That evening, we were having our dinner, once again sitting at the kitchen table. Our only form of entertainment at the time was the radio, which was plugged into one of the few working electrical outlets in the house, in the living room. Suddenly, our dogs began to bark. Above our heads on the second floor, Geri and I heard the hurried footsteps of someone suddenly running from one end of the bedroom to the other. We looked at each other and froze. Between the footsteps, the barking dogs, and the music on the radio, our senses became overloaded. We were scared and again concerned that someone might be in the house. Geri stayed in the kitchen while I ran to the trailer. Ready to confront any burglar, I loaded our shotgun and returned to the kitchen.
With the dogs leading the way, Geri and I cautiously walked up the stairs. Geri reached for the light switch, and the single lightbulb hanging from wires at the top of the stairs turned on. Our dogs dashed into the same bedroom where we’d experienced the negative vibes earlier in the day, and then they ran out crying as if someone had hit them. I immediately thought, No SOB is going to hit our dogs. I yelled out, “Hey, we’ve got a gun! Get out of the room now!” The only sound we heard was our dogs barking behind us. Then I yelled out, “I said, I’ve got a gun! Get out now!” There was no answer. We decided to enter the room anyway.
We soon discovered there was no one in the bedroom. We checked the closet and opened the closed window and looked outside. No one. We then checked the adjacent bedroom, and again, the window was closed shut, and the room was empty. We were at a loss to explain what was going on.
We sat down at the top of the stairs, trying to make sense of something that made no sense. Geri cried, and I placed my arm around her. She was really frightened. Just then, we heard a hideous laugh, followed once again by the slamming sound of the bedroom door! I got up and pointed the gun at the door. “Get out of here, I say. Out of here now!” The laughter began again, and with a courage that even surprised me, I walked to the door and turned the knob and kicked the door open. The room was empty. That was enough for us. We took off out of the house and spent the most nervous night we’ve ever experienced locked in our trailer.
In the comforting light of the morning, we walked out of the trailer and whistled for our dogs. The dogs were nowhere to be seen. They were probably out among the desert brush, chasing a skunk or something. I grabbed my gun once again, and we cautiously reentered the house. It was strange to be walking softly, as though we were visitors in our own house, but we did not want to take any chances. Upstairs, nothing seemed strange or out of place. The feeling was totally different from the frightful night before; everything seemed calm and peaceful.
As the morning progressed into the afternoon, we returned to our normal working routine. When one of our dogs reappeared, Geri became concerned about the whereabouts of our other dog.
After searching for a few minutes, Geri came running to where I was mixing paint. Geri cried, “Come look. I found our other dog, and she’s dead!” I followed her inside the house to the living room. There in the corner, where a water pipe was exposed next to the wall, was our little dog. Her head was at an angle, lodged tightly between the wall and the pipe! There was no rational reason for this to have taken place. None at all.
We had to forcefully pull the pipe away from the wall in order to dislodge our poor dog’s head. We buried her in the yard and, of course, cried for days. Everything was so mysterious to us—the footsteps, the laughter, the slamming doors, the eerie feelings in the bedroom, and now the death of our dog.
The weeks passed, and we did not experience any additional strange happenings. The energy and time we put into the house was showing. It looked great! We then progressed to the second floor. We started with the farthest bedroom. After that one was completed, we entered the bedroom where weeks before we’d experienced the ghostly happenings.
The walls were covered in very old print wallpaper, which we wanted to immediately remove. There were faded square marks on the wallpaper that showed where picture frames had hung for many years. Geri was going to tackle the removal of the paper, while I scraped the old paint off the window and door. Geri can tell you what she discovered.
Geri’s Account
As I was tearing away the old wallpaper, I reached a part of the wall about two feet above the floor. I pulled the paper away from this section of the wall, and underneath was what appeared to be bloodstains on the wallboard. I called Lisa to look at it and to give me her opinion. She also said it appeared to be old, dried blood. We got goose bumps. I quickly tore away the rest of the paper. And as soon as Lisa finished mixing the paint, I painted over the wall and the stains. The following day, we brought in a bed, a dresser, a small table, and a lamp. We were done at last!
We had a gathering of friends over one day, friends who’d traveled from Phoenix and who’d greeted us with housewarming gifts. They loved the house and the decorating we spent so much effort on. Five of our visitors chose not to make the long return drive home that evening, so they decided to spend the night. We stayed up late that night eating, drinking, and enjoying each other’s company in the living room.
Suddenly, we heard a loud crash come from the upstairs bedroom. We ran up the stairs, and when I tried to open the door, I found that it was not opening. Now, with all our friends witnessing, I pushed and pushed. Just as before, I knew there was someone inside the bedroom pushing against my efforts. I could feel the power of the “person” playing tug-of-war with me. A friend came to my rescue, and with her help, we opened the door wide.
We were not ready for the scene of destruction the bedroom was in. The lamp lay broken on the floor, and blankets were strewn all about the room. Strangest of all was the wall by the bed. The bloodstains had reappeared! They had come through the newly painted wall!
The sight took us all aback. Our friend said, “Girls, you’ve got ghosts in this house!” Lisa and I kept quiet, but we knew she was right. With the help of our friends, we cleaned the mess in the bedroom and returned to the living room. Lisa and I informed our friends of the other happenings we’d experienced months before. Everyone was shocked to hear our story. As the discussion continued, suddenly from the upstairs came that horrible laugh once again. We all heard it.
Our friend Yolanda let out a scream. We pleaded with everyone to help us solve this thing once and for all. We decided to walk up the stairs and talk to the ghost and ask it to leave the house. There was strength in numbers, so up we went to the bedroom. The bedroom door was wide open. On the bed we had just remade lay clothes. The pieces of clothes were arranged on the bed in the form of a body. The only thing missing was the actual body. They were neatly placed in such a way as to give us the impression that a body was lying in a coffin. The arms of the shirt were folded at the elbows and crossed over the chest.
I grabbed the clothes and threw them back into the closet. We decided to immediately hold hands and form a circle and pray. We prayed to Jesus to remove this ghost, or ghosts, and to forever cleanse our house of any evil. We took turns asking for blessings and help. Suddenly, in the middle of our ceremony, we heard the quick footsteps of someone rushing down the stairs and out the kitchen door. We held on to each other’s hands with such force. I cried and thanked Jesus for getting rid of the ghost. I knew that would be the end of our haunting. We all felt so wonderful after that. Thankfully, we have not had any more ghostly things happen to us since that night.
Yolanda Huerta’s Story
Phoenix, AZ
I interviewed Yolanda at her home on the far north side of Phoenix. Yolanda has lived in Phoenix for 14 years. Born and raised in Phoenix, she moved to Los Angeles to attend college and eventually married a man. Her marriage was, in her own words, “a disaster.”