He Always Took Care of Us

From: Ali Ingle (ali_ingle@hotmail.com)
Story type: Ghost
Location: Dos Palos, CA
Source: Form Submission
Date submitted: Sat Nov 22 01:08:02 2008

I've been debating whether I wanted to write about this but decided it was a great story and should be read.

The house we lived in was out in the country NE of Dos Palos, CA. It had 4 standard sized bedrooms each with an outside entrance and a porch. The living room was very tiny, barely enough room for a sofa, coffee table, chair and TV. But the kitchen on the other hand was enormous. You could fit an entire football team in there comfortably to eat.

We asked our landlord why the living room was so small and about the doors on each bedroom. He said it wasn't a living room it was a parlor/waiting room. The outside doors in the bedrooms enabled the clients to leave without being seen.

It had been built in the early 20's, not sure of the date, by a partnership called Miller and Lux as a brothel to keep tabs on the whereabouts of their workers. The bedroom closest to the bathroom and also right across the hall from the heater was always icy cold and even though the landlord wasn't sure, we speculated that someone was probably killed in that room by a jealous lover/spouse/client. The rest of the house was kept warm by the heater but not that room which was less than 3 feet from it. It always felt creepy to me also, I never liked going in there and spent no more time in there than I had to to help clean, etc.

My mother's live-in boyfriend, Dick, died in the bathroom of this house from a massive heart attack in September, of 1970. My sister and I (both grown) had been living with them also.

I had a son 2 months old and my sister was pregnant with her second child. We shared a bed there, like we did when we were children. I'm 3 1/2 years older but Cheryl was always braver so I slept on the backside against the wall and she slept on the outside. Shortly after Dick died we noticed his spirit hanging around and teasing us like he did when he was alive. We didn't mind even though I used to get spooked when I was in the presence of a ghost...usually. Dick was different.

One time in late fall, it was about 2 AM, Cheryl told us she was sound asleep and Dick pulled her legs off the bed in such a way that she automatically sat up. She said she didn't know why but she went to the front door and out to the porch in time to see a carload of teenage boys drive up into our rather large parking area. When they saw her they told her they came by to ask if they could borrow a towing chain to help a friend who had run out of gas. The boys were neighbors so she saw no harm in it although she told us later she suspected they were probably intent on "borrowing" some of our gas and were surprised to see her out there. Thanks for that one Dick.

I will share more stories at a later date, I'm thrilled that this site exists, I got over my creepiness about ghosts and live with one who was about 12 when she died. Shes a typical young girl, alive or dead. Ah but that's another story, I promise.

Ali Ingle ali_ingle@hotmail.com