company and see if there was a place in Massachusetts that could fix my window. The dealership said they needed a code to make a spare key. I had this code but it was on my spare car keys in Pennsylvania. I had to call my landlord and see if she could go to my apartment, look for the key, and give me the number over the phone. After we got the code we then had to call a cab to get to the Toyota dealer, get the key made and then go back to the hotel. The cab was coming from a different town, so it was expensive. We discovered that we could have walked to the dealership. It was only about a mile down the road from where we were staying. Of course we didn’t know how close it was until after we got there. Meanwhile, we had to check out of the hotel by 11:00am and it was getting close to that time. I had to leave my dog in the car while we went to the dealership. I was worried because of the busted window. I was afraid he might jump out the window or someone might steal him. My dog Kiki is a pug. I’ve heard horror stories about this sort of thing. I was probably being paranoid but considering all the bad luck we were having, I was just being precautious.
I was on the phone with the insurance company for a few hours when we returned to the hotel. Finally, I was able to find a place that could fix my window that day. I stressed the urgency that it needed to be fixed immediately because I had to get home and I lived five hours away. I told them I had to travel on the highway and it would be extremely difficult without a window. There were also fragments of glass everywhere inside the car. After all the hassle, I was able to get the window fixed and I finally left Salem on Halloween day.
It felt like something was keeping us there and didn’t want us to leave. We never found the car keys.
I have a good friend Steve that lives in Medford, Massachusetts. I went to visit him in August of 2006 to say goodbye because I was moving to New Mexico. He lives about a half hour from Salem. I had to convince my friend Val, to go with me to Salem again. Considering what happened to us the previous year she was reluctant to go. She thought we might have bad luck again like we always do.
Steve wanted us to meet his co-worker Stephanie. She does psychic readings and lives in Salem. We got acquainted the day before at his neighborhood block party. We told her we would meet for lunch the next day. We followed Steve to her apartment. I was shocked to see the location of the apartment. As we approached the road closer to the building, I got chills. I looked over at my friend, and we both realized Stephanie lived on the road that we got stranded on the year before. This was on Hubbard Street . We were both afraid to get out of the car. Eventually, we did and for once nothing bad happened.
Stepahnie said that at one time Nathaniel Hawthorne lived in her apartment building. It was only for a short time. He did some writing in the attic. Her apartment is one of the many stops on the local History tour of Salem. We had a nice day. This was the first time I left Salem without anything bad or spooky happening. Could it be because I was there in August and not October? Or could it be that the spell was finally broken? Salem knew this was the last time I would be there. I was leaving Salem and the east coast for good. I was moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico in search for a new adventure into the unknown. I left closing one portal and entered into a new one.
HAUNTED HOUSE IN DINGMANS FERRY
WILD ACRES
DINGMANS FERRY - PENNSYLVANIA
2000
In 2000 I was living in Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania with my boyfriend Moises. We lived in a development called Wild Acres. It was located in a private gated community.
The house was a small A-frame with two small bedrooms, 1 small bathroom and kitchen, a medium sized living room, and a full basement. The house was inexpensive and we were excited to move in.
One of the first strange incidents that occurred was while I was painting my bedroom. My first project was to lay primer down on the walls to get it ready for the teal color paint that I had selected. The room was empty and only had paint, rollers, and brushes in it. The only thing that I placed in my bedroom window was an incense burner. I walked into the other room for just a minute and when I returned I noticed the incense burner had been moved. This was weird because I was the only one in the house. I dismissed it thinking maybe I just moved it without realizing and forgot about it. Then the next day, I felt like someone was staring at me. I glanced over my shoulder but I didn’t see anything. Then later on that evening I discovered that the incense burner was missing. I could not find it anywhere. It mysteriously reappeared several days later back where I had originally placed it. I was a little surprised, but more intrigued than scared.
My boyfriend worked two jobs and he would get home very late and I would already be sleeping when he arrived. I didn’t like to be in the house alone so I would invite my friend to stay over on the weekends.
The house had many problems. In the bathroom, mold was growing on the walls. I would scrap the paint and the mold spots off and then repaint the walls. It would grow back only a few days later. I did this twice, then I finally gave up. It was useless to keep trying to fix this recurring problem. The sinks were always clogged and the basement was very damp and smelled like stale air. I was allergic to mold so I was always sick with a sinus infection. This was not a good environment for me to live in.
One night I heard a fluttering of wings in the wall of my bedroom. It scared me but I was sure there had to be an explanation for it. The next day I discovered there was a small hole in the wall from the outside leading to the wall in my bedroom. I saw a hummingbird squeeze through and fly in. I found the culprit. We also found mice in the house. They left droppings in my shoes and chewed up some of my books in the closet. In the kitchen I found dog food next to my utensils. The mice were taking the dog food and storing it away in the drawers. At first I thought it was funny, but then it became annoying. I could hear them at night rustling around.
I had a separate bedroom from my boyfriend, he worked long hours and I didn’t want him waking me up every night at 2:00am since I had to get up at 6:00am. I also felt a little creepy when I was in his bedroom. I didn’t like to sleep in there. Ever since we moved in I felt like there was a presence in the house. It seemed to be concentrated in the living room and my boyfriend’s bedroom. That’s where I felt the presence the strongest. It didn’t feel like anything evil or threatening. It just felt like I was never alone and somebody else was living there with us.
Another strange thing that kept occurring was when I returned home from work, I would find every single cabinet door in the kitchen wide open. I know that they were all shut when I left in the morning. I asked my boyfriend if he had done this. He insisted that it wasn’t him. I would yell at him and say ” you were probably too tired too remember that you left them open.” This happened several times. One night I was cooking dinner and one of the cabinet doors opened slowly behind me. It scared me a little but I knew nothing bad would happen. After that incident I was convinced that the house was haunted.
I asked my boyfriend about the previous owners. I found out that the woman who lived here before us had a husband who just recently died of a heart attack. That’s why she sold the house. He was a physician. This was their weekend getaway house. Sometimes he would stay the weekend by himself to hunt and fish. He loved the house and the solitude. I believe he was attached to the house. She didn’t tell us whether or not her husband passed away in the house, but I believe that he did.
I have taken pictures of my dog in the living room and several orbs have shown up surrounding him. I think he could also sense a presence there.
I wonder if the doctor enjoyed the house so much and the peace and quiet of the neighborhood that he never wanted to leave. I think it was his presence that I felt when I was in the house.
(Kiki with orbs above him and on the right side) Wild
