Montana Ghost Story – Old People’s Home

We are getting excited for the Ghost concert this weekend at the Wilma. We recently asked you to submit a spooky ghost story, to win tickets to the Ghost concert. As always, you did not disappoint. Reading though all the submissions, I got actual goose bumps. But, we could only pick three winners. The following is a creepy story from Rachel, regarding an experience she had while renovating an old retirement home.

I was about 16 and my Dad had moved us to an apartment complex he was renovating. It used to be a retirement community, so it was older, lots of trees and shade, with a pretty garden. The apartments were older, and we had moved into the manager's condo, that had these stairs. The stairs creaked on pretty much every step, so you could tell when someone was coming or going, but it wasn't a loud creak. The stairs were carpeted, so it was kind of a muffled footfall and a creak. It was a few days before my 16th birthday after we had moved in, and I had woken up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I was on the top floor, and the bathroom door opened up onto the landing at the top of the stairs. There was a little window, kind of like a skylight, above the stairs to light the stair well during the day. At night, only when the moon was out, it lit the top of the stairs, leaving the bottom landing and bottom half of the stairs dark. This particular night, the moon was full so the top half of the stairs were lit pretty brightly. I was on my way back to my room, when I heard a footstep on the bottom of the stairs. I thought I was hearing something, but I waited a minute, thinking maybe i'd woken up my parents. There was another deliberate step, so I waited again, thinking I was going to hear my Mom or Dad's voice. There was another step, and no voice. The stairs curved so I thought, maybe my parents just wanted to see who it was, so I stood in the moonlight at the top of the stairs and tried to peek around the curve. There was another, deliberate, slow footstep. I could tell whoever was on the stairs would be coming around the bend soon, so I whispered "Mom?". Another footstep. "Dad?" a little angrily. Another footstep. Then, I heard a soft step onto the first landing, at the bottom of the moonlit top steps. Although it was pitch black, I would have been able to make out a shape, but there wasn't one. Then I heard the first creak onto the bottom step off the landing. THERE WAS NO ONE THERE. My heart was beating so loud I could hear it in my ears. I turned and ran to my bedroom down the hall, shut my door, locked it, and hid under my covers. I waited and strained listening for anymore creaks from the stairs. There was none for what felt like hours, so I kind of relaxed. Then, my door slowly creaked open. I didn't hear anything in my room, but I didn't look, and I didn't sleep.

Congratulations Rachel! Your story freaked me out just enough that I actually had to go watch a funny video after, just to try and shake the image. We will see you at the Ghost concert at the Wilma on Sunday.

Also keep in mind the upcoming annual Blaze Ghost Hunt is almost here, and we will be looking for listeners to join our team for a REAL paranormal investigation.