The Visit

Ever since my childhood, I have always been fascinated by the paranormal. This fascination stemmed from countless hours watching documentaries and checking out books about ghosts from the public library. However, I was never actually sure if what I was reading about was true or not, for I have never had a paranormal encounter. I immersed myself into what I read and watched, but I wanted more, I wanted an encounter for myself, I wanted proof that ghosts existed. Little did I know that the dream would soon become a reality.

About five or six years ago, my father made plans for a trip to visit one of his great aunts. He wanted to introduce her to my mother and I. I didn’t think much of it, after all I was meeting new family. What I didn’t know however was how old, and big the house was. It looked like one of those haunted houses from the documentaries I watched. I was nervous, but excited as well. I kept asking myself “is this it? Will I finally have an encounter with a ghost?” but nonetheless I remained as calm as I could. We were greeted by my great aunt’s daughter, and after a warm greeting, she gave us a tour of the house.

Right away something felt off. The house was freezing cold. I understood that it was the summer and most people turn on their air conditioners to avoid the heat, but this was different, accompanied by the cold was a sense of dread, a very haunting vibe. I tried to ignore it, it was after all, a very old house. There were cobwebs in the corners and dust in the picture frames. My great aunt’s daughter had to keep blowing at the pictures to get dust off them. Almost every picture had my great aunt, her daughter, and my great uncle Clarence on them. Now I have yet to hear about my uncle Clarence, but I was nervous to meet him as well. Every picture of him showed a tall, serious, and intimidating looking man. I got anxious every time I saw his pictures, and I didn’t know why.

As the tour of the house continued, we made our way into the back yard. Instantly I got the feeling that I was being watched. the feeling made me anxious and I constantly Caught myself looking back and forth to see if I could catch a glimpse of anything, and what I did see made my skin crawl. My great uncle Clarence was watching me from a window on the second floor. I froze in fear staring straight into the dusty, blurry window. I stood there for what felt like forever and was instantly relieved to know that the tour would continue back indoors. I was more nervous than ever now to meet my great uncle. He didn’t look very enthusiastic, in fact it looked like he didn’t want us there at all. But I was prepared nonetheless for the inevitable meeting with my great uncle.

The tour ended with us finally meeting my great, Manuelita was her name. she couldn’t move very much and spent most of her days laying in bed, which is why we didn’t meet her earlier. My dad and great aunt spent about an hour reminiscing about the past. It was great seeing them recount stories from their childhoods, but something remained in the back of my head, my great uncle Clarence. At that point we have yet to meet him, and my nerves were still coursing through my shoulders. My curiosity got the best of me and I left the conversation that everyone was having with my great aunt. As I made my way into the living room, I glanced over to the stairs leading to the second floor, and I again froze. The feeling of dread was back, as well a drop-in temperature. I shook my head and power walked into the living room. The vibe never left but I continued to look at the pictures of my uncle Clarence with great fear and interest. I stared into the pictures for what seemed like an eternity before deciding to head back to where my parents were.

As I made way back, I stopped in front of the stairs and looked towards the second floor of the house. What I saw petrified me. My eyes gazed upon an older gentleman looking down towards me from the second floor. His eyes stared at me as he gripped his cane with both his hands. It was my great uncle Clarence. I was frozen, the room was colder and the negative vibe I have been feeling all afternoon has turned into utter fear. It felt like a lifetime of staring at one another before I decided to run back to my parents. “What’s wrong?” my dad asked. I looked back towards the hallway then looked up at my dad again, “nothing” I whimpered. As the sun set and the adrenaline wore off, it soon became time to go home.

The visit was over, and it was time to head back home, and as we made our way to the living room, I looked up the stairs one last time, I never saw my great uncle again. I was, however, surprised that we were never introduced to my uncle Clarence. We said our good bye’s and headed out. Before getting in the car my dad asked, “did you enjoy meeting everyone?” “sure” I responded, “but we didn’t meet everyone.” Puzzled my dad asked, “what do you mean?” “The older man in the pictures? We never met him, but he stared at me twice from the second floor. Why didn’t we meet him?” my dad froze. I have never in my life seen that look on my father, he looked terrified. “What’s wrong?” I asked. My dad looked down at me and said “son, that is your great uncle Clarence, but there was no way you could have seen him.” “why not?” I asked with an anxious tone to my voice. My dad looked back at the house and said, “because your great uncle Clarence is no longer with us, he died a very long time ago.”

Haunt Watcher Original