Spooky Stories from Elgin, IL. was an October feature of stories from Elgin residents about unusual happenings, spooky events or an other-worldly resident that might still be hanging around. In most of these stories names and locations have been omitted or changed to protect the privacy of still living residents and their homes.
These stories are meant to provide a safe and fun scare.
Please enjoy and feel free to share!
Unusual things started happening at [address & st. name omitted] when L moved into C’s small bungalow style home.
She’d stayed over at C’s house before, even as long as a weekend, but it wasn’t until she found a permanent spot for her toothbrush and loaded her witty mug collection into the cabinet over the kitchen sink that things got weird.
L didn’t believing in ghosts. She was raised Catholic and felt the two didn’t jived. At the same time, though, things were happening she couldn’t quite explain. Kitchen cabinets being open when she was certain she had closed them. Random doors slamming and floors creaking as if someone was walking on them. Items would go missing, lights previously not on would mysteriously be found lighting an unused room. The most obnoxious by far though, was the bedroom ceiling fan. Several nights a week at 3 am, they would be awakened to the light on and the fan spinning full blast. That fixture was on a remote which made this event that much more puzzling.
While this might have pushed others to find new lodging, L & C simply chose to ignore it.
A path L especially committed to, as things began to escalate.
One morning, while laying in bed, L heard breathing. Still under the covers, L looked around the room, remembering C had already left for work.
The breathing, which was coming from the foot of the bed, sounded heavy. As if a large dog was sitting just out of sight, patiently waiting for her to get up.
L & C did not have a dog.
The thought of a large raccoon or stray dog having wandered into their home through a door accidentally left open by C made L sit up and slowly peer over the foot of her bed.
There was nothing there.
The sound of breathing had stopped, leaving L with a disorienting feeling. Had she really heard something? She decided it was early morning grogginess to blame.
Time, though, would prove her wrong. On mornings C left for work early, L would wake to the heavy breathing, always at the foot of the bed and always ending as soon as she sat up. With a lack of any other acceptable explanation, L decided it was likely a gang of very big mice that would run away and hide as soon as she got up.
Right?
Right.
Happenings such as these went on for months. And L & C never really talked about it. Neither wanted to admit what was starting to feel obvious.
On a chilly evening in mid-October, after a particularly romantic encounter in the bedroom (😉😉), L was headed to the bathroom and saw something that caused her to freeze in her tracks.
In their home, the path from the bedroom to the bathroom ran down a short hall and then through the small living room. As L entered the living room area, from the hall, her eyes casually landed on an older woman sitting, head bowed, hands in her lap, on their couch.
L’s mind immediately started racing, ‘Is this a lost neighbor? Do I know her? How did she get in my house?’ L stood frozen attempting to adjust her eyes for what felt like an hour. The woman looked odd in the dark living room. Not only was she out of place, but something about her made L understand something she’d rather not know.
Then, as suddenly as she had come across the sitting woman, she suddenly remembered she did in fact have to use the bathroom, and NOW. She turned her head towards the wall and hurried on to her destination. She stayed in the bathroom for what felt like an eternity debating when would be the best time and way to book it back to the safety of the bedroom. L prayed the old woman would decide she couldn’t wait and would just “leave”.
Gathering a few ounces of courage, L decided to make a break for it. Her eyes firmly staring at the wall, away from whomever was sitting on the couch, she quickly made her way back to C. She did not want to take her chances seeing the woman again!
Life in the house continued on with the late night wake ups, open cabinets, mysterious lights, missing objects and slamming doors. Encounters with the woman on the couch thankfully did not occur again.
During this time, L had decided to go back to school to get her masters degree in teaching. It was a lot of work on top of an already full schedule so to keep herself motivated she decided to create a dedicated workspace for her studies. The only space available in the little house though, was the basement.
“All old houses have creepy basements. Get over it.” she told herself as she freshened up the slightly dark dank underground space. She liked to dabble in home decorating so she kept her focus on the fresh, new furniture and decor and away from shadowed corners.
Amidst her renovation, an old friend stopped by for a visit.
As L walked her down the steep stairs into her new “office” the friend asked a surprising question, “Is your house haunted?”
“No.” L lied.
“Hmmm.” her friend furrowed her brow. “There’s an old man here.”
L froze.
“Also an old woman. She wants me to tell you something.”
L’s eyes grew wide and then she quickly looked away.
“She wants you to know, she saw you.” the friend said causing a sharp chill to run up L’s spine.
“She wants you to know she didn’t look up because she was praying the rosary. Her name is Mary, maybe? Something like that.”
L could feel her heart pounding in her chest. “Oh. Interesting.” L responded as she abruptly turned the conversation towards her new office furniture and away from the suggestion of non-living residents in her home.
That evening, after her friend had gone home, L decided maybe it was time to learn a bit about her and C’s humble abode.
The next few weeks found her search to be quite fruitful. The home, built in the 1920s had one set of owners that stood out amongst others. The little house had once been owned by a couple. When the husband, his name was John, passed away, his wife laid his body out in the small living room for his wake, as was customary in that day.
The wife’s name; Carrie.
L & C’s relationship was able to withstand the various haunts Carrie and her husband John threw at them. L & C eventually married and bought a big, cuddly dog. And then something happened.
For the first time in a very long time, the cabinets remained closed. The doors stopped slamming. The footsteps down the hall ceased. Lights in unused rooms remained off and L & C could usually find their keys right where they had left them. The ceiling fan and light stopped their 3am wake up calls. And the only breathing heard at the foot of their bed as from a big, cuddly St. Bernard named Red.
