The house at 250 Herkimer Street used to belong to family. It is also one of *the* most haunted places I know of.

Some of the phenomena experienced there has been first hand, some has been recounted- but all the accounts have been chilling.

As a child, I remember playing with neighbours and cousins inside the house. I was never particularly fond of one girl whose name was Suzanne. She was very bratty and was bossy with my youngest cousin at the time, and very possessive of my other cousin with whom I was closest. During a perfectly non-ghostly conversatioon years later in our adulthood, I mentioned Suzanne to my cousin- asking if she's ever known what became of her. My cousin went sheet white. She asked that I describe this girl and I went on to say that Suzanne had long brown hair tied in two braids, she wore shorts and always seemed to be in a yellow jersey. The more I spoke of her, the more my cousin paled. I even recalled a day when this girl had thrown a plastic typewriter at my younger cousin while they were fighting.

When I had finished detailing my memories, my cousin shook her head in disbelief. She told me that the person I was talking about was her childhood imaginary friend- someone she had believe no one could see but herself! She remembered the incidents I spoke of, but had been certain that no one but she had witnessed them.

In my early twenties, I was working there, doing some house work for extra pocket cash for a few evenings. I was washing the baseboards in the front foyer when I noticed a small boy standing on the landing up and behind me. It was dark outside and illuminated indoors, therefore the window acted like a mirror. I found it very curious that such a small boy be there on his own... then I remembered that there was no other way to those stairs but passed me! The second floor was closed off as it housed another apartment within the house.

I blinked and could still see him, so I turned around only to see him dart up the stairs. He bent down and peeked at me through the railings and giggled... then he vanished! The next thing I heard were the taps turning on in the upstairs bathroom. I dashed so fast from that house, I hardly remember my feet touching the ground.

Once safely at home, I called a neighbour who lived on the top floor of the place and asked that he go see if I'd 'accidentally' left the water running...' He questioned me immediately, asking if I was *sure* I'd turned on the taps myself. I asked him outright if he'd seen a boy in his apartment and he answered yes. He told me the ghost of a small blond boy had often lured him out to play by turning on the taps. I was spooked!

Later on, I spoke with my aunt who's apartment I was cleaning. I asked had she ever seen anything on the landing in the foyer- our conversation went something like this:

After that I was heard her breathe a sigh of relief. I was too curious to know what it was *she* was referring to so I agreed to go back to her place to talk about it.

She told me she had twice seen a shrouded, tall, death-like figure on the landing of the stairs. As she explained this, I was suddenly struck by a childhood memory. I once told my mom that I saw "death" in a bedroom there, but no one had believed me then. Needless to say I was creeped out!

Other manifestations there include the ghostly feeling of disembodied hand that grabs in the night, a heavy breathing noise as if the house itself was alive, a round and dank room in the basement that harbours the most murderous 'feeling'I have ever sensed in a house and the sound of children's laughter in the back quarters of the house.

Even after it was sold, I still dreamt that the house *knew* me somehow and that the occurrences I saw there would follow me somehow beyond the confines of its structure.

Dana

 

Click below to
Submit your own experience