When I was
about 8 years old we moved into a one family house, prior to this we lived in the
apartment above my father’s bar, the apartment was on the third floor so there were
many stairs to climb as a young kid. I was happy to hear we would be moving
into a one family house and not so many stairs… good grief what a relief since I was a bit on the clumsy side, I had fallen down those
stairs many times … all I can say is “Ouch” and lots of tears!!! I hated those
stairs … but I would imagine my parents hated them more, since they had to
carry groceries and young kids up and down those stairs …
I only learned
this fact as an adult, the new house my family was moving into was purchased from a church
… it was a rectory for St. Luke’s (I do not know what domination it was, but obviously
it was Christian)… now here I have to say, my dad (pappy) was somewhat of a hustler if he could get a
good deal, he would go for it (pappy called it “good business”) … so Pappy got
a good deal on this house (even for that time circa early 1960’s, it was a good
deal) . I have learned in life “good deals” usually are not there is always
something wrong, if there is a “really good deal” attached to it.
Within a
couple of months in the new house, I started to get creeped out with the
basement and the attic … soon I became scared to death of them… I had an eerie feeling
whenever I was in the attic or the basement. When we first moved into this new
house it was heated with a coal furnace and my brother Joe was usually
in charge of filling the furnace with coal and removing the ash from it … I
would on occasion go down into the basement with my brother and watch him fill
up the furnace with coal …my brother had to walk back and forth to where the
coal was stored and where the furnace was located … so I figured if there was anything
creepy down there odds were they would go after my brother first and I would
have the chance to run up the stairs to safety. (Sorry Joe) but every man for himself
(or little kid)! There was a problem with this plan of mine though, at the
bottom of the staircase to the right was the really “creepy dark room” … the
place where I thought the monsters and/or ghosts lived or at least hung out in!
So sometimes I would watch my brother fill the furnace from only half way
down the stairs.
Now as I
grew up in this house … sadly it never stopped creeping me out… I could not
wait to get out of this house be it going away to college or marrying young! I
did the latter, which it turns out was even scarier (but that is another story)
… even as an adult with my own children that house spooked me out, as if there
was an unseen darkness there …
The years
passed and in 1987 my mother had a stroke in that house, which she would die
from 9 days later, my father also became seriously ill in that house, yet he
survived and lived in the house for about 5 more years, until it burned down… (Or
it partially did)… since there was insurance on the house it was rebuilt to be placed
on the market to be sold. My dad placed me in charge of overseeing the project
and dealing with the insurance company, the bank and the contractors … (all of
which was a nightmare and the insurance company did not secure the house
properly post the fire so it was repeatedly robbed) as if the house itself was harassing
me! Nothing went right… finally it was sold well below market value and
covering only the cost of a second mortgage that was on it …
… but I learned more, from my Aunt Monica’s encounter with this woman …
she stated that during WWII the house was used for a group of “Mussolini
followers”, who secretly wanted Hitler and Mussolini to win the war… I was told
they had a big painting of Mussolini, which
they would bring out during their meetings and then hide it inside the wall of
the house … Apparently they feared the FBI might become aware of their meetings
and they did not want any evidence that would link them to being pro Mussolini.
Now this I am sure this is true for during WWII there were “detention centers for
such people”…
So one week
prior to the sale of the spooky house, my youngest daughter and I searched the
walls inside the house to try and find any secret compartments… no luck … or maybe
it was luck not to find it! The painting
was probably haunted and I bet it was located in that dark creepy room in the
basement … I never checked in that room, if the painting was in there I figured
the ghosts and demons can keep it …
Every time
I drive pass that house now I think, “Mussolini in the Wall” …
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