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Speaker 1: Me and my best friend, who I'll call Alex for privacy,

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decided to rent a house together. We talked about being

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roommates for a while because neither of us wanted to

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live with our parents anymore. We were attending community college

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and had jobs, so it felt like moving out was

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just the next step. We found this really small, but

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still somewhat nice home that was only a ten minute

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drive to school. This was last year when COVID was

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still big, so we were able to schedule a self

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tour and look at it ourselves. We both thought it

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was that perfect kind of crappy yet cheap house for

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us to spend our college years in. It even had

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a decent yard and wasn't crammed together with neighbors all around.

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One thing that caught our attention, though, was this creepy

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old shed in the backyard. I mean, it just looked

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like a regular shed, I guess, but it had a

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padlock on it, and in the description of the house

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online it didn't mention it anywhere. Neither of us cared

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to use it anyway, so we ignored it and signed

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the lease. I was super pumped, and I could tell

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Alex was too. A month later, we moved in the

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first week was great. This was both of our first

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times living on our own, so the freedom of it

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was amazing. On a normal Saturday night, I was in

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the living room watching TV waiting for Alex to come

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home from work. It was only seven and Alex got

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off at eight. Through the TV playing I heard what

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I could have sworn was a large door shutting. It

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came from outside, and my first thought was the shed.

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There was absolutely no way I was going out there

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to check by myself. When Alex got back, I told

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him what I heard. He asked me over and over

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if I was sure it wasn't from the TV or something,

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but I knew it wasn't. All right, Let's take a look.

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Then we turned our phone flashlights on and went outside.

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We were maybe twenty feet away from the front of

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the shed and everything looked exactly how it was before.

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The lock was still on the front, so there was

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no way someone could have gone inside and locked it

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from the outside. Alex gave me a look like I

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was crazy. We went back inside and watched TV for

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a while. I couldn't stop thinking about what I heard, though,

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I was starting to question whether or not the sound

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was even real. At one point, while watching TV, I

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looked to my side and a figure was standing outside

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the window, staring at us. Alex didn't see him, but

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he heard his footsteps running away, so we were on

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the same page this time. Alex asked what we should do,

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and I didn't know. We'd never had to deal with

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something like this before. I wasn't sure if that guy

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had something to do with the sound I heard earlier either.

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We kept our eyes and ears open for a couple hours,

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and with no further strange sightings, we went to bed.

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It took a bit for me to fall asleep, but

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I think I finally dozed off around ten pm. I

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woke up in the middle of the night to a strange,

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bright red glow flickering across the walls in my room.

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It was coming through the slits in my window. As

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I became more awake, I realized I was hearing something too,

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a soft crackling sound also coming from outside. I was

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still tired and my head wasn't fully awake, but then

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I heard Alex call my name from the hallway outside

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my room, Hey, wake up. As I was about to

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ask what was going on, I was interrupted by something eerie, horrifying,

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and loud. I turned my head to the window, pushing

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aside the covers when the shed was in flames and

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had just fallen over. The huge fire was getting close

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to the house. Alex called nine one one and we

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both took his car and drove across the street. The

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fire department was able to get the fire extinguished before

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it got too serious. Only minor burned damage was done

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to the side of the house. We told the police

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about what we'd heard and the man I saw, thinking

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maybe he had done this, but there was nothing to

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go off of. Everything that was inside the shed was

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ashes except a few old metal tools. It makes me

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think that someone was doing something in there and probably

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burned it down to hide evidence of their doings as

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soon as we moved in. It all just seems like

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too much of a coincidence. I don't think we'll ever

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know what exactly happened that night, though, or what was

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going on inside that shed. My lease agreement was coming

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to an end and the owners of the home decided

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they wanted to sell the house after this lease, so

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I was forced to find a new place instead of

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renewing the lease like I'd planned. On. It's unfortunate because

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they only gave me a month's notice, which is not

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a lot of time to find a new house. I

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worked full time, which only made things harder. The first

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two weeks blew by, and I only had the next

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two weeks to find a house, pack and move in.

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I was stressed out of my mind with time running out,

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I just applied to three houses nearby without even touring them.

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Two of them declined me, but I got accepted by

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the third. From the pictures, it didn't look nearly as

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nice as the house I was staying at, but I

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did the best I could with the shy situation I

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was given. I rented a U haul and got my

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stuff over as soon as possible. After getting all the

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boxes inside and all the furniture where I needed to be,

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I finally had a chance to look at the house.

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It was a lot worse than the pictures had shown.

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The walls had paint peeling, and everything just looked aged

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and outdated. The rent was cheap, but not enough to

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make up for the trashy condition of the place. I

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was too tired to take care of anything right away, though,

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so I got my bed ready and crashed for a

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quick nap. I slept a lot longer than I wanted to,

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and woke up well rested. Around nine p m. I

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checked my phone and saw I had a text from

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the landlord. He just greeted me and told me to

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call him if I needed anything. It was already pretty late, though,

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so my angry call was gonna have to wait until tomorrow.

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I closed my phone and went downstairs to make myself

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something to eat. Right when I turned the corner into

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the kitchen, I jumped back. A man was standing in

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the middle of the living room looking right at me.

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What the fuck, I said under my breath, not sure

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what to do yet. It was really dark and I

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couldn't read his face. He was just kind of blank.

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What are you doing here? I said. The man turned

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around and walked out the front door in no hurry

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at all. My first instinct was to run up and

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lock the door. Then I called the landlord, but he

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didn't pick up. I looked out the windows to see

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if he was still around, but he seemed to have

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left for good. Calling the police crossed my mind, but

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I was just so confused by the whole interaction. I

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didn't even feel threatened really. I didn't see anyone outside

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for a while, so I left the windows and sat

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on the couch. I didn't have my TV set up yet,

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so I had nothing better to do than start packing.

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I went through four boxes and was working on the

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fifth when someone knocked on the door. I walked over

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cautiously and turned on the porch light, then called out,

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asking who was there. There was a long wait before

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they answered, it's me, your landlord. I opened the door

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a bit and looked at him. He looked really similar

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to the man I'd just seen in my house, but

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I wasn't sure. Hey, did you need something. I'm just

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here to make sure you settled in nicely, he said,

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with a big smile, leaning his hand on the door. Yeah.

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I was just about to go to bed. I'll talk

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to you tomorrow, I said, pushing the door, but the

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man outside tapped his hand on the door, not letting

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me close it. I stopped pushing for a moment, and

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the man smiled again. Then it all hit me at once,

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the fear and creepiness of the situation. I slammed my

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body into the door, closing it too quickly for him

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to react, then turned the boat lock. I heard the

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door handle turn and the man outside bash against it.

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There was another long wait before the man sprinted away

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from the porch. I called the police, then got my

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car keys and put them in my pocket to prepare

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for a quick escape if I needed to. I waited

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for a couple minutes, still just standing by the front door,

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before I heard leaves crunching around the house. They went

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to the back door and stopped. I walked up a

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bit and peered around the corner, and right in front

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of the back door was that same man standing outside

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with a hammer in his hand. I took this chance

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to run for my car. I opened the front door

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and ran to my car in the driveway. I got

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in and locked the doors, then backed out. I saw

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the man on the side of my house watching me

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as I drove away. The man was gone when the

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police got there. They did a whole investigation and enduring it.

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I met the landlord in person. He was not the

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man I saw at my door, but he did look

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oddly similar. He even talked in a very similar way.

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It made me wonder if he had a brother or something.

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I don't know. It could also be a creepy neighbor

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or a homeless person. Either way, I never encountered the

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man again, but once my lease was up, I moved

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out and never looked back. This was my first time

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ever purchasing a house. I was twenty eight and looking

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for a place to settle down. I began my search

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for a house five months before my lease ended and

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my current residence. This one place that I found was perfect,

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but it was pretty far over my budget, so I

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had to pass on it and keep searching. I viewed

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a ton of other places and even thought I'd found

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a good home until that same house came up on

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my search again. The price had been lowered tremendously, putting

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it in the mid range of my budget. I scheduled

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a tour and eventually bought the home. Obviously, I was ecstatic.

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It felt like a really big move forward in my life.

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It was a two story home with a basement and

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large yard with trees all around. The only sly issue

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was that it was twenty minutes away from most stores

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and shops, but I worked from home, so I didn't

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need to go out all that much. Within the first

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few days, though, things got a little strange. While working

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from the living room. One day, I heard some sounds

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coming from the basement, things moving around or dragging on

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the floor. I got up and opened the door to

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the basement, but the sound stopped. It was silent. I

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turned on the light and walked a few steps down,

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but nothing was there. I had only a couple boxes

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in the basement, so it was entirely empty aside from

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the water heater an air conditioner in the far corner.

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I'd only been in the place for a couple days,

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so I thought I just wasn't used to the sounds

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the house made, after all, there wasn't anything in the basement.

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But only a day later I heard it again. This

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time it was more of a soft, wooden sounding thud,

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maybe a piece of wood hitting the wall. I went

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down the basement stairs all the way this time and

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did a perimeter check around the walls, but again the

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basement was empty, so there was nothing to even check. Still,

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I blew it off. What could it possibly even be.

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I didn't believe in anything paranormal, so logically it had

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to be the house. During the first week of staying

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in my new house, I had experienced these sounds, probably

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six or seven times. By the fourth or fifth time,

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I stopped even checking and started ignoring it. That was

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until I explored the outside of my house. I was

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just walking around, enjoying the nature scene when I noticed

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one of the tops of the basement window wells was

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missing from the side of my house. It in itself

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wasn't an alarming find, but just something I needed to

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fix right away before it rained and flooded in my basement.

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I went out and got a cover from a hardware

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store and installed it that day. That night, I went

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to bed early, but woke up at eleven PM to

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another wooden thud sound from the basement directly below me.

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A second later, I heard something else. This time it

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was very distinctly footsteps going from one side of the

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basement to the other. I was horrified. Part of me

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was absolutely positive there was someone in my basement, but

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there was another part of me that thought it could

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be something I was imagining, or even somehow another noise

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from the house. I needed to know for sure, though.

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I took my bat that I kept in my room

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and walked downstairs and over to the basement door. Just

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before I approached it, though, an extremely loud thud came

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from outside the house. I stopped in my tracks, waiting

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for anything else. Then I opened the basement door and

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walked down slowly. Nothing was there, just the same empty basement.

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I looked all around and even waited for a few

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minutes for more sounds, but it was just like every

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other time when I went to investigate. As soon as

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I'd opened the basement door and look around, it would

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be silent. I got really uneasy after a few minutes

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and went back upstairs. I put a chair in front

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of the basement door so that if there was somehow

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someone down there, I'd at least have a heads up

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if they tried to open the door. The next morning,

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I checked the basement again, but something felt different. It

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was much brighter than usual. I checked the window well

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and could see from the bottom that the top cover

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was gone. Again. I went outside and looked around everywhere

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for it, but it was completely gone. That was enough

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for me to call the police though something was going on.

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They sent one officer who took notes from me, then

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searched around the basement. He found just as little as

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I did. I got a new cover for the well

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and hired a handyman to come out and install bars

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on the window. From the inside. After that, I never

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experienced any more sounds or noises. I don't know what

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exactly I was dealing with in my basement, maybe someone

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squatting there, or maybe something else. Even now, though three

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years later, I still have that fear in the back

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of my mind of hearing those sounds again