Every town have that one spooky house that every kid runs past, and I lived in one of them.
We moved into one of those houses when I was in high school. Every kid in the neighborhood told us it was haunted. I didn’t believe in ghosts, so I just ignored them. Of course, I was just trying to be a cool kid that didn’t care. I was actually a like geek trying to fit in.
The house did have some spooky things happen in it. Like lights turning on and off when no one was home. Things disappearing. Windows blowing open and breaking despite having storm windows on them. One night, the plaster even fell from the ceiling in my room, exposing the lath under it.
Yeah – I was trying hard to be the cool kid and think of any logical explanations.
That ended one afternoon when I was the only one home. Mom asked me to take care of the laundry while she took my sister to dance class. Our laundry was in the basement, and all I could think of every time I went down there was Amityville Horror movie. (Yes – I am one of those people who still rips the shower curtain open after watching Psycho once….).
Back to the story at hand. I turned on the basement light, using the switch at the top of the stairs. I went down and move the clothes from the washer to the dryer. Then, I ran up the stairs. On my way up, I checked to make sure the grade door (the one halfway up the stairs) was locked. I turned off the lights at the top of the stairs. Something just didn’t feel right. When upstairs, I made sure all the doors were locked as it was getting dark. We lived in a safe neighborhood, but mom never wanted to take any chances. Then, I sat down to do my homework.
A while later, it was time to grab the laundry from the dryer. I opened the basement door and flicked the switch to turn on the lights. Nothing happened. There was NO WAY I was going in that basement… In fact, I put a chair in front of the basement door. I wasn’t going down there, and nothing was coming up. Maybe I shouldn’t have watched Twilight Zone….
A ran back to the couch and huddled under a blanket until I heard my dad in the driveway. He came in through the grade door and tried to open the basement door from that side. Obviously, that wasn’t happening because I had a chair there. I yelled to him to come in another door. He thought I was thoroughly paranoid, and he was right. Once inside, he grabbed a flashlight and moved the chair. He told me we must have blown a fuse and there was nothing to worry about. I wasn’t having any of it.
He chided me until I would at least sit on the steps and hold the flashlight so he could examine the fuses. He discovered they were fine. That was when I tossed the flashlight to him and ran back up the stairs. I was not staying down there one more minute!
He poked around and found that all of the chains for the bulbs had been pulled. Yep – they were individually turned off. He actually asked me if I had done that. I gave a nervous giggle and told him there was no way! He turned them all back on.
To this day, I don’t know how those lights were turned off… what do you think? Was it that house haunted???
Finished Size: 37” x 55”
Skill Level: Beginner
Introduction: Strip Piecing makes a beautiful border for this spooky panel.
Fabric Requirements for Timeless Treasure’s Wicked Collection
| SKU | Yard |
| Panel-CD2760 Grey | 1 panel |
| Mingle-CD2160 Orange* | 3/4 |
| Wicked-CD2762 Reaper
Wicked-CD2769 Cloud Wicked-CD2764 Grey Wicked-CD2765 Charcoal Wicked-CD2766 Skull Wicked-CD2768 Night Wicked-CD2763 Spooky SOHO-Black |
1/4 |
| Backing 3 yds | |
| Batting 47” x 65” | |
* Binding included