The Ghost at the Lake House
My daughter had a house cleaning business on a resort lake. Many of the houses on the lake were summer rentals and my daughter cleaned several of these cottages. One of the properties that she cleaned had several houses on it. She was hired to clean the newer house, on a weekly basis and the older house whenever she could get to it. The older house had a room that was used for storage.
One of the cottages seemed a little eerie to her, so she got a friend to go with her to clean it. The house had been built by a family from a nearby town and my daughter had been hired to clean before the renters would arrive for the weekend.
She Heard Some Noises
My daughter got started cleaning in one room while her friend went to a different one.
After being there for a bit, my daughter heard some noises which she thought was her friend, but she soon discovered that the voices sounded like a child.
The girls tried to blow it off, but the noises became so loud, they thought someone was in the house with them. My daughter called for her grandfather to come quickly to the house and the girls locked themselves in a room, terrified of who may be in the other rooms.
They Called for Help
My parents lived a couple miles from this cottage and showed up quickly. They stayed on the phone with my daughter until they arrived and went throughout the house finding no one. They hung around for my daughter to finish her work and set out to convince her that there was really nothing to be worried about.
The Following Week
The following week, she had to clean the same house, and again, she took a friend with her. This time, as they were cleaning they heard loud noises in the back room. Immediately, they got out of the house and called her grandparents again. When my parents arrived, the girls were waiting outside in their car. My parents were not afraid and proceeded to tell my daughter that they had just gotten spooked and they would wait there with them until they could finish their work.
The Sheriff Was Called
Slightly convinced, the girls and my parents headed back inside the house, when my parents heard the loud noises reported by the girls. The noise was so loud and sounded like furniture was moving around, perhaps even being thrown. My parents decided to call the sheriff’s dept, and they waited outside, watching the doors to the house to make certain the person or persons making the noises could not escape undetected.
Within minutes, the deputies arrived and as they approached the house they too could hear the noises. With guns drawn, they announced themselves and called out to the people in the house. When no one responded to their calls the deputies went into the house to look for the intruders. After thoroughly looking through the house they found no one, but some furniture had been moved and some chairs were overturned in the rooms the noises came from.
They Have Been Here Before
The deputies were concerned because they had been called to this house several times by renters who claimed to hear intruders as well. But this time, the deputies heard the sounds themselves, but strangely found nothing or no one.
After getting the “all clear” from the deputies, my daughter and her friend, with my parents in tow, went back into the house and quickly finished their work. They were happy to leave the premises.
Curiosity Got the Best of Me
The following week my sister and I were visiting my parents and were intrigued by the story of the camp and the experiences they had.
We talked my daughter into taking us to the house while she cleaned a day early. I took my camera with me and was prepared to take pictures of any ghosts we encountered.
After walking through the first cottage where we saw nothing, we walked out to the older house.
The Door Was Stuck
My daughter inserted her key, but the door seemed jammed and we could not get in. My sister and dad both tried aggressively to get into the door to no avail, so we went around to the other side of the house to enter by a different door.
As we made our way through the house we noticed that the door that had been jammed just minutes earlier was now ajar. None of us were able to get that door open and I am certain no one from the outside opened the door because I was at the back of the group because I was taking pictures.
Frozen in Time
There were other strange things about the older house. It seemed it had been abandoned in a hurry and had not been cleaned or updated since the 1970s. It looked as if it were frozen in time. There was a box of macaroni and cheese that had an expiration date of 1978. On the stove was a small saucepan with spices that had expired over 40 years ago. The refrigerator had been moved from the kitchen to the back room but everything else seemed to be in its place.
Unusual Number of Crucifixes
There were family photos, wall decorations and an unusual number of crucifixes left there. Several appeared in every room and the gardens outside had religious statues of Mary and cherubs, along with crosses. All the beds had been stripped, but the house was completely furnished with furniture you would expect to find in a house of the 70s.
After looking around and thinking about the oddities of the house I took a few more pictures and went outside. I walked around the gardens, took some pictures and left. It was late in the evening and I certainly didn’t want to get caught there after dark.
Photos Revealed Strange Things
Later that night, we transferred my photos to my computer and noticed a few strange things.
After viewing the photos my daughter called the owner. She explained to the owner that there was just too much weirdness going on at that property and she would no longer be able to clean. The owner laughed and told her that she knew strange things happened there and that she understood. With no further explanation, she ended the call.
The photos revealed the image of a child peeking out the window. There was a bed where the child appears to be standing.
Fast forward a few months.
My daughter was looking to purchase a used sofa and a lady in the community called her to say she had a free one. When my daughter went to pick it up the lady told her not to worry, it didn’t have any “haints” attached to it. For those of you that don’t know the lingo, a “haint” is another southern word for a ghost. The lady told my daughter that she prayed over her furniture often, so it was a “holy” sofa.
Holy Sofa
At that, my daughter relayed to her neighbor that she was happy to hear of the “holy” sofa as she had recently had some unwanted experiences with some “haints”.
The neighbor was intrigued and asked my daughter more about it. My daughter didn’t want to say exactly where the house was but relayed that she had been hired to clean it and it was out of town. She told the woman a little about what had happened in that house.
After hearing the story, the neighbor said, “I bet I know what house you are talking about”. She described the house and named the owner. My daughter was surprised that she had guessed correctly and asked how it was possible that she knew.
The neighbor told her that years ago, she had worked with a woman whose family owned that house and had lived there as a child.
The co-worker told her this story.
In the 70s she and her parents, along with her sisters and brother, lived in that house during the summers. Her grandfather, a prominent businessman in another state, owned the cottage and the family lived there during the summers.
The girl told that her parents were prone to having wild parties that always involved drugs and alcohol.
One night, after all, day boozing and playing on the lake, the parents decided to play Russian roulette with some friends. The revolver was loaded in the style of that deadly game and the drunk adults began to play.
At some point, during a bathroom break, or perhaps to refill drinks, the handgun was placed on a table and the co-worker’s younger brother picked it up. He did what he had seen the adults do and pulled the trigger. The child died instantly. Her young brother was dead. That was the end of her story.
But, This is the rest of the story.
I grew up in this same town, just a few miles from this house, and knew of the family.
The news of this incident was not heard of by any of the local law enforcement or anyone in that town. The death of the child went undetected for many years for several reasons. The family was from a different town, the cottage was used as a camp, and the child was not yet in school.
The child’s grandfather was able to keep the incident under wraps for many years. The child was buried in a cemetery in a town several hours from the cottage and their hometown.
I found the child’s gravestone which listed the child’s correct birthday, but his death date showed that the boy was an adult when he died. The grandfather had enough pull with the right people that he was able to bury his grandson and falsify his headstone, which was placed years after his death.
Negligent Homicide
Further research revealed that the boy’s father was later charged with the negligent homicide of the child and went to prison. The mother moved to the town where the child was buried, and a shrine was built in her backyard that was a replica of the church attended by the family that was near the cottage.
It is presumed that the ghost that appears in the photos is the little boy that died at the hands of his drunken parents.
As a side note, two years ago the house where the boy was killed was bulldozed, and an empty lot is all that is left.
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