Ghosts on Green Street: one Gaelic instructor's experiences

“I’ve had two personal experiences here [at the Hibernian Cultural Center]:

My friend John Rooney was very involved with the Hibernians. He had put his heart and soul into the Hibernian events and he passed away. One day I came back from the Irish Cultural Center in Canton, and I was sitting in the room here, and John came in. You know when someone passes away, but then you see them so you have that moment of disconnect? He was waving across the room at me like this, and I waved back at him. I turned to my friend Des and said, ‘Des, it’s John!’ but at the same time I’m thinking to myself, ‘wait... John Rooney’s not alive...’ and of course I looked back and he was gone.

One afternoon I was coming down to get ready for Irish class and I was in here, and... you just know when something’s going to happen. I mean everything gets super quiet and, I don’t know, just... something is going to happen. I was looking out the door [into the hallway] and this place here is a storage- a cold storage- and it’s usually locked. All the food and the beer is in there, so it’s definitely locked. Only, as I came into the hallway, it slowly opened up, then slowly closed again. I said out loud, ‘I’ve got no time for this- and I don’t believe in ghosts!’ and walked right back here [to the classroom door]. Just as I got finished with, ‘I don’t believe in ghosts’ again, something pushed me right on the shoulder and gave me a spin a bit.  I don’t often come down here on my own now. “

The basement classroom at the Hibernian Cultural Center on Green Street in Worcester, MA

Umm.... who's that?

A while ago, a gentleman from Worcester sent us a video to review with the following story:

"The footage is from a few years ago and recorded on a phone from an old laggy cctv system we had in the apartment. The location is on the 3rd floor of an old 3 decker on Colton Street.

We decided to play back footage because on that night, a friend came home drunk from a wedding and decided to play wrestle with everyone and we wanted to see it for some quick laughs. As we’re going through it we noticed a dark figure passing by in the corner. Our friend's 5yr old daughter was in the room and we tried debunking it as her but the footage would show her skin tone and the height difference was way off.

This video still gives us goosebumps every time we see it. [it was} only years later we heard about someone committing suicide in that apartment in the past. This is a private video and you guys are the first to see it outside our group of friends. Please excuse my language at the end of the video.”

We watched the video and saw the dark figure run through the top of the screen in the video. We then proceeded to watch it 15 more times! Can you imagine re-watching one of your videos and seeing something like this?! We ABSOLUTELY excuse the language at the end of the video! We’re sure ours would be worse!

** Because this is a privately owned video, we are not posting the entire clip. The sender graciously gave us permission to take some screen shots to use with the story. Many many thanks for the chills!!

Seriously though... what WAS that?

GREAT story from a party-goer in Worcester! Sometimes it really IS all smoke and…

“So, I’m not really sure if this qualifies as a ghost story, but it is kind of creepy, and it does involve someone showing up when they weren’t really there.

A friend of mine threw a huge Halloween party a few years ago- one of those ones where you invite just about everyone you know and they each bring a friend or two- that kind of huge.  It was cool though. Lots of new people met lots of new people, and everyone had a really good time at the beginning.

At one point, you know the point where someone drinks just a bit too much and decides to get just a bit too honest with their feelings with someone else at the party? Yeah. That happened, I guess. I didn’t really see it go down, but I definitely saw the aftermath. 

This girl had come to the party with a friend of hers, but it turns out she liked him more than a friend and was hoping that, you know, tonight was going to be THE night, type of thing. Well, don’t you know that her friend meets someone at the party and they hit it off-- like REALLY hit it off.  Oh, they didn’t like, get it on at the party, I don’t think, by they were definitely into each other, you know, like, all hot and bothered at first sight.

That really didn’t go over well with this dude’s friend AT ALL. I remember her flopping down in this big chair in the corner of one of the rooms [at the party] and she just sort of slouched and glared at the new lovebirds from across the room. SO AWKWARD!  A couple people, including my friend who threw the party, tried talking to her, but she wouldn’t say anything. She just glowered and either nodded or shook her head, all the while she was sending looks at this other girl- you know the kind of look- like if looks could kill, this other girl would have been dead on the floor in a heartbeat!!

So, this goes on for a while. I’m talking like, over an hour. It kind of became a bit of a party past time to go by and see if this girl was still glowering in the chair.  Some folks would try to stand in front of her, you know, blocking her view and all, I mean, there were a LOT of people at this party and the room was huge, but she would stare at them until they moved.  It was getting kind of uncomfortable and I remember my friend trying to figure out what to do.

Another half hour goes by, and the dude decides it’s time to leave. He goes over to the girl sitting in the chair, the one he came to the party with, and she starts screaming at him and-- here’s where it gets weirder-- it honestly looked like black smoke or something was coming out of her!! Seriously!!  Not like a cartoony type thing; it wasn’t coming out of her ears and mouth, or maybe it was, it was kinda painful to watch, though you couldn’t help but stick around to see what was going to happen.  Kinda like how people have to look at car accidents even when they’re not involved- that type of thing.

He leaves pretty luckily, and most people decided to either leave or move the party outside to the patio because the girl and her black smoke will not get out of the chair! The new girl, the one the guy met and liked at the party, left pretty quickly after that. I don’t blame her. She was getting the death glare and it was super creepy.

So we’re all outside and the angry girl in the chair won’t leave. No one wanted to really go back inside, even though that’s where the food and drinks were, because the air in the room was just so… I don’t know. Weird. Creepy. I mean, this girl looked seriously demented and yeah, we all felt bad for her, but c’mon. It’s not your house or your party, so pack up your anger and take it out of there.

Well, she wouldn’t.  I saw my friend and her brother going back and forth from the patio to the room to the other parts of the house to back to the room. This girl wouldn’t leave. The only thing she would say was that they, I’m guessing her crush and his new interest, would be sorry. Also she wasn’t ready to leave the house.

The party really broke up then. I mean, it’s hard when one of the guests is causing such a bizarre scene. It was late though, so who knows, maybe the party would’ve broken up anyway. I asked my friend if she needed any help, and she said no, her brother had convinced this girl to take a cab home and they were going to get her out of the house. I figured this girl and her black cloud of “I want to kill you over a man” would just become one of those “hey- remember that chick” stories.

Yeah. Only… it got weirder after that.

Oh, the girl left the party. My friend told me later that she and her brother got the girl into a cab, but she was still seriously pissed off. She looked at them as she was closing the door and said something like “I left you something.” And then the cab pulled away. Creepy as hell, right?

My friend said they pretty much turned off the lights and figured they’d clan up the next day. When she went in to start cleaning up the next day, she said the corner where the girl was sitting was kind of dark and smoky and-- get this-- there was a smoky outline type thing in the chair where the girl was sitting! Not like a stain, a whole body outline! What the fuck, right? My friend aired out the room, febreezed the chair, checked for hidden candles- not sure who hides lit candles at a party, but whatever- and the smoky cloud seemed to go away.  She was seriously pissed though. Who does that at a party?!  You don’t go into someone house and cause a scene like that, refuse to leave, then stain the furniture! Needless to say, this girl wasn’t going to be on the guest list EVER again.

 Only… she was.

Fast forward two weeks to a smallish movie watching party my friend threw. I can’t remember what movie we were going to watch because once we were all there and grabbed snacks from the kitchen, we walked into the room and SAW THAT FREAKING GIRL SITTING IN THE CHAIR!! Only- here’s the thing- she wasn’t!! When you looked right at the chair, no one was there!  Three people- including me or I never would have believed it- would SWEAR they saw her sitting there- plain as grumpy freaky day!  Also, the smoky cloud came back.  My friend was both pissed and freaked out. We all ended up on the patio trying to figure out what we saw. I mean, shit like that happens in the movies, right, not in a nice boring little neighborhood in Worcester.

My friend turned on all the lights, sprayed the whole room, and we took turns going back and forth and peeking in to see if anything was in there. Nothing. So damn weird.

So, the night before Thanksgiving rolls around and we’re all going to pregame at my friend’s house before going out to some bar or show…I can’t remember. I do remember that the guy the angry girl liked was there with the girl from the party. Good for them, right? It’s hard to meet people, so hang on to the good ones, if he was a good one. I thought he was okay enough. Anyway, get this- that freaking angry girl is BACK IN THE CHAIR!! I swear to god I am NOT making this shit up!! The guy and girl BOTH saw her, as did my friend and her brother. They walked into the room and said she was there kinda shimmery like and looking just like she did at the party- really freaking angry and REALLY freaking pissed!

The dude yelled something like “holy shit” and then she was gone. But the black smoke was still there- and the stain on the chair- the one that never quite went away after that first party, looked darker.  My friend LOST it!  She started yelling at the girl to leave her house, she wasn’t welcome, and then her brother and the dude- you know- lover boy- picked up the chair and brought it out to the garage. My friend started yelling that she didn’t want it ANYWHERE in her house, so they eventually put it outside somewhere away from the house.

We were talking about it at the bar later- oh yeah- I guess we were at Ralph’s- and someone said she should have someone come in to exorcise the house, or clear it, or whatever people do to get rid of unwanted spirits and stuff. Only… this girl was still alive. Whatever was in that damned chair wasn’t a ghost, right? She was still alive. Oh- seriously pissed off I’m sure, but alive. Hell, she keeps popping up as someone I know on Facebook and I’m like, NO thank you!!

So yeah, once the chair was out, my friend called one of the psychics listed in Worcester- did you know we’ve got psychics and witches and stuff in Worcester? Oh, yeah, you probably already know that. So she called someone who gave her the name of a witch who came out and burned stuff, left some crystals, chanted some stuff and left her some spray. She also said don’t invite that girl over again. Well, no shit lady. My friend and her brother paid the lady and that was that.

Seriously though… what WAS that?

**The picture attached to this story is a modified image of a Pixabay free image. Though Pixabay policy states no attribution required, we feel weird using a photo that’s not ours without giving some credit to someone.

Haunted in Holden

This story was shared by artist/educator/friend Michelle Sarkisian over breakfast at Lucky’s Cafe one morning. We were absolutely hanging on her every word!

“Every place I’ve ever lived has been haunted. Since I was a little kid, I remember seeing things, feeling things, all the typical cold spots, uneasy feelings like, someone’s here but I don’t understand how.” It was mostly my grandparents house in Holden that was... haunted as heck.

The things I remember most happened in high school. My grandmother and I would both, on different occasions, hear the other person calling them when we weren’t. I’d be sitting upstairs on the bathroom floor putting on make up and I’d hear her voice calling me. I’d be like, “What? What?” Finally I’d get up and go to the top of the stairs and yell, “WHAT?!” She’d yell back, “Nobody’s talking to you! Why are you such a grouchy teenager?” I’d say, “ I just heard you calling me for like 10 minutes!”

Or the opposite would happen. She’d come upstairs and say, “What do you want?” I’d be in my room hanging out. I didn’t want anything. “Nothing. “ So that would happen.

You’d put something somewhere, and you’d KNOW you put it there—gone within hours. Days later, it would reappear in the same spot. It drove me crazy.

The scariest thing that happened- and it’s like a two parter- and I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but I was walking to Friendly’s one night, which is no longer there- so sad. Friendly’s was haunted, by the way. We had some pretty weird stuff happen in the back, so we were pretty sure that Friendly’s in Holden had some former employees lingering. But, I was walking to Friendly’s. It was warm- towards the end of the school year. I was walking down Orchard Road, you know, where Rice School is?  Orchard is the road that runs behind it and I was cutting through. 

Anyway, there was a guy standing in someone’s yard. It was dark and he was set back a little. He was dressed in all black and was standing in the shadows; I couldn’t really see him. I could see he was smoking a cigarette. I was like, “That’s creepy.” I kept walking by and there was this fenced in area where these people would put their dog, and there was another tree on the other side [of the yard]. When I looked over, he was already leaning up against the other tree. I didn’t hear a thing. I should have heard footsteps, heard him climb the fence- something. But he was there, and still just a dark shadow.

I ran. I ran through the baseball field, down the street, and to the front door of Friendly’s where I was all out of breath.  Never once did I look behind me.

That night though, and for about a week afterwards, I was having the most frightening dreams I’ve ever had. Hooded figures were after me in every single dream. I’d wake up and realize it was a dream. Whatever. I’d try to go back to sleep. So, the last time I had a dream like that, the hooded figures were actually in my house. I was walking towards them, and one of them reached out towards me- and I woke up. I sat up in bed. Terrifying dream, right?  I look over towards my bedroom door and see that it’s closing. Now, I don’t sleep with my bedroom door closed- I don’t like being shut in rooms, for some reason. I don’t know. I just don’t like sleeping in a closed room. So, I figured it was my grandmother so I ran over and opened it. No one was there. I peeked into my grandparents’ room; they were dead asleep. Okaaaaay. I just work up. Maybe I imagined it. I mean, I’ve been having crazy dreams, blah blah blah. I propped the door open with a trashcan or soothing that was there, and went back to bed.

The minute my head hit the pillow, it felt like something just pinned me- just pinned me to the bed. I couldn’t move. I could feel the bed shaking, and I started trying to scream for my grandmother. All I could do was open my mouth; I couldn’t get any sound to come out. Then the room started getting blacker and blacker and blacker. It almost went pitch dark, then it just... stopped.

Almost immediately, because I’d been struggling so much, about fell out of the bed. I ran out into the hallway and found my grandmother’s old family bible, my first communion cross, and started flipping on all of the lights. I was sitting against the wall in the corner of my room terrified. TERRIFIED!

The next day, I moved my bed to the other side of the room and changed things around. I was still terrified. I started sleeping with the lights on. My grandmother would sneak in at night to try to shut the lights out, but I’d wake up right away and say, “Don’t turn that light off!”  I had a flashlight under my pillow, the works. I was terrified for a long time.  That was really the scariest- the only really threatening feeling I’ve ever had.  I’ve had other experiences where I’d been touched.  In my house in Rutland, I’d feel fingers running through my hair or feel things getting on the bed just to rest. That was all fine. But that... in Holden... that was the scariest.”

You HAVE heard about the Pipe Ghoul, yes?

After one of our trips (and subsequent posting of photos) to the Worcester Memorial Auditorium, we were contacted by someone who works with one of the historical associations in Massachusetts. They complimented our photos, and asked us if we knew about the ghoul who lived in the pipe organ inside the Aud. This is their story:

“Though the building, or rather, the item that is now haunted inside the building, didn’t actually exist until the 1930’s, the story begins back in the 18th century. At that time, the area around Lincoln Square (the land around the Worcester Memorial Auditorium) was rural farmland, though it was slowly being surrounded by the mills that were to become part of Worcester’s industrial heritage.

One sunny morning (unexpected, I know, as most stories of this nature take place under cover of darkness in the dead of night), a laborer was working the land around Lincoln Square and, as does happen when people use heavy equipment, an accident occurred. The laborer found himself not just trapped under the equipment, but seriously wounded and unable to call out for help. At best, he was able to moan, which he did, for a good portion of the morning and most likely into the early afternoon. He was found later in the day, but it was too late. The man had expired.

Now, no one really knew who the man was, or exactly where he came from, which was not unusual with laborers. Many of them traveled from job to job and didn’t put down roots. It was rumored that the dead man had come to Worcester from New Hampshire to find work, but no one knew for sure. Without a name and no way to notify the next of kin (if, indeed, there had been any to notify), the man was buried just about on the spot in a makeshift, unmarked grave. He most likely would have remained there in peace if it hadn’t been for the groundbreaking that began in September 1931.

As workers began clearing the land, all manner of things were unearthed- including bones of deceased animals and those of the unknown worker. No sooner was the rubble carted away than the near misses and small accidents began on the job site. Workmen walked through cold spots, even on the hottest of days. One can imagine that the spirit of the unknown worker, which had laid so long in restful slumber, was active and probably confused. Slipping inside the massive stone monument, it’s easy to picture him hovering high above in the corners of the ceiling while waiting for a cozy place to go back to rest.

The cornerstone of the building was laid in April of 1932, and in 1933, a new Kimball pipe organ was installed. There were numerous organ concerts over the years, as well as reports that the organ was also making noises that were ... not all that harmonious in nature.  Over time, the wheezing and wailing were credited to the spirit of the long passed workman, now known as the Pipe Ghoul.

All of this was told to me by someone who made the history of the building and the organ their pet project.  To be honest, all of it sounded a little... too fantastic, and to someone interested in ghosts, too good to be true.  I was lucky enough to talk my way into the building so that I could check it out myself. I wandered the building for quite sometime, but, alas, neither saw nor heard anything out of the ordinary. The building was beautiful however, and I could have spent many more hours exploring it. I reluctantly headed towards the exit. As I did so, a low moan that turned into a droning wheeze began, and I quickly walked back to the organ. The wheeze turned to a groan, and the pipes gave a final whooshing sound before falling silent. I waited a moment, peering at the instrument, and then I left. The Pipe Ghoul, I figured, had settled in to rest.”

The Room

Today's story is a bit of a long one- and we LOVE it! Thank you so very much to the Worcester resident who shared this story, and to her daughter who gave us permission to post it.

*Photo/illustration credit: John Nickle

"When my husband and I go away, we often ask our daughter to come stay at our house to look after the cat, play with the lights, and to just make sure all is well while we’re gone.

Despite not growing up in the house (we moved in just before she headed off to college), our daughter has a room she considers hers, and up until a few years ago, the only being she had to share the room with was our cat.

The room always felt occupied, even when our daughter was away at school. We chalked it up to having some of her things in it, the occasional guest who stayed over, and the cat going in and out at various times to lounge on the bed. After a while though, we noticed the cat didn’t go into the room that often, but we still looked into the room expecting to see... I don’t know. Someone? Both my husband and I felt like someone- or something- was sort of hanging out in that room.

One night, I was coming out of the bathroom and I knew, I just knew, that if I looked into the room on my way by, I would see a little boy. Don’t ask me how, I just knew he’d be in there, and if he noticed me noticing him, I knew he’d try to reach out to me. I wish I could say I had been strong and at least peeked into the room, but I didn’t. I was terrified of actually seeing him, so I put up my hand, looked the other way, and said something to the effect of, “I’m sorry, I just can’t handle seeing you. I won’t be able to handle it.” As I turned into the bedroom my husband and I slept in, I felt a wave of sadness wash over me from behind, and I could feel my eyes begin to prickle with tears, though I was, and still am, pretty sure they weren’t mine.

It was shortly after this, maybe a week or so- I don’t remember exactly- that I hosted a girls night at our house, and I hired a psychic to come in and give readings. My friends and family all love having their hands read, their cards read, their fortunes told... you name it. We all had a great time talking, laughing, eating, and drinking while, one by one, we all had readings done. I opted to go last. As the hostess, I wanted to make sure my guests were able to have their readings before I settled into my reading and catching up with the psychic (His name was Richard. I had hired him for a number of previous events, and we had become friendly over time).

As soon as I sat down he looked at me and said, “Sweetie, I have to tell you something, and I don’t think you’re going to be surprised.” I don’t remember what my reaction to that was as he followed very quickly with, “You’ve got a few people camped out in your house.” I knew he didn’t mean my girlfriends in the next room.
“You know that, don’t you?” he said, tilting his head towards the hallway that lead to the bedrooms.

I think I said something to the effect of, “Oh my god, there’s a ....” at the same time he said, “You have a little boy living in that back room, the one your daughter stays in.”
I remember sitting there stunned for a moment. One the one hand, I had been right! On the other hand, I had been right! I think I started to cry a little then as I told Richard about the feeling I had that the little boy wanted to reach out and I had all but shunned him. Ghost or no ghost- I felt bad.

I remember Richard asking if he could tell me a little bit about the boy, and I nodded. He told me that the boy had been riding his bike farther down on our street and had been hit by a car. He’d been wandering around the neighborhood and ended up in our house as the energy was pretty warm and welcoming. He liked the energy in our daughter’s room, but he was lonely, and looking for playmates. When I asked what I should do about it, Richard told me that the boy would most likely move on once he realized that there weren’t any playmates in the house. He also told me that if I felt up to it, I could probably help the boy on his way by letting him know he was now safe and that it was okay to move on.

I decided that I would absolutely do that the next time I felt him in our daughter’s room. Well, wouldn’t you know it, my husband and I didn’t really get the feeling that he was hanging around anymore. To be honest, I figured that he probably moved on to find playmates elsewhere, or that maybe he had heard Richard talking and decided to REALLY move on. Our daughter’s room still felt occupied, but not necessarily by this little boy.

As weeks passed, our thoughts turned towards our upcoming vacation and getting the house ready for our daughter to come stay. As I changed the sheets on the bed in her room and my husband put the air conditioning unit in the window, I wondered if we should tell our daughter about the little boy who’s ghost had been hanging around in her room. I hadn’t realized I had said it out loud until my husband said that, since we hadn’t felt him around, he was most likely gone. We weren’t sure if it would weird our daughter out or not, so we packed, prepped, and said nothing.

Vacation was wonderful! It’s always nice to go away, and doubly so when you know that there is someone taking care of things back home. Though our daughter is more than capable of handling the household, we still like to check in every few days just to make sure that all’s well. We called to say hello and check in on our second day away. We were told, “The cat is fine, mail’s on the table, and I’ve already eaten at Coney Island!” My husband reminded her about the cat’s meds, and then I took the phone to say goodbye. Before I could, however, my daughter said, “So... I had kind of a weird dream last night. I dreamt that a little boy was in a bicycle accident near the house. I know it was a dream, but I think he’s really here. Like... in the house.” I about passed out on the spot.

I asked her if she had seen him, and she said, “I think so? I mean, I did in my dream, and when I woke up, it was like I could still feel him in the room.” I filled her in on what Richard, our psychic, had said the night of the reading party. “Oh. That makes sense, then. Yeah, I think he’s still here.” She was so matter of fact about it, and definitely handled it better than I had. She said she would let him know it was okay to move on.

And he did. We came home from vacation to find that the cat had moved back into the room to lounge around on our daughter’s bed. Neither my husband or I felt that anyone was there (well, not in that room, anyway. The library is a whole different story). I hope he found peace- and playmates- wherever he went.”

County St

Thank you so much to the individual who shared this story! We love this so much!!

“I used to live in a medium sized trailer with my parents and siblings on County Street in Worcester. I don’t remember who told us this, but apparently an older man had died there at some point prior to us moving in, and his spirit lingered. He was pretty harmless. Things went missing sometimes or were moved from one place to another. When I played music in my bedroom, some songs just wouldn’t play, and the CD’s would skip to a different track. One night while everyone was sleeping, my brother was up and about, and he heard a voice say, “you better be good- I’m watching you.”

But here's the thing that has always stuck with me: when I was 16, my parents and I were cleaning out the shed in the back yard. We brought boxes inside the trailer to go through and sort out things we hadn’t used in a while. My dad pulled out an ancient, cordless phone that hadn’t been plugged in in ages. After he set in on the couch, it started to ring. And ring. And ring. We just stood there and stared at it. Of course, when we went to answer it- it was completely dead. I still wonder what that man’s spirit might have been trying to tell us.”

Entering Shrewsbury

Thank you so much to the individual who shared this story with us and gave up permission to post it. We’re stepping over the Worcester/Shrewsbury line for this one.

“I saw a post where you needed stories from Worcester County. Well, I’m from Shrewsbury MA. I lived in a house that my parents thought was their dream home. My siblings and I were still just kids, so most of what happened no one believed. I myself am sensitive to spirits. I can see and talk to them. Didn’t know that then- would’ve made more sense.

In the year 2008, we moved into a house on Oak Street. It was beautiful: two stories, a giant kitchen, and enough rooms to fit us all. Now, nothing much happened for a few years, but in the beginning, it was closet doors opening and closing- you know- in the “wind.” I had to put my jump rope around the door and keep a chair in front of it so it wouldn’t open.

Around 2009 is when I just got so used to listening to footsteps when I fell asleep. I thought it was my mom walking around. You would hear your name being called by my mom’s voice when she wasn’t home. My dogs would constantly bark at everything.

2011 is when it got really bad. My sister took a picture of the window and an old woman was behind her. My brother’s bed would shake like an earth quake, so he would sleep in my room [because] he was so scared. I saw a figure go by the shower curtain and then the lights would go out. What creeped me out the most was the black silhouette of a man in my doorway. I could see right through him. My dad was across the country, so it wasn’t him. I wasn’t imagining things. I pulled the sheets over my head and I looked back and it was still there. That morning my cross from above my bed was in the middle of the floor.

My mom, a few months later, decided it was time to leave. It was the best decision ever. We later sound out that four people had died in the house (the landlords never told us). On girl died in from by car. Another [died] behind the house by drowning in the pool that had since been covered up. An old woman had died in the house itself, and so did a 40ish year old man (I’m guessing that is who I saw).

This is the story I tell people who don’t believe. It has traumatized me and my siblings, and we now are so careful where we live. We get the house blessed and Jesus and crosses are everywhere. Evil is out there. I’ve seen it.”

The House with Feeling

It should come as no surprise that the woman who has a haunted car has a haunted house to park it behind, right? We finally transcribed our interview with the "other Jess up near Burncoat." She's also known as "Lucy's owner." ;-) 

Here's what she had to say about her house:

The attic- accessible via a flight of stairs tucked away behind a door in the back of a closet. You can just make out the 1935 and JBM on the chimney.

The house was built in 1935 and I bought it 3 years ago on January 30th, so it’s [just passed] the 3 year birthday. I was living in an apartment with my ex and wanted to buy a house. His credit score wasn’t fabulous, so I said, well, I’ll buy it on my own! That way it only has my name on it, so if anything should happen, it’s all mine.

Now, I like old. I like character. I like FEELING. There’s just something about... feeling right. I grew up in an old house in Northbridge and it had a LOT of energy, and a house needs to be sufficiently creepy for me to buy it.

So I toured a bunch of houses in Worcester, and I just couldn’t find that feeling. I’m also an empath, so I pull a lot of feelings from things, but when I came into this house, I just had a feeling that it was the one for me.

Heading down to the basement. it's a great field stone cellar with some.... interesting... details.

It was some of the details that I really liked that made it feel right. There’s an old can opener and an old pencil sharpener going down the stairs into the basement and all sorts of booze in a dusty cabinet under the stairs. There’s a field stone basement with all these creepy smiley faces painted all over one of the walls.

There’s a whole bunch of old stickers: WAAF, old band stickers, WBCN, Spags, (RIP, Spag's!) and such- upstairs in the closet that has the secret passage to the attic. All of that just made me feel nostalgic and I love that!

(Wait, what? Go back to that secret passage part!)

Yeah, when I toured upstairs, I went through the 4 bedrooms and loved them. I figured there had to be an attic, so I was looking around in the hallway for one of those pull down things. Nothing. I thought that was weird. The realtor led me into one of the bedrooms again and showed me the closet, and in the very back you could just make out a doorknob. When I turned it, the door opened up onto a full flight of stars going up to the attic.

Well... Worcester IS the home of the smiley face. :-)

This house was just calling to me, I could tell. Plus, it was cheap because it had some... issues. I bought it. The original hardwood, uneven floors- the character of it- all of it- I loved it. It made me happy, so I bought it.

We moved in, my ex and I, and found that things go bump in the night in this house. Well, they go bump in the day in this house too. We also started seeing things. My ex walked by me one day and stood in the doorway and all of a sudden there was a woman standing right behind him. I described her and he said, “you just described my mother, only she died three years ago.” I still see things and feel things. So do most of the people who come over the house.

Terrible picture (our next move may be looking for an indoor photographer! Ha!) of the door tucked at the back of the closet. When you swing it open, the attic stairs lead up to an unfinished floor.

One of my friends is a medium, and she told me that I have a very nice spirit in the house; he just doesn’t want to leave. She said I could kick him out and he’d probably leave, but I decided I wanted him to stay. She said he lived in the house with his family and died in the house, and just isn’t interested in moving on. Well, what was I going to say? Of course he can stay- as long as he’s not mean. I think having a spirit in the house is the coolest thing.

So... yeah. There’s a lot of energy in the house. I’ve heard people talking and have actually gone outside, thinking that they must be in my yard or outside of a window. No one, no neighbors, nothing, is outside the house. I’ve gone upstairs to see if a TV is on or something, and it never is. Sometimes at night I hear things in the attic and I’ll go to check it out thinking it’s maybe a squirrel, but nothing is ever there.

The house I grew up in had the same type of thing. Spirits would pop in and out, though I never really tried to communicate. We just heard things and saw things. 

I had a lady in a café once come over out of the blue and tell me I had a certain aura and a lot of energy coming with me, so maybe it’s not the house, it’s me.