Oakwood House

Chapter one - The house

The house still showed signs of the original grandeur, although the paintwork was now faded and flaking.
The over grown grounds, had more in common with the countryside meadow, then the well-kept garden it had once been.

The gates that lead marked the end of the grounds, were rusty and had a large chain and padlock upon them.
In front of them stood Charles Rothschild, he just bought the house at auction without seeing it.
A house like this would normally sell for a million plus.
And yet this house went for his maiden bid of two hundred and twenty thousand pounds.

He saw the pictures of the house, and fallen in love with them, however he didn't bother to see the property beforehand, as he was dealing with his father estate, who had died a month beforehand.

It was while he was making his way though the paper work, which he first head the name of Oakwood.
It appeared that the house had belonged to the family many generations ago, before being sold on.

Pictures of the house were held within the folder, and a flyer from the auction house was bundled up with the paper work.

The day after the paperwork had been completed and signed over to him.
He employed a firm of builders to give the house a once over and fix any 'problems' within the house before he moved in.

It was while trying to find local builders, that he first discovered the reputation of the house.
When he mentioned the house by name either one of two things seemed to happen.
One, the voice on the end of the phone would turn very frosty, before telling him he could no longer help.
Or the phone went dead.

It was during this time he started to research the house through the internet and local historic groups.

The topics he discovered where a little disturbing; There had been four unexplained deaths, one family moved out a week after buying the property, reporting apparitions, banging, footsteps and items fly about at night.

Villages reported seeing lights on in the house when the house was empty, and the most common story was of a grey lady who was often seen within the house, or the gardens.
If she saw you, she would smile before fading away.

Just what had he bought?



Chapter 2

Ten years ago....

Oakwood house, a large car packed with cases, bags and other items, speed away from the building.
Mr and Mrs Price who had only bought the house three months ago, now were escaping the experiences which had plagued them ever since they moved in.

What had started off as a dream house, and the start of their new lives together, had quickly turned into a living nightmare.

It all started with strange creaking noises, which Peter Price said to his wife, “This is an old house, and you're going to get noises like this from time to time.”

However, both Peter and Wendy his wife, notice cold spots which one move round the house.
In a scorching hot day, you would suddenly encounter one of these spots, and goosebumps would form.
The spot was cold, almost freezing, then it would vanish leaving no trace of itself.
Guests who would come round to the house, commented upon the 'cold air'. Asking if they had left a window open, or had air conditioning installed.

The next strange thing that they both noticed, was keys that would go missing.
This would lead to a full search, only for them to be found sometime later back where they should be.
This had led to a few arguments, but after the third time of happening it stopped being funny.

Then for a few days nothing happened, and peace once again returned to the house, but not for long.

It was the fourth night that Wendy had just taken a hot bath, and retuned to the bedroom to get dressed.
She passed a bay window and looked out into the garden.
There she saw a woman dressed in Victorian style clothing looking up at her.
Looking directly at Wendy she let slip a shy smile, then faded from view.

This seemed to mark the return of the paranormal activity...

Later that night was the first time that the voices started.

It was Peter was the first to hear the voices, it was a dark rasping voice, a little louder than a whisper. Which called out his name, he only just caught it.
Turning to see who was there, he found himself alone.

For the rest of the evening nothing else happened, and Peter put it down to being overly tired.

It was Wendy who was next effected; she'd gone down first thing in the morning to make a pot of tea for the two of them.
She found the kitchen tap gushing water in the sink, and four cups which had been put away, nowhere in a neat line on the floor.
Each one of the cups was equal distant to the cup before it, even the handles were all facing the same way.

Wendy chuckled to her self, it must have been Peter who had done this to play a joke.
Bending over she picked up the four cups and put them back in the cupboard, selecting two mugs for the tea.

She put them on the kitchen side, as she made the tea in the pot before her. She turned to get the milk, and froze.
Back on the floor was one of the cups she'd just put away, she started to feel uneasy.
Trying to convince herself that she missed a cup, she continued to the fridge to get the milk.
As she turned back to the kitchen side, the cup had vanished.

A few days later...

While the house had started to return to normal, both Wendy and Peter noticed an eerie feeling within the house.
Peter was shaving, readying himself to work, when he looked into the mirror and dropped his razor.
As reflecting back at him was a large human shaped black mass with burning red orbs, where the eyes should be.

And icy cold rasping voice spoke out; "Leave this place, you have three days..."



Chapter Three – Deadlines

Both Wendy and Peter had spent the best part of three days researching the house, and what they uncovered unsettled already shattered nerves.

Th house was viewed as a bad omen for over three two hundred years by the locals, none would go near at night.
Many paranormal apparitions had been documented by the local history society, and it had drawn the attention of ghost hunters and research groups.

Some had got the permission of the local council, others had not.
And so many stories had arisen about the haunting, but the questions in the documentation held by the history society ask an important question.
How many of theses accounts were real, and how many were not?

But many encounters within the grounds, spoke of a woman in grey.
She always seemed to appear to the 'visitors' pointing at the gateway, before fading away.
Reading the description of the ghost, Wendy realized she'd been the apparition she'd witnessed.

From within the house sounds of screams, large thuds, running foot steps, raised voices, and howls could be heard.
And a feeling of terror began to emanate from the house, which drove many a group away, never to return.

Fifty years ago two young men broke into the house, looking to ransack the property, or so it was believed.
However only one of the two escaped from the house.
The other's corpse was found leaning next to the front door of the house.
A look of sheer terror on frozen upon his face, his body had show signs of being attacked by some kind of large dog or something other.

The younger of the two men, had in the words of the local doctor, 'lost all cognitive abilities.'
A week later he was found hanging, haven taken his own life.

After which, all groups wishing to visit the property were rejected on grounds of safety.

Ever since then, on occasions lights could be seen shining though the windows of the old house.

The house had been auctioned twice since, however both times with the same result, which was that of the new owners fleeing.

Night was calling, and yet both Peter and Wendy settled down to an uneasy nights sleep.
It was Wendy who fell asleep first.

Wendy found her self standing within a stone circle, with mist clinging to the floor, she looked around, and found she could see nothing else, just the stone circle, and clouds.

A pillar of mists started to rise before Wendy, slowly it began to form a human shape.
Although only the top portion of the mist formed into a woman's head and shoulders, with closed, eyes.

For a moment nothing seemed to happen, before the eyes snapped open.

“...The hunter comes for his prey...” The voice was but a whisper, but the look on the appropriations face turn to horror as she screamed.

A pain erupted across Wendy's shoulder, bolting upright in bed Peter almost jumped out of his skin.

“What the hell!” He snapped in annoyance.

Turning to look at Wendy he noticed her holding her shoulder, which was weeping blood.
Upon investigation, there were four large red gashes which were deep, angry, and looked as if they were inflicted by
some kind of beast.

After a trip to the hospital, Wendy returned home, she had to have stitches in the deepest of the gashes, the others were glued.
Upon entering the hall way, the couple saw a message painted in blood on the hall mirror.

“LEAVE NOW!”

It took twenty minuets to pack the car, before they left Oakwood never to return.