There was an abandoned two story home sitting in the middle of a neighborhood called “Oak Hollow.” Nobody would go near the house. And I mean nobody, especially at night! Sometimes at night neighbors could hear noises coming from the house and see the lights come on and go off. Neighbors say there is a ghost in the house and the house is haunted.
The owner was in his 90’s. The wife passed a few years ago and the husband was confined to a nursing home. The State of Texas court determined the owner was mentally unfit and ordered the home be sold and the proceeds to be used for his hospital costs.
My neighbor Alan was the agent in charge of selling that house and he tried everything in his power to close a deal but the rumors of the house being haunted seemed to ruin all his efforts. Local folks were too scared to make an offer, even at rock-bottom prices.
Finally, Alan decided to offer the home for sale outside of Texas, “unseen” to a rich city slicker from the California. It worked like a charm, too, until the day the city slicker decided he wanted to visit the property before closing the deal.
Alan was all set to take the fellow to the house at noon, but the city slicker’s plane was delayed, so it wasn’t until after dinner that the two men set off to the house. It was a dark and it even started raining, but it was still early enough in the evening that Alan hoped the ghost might not be home.
Alan unlocked the front door, and it opened with an ominous creak. Alan swallowed nervously, but the city slicker just chuckled and said, “I heard this house is haunted but I don’t believe in ghosts!”
Alan relaxed a bit and wondered if he shouldn’t have raised the price. The two men entered a large living room.
It was dark in the large living room and the room was filled with dust and cobwebs.
“Creepy!” the city slicker said enthusiastically. He walked energetically into the center of the living room and yelled, “Come to me, you ghosts!”
A couple minutes later, a light came on upstairs and a voice boomed: “I’m coming down now!” The city slicker jumped and then turned to Alan with a happy grin. “Great special effects! How’d you do that?”
“I didn’t,” Alan said, his teeth chattering. Alan backed up until he hit the front door and stood there with his hand on the knob.
“I’m coming down now!” the voice boomed again, and the city slicker stopped grinning. He looked at Alan’s frightened posture and then he followed Alan’s gaze toward the stairs.
Sure enough, there was a bright light and the ghost was coming down the stairs.
As the ghost began coming down the stairs toward them, Alan’s nerve broke, and a moment later he was running out to the street, screaming and the city slicker was running along beside him.
“Mister, I don’t think I want that house after all,” the city slicker yelled!
The city slicker kept running and disappeared into the distance.
Alan, stopped about a block away and decided to call the Police.
On the phone he explained that he saw a ghost in the house.
About 15 minutes later a police car drove up to the house.
The Police Officer decided to go into the house but Alan refused to go back inside.
After several minutes, the Police officer came back outside with a very old man beside him.
The Police officer told Alan “This old man, is the owner of the home and he has been sneaking out of the nursing home and returning home at night”.