The Neighborhood Haunted House

Every neighborhood has one of these, or at least almost every neighborhood.  It is the old, run down house with wierd occupants or no occupants at all.  Children ride past it on their bikes very slowly, peaking in the window with curiousity.  They dare each other to step on the grass or to walk a little bit closer.  Odd things often happen in these houses and out of these odd things the stuff of childhood legend grows.  

Our neighborhood house is not really part of our subdivision. I'm not sure what it is part of.  It is pushed back against all the empty lots and no one really even knew it was there until it caught fire one day.   Three fire trucks put out the fire and everyone realized that in the overgrown, shadowed portion of the neighborhood, there was an old house with boarded up windows and unmowed grass.  Since that time,  the kids have come home with so many stories I need to keep a journal of them.

My eldest son says that there is one window in particular that is full of ghostly activity.   One day, he saw a phantom mist hanging in this window.   Another day,  he saw the lights flickering on and off in the darkness.  My other son says that the tree in front of the house is evil. He's seen things floating in it.  He even says he once saw the branches of the tree curl up as if to form a hand.  The hand reached out for him.  Terrifying.   The more children are present when the stories are told the more elaborate they become, each trying to top the next with each new tale of terror.   It doesn't matter if any of the stories are true or not.   The very presence of such a house justifies the stories to the children.   Any house this odd and forgotten and misused must be haunted.   So legend grow and thrive and I listen with eager ears because these little bits of childhood wonder are what makes life interesting.