Haunted Homeless Shelter: Part III
If you have read my previous two stories of the haunted homeless shelter, then you know I worked there for about 6 years.
Part III will be about several small incidents, that didn't seem normal at the time.
One night, in early October, I had just pulled into the parking lot for my shift. At that time, there was a large mound of dirt like a small hill, separating the homeless shelter from the street. It was topped with trees, and it has since been removed.
Across the street from the shelter, back in those days, there was an enormous wooded area, which belonged to the Catholic Church. The church owned and operated a small summer camp there which was closed for the year.
I got out of my car, and I heard the strangest noise. It seemed to be coming from the sky, and also from across the street, far into the woods. It sounded like a thousand voices crying out all at once...not a football game sort of crowd, but a crowd of crazy mad people. And how that sound could be coming from the sky, or the woods, I didn't know. The sound got louder and louder the longer I stood there. It was as though it was moving TOWARD me, through the woods.
If you are surprised at what I did next, let me just explain that I was inured to the odd happenings at the shelter at that point, and I said to myself, "Oh, no you don't! Not one more incident that I see or hear ALL BY MYSELF."
THIS time I ran into the shelter and dragged the minister's wife, Betsy, and one other woman, out into the parking lot with me, and FORCED them to listen. They listened, but they offered ridiculous explanations for the noise, such as; "it's coming from a car that is driving by on the street". 'It's coming from a helicopter." It's coming from a house somewhere beyond the woods."
To me, if you'll forgive my fanciful notions, it sounded like the Wild Hunt in full cry. However...it was and still is unresolved. Unanswered.
Another incident involved the last room on the left in the blue wing. It was the closest room to the play yard, and to the woods.
Residents began complaining about the door in that room. It was a VERY heavy door, and it kept slamming shut.
I know it to be true, because after one family moved out of that room, I was tasked with cleaning it. I placed the mop bucket in the doorway, and while I was cleaning, I could see that the bucket was actually being squeezed by the door, which kept trying to close. The windows weren't open. It wasn't the wind. It was VERY strange.
Finally, the residents asked the Director if they could hang picture of Jesus on the wall directly next to the door. She gave permission. They hung the picture of Jesus beside the door, and the door began to behave just like any other door after that.
I mentioned in another story in this small series, that I felt uncomfortable sleeping on the sofas in the wings, but I did feel particularly uncomfortable sleeping in the blue wing, even before the door incidents. I always felt as though someone was watching me.
The second to last in this series of small incidents would actually be funny, if it didn't involve something that wasn't visible to the naked eye.
Part of my job at the shelter was to inspect the chores that the residents were required to perform each day, in the wings where they resided. A swinging door separated the blue wing from the central hall, and I was dead center in the middle of the swinging door, on my way back to the office, when [i]something[/i] reached out and goosed me right on the butt. Hard.
I swung around so fast that there was no way anyone could have dodged my sight. There was no one there. I think I should call this incident, "The Ghostly Goose!" 馃ぃ馃ぃ馃ぃ
Last but not least, toward the very end of my employment at the shelter, we had contracted with the state to care for pregnant teenage mothers with babies or toddlers. Part of my job was to provide healthy breakfasts for the children, and to teach the young mothers about cooking nutritious foods. (Ha! They were supremely uninterested in that).
I was cleaning the last room toward the garage in the green wing, getting it ready for a new young mother to arrive, and I could have sworn I saw a little girl about age 5 or 6 wearing an old fashioned white dress or nightgown walk out from the room across the hall.
No one else saw it. 馃檮馃檮馃檮Typical.
Part III will be about several small incidents, that didn't seem normal at the time.
One night, in early October, I had just pulled into the parking lot for my shift. At that time, there was a large mound of dirt like a small hill, separating the homeless shelter from the street. It was topped with trees, and it has since been removed.
Across the street from the shelter, back in those days, there was an enormous wooded area, which belonged to the Catholic Church. The church owned and operated a small summer camp there which was closed for the year.
I got out of my car, and I heard the strangest noise. It seemed to be coming from the sky, and also from across the street, far into the woods. It sounded like a thousand voices crying out all at once...not a football game sort of crowd, but a crowd of crazy mad people. And how that sound could be coming from the sky, or the woods, I didn't know. The sound got louder and louder the longer I stood there. It was as though it was moving TOWARD me, through the woods.
If you are surprised at what I did next, let me just explain that I was inured to the odd happenings at the shelter at that point, and I said to myself, "Oh, no you don't! Not one more incident that I see or hear ALL BY MYSELF."
THIS time I ran into the shelter and dragged the minister's wife, Betsy, and one other woman, out into the parking lot with me, and FORCED them to listen. They listened, but they offered ridiculous explanations for the noise, such as; "it's coming from a car that is driving by on the street". 'It's coming from a helicopter." It's coming from a house somewhere beyond the woods."
To me, if you'll forgive my fanciful notions, it sounded like the Wild Hunt in full cry. However...it was and still is unresolved. Unanswered.
Another incident involved the last room on the left in the blue wing. It was the closest room to the play yard, and to the woods.
Residents began complaining about the door in that room. It was a VERY heavy door, and it kept slamming shut.
I know it to be true, because after one family moved out of that room, I was tasked with cleaning it. I placed the mop bucket in the doorway, and while I was cleaning, I could see that the bucket was actually being squeezed by the door, which kept trying to close. The windows weren't open. It wasn't the wind. It was VERY strange.
Finally, the residents asked the Director if they could hang picture of Jesus on the wall directly next to the door. She gave permission. They hung the picture of Jesus beside the door, and the door began to behave just like any other door after that.
I mentioned in another story in this small series, that I felt uncomfortable sleeping on the sofas in the wings, but I did feel particularly uncomfortable sleeping in the blue wing, even before the door incidents. I always felt as though someone was watching me.
The second to last in this series of small incidents would actually be funny, if it didn't involve something that wasn't visible to the naked eye.
Part of my job at the shelter was to inspect the chores that the residents were required to perform each day, in the wings where they resided. A swinging door separated the blue wing from the central hall, and I was dead center in the middle of the swinging door, on my way back to the office, when [i]something[/i] reached out and goosed me right on the butt. Hard.
I swung around so fast that there was no way anyone could have dodged my sight. There was no one there. I think I should call this incident, "The Ghostly Goose!" 馃ぃ馃ぃ馃ぃ
Last but not least, toward the very end of my employment at the shelter, we had contracted with the state to care for pregnant teenage mothers with babies or toddlers. Part of my job was to provide healthy breakfasts for the children, and to teach the young mothers about cooking nutritious foods. (Ha! They were supremely uninterested in that).
I was cleaning the last room toward the garage in the green wing, getting it ready for a new young mother to arrive, and I could have sworn I saw a little girl about age 5 or 6 wearing an old fashioned white dress or nightgown walk out from the room across the hall.
No one else saw it. 馃檮馃檮馃檮Typical.
