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By Mr. Delaney
Years ago my wife and I traveled to visit her parents in her old hometown. Her cousin, who was a Mary Knoll missionary, was out of town some time for months at a time. So she graciously offered her empty house for us to stay in rather than spend money on a hotel room. We gratefully accepted. On arrival, we went directly to my wife's parents home. We stayed later than we planned and it was dark by the time we headed off to cousin Judy's house. Her house is located in a pleasant residential neighborhood, but sits back from the street and is surrounded by tall trees. That gives it a pleasing air of seclusion in the day time, but a more creepy look in the dark. To make things worse, her uncle didn't put in outside lights when he had it built, not even a porch light. So when we arrived their house was completely dark. We didn't have a flashlight, so I had to leave the car lights on temporarily in order to get up the front steps and into the house to be comfortable and cozy. Since we were tired from the trip, we quickly got through our showers and night time routine and went to be in the master bedroom.
I was particularly tired and went to sleep quickly. About 3 a.m. I woke with a start and realized a noise had awakened me, but didn't know what it was. As I lay there listening, I heard a distinct sound coming from within the house. It was a small child sobbing and whimpering. My mind raced and I was now fully awake. I knew there was no child in the house, but couldn't come up with a rational explanation for the obvious noise. Thinking it must be coming from outside, I listened carefully to determine a direction. To my horror, I realized it was coming from one of the small bedrooms down the hall where my wife's cousins slept in when they were growing up. I knew that I had to do something, but didn't know what. I thought about waking my wife who was sleeping quietly next to me. I wanted her to hear what I was hearing, so I would have a witness. But somehow, I knew if I made any noise the now-loud-and-heartbreaking noise would stop. I don't know how I knew this. Finally, I reluctantly realized that I had to go to investigate this sound. If by some chance there was a child in the house, I needed to find it and call the police. I resolved to get up and go down the hall to the dark bedrooms.
I carefully folded back the sheet and blanket to allow me to get up without waking my wife. But with this small movement, the crying stopped just like flipping a switch. The house was now completely silent. There was no noise at all, which disturbed me. All houses have noises at night. This had none, no movement and no crying. I quickly got up and went into the hallway and turned on the hall light. The two children's bedrooms lay at the end of the hall some 15 feet away. I went to the first one and turned on the light. There was nothing out of the ordinary, just some toys scattered about the room on the floor from when the children were small. I searched the room carefully, under the bed, opened the closet. Nothing. Moving to the next bedroom, I repeated my search. Again nothing out of the ordinary. I even said "You can come out. I won't hurt you." But there was no sound. Now I was really unnerved and went though the rest of the house like a mad man, searching everywhere.
In the kitchen there is a doorway to the basement steps. I opened the basement door and turned on the stair lights. I considered going into the basement/garage, but there is no light switch. You must find a pull sting that turned on an overhead light. I am no coward, but contemplating moving around that dark basement trying to find pull string was just more than I could do. Anyway, I knew the noise didn't come from the basement. It was not muffled. It was clear and plain and coming from down the hall. I closed the basement door and retraced my path through the house, turning out the lights as I went. I returned to the master bedroom and found my wife to still be sleeping soundly, it appeared. So I reluctantly joined her. Surprisingly, I went right off to sleep and woke to bright sunlight coming through the bedroom windows.
My wife had just gotten up earlier and was already dressed. Thinking of the events of the night before, I casually asked her if she had heard anything unusual during the night. She replied "You mean the crying child.?" She explained she had also been awake and listening to the sounds form down the hall. She wanted to wake me, but was too scared to move. She had been greatly relieved when I got up to investigate.
This was the latest in a series of events involving us and small children. I asked my wife why she thought we were being haunted by ghost children. What she replied hit me like a physical blow. It was something I would never have considered. She didn't elaborate and told me she was going to her mom's house and I was to follow when ready. I heard the front door close quietly and I proceeded to get dressed.
I can't tell you what she said. It would require explanation and reveal a painful secret that divided my family and left my wife angry and bitter for years after. I am sorry to leave you hanging, but some things should remain a mystery.