On the 18th September 2009, recently divorced Alison Smith, moved into her new home. The house was small but was already partly furnished and was enough for Alison as all that she wanted was a small place that she could make her home. Alison liked the house and was full of excitement at the thought of now being truly able to move on with her life.
A few days after moving in, Alison was surprised when she thought that she heard footsteps coming from above the living room. However, she simply dismissed this and thought that it was probably just noise coming from her neighbours house instead. A couple of weeks later, Alison was woken up in the middle of the night by what appeared to be a faint scratching sound. The scratching again appeared to be coming from above. Alison thought that she must have been dreaming still and simply went back to sleep.
The following evening, whilst relaxing and reading a book, Alison was startled by banging coming from above her. At first Alison dismissed the banging but it soon became progressively louder. Curious as to where this noise was coming from, Alison decided to investigate. Whilst she was venturing up the stairs, the banging became louder still and also more rapid. When Alison reached her landing, she could see that the banging was coming from behind her attic hatch. Determined to stop the banging, Alison reached up to open the hatch, when suddenly the lights were turned off and the banging abruptly stopped. Frightened, Alison frantically searched for the light switch and finally managed to turn the light on. Relieved that the banging had stopped she ventured down the stairs, oblivious to the fact that her attic hatch was now mysteriously open...
After this, Alison began to experience frequent odd events including doors being slammed in the middle of the night. One October evening, after arriving home from work, Alison found that all of her precious ornaments had been smashed. The next day, when trying to watch the TV, the TV was mysteriously switched off and the plug was disconnected. The most terrifying event happened when whilst cooking dinner, a plate was smashed on the floor by Alison's feet. At this point, Alison had become annoyed and agitated by the goings on and decided to confront her reclusive neighbour as she had become convinced that they must have something to do with the happenings.
The next morning, Alison knocked on her neighbours door but there was no reply. After waiting for a few minutes, she decided to give up. Just as Alison turned away, an elderly man answered the door. Alison noticed that the man looked rather dishevelled and tired.
"Can I help you?" asked the man.
"Yes" answered Alison "My name is Alison and I moved into the house next door in September. I wondered if I would be able to chat to you about something?." After what seemed a long pause, the man replied blankly "Come in." After venturing into the house, Alison could see that the elderly man obviously lived alone as the house was quiet, messy and seemed in some way desolate.
"So, what do what to talk about Alison?" asked the man quietly.
Alison started to talk about all of the strange goings on at the house but quite quickly realised that her previous theory, that all of the goings on were being caused by her elderly neighbour, was extremely untrue. After telling her tale, the elderly man revealed that his name was Frank and that he had lived in his house for nearly 30 years. He stated that in that time, he had only 1 long term set of neighbours - a woman and her young daughter, who lived in Alison's house in the 1980s. He said that the woman,Jane, went mad and locked her daughter Beth, in the attic before running away. Police found the dead body of 12 year old Beth 3 weeks later. Frank warned Alison that every neighbour he's had since has complained of strange, ghost-like goings on in the house. Alison, who was a confirmed skeptic of the paranormal, dismissed Frank's hints that the goings on were supernatural.
"Fine." Frank answered before adding "But don't say I didn't try to help you Alison. All I know is that no new neighbour has lasted more than a couple of months in that house - something or someone isn't welcoming them." Alison thanked Frank for his advice and walked back to her house.
Later, Alison couldn't get Frank's words out of her mind. She'd never been a believer in ghosts so Frank's warnings went against everything she believed in. After much thought Alison decided that she couldn't dismiss Frank's claims. She ventured upstairs and stood directly underneath the attic hatch. After summoning the courage, Alison started to call out Beth's name. All of a sudden, scratching could be heard above the hatch.
"I know that you're there Beth, and that you can hear me" called Alison "and I'm asking you politely to please leave me and my house alone." As Alison said this, the scratching became a lot louder which began to scare Alison but she knew that she had to continue talking "Beth, I know that you used to live here, but this is my house now and I'm asking you to leave." The scratching then became louder and grew more rapid. By this point, Alison had become flustered and summoned all of her courage to shout: "Beth, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" As Alison said this she heard a loud screeching sound and was suddenly overcome by what can only be described as an overwhelming force, which pushed her abruptly to the floor. Then, without warning, Alison felt something sharp tear across her face. As the blood trickled down Alison's cheek, she was deafened by another ear - piercing screech. Alison rapidly pulled herself up off the floor and clambered into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. Cowering in the corner of her room, Alison heard the lock on her bedroom door abruptly turn. Alison pulled at the door handle to no avail and as panic set in, she scrambled over to the window. Alison pulled in a frenzy on the window but it refused to open, resulting in Alison banging on the glass and calling out for help. Slowly, Alison came to the realisation that nobody was coming to help her and decided that she must resort to her last option.
"Beth!" she screamed "Please let me go!" and after a moments hesitation, she pleaded "If you let me out of my room, I promise you that I will leave this house and I will never return!" For that moment, everything in the house went silent and still. Alison listened tentatively and felt a surge of relief when she heard the lock on her door turn slowly. Without any hesitation, Alison ran out of her room, down the stairs and out of the front door without looking back once.
A month later, the house was up for sale. One day, a young lady, was looking around the house with the estate agent. "So, why did the previous owner move out?" she asked innocently.
"She decided that the house wasn't what she was looking for and so chose to move on" answered the estate agent.
"Oh right." replied the young lady "Do you mind if I take a look around upstairs?"
"Be my guest" responded the estate agent. The young lady walked upstairs and looked briefly at both of the bedrooms and glanced at the bathroom. As she left the bathroom and went to venture downstairs, the young lady was distracted by what she thought was a faint scratching sound. After pausing for a few seconds, she dismissed the sound and carried on down the stairs.
"Well, what do you think?" questioned the estate agent when the young lady returned to the living room. After a short deliberation with herself, the young lady smiled and replied, "I'll take the house"...
