Derry mum reveals haunted house hell
A Derry mother has told the 'Journal' that she was driven to a nervous breakdown by the supernatural spirits that haunt her Shantallow home.
The woman, who does not wish to be named and who claims she was a total sceptic prior to moving into the property, says she was forced to turn to mediums and paranormal investigators after failing to find a logical explanation for the eerie happenings that have left both her and her family petrified.
Over the six years years since moving into the house, the woman, her friends and family have heard footsteps across the landing and hall, the sound of someone dragging a heavy object through the house, drawers opening and closing on their own and light bulbs smashing above their heads.
She says a ghostly voice saying, " I will kill you", has also been recorded on electronic voice phenomena (EVP) equipment while ghostly figures have appeared in the middle of the night to both the woman and her daughter.
She says that, at times, a foul smell will fill the house, door handles will move up and down, and strange knocking will be heard on doors and floors.
She says she has even seen unexplained child-like writing on the inside of a cupboard, has heard ghostly whisperings and has been awoken from her sleep in a state of panic feeling she was being suffocated.
"We moved into the house in 2003; a new house in a lovely area, nothing like how people would imagine a haunted house to be. At first there was a lot of banging, footsteps in the hall, then one day the kitchen drawers started opening and closing on their own.
"One particular time, my son and I were sitting in the living room with the door open when we heard 'bang, bang, bang', someone thumping their way across the landing as if they really wanted us to hear them. We were frozen with fear, we waited for the footsteps to start again, for them to walk back the way they came, but we never heard them again.
Couldn't breathe or move
"Another time, as I lay in bed, I felt something, a presence, lying on top of my chest. I couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't force it off me. Eventually I jumped out of the bed and ran into the bathroom, and went into a panic attack. I didn't know what was going on, didn't know what was happening.
"For a long time it was terrifying, I would just flee, get out of the house," she says.
One of many psychic investigators enlisted over the years has suggested the spirits do not belong to the house but have a historical connection to the land it is built on.
"The psychic suggested it is a caretaker, a very nasty man, a very controlling man, who will not let his wife and children cross over into the light. Another saw a young boy covering his face in the corner of the room, like he was hiding,"
She says most activity centres on the landing and stairs, while a bedroom in the back of the house makes many visitors to the house feel uneasy."
The woman says the phenomena comes and goes without warning and while she "has now got used to it" the eerie events almost destroyed her life.
"At first I thought I was going mad, being paranoid. It drove me to a nervous breakdown - to hell and back. I felt I couldn't tell anyone."
She says it was only when family and friends began to experience the ghostly goings-on that she was sure of her sanity.
Her quest for an explanation took her to the Northern Ireland Paranormal Society (NIPS) which has visited and investigated the house on a number of occasions.
Their probe into the Derry haunting has used sophisticated electronic voice phenomena audio equipment, cameras, dowsing rods and attempts to contact the spirits directly.
"On one occasion they asked the spirits to clarify their presence by knocking; first there were two knocks, then they kept coming. On another occasion, the EVP captured a voice saying, 'I will kill you', as clear as a bell."
The woman says she now has learned to live with the spirits and has no desire to leave her home. However,she insists her quest for an explanation will continue.
"There is no rational, logical explanation for what is going on here. The investigators have been a huge help and have reassured me. I love my house and the area we are in; in many ways, this experience has made me feel stronger, given me a real belief in the afterlife."
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