The Haunted Lodge

The Haunted Lodge

I was five years old when my parents moved from Sydney to the mid north coast. They bought a dairy farm in a rural area between two small towns. It took about half an hour to get to any town via car.
A long driveway linked the house to the dirt road. The house was a big two story farm house, with veranda wrapped around one side. It was a large farm that had an old dairy and paddocks with grains. My favourite place was “down the river” where I climbed trees and appreciated the peace of nature.

My earliest ghost memory in the house was lying in bed and hearing the heavy wooden sliding door to an adjacent room open, from my position in the bed I could see a white woman walking through the adjacent room towards me. As she did the door slid closed behind her., she didn’t close it, it just slid closed. I was terrified, too scared to move, but as she approached about a meter away, I heard her say in a soft old lady voice “don’t be afraid of me, child” which of course made me even more scared so I did what any child would do. I hid under the blankets.

In that house there was a small room, adjacent to my bedroom in the above story of my first experience. I moved rooms a lot in that house, but I never moved into this room we called the “spare room”. I have many memories of dread associated with this room. I remember seeing the lights come on and off, the door (not a sliding door) would often slam shut by its self, I also remember hearing noises from the room. 

I remember at one time my older brother Stephany stayed in that room while he was between rental houses. He had his Amstrad computer in there and in A rare moment of kindness said when he moved back to town that I could play it. I remember I was sitting one night, in the room the computer on, and I was playing Strangeloop, when I felt an oppressive energy fill the room, like there was no fresh air, the door was open but the small window above the computer desk was not. The computer switched off, the door slammed closed, I got up and ran to the door but I could not open it, as much as I tried. The light then went off, as the switch was beside the door I flicked it on, (it was an old house with old wiring and old switches) the light flicked on, but straight away flicked off again. I am trying desperately to pull on the door, it wont open. I could feel the presence all around me, it was terrifying and then suddenly the door pulled open the light came on and I fled the room. I never went back in that room at night.

Many years later I had a friend staying over and he chose to sleep in the spare room, instead of a mattress on the floor in my bedroom. I didn’t want to seem like a wuss so I didn’t mention my fear of that room. A few minutes after going to bed he came back in and asked if I had gone in there, I had not and said so. He said he hoped it was me but thought it wasn’t, he said someone was standing above him, beside the bed and he felt absolute hatred coming from the shape. He refused to speak of it further and slept on the mattress on the floor in my bedroom after that. 

A few years later I was living in a room on the ground floor, there was a lounge and kitchen and two bedrooms there. My older brother (Jamie) was staying in the other bedroom as he had just separated from his wife. So I was still at school and most of my room was a mess, furniture and boxes filled one entire end of it. One night I wake up to the sound of this stuff moving, slightly at first then louder and more violently. I had my face to the wall and had no idea what it could be. Then the sounds got closer and I could eventually feel someone (thing) examining me, I was scared but put up my defenses and it moved on, it made my sliding door thump as it passed through it. So a few minutes later I hear my older brother Jamie, scream and yell my name, there was also a bang noise. I knew he had bad dreams sometimes so when he didn’t cry out again I just let it go. And I didn’t really want to walk out into the dark lounge where the thing had gone. The next morning I ask if he remembered calling out, he said he did, that something came from the lounge and attacked him in his bed. He said he kicked it off and it hit the wall with a bang. I then told him my half of the story and apologised for not coming to his assistance.

I was watching some Australian tv show, i want to say The Unexplained.
Anyway. So in this show there was some EVP, i don't know if they specifically called it that but it had a strange effect on me.
But i was fascinated, so i got a blank cassette tape, put it in the portable cassette player. took it down the river. Now i am not sure why i took it outside, the EVP on the show may have been recorded outside, i don't think it was though.
So i leave it down the river, and come back and get it the next morning.
My parents saw me bring the tape recorder in from outside, my father was not happy about me leaving it out all night, but my mother was curious.

I had to play it in front of them. A few seconds in, chanting started, in some other language, possibly aboriginal. but at the time i thought of monks or native Americans. My father took out the cassette and pulled out the tape destroying it. That is when i realised he probably did know the ghosts were real, but was too scared to admit it.

For a while my brother Stephany and his girlfriend Elephany lived in a caravan on the farm, though they used the house facilities. One night Elephany screamed and came running into the main house. She said she has been walking back to the caravan after using the toilet and seen a ghost. I grabbed a torch and went out and looked where she said the ghost was. And jumped six foot as a white shape moved in front of me on the path, and then after a close look with the torch I laughed.
Somehow a frog had managed to get into a white plastic shopping bag and was leaping around the path. I rescued the frog and we often advised my Elephany to watch out for ghost frogs.

Those are the main ghost encounters at that house, a lot of other stuff happend but don't make for interesting retelling.  I have had a few more in different places, which I will recount at a later time. If you have any questions or comments feel free to ask or comment.