When NorthernLife.ca put out a call for “true” ghost stories for a Halloween contest, we were flooded with tales of the supernatural.
The stories were so good — and so chilling — we had to choose a winner by random draw.
Ashley Cayer’s tale of a spectral child that haunted her Flour Mill apartment was good enough to give us a chill (and hopefully you too) and good enough to win a copy of “Spooky Sudbury” ($24.99 from Dundurn) by Mark Leslie and former Northern Life reporter Jenny Jelen.
Bumps in the night and ghostly bite marks
My two children and I lived in an apartment in the Flour Mill for four years. From day one, I could feel an uneasiness whenever I was in the apartment. My eldest daughter, who was a year and a half at the time, would not sleep in either of the upstairs bedrooms. Yet my youngest, who was nearly one at the time, appeared to be fine.
Every night once the girls were in bed, I would hear what sounded like my youngest playing with her toys and moving her toddler bed. And night after night, I would climb the stairs only to find her sound asleep.
One night, a cousin was visiting and she, too, heard something strange. “”I don’t want to alarm you,” she said. “But it sounds like there is someone upstairs.”
Soon after moving in, my eldest would talk about, or to, someone named “Patty,” but we don’t know anyone by that name.
Anytime I would go to the bathroom at night, I swear I could see someone peer around the corner. To me, this entity or spirit appeared childish, playing with toys, sneaking around corners.
I had a babysitter who would spend the night and sleep on my couch. Many times, she heard the playing and noises coming from upstairs, but when she checked, it was always nothing.
Twice, I discovered what appeared to be bite marks on my body. The first was near my knee. I looked down and saw what appeared to be a full top and bottom set of child-sized teeth. The second bite mark appeared near my calf.
In our third year, I had the most terrifying experience. As I lay in bed, I experienced a weight on my chest. I felt hands around my throat. At first, I told myself it was lack of sleep, but it continued for several minutes.
The final straw occurred when I was doing dishes. I looked over my shoulder to speak with my children, who were at the door behind me, and when I turned back to the sink, all the bowls I had previously removed were stacked neatly in the previously empty sink.
That was it for me and we moved shortly thereafter and have never experienced anything like that again.
