road was familiar to me long before I ever lived in it. Originally, it was purchased by my parents, after which, it was rented to my cousin and her husband. The first entry in what will be a long series of true ghost stories about this home, took place when my parents owned the house. My husband at the time was working for an ambulance company and would work 24-48 hour shifts, leaving me home alone (and pregnant) for extended periods of time. Sometimes, I would spend time with my siblings when I grew tired of being alone.

Before proceeding, I should give a bit of history about the home. The house was one of the oldest in town, and was not a standard home. In fact, it was a log cabin. The fact that it was a log cabin is what appealed to my mother, who was positive that she was Laura Ingalls Wilder in another life. I personally saw no appeal in the cabin aspect, and my husband and I would later cover the logs with siding, much to my mothers dismay. After the haunting started, I did speak with an elderly, local librarian, who was not much help, but did confirm that at least one person had died in the home. According to public records, the home was originally constructed in 1940.

Below are photos of the before and after. I’m still trying to find a photo of the full original front of the home, and will make sure to post it in a future post. For now, here are a few that show the old logs (along with a project car and my children at Halloween).

Capture

On this particular night, my parents were not at home, and I was hanging out with my sister and one of my brothers, both younger siblings. We were in the den, towards the end of the one-story home, when we heard a loud crash and the distinct sound of glass breaking. The basement was directly below us and in that basement was a massive glass book shelf. My family, all avid readers, had hundreds of books on those shelves. My guess was that the weight of the books were too much for the glass shelves, and that one or more had given way and come crashing down onto the concrete floor.

There was another possibility in my mind, and that was that someone had broken into the basement. A thought which was quite scary. As the oldest sibling, I knew it was my duty to investigate. I cannot recall whether I chose a baseball bat or a knife as my weapon, but I do remember being armed as I slowly descended the steps to the basement. In that home, you only needed to step down a few stairs before being able to see most of the basement. As soon as I was able to view the room, I could see that the glass shelves were perfectly fine. No cracks, no shatters, nothing.

After seeing the that the shelves were undamaged and everything else in the basement seemed to be in place, I retreated to the den to discuss the matter with my siblings. At this point, I did begin to at least wonder about a cause that would have been paranormal. My sister had told me a few weeks earlier that she as awaking at 3:15 am each night, for no apparent reason. She also said that she was hearing walking around the home in the middle of the night, and was certain that it was the large family dog, Buster. She was able to keep that assumption intact until she got out of bed one night after hearing steps, only to find Buster sound asleep.

This paranormal occurrence would be the first of many to take place in the home on Ridgeway Road over the next sixteen years. I invite you to read each of these accounts and follow the haunted history of the home from start to finish. I’ll do my best to provide as many details as possible, but if you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them. Just post below or reach out to me using the contact form or on social media.