THE WATER POLTERGEIST

As written by a family member

On June 10th, Tom, Anna and our 12year old daughter Emily went to visit Tom sr. Later that afternoon, they arrived home with some old family antiques that their father had given them. These included old toy lead soldiers and horses, perfume bottles, and two old family photo albums from around the turn of the century. My sister Lucy, an antique buff and the town historian was eager to see these pieces and to help Anna and Tom assess them as far as dating them and putting a value on them. She and my mom Jane stopped by and we were sitting in the dining room admiring these family heirlooms.

This time, somewhat shaken, she let out a yell. We all went running to find that indeed the bed was moved again. Along with this, pillows were tossed on the floor and Emily's large stuffed rabbit and Anna's bathing suit were in the middle of the floor. We thought, someone is pulling a prank. Tom was the only one that wasn't with us. He was outside feeding our barnyard animals(.I remembered that a few weeks prior to this , Our family had come home from a day out to find Emily's bed moved to the center of her floor). We called for him and he came in. We thought he must be teasing us. He was adamant that he wasn't. Lucy called her husband Joe and our other sister Lauren to tell them that weird stuff was going on and to come over. The two of them reluctantly came over, very skeptical of what we were telling them. We were walking down the hall to Emily's room to show them what had been going on when Lucy glanced into Tom and my room to find that the our bed was pulled out from the wall and pillows were on the floor. By this time we are all getting upset, confused, not knowing who the culprit was and why would they be doing this. We decided to just gather us all together, sit in the living room and logically figure this out.

She was sweating and trembling and dared the door to be open. At that moment Lauren threw open the door and Emily became immediately drenched in a cold sweat and all color drained from her face. 'She was quickly taken outside for fear she would pass out. It was decided that she would sleep at Lauren's that evening.

As quickly as we would "Fix" one room, another was being trashed. Drawers were opened, chairs overturned, couches on end and an increasing feeling of being under spiritual attack. These incidents were repetitive, silent and scary.
That evening, once "things" had subsided, everyone left to go home for the evening and Tom, Anna and I slept in the living room on the recliner chairs and the couch. With lights left on in the living room, as well as the TV, we restlessly tried to get some shut eye. Milly, my little Chihuahua ,who had been coincidentally hiding for days under the couch and acting very timid, started to growl and stare into the hallway. When Tom and Anna looked, they saw a big white light at the corner of the hall by Emily's room. It vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

We are all still baffled. Just not knowing what this "thing" was or where it was coming from. We asked if God was trying to get a message across, or was it the devil? Why us, what is this all about?. Within a couple of days we contacted our minister and elders . The minister and elders came over, as well as a friend who is a Pentecostal minister. We held a prayer meeting, the elders anointed all of us within the house hold and prayed over Emily who seemed to be the most affected and most sensitive to these happenings.

Days passed and activity continued. As well as things moving, they were now being accompanied with sound. We heard chairs falling over. Certain members of the family started to hear flutes playing, and children laughing and names being called. Shortly after that my mother Jane who lives right next door to us started having odd things occurring at her house. It seemed that when she and Emily were together, things would escalate. Not only were things being moved but water was starting to appear out of no where. It would bead up on ceilings, pool on floors, run down walls and splash people as they were walking by. The water had a oily yellowish look to it. A little heavier in consistency than "normal" water. It would leave stains on the ceilings and walls, once it dried up. Sometimes it would dry within minutes, at other times it would linger for hours. One morning the family gathered at my moms for breakfast and as mom started cooking the bacon and eggs, water started pouring down from the ceiling. It was "raining" in the house. Mom refusing to give in to these pranksters continued to cook, standing in puddles of water, rain splashing down into the frying pan, soaking everything its path.

Anna had gone home after her weeks vacation with us. She had talked to her daughter Kim about the situation and Kim located a paranormal research team on the internet headed by John Zaffis. I wasn't quite sure about bringing other people into this but I reluctantly called him. I immediately felt at ease talking with him. I thought to myself before the phone call," nobody's gonna believe us, this is insane, no one will understand." Those fears were relieved when John seemed to totally understand what we were going through and we made plans for he and his team to come to our home to investigate.

The Investigation

The investigation was to take place a few days later. A little stressed was not the word. We had no idea what to expect. How does a paranormal investigation work? What will they do, what will they think? What are these spirits? What exactly is a "poltergeist"? What do you mean...ghosts? I've never seen a ghost?

Well the team arrived . John, Brendan, and Brian walked in with cameras, recorders, electromagnetic field detectors, a box of relics. The whole family was here, anxious for answers and some logic to all of this. So after bombarding them with a million questions before they got half way in the door, we set up so they could tape us talking about what we had experienced. We told them of the whole progression of things and the fact that Emily seemed to be somewhat in tune with things like knowing when things were about to happen as well as where they were happening. We interviewed as a family for about an hour and then John talked to Emily for quite a while. John, Brendan, and Brian did a wonderful job at answering our questions, sorting out the differences between human spirit, ghosts, poltergeist and keeping a sense of humor through it all.

They felt that Emily was a very intuitive girl that did have genuine psychic abilities. This intrigued us but also made us feel uneasy since we were taught that being psychic was somehow related to evil and witchcraft, which it can be, but with the right love and guidance, Emily can channel this into a Godly gift as opposed to an evil one.

The saga continues

As time went on, instead of things subsiding, more and more paranormal phenomenon was taking place. Furniture would move, things were disappearing and reappearing elsewhere. Emily seemed to somehow "know" when things were about to happen. She would get physical aching in her arms or get a headache or uneasiness that she would describe as "just knowing". We thought back through the years and started putting together a few strange happenings that we had always chalked up to coincidence. For example, one Christmas I was placing decorations on the mantle that included two Disney figurines that were battery operated. One was a Winnie the Pooh, the other a Tigger. They stood about two feet tall and would sing and have movement. At the time I was placing them, they had no batteries in them. I sat back on the couch to look at the display when Winnie the Pooh started to move...without batteries. It stopped, I told my husband about it, we figured "weird" but that was the end of it. Another time the hatch door to the attic was open with winter covers falling down from it, yet no one had been up in the attic. Years before this, my sister Lauren was up in our fields tending to her horses and was trying to fill the old tub with water. We had a hand pump that needed to be primed and it was giving her a hard time. Lauren remembers a family member going out to the field to tell her that our Aunt Marie had died. Lauren left what she was doing to be with the family. Later that day she went back to the field to find that the watering tub was sparkling clean and had been filled with fresh water.

Emily is an only child and at a very young age would tell us that she was frequently "visited" by Auntie. Auntie was an elderly cousin that in lived in our house until she died in 1989, two years before Emily was born.

She was a witty, eccentric little lady, known for her pranks and sense of humor. Emily remembers Auntie rocking her as an infant. She describes her as a light that would comfort her in her bedroom and rock her to sleep. Emily also had some scary things she remembers about her bedroom. One being that cows were chasing her. We had her room decorated with a Beatrice potter boarder which are old fashioned looking little rabbits. Well Emily saw these rabbits as fierce cows coming to get her. She always has had an uneasy feeling about her room to this day even after a complete renovation including new paint, carpeting, and bunk beds. We always thought that Emily had a vivid imagination but that was all it was.

In full swing

June left, July was upon us, the summer is now in full swing. Our days were spent somewhere between awe and fear. Exaustion, sleep deprivation, the mystery and randomness of it all was taking its toll on us. We kept Emily close to us. We couldn't allow her to go to her friends houses, or for them to come here. I was being called home from my job so many times because things were happening that I finally gave my notice in June, and took the summer off . There was an incident while swimming with her 4 year old cousin Audrey where the girls were swimming in the bay in front of our house with Jane their grandmother when out of no where Audrey was pulled under with force, feet first. Not knowing what was happening, she blamed Emily for pulling her under. Emily was no where near her. A few seconds later the same thing happened to Emily where she was pulled under. This scared Jane and the girls enough that they came right out of the water. Neither of the girls were allowed in the water again for a long time for fear they might drown.

As time went on, more physical things were happening. My husband Tom was taking his evening shower and when he got out, put a pair of shorts on and walked out onto our deck. It was a warm summer night and I followed him out to the deck. He sat down and rested his hand on his leg and felt that it was wet. Coming into the house he realized it was blood. He had been scratched by this entity. Not just one scratch, but many, going in criss crosses all along his thigh. They looked like deep claw marks. He never felt it happen. A couple of nights later, he was thrown out of bed while in a sound sleep. Things would simultaneously happen at our house and my mom's house next door. My mom is elderly and lives alone. Considering this she holds up very well. She, as well of all of us would pray, sing Christian songs and rebuke this "thing" in the name of Jesus. Quite often the entities would get stronger if we used the name of "Jesus" or sang songs or read scripture from the bible. There were many nights that summer that we'd all pile into which ever house was the least active for the night. We'd go to my sister Lucy's home or at to my moms if things were quieter there than at our house. There were many times that mom slept here with us. We didn't like her being alone and she felt more comfortable with other people around.

Emily and she would stay together in Emily's room or on the living room couches. One night, they heard singing, flute playing, pigs oinking and this was followed by them being bombarded with ice cubes. These ice cubes were rectangular in shape, the type mom has at her house, not the square ones we have here. Mom was getting exasperated and wielding the flashlight threatened them that " If I could see you, I'd knock your block off". With that, the flash light was snatched out of her hand and she was smacked with it on the top of her hand where it broke the skin and bled . Beds would get wet. The water seeming to be coming up from with in the mattresses. No sooner would we change sheets and flip mattresses, they would be drenched again. So many nights were spent on the floor on blow up mattresses, or in easy chairs or on couches although they would get wet on occasion too. Dry spots to rest were often hard to find.

We were in weekly, sometimes daily contact with John Zaffis. He and a priest came out in July and blessed the houses, sprinkled holy water and told us that there is a lot at play here including human spirit, poltergeist activity, as well as things being attached to this old family property. Emily is always comforted by John's presence because he can relate to her and understand all of the things that she's been going through.

Emily was also having frequent episodes where this "thing" would pull her body and twist her. Wrenching her wrists back, twisting her legs. She would have the feeling of being choked and would lose her breath. We would smack her on the back, when that didn't get her to take a breath, we'd throw water onto her face. There were times that it got so bad we thought we'd have to call 911. The thing that stopped us was, what would you say to the EMT'S? It's a spiritual thing? That wouldn't go over to well. She would also have bite marks, scratches and bruises. How do you explain that to the doctor? We'd be slapped with child abuse before we could get the word "Poltergeist" out of our mouths. This was so frustrating because if there came a time where she would need the medical help, where would we turn?

The thought of Emily going back to school in September was just plain scary. She felt afraid that if something were to happen, she had no one to turn to. She was afraid of being ridiculed by the other kids. We, as a family talked it through and my sister Lauren was qualified to home school her and offered to do that. That was a big relief, although we were still concerned about Emily not having peer contact. It was breaking our hearts that she was so tormented and isolated because of all of this.

We as a family were becoming very isolated. This is a small town and as word got out, most people were afraid and even friends and other family members that we'd see on a regular basis would not come over and some stopped calling, others would even ignore us on the street. Tension built, even within the immediate family that was going through this. There were times we'd lash out, even blaming watch other on some level. Thankfully, we've always been very close and were always quick to apologize and ultimately, this has bought us closer together, It has made us more faithful, prayerful and humble. For that, we are all grateful.

A couple of times one would be found in the oven set to 250 degrees. Other times they'd be in the freezer. They were also found in the dryer, high on top of shelves, in the shower and under boxes. Even on the roof of the house. Sometimes it would take an hour or more to locate them and mom would be beside herself in tears praying. They would be very timid and fearful when they were found and would not leave moms lap. You could tell, by their behavior that where ever they were, they had been tortured.

John, Brendan, and Brian would continue to keep in close contact, visiting about once a month. We held prayer services, burned sage, sprinkled holy water, had clergy from all different backgrounds here to offer support, advice, and comfort. We, as a family held weekly Bible studies as well as individually read the bible, looked to paranormal websites and books and continued to be prayerful through it all, asking for God's wisdom and protection and deliverance from this phenomenon. At times, we'd have days, sometimes weeks of quiet, other times the spirits would do just about anything to get our attention. It seemed at times we were preparing for religious services such as church on Sunday mornings or Bible studies during the week, they did all they could to prevent us from attending, including making someone physically ill, have mom's dog disappear as she was heading out to church, throwing things around enough that you felt uncomfortable going anywhere. They also would become quite active prior to holidays that they knew were to be joyous family times. Whether it was someone's birthday, Christmas, a family function of any kind, they had the intelligence and motive to know how to distract, instill fear and ultimately reek havoc around special times.

No getting away

Many people outside the family were baffled that we just don't leave, up and move. Leave this all behind. Sounds logical but its not that easy. There are certain members of the family that we know it follows. My sister Lauren and her husband John took Emily with them on a sailing trip early on in the summer. The trip was intended to get Emily away from all of this, to give her a break and a chance to relax and have fun. A couple of days into the trip my husband and I got a phone call from Lauren that a wire from Emily's braces had bent and was causing her discomfort. She did not feel it happen nor remember biting down on anything hard that would have caused this. The bent wire was on a back upper tooth and had bent in the shape of a "U". I called her orthodontist to make arrangements for Emily to be seen on the return of her trip. The next day, we receive another call from Lauren telling us that Emily had been scratched and became immediately sick to her stomach and had been vomiting non-stop. This cut the trip short and they came home. Emma was getting ready for bed that evening and was in the bathroom washing up and suddenly heard a "click" in her mouth. She looked, and the bent wire was pin straight again as if it had never been bent.

This fall, my sister Lucy and her husband Joe and another couple within the family took a three week trip to Italy. Also feeling this would give them a breather from the months of activity. Well, Lucy was splashed with water out of no where while walking up the stairs to the hotel. Camera film which was stored on the dresser in the bedroom also went missing, to be found later in another area of the hotel.
A family trip to Florida this winter also proved to us that there's no getting away. My nephew Jake was sitting in his car seat as the family was traveling and it became wet. At first thinking he had an accident but upon further investigation it was seen that the car seat was getting wet from the inside out. Shortly after that Jake had water dripping down his arm. When they were at the checkout counter of the supermarket, the cashier there suddenly had a pendant fly off of her shirt. Funny how she was the only one shocked.

These spirits have also followed my sister Lucy to work, a co-worker of hers to another location. It has been in my nieces house and my relatives home that is one hundred miles away from us. It followed Lucy and Joe to a church meeting at our ministers house as well as a woman's retreat my sister Lucy attended. They have followed my husband to work at a supermarket, where he would notice things fly off the shelves and displays be totally rearranged before his eyes. Other people would either not notice these occurrences or quickly find logic to them.

Communication

The only real communication or sounds we had heard was whistling, singing, inaudible chattering, children crying and musical instruments such as flutes and bells. Also, occasional growling and grunting would be heard.

The beginning of March was the beginning of something new. My mom called me in a panic. Emily was visiting with her and they told me to get over there right away, that there was a lot of screaming going on. I walked out of my house and on my way next door to my mom's heard loud high pitched screaming coming from between the two houses. Tom was outside so we quickly ran over to meet mom and Emily outside standing on the deck. We went inside where the screaming continued. We called my other two sisters to come over. Emily was standing in the living room and we heard this guttural, evil growl right beside her. This was accompanied by a few more shrieks and it all dissipated. Mom told us that earlier that day she was talking on the telephone with a friend of hers and both of them heard a deep, evil voice say "I can see you, I can hear you" . There was also a lot of screaming coming from the phone. So much so that they had to hang up.

That night Emily, my sisters and I decided to stay With mom overnight. We settled into the three bedrooms upstairs. The bedroom that Emily and Lucy were staying in did not allow them to rest easy. The bed was gritty with clean cat litter and would re-appear as soon as it was cleaned up. A candle appeared in the bed and the mattress pad would scrunch up underneath them not allowing them to get comfortable. All of a sudden Emily was dragged off the bed and was being pulled underneath the bed. We pulled her back up on to the bed. We all held her, prayed silently and the episode ended that time within a few minutes. Lucy and Emily spent a restless night with noises, whistling, and rustling under the bed.

Ongoing

November and December came and things were sporadic. More quiet times then active and we felt as if it were safe for Emily to return to school. She did and was happy about it. On the nights when things were active and no one got much sleep it was not worth it to send Emily to school the following day because she would be completely drained and unable to concentrate on her work. She became increasingly frustrated about missing school as well as not having any of the teachers know what was going on here. One morning, she did go to school after missing the previous day due to a lot of activity. The teacher asked her if she had been sick. She answered "no". He then asked if she was out of town. She said "no". He asked " Why weren't you in school then?" She very matter of factly said to him "We have paranormal stuff going on". She went on to explain to him and her other teachers just what this entailed.

The teacher quickly called me at work to verify all this and I told him "Yes, this is true" and invited the teachers over that weekend when John Zaffis and Brendan were planning to visit. John and Brendan were able to explain to them what this was all about and the teachers were very open minded and had Emily's best interests in mind and offered her the freedom to talk to them anytime she needed to. This relieved Emily's mind, and she feels much more comfortable in school knowing she has someone to turn to.

It is now March, 2005 and the activity continues. Sometimes like all hell is breaking loose, at other times we have days of peace and quiet. Over the course of time, things have been very frightening, things have been funny, things have been unexplainable and all of this has made us re-evaluate our place in this universe and our place within ourselves.
One thing is for certain, and that is God is real, as well as the evil one and we need to always remember and never forget that God is on our side and that we are not alone.

Thank you so much to John, Brendan, Brian, Bari and Ed for their precious time, wisdom, love and sense of humor.

UPDATE APRIL 2006: The activity in the house has decreased to a minimum.