Quick history about the house: Brick, somewhat Victorian style home built in the mid-to-late 1800s. We never verified it, but we were told it was a slave safe haven for many years. This house had a few secret rooms, most were converted into large closets that had no windows. One room we found accidentally as it required finding the door that was hidden up in the stairway down to the basement, and climbing up a ladder chute within the wall. It was a very interesting home.
No one ever seemed to actually see "ghosts" except my friend, who by everyone's own account, took the brunt of the experiences. He did see them. They'd disappear as quickly as they appeared. Always pale, dressed in very old clothing, emotionless. My friend was terrified to be in his own house. He never slept in his own bedroom. He usually slept on the floor or the couch in the living room, nearest to his parents (even as he got older). He always slept with a box fan on high right next to his head to block out the noises the house made at night. And you could hear "people" walk by the fan constantly (I heard it multiple times myself). General rule of thumb was if you hear a noise, just pull the blanket over your head and ignore it. Noises, flickering lights, swaying chandeliers were mostly the norm. For example...
One night, home alone, my friend and I were watching tv in the family room when we noticed the dining room light turn on. By this point, we were used to things like this happening and typically just ignored it. But then it flickered again and caught our attention. Their stacks of laundry that they usually kept on the table prior to carrying upstairs began getting knocked to the floor. We heard a bang upstairs, like someone jumping off of a bed or something. Loud enough to cause the chandelier in the dining room to slightly sway. It all stopped as quickly as it started.
One summer, my friend's family went on vacation and left me in charge of feeding the animals and watering the plants. Morning and night, I went to the house to carry out the chores. I walk in through the garage, into the mudroom, and head down into the basement to feed the fish. While down there, I noticed the sound of a stereo bass coming from the second floor. I came up to the family room and peered into the house, debating on whether or not to go upstairs and investigate. The sound got louder, and then stopped. I decided to just leave. In the mudroom as I reached for the doorknob, someone or something started banging on that very door, rattling all the glass panes (yes, glass panes, I could see through to the other side and no one was there). I ripped open the door and GTFO.
This same year, the encounters began escalating. Mostly just in occurrence rate, not in intensity. Until, as a joke, the older sister bought a Ouija Board. By this time we were all high school aged and felt it'd be fun to have some people over, sneak in some beers, and play the game upstairs in one of the bedrooms. We lit candles all around the room (one happened to be by the door, under the lightswitch). After playing around with the game for a half hour or so, asking it silly questions, we decided to ask it something scary. "Prove you're here," we said. My friend's sister and her best friend were operating the pointer. Prior to this question, we all knew they were moving it. But after asking the question, the pointer spun out from under their hands. They each believed the other did it, but both denied it. In short, the "spirit" spelled out that it would burn out a candle. "Which one?" we asked. It replied "Lightswitch." "When?" we asked. "12," was the response. At this point it was 11:55pm. At 11:59 the candle by the lightswitch starts flickering as if someone is breathing on it. The flame is dancing. No other candle in the room is doing the same. At midnight, the candle burned out. Half the people in the room bolt. The other half, frozen in fear or curiosity, or stupidity...who knows. At 12:01am the candle re-lit. We boxed the Ouija board and never got it back out.
After that incident, the intensity increased to covers getting ripped off you while sleeping at night. Sounds of voices throughout the house. The banging noises were more forceful. Etc.
Not long after, we graduated high school and moved on with our lives. After my friend joined the military and moved out, the encounters basically stopped. His parents still live in the house. They've since admitted to hearing voices and crying on the baby monitors, only to find all the kids sleeping soundly when they checked. Doors opening and closing, Lights turning off and on. Etc. But it's their home and they refuse to move. Activity has basically stopped in the house. I recently asked my friend about it and he said occasionally his mom will mention something but it's nothing crazy. It's like once the kids moved out, especially my friend, the house regained peace. He jokes about it now, but I think that really bothered him. Like what was it about him that seemed to rile things up?
Anyways, those are the main stories that I was personally involved in with this house. I've heard others but since I didn't witness them, I won't include them. Believe what you will, or don't. We all know what we saw and heard, especially that night with the Ouija game. I've had issues with stuff like that ever since. It's been over 20 years since that happened but I still get chills from it.