These 2 stories were donated to us by a good friend are combined due to their short length.

© Stephen P. Jefferson 1999

When I was five years old, my grandpa Ritter died of cancer. About the only thing I can remember about grandpa was his voice. He was always laying in bed so I had to go in the bedroom to talk to him.

One night when I was about 8 or 9 I was coming home from a friends house. Susan lived one block from my house and there was an alley and a church between our houses. This particular night it was dark when I started home so I decided to take the alley because it was closer.

On the way home I heard a sound behind me which scared me half to death. I thought someone was following me. I took off running up along our fence in the neighbors yard and just as I turned the corner to get in my own yard beside our house I tripped and fell. As I started to get back up on my feet, I felt something touch my shoulder and heard a voice san, "Don't be scared, I'm right here with you."

The voice I heard that night was my grandpa's. After hearing his soothing words, I calmed down and walked to the front door - still able to hear grandpa's footsteps behind me. I have never forgotten that night and I never will. D.D.

© Stephen P. Jefferson 1999

The year was 1987. December to be exact. I had just given birth to my fourth child and had decided to sleep downstairs with the baby instead of upstairs so that her crying wouldn't disturb the other children.

I was sleeping in the dining room on a roll-a-way bed and the baby was in a port-a-crib. My home is one of the older homes in our small town. It happens to be over 100 years old. The home now has 9 rooms, however, the original house only had 3 rooms. The original 3 rooms of the home are our living room, dining room and family room. This fact leads us to the conclusion that our ghost lived in the original house.

My first encounter with the child was when my baby was 3 or 4 days old. It was very early between the hours of 1 and 3 in the morning. I was awakened by a child calling for his or her mama. My first inclination was that it was on of my other children. However, after going upstairs to check I found that my children were sound asleep.

When I returned downstairs, shut off the lights and laid back down, I could still hear the child calling for her mama. The child sounded as if she had a bad dream or had been hurt. I believe that our little ghost lives with us for some reason she has decided to stay in the house or possibly she's trapped here.

You can still hear her in the early morning hours when the house is very calm and quiet and only in the original 3 rooms. It would be interesting to do some research on the house so that we might be able to find out who our mystery child is.

D.D.