The Old Man

From:
Story type: Ghost
Location: Eugene, OR
Source: Form Submission

A few years ago my aunt and uncle bought a beautiful house in Eugene, OR. The house had been featured in Better Homes and Gardens magazine in the fifties. They were only the second family to live in this house since it was built in the forties. It was a huge rambling one story house, but it needed some work.

My aunt and uncle decided to have some major renovations done. They completely changed the kitchen and dining room, added a large family room and a bedroom. The remodel took almost two years. There were a lot of set backs and also two robberies (not related to this story).

We visited one summer while they were in the middle of the remodel. My aunt brought us into the library to show us some tile she had picked out for the fireplace. I followed my mom and aunt into the room and experienced an unpleasant sensation. I sensed there was an elderly man in the room, sitting in a recliner. He did not like the noise and disorder of the remodel. I didn't hear my aunt talking about the tile, I could only hear a grumpy old man. I quickly left the room.

The next Christmas the whole family gathered at the newly remodeled house. That evening I ventured into the library by myself. I felt that the spirit was no longer troubled. He liked that there were children in the house. He liked to watch the kids play in the big back yard. I smiled and left the room. Later I was talking to my aunt about living in an older home. I asked if sometimes she felt a presence, especially in the library. She started when I mentioned the library. She told me that the husband of the old woman who had sold them the house had died of cancer. He spent his last days in the library because there was a broken heating pipe that kept the room extremely warm. She told me that he had died in his recliner.

I have had "feelings" about spirits before, but I always wrote them off as an over active imagination. Before this I never had confirmation that the little "stories" I make up about the spirits I encounter could be true.