Haunted House

I wish this post was in reference to Halloween, but unfortunately it is not. We have given our 30-day notice to vacate our rental home without any real plan as to where we will go or what we will do at this point. All we know is that we are not staying here.

We have now filed three police reports and had one 911 call in a matter of a one-week time. And, we were only home for half of the days that week!

Monday October 12 we had just settled in bed after a long day. Roland and I started to close our eyes when we heard an incredibly loud "BAM!" on our bedroom window. Our bedroom window faces the backyard. It startled both of us and we jumped out of bed, wide-eyed. We didn't know what to do. Roland peeked out the window to see if he could see anything. We never heard anything else other than a lot of barking from nearby dogs.

After some deliberation, I called the Avondale police and they sent someone out to come check it out. Of course, they show up 15 minutes later and so I am not surprised when they "didn't find anything." They left it at that and were on their way.

Tuesday night nothing happened. Wednesday night came and we figured it was just some random occurrence. Then, at 11:00pm (within fifteen minutes of the previous occurrence) it happened again. One single loud slam on our bedroom window. Roland shot out of bed with a bat and was ready for battle. We looked through the window, but once again didn't hear anything. Roland did say that one of our neighbors turned on their lights shortly after he looked out, then turned them out a little later.

At this point, we are significantly creeped out and I sleep with the lights on the remainder of the evening. The strangest thing is that we never hear anything before or after and we never hear anything hit the ground. So, most likely something isn't being thrown. But, it is incredibly loud and deliberate. Roland stood outside and hit the window with his fist the other day and it wasn't nearly as loud as it usually is. So, we are so confused about what is happening.

Thursday night I was in Tucson with the kids (future post coming). Roland was home alone and was in the office on the opposite side of the house. 10:50pm comes around and he heard another loud slam on the back bedroom window. He told me that he was disturbed and couldn't sleep all night.

Friday morning I called in another police report to inform them about what was going on. They took everything down and told me that they would watch the house while we were gone for the weekend.

Sunday late afternoon we arrived to our home after being gone for several days. I was super paranoid so we arranged to have Zane and Callie's dog Tuko with us for the evening. He was on edge the whole evening. I think a lot of it was that he sensed that we were on edge too. Bedtime came and I just laid awake in bed. I had a lot of lights on in the house and I still couldn't bring myself to fall asleep. I just watched the clock in fear and anticipation.

11:00pm came and I heard Tuko start to walk around a bit and quietly bark. I heard little whimpers and warning barks for a few minutes so I woke Roland up and had him take a look outside. He didn't see anything and nothing happened so he settled back in bed. I was struggling to keep my eyes open at this point, but also couldn't fall asleep. I was slipping in and out of consciousness when I heard Tuko start to whimper again.

All of a sudden there was a slam at the back door. I have never seen Roland jump up so fast. He was up and at the bedroom door with bat in hand before I had even really realized what was going on. Tuko was in his cage cowering (probably mainly from Roland's formidable force coming his direction). I was really creeped out with Roland's reaction and by the fact that even the dog was scared. So, I called 911.

Ten minutes later, the cops show up. That's right! TEN minutes later. That puts a lot of confidence in our police force, especially since their police headquarters are across the street. All I can say is that if someone had actually broken in, we would have all been sitting ducks and most likely dead by the time they arrived. I wish I had let Roland buy that gun a couple years ago when he wanted to and we had the money lying around for it.

The cops leave, of course not finding anything and without coming out and saying it, think we are crazy. We are left with a decision to make. Neither of us are comfortable sleeping there anymore. It's 1:30am and Roland calls his brother. They were kind enough to offer their home to us, so we are jumping on the offer.

In the dead of night we grab our sleeping children and pile in the car. None of us slept much that night but we did at least feel safe. We have not spent a single night in our home since. Every evening we pack up when the sun goes down and go sleep at Hotel Brown. We then return home bright and early in the morning. It isn't the best situation in the world, but we are at least able to sleep knowing that we are safe. And, we are incredibly grateful to our family for opening their home to us. We are truly fortunate.

So, come November 21 we will no longer live here and as to where we will end up, who knows....