Nine Months in Hell: My Experiences of Living in a Haunted Home

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a house with negative energy? Being a big fan of the horror genre and seeing every possible horror movie ever made, I definitely thought it would be an interesting experience. In theory. I didn’t really take it seriously because come on, those movies had to be all special effects right? I figured it would be fun because I thought it would be like walking through a haunted house on Halloween. Sure, it might be creepy, but at least you got to leave at the end. Unfortunately, I had the chance to experience living in a place like that in real life and no I couldn’t leave and go home at the end because it was my home.

For nine months last year, I rented an apartment that I believe had the most amount of negative energy of any place I had ever been. I always knew that places like this existed, but I never thought I would end up living in one myself. I wasn’t able to check out the apartment before I rented it so the first time I entered was the day I moved in. From the first time that I entered, I knew something was off. I hadn’t been feeling well that day so I blamed it on that and focused on unpacking and settling in. I couldn’t help but feel a heaviness in the air yet again I figured it was all in my head and I was just imagining things. My first night was filled with a restless sleep. I used to be one of those people who could fall asleep and stay asleep all night without waking up. As soon as I started living there, I could not stay asleep for long before I was tossing and turning. I just could not feel comfortable or safe. It didn’t feel like home at all. As soon as I woke up the next day, I wasn’t feeling much better. I thought that I must be getting sick or something because my appetite was gone and I just felt sick to my stomach. I did feel better in a couple of days but it didn’t last long.

It was my first time living completely alone so I blamed all my feelings on that. I figured I must just be lonely and homesick. I figured that once my internet and cable television was hooked up I would feel better and more connected to the outside world. Unfortunately, that took way longer than it should have. It was supposed to be a week, but it took almost a month to get the internet and cable television on. Everything that was supposed to be simple and easy was becoming difficult. Customer service is usually stressful to deal with but this was ridiculous. Every aspect of the move was made unnecessarily difficult. It was like the apartment didn’t want me there and was seriously trying to push me away. The only time I ever felt any peace was when I left the apartment.

Days and weeks passed and I didn’t feel better about living there. Every time I entered the apartment I would start to feel sad and depressed, even if I was having a good time just minutes before. I could not for the life of me feel happy in that place. In addition, my health became worse and worse. I had some minor health issues before I moved in, but now they were becoming big issues that required a doctor’s attention. After taking some medication that a doctor prescribed, I did feel better physically, but emotionally I just felt dead. It seemed like I should be happy, I was relatively healthy once again and had my own place. I could do anything I wanted and had plenty of space to do it in because I lived alone in a two story townhouse. It had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a basement with a laundry room, and a garage. It was everything and more that anyone could want for their first apartment. Still, I wasn’t happy and I couldn’t figure out why every time that I entered my home that it felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders.

I am a writer so I work out of my home without having to go to a regular nine to five job. This means that I spent the majority of my time at home. I used the master bedroom for me and the spare bedroom as a sort of storage room. I could barely bring myself to unpack my things into my dressers and closets. Every fiber of my being was pushing me to just run away. Again, I just assumed it was because it was my first time on my own. Still, something was off and it definitely felt wrong. I wanted to spend as much time away from my apartment as possible. When I was there, I felt so unhappy and depressed that I just wanted to cry. Soon, I couldn’t help it and I would cry almost every day because I just couldn’t take it anymore.

At the same time, my health was deteriorating once more and there was no good explanation for it. It seemed that the more time I spent in that place, the sicker I became both physically and mentally. I could never really sleep because I didn’t feel comfortable or safe. It didn’t feel like home. I especially felt the negativity in my bedroom. It was the room I spent the most time in yet it was the one place I felt the worst. It’s like as soon as I entered that room I felt dead inside. I didn’t care about anything and nothing in the world mattered. I stopped writing because I just couldn’t bring myself to sit down and feel inspired. I felt like I was losing myself and was helpless to stop it. I was losing control of my life more and more every day. Shopping used to make me happy, but I had stopped wanting to buy things. I used to be a foodie and liked to try new things but I didn’t have much of an appetite anymore. In fact, in the first month that I lived in that apartment I lost 15 pounds for no reason. By the time I left the apartment nine months later I had lost 25 pounds. I went from being a healthy 125 pounds to being a sickly 100 pounds. Holidays and birthdays passed, and I just felt like an outsider in my own life, watching it pass me by. Seasons changed and months passed by, but I felt more and more disconnected from reality. There had to be more to life than this.

After going to numerous doctors, I got the same response. There was nothing physically wrong with me that was causing me to lose all that weight. I just didn’t have an appetite and therefore didn’t want to eat. The reason I didn’t have an appetite was because I felt so unhappy and stressed out in my new apartment. It got to the point where I felt I was losing my mind. As time went on, the negativity only seemed to increase. I was pushed down the stairs a couple of times as well. Thankfully, they were carpeted and I landed on my hands and knees instead of my head. I didn’t see anything or anyone, but I felt something push me down those stairs. I also heard a voice whispering in my ear saying: “you’re gonna die here.” This scared me to the point where I no longer wanted to live there alone or at all. I decided to have my mom move in with me for moral support.

Although I felt better having my mom around, I still couldn’t feel happy about living there. My mom felt the negativity too. She could barely sleep and always looked tired and stressed. I could see the negativity was taking a toll on her as well. I decided to do some research on the internet on how to remove negativity from homes. I made a list and decided to do it all the next day. I lit candles, I said prayers, I burned sage, I opened all doors and windows, and I even thought about calling a pastor from the church to come and bless the place. Unfortunately, nothing worked and the place became harder and harder to live in as the time passed. I had a one year lease on the apartment so I figured I had no choice but to stick it out until then. Still, I didn’t know how much more I could take. Everything in my life was falling apart. I could not find peace within myself or in anything else. I barely watch a movie or read a book because I felt the heaviness of the air around me. It was suffocating me and making me feel like I just didn’t want to live anymore. At night, doors would slam shut by themselves, lights would go on and off, and my television would turn on and off by itself. I would hear loud noises coming from the basement and the washer and dryer turning on and off by itself. The negativity was everywhere in that apartment, but I especially felt it in my bedroom and bathroom. I used to love taking showers and baths but now I would dread it. I would get it and out as fast as I could like someone was timing me. I had a closet near my bed and I especially dreaded opening it and getting out clothes. Something just felt so dark and gloomy about it. I usually checked every night before bed that it was shut tightly, but the next morning it would be wide open. This had to be what hell was like because it was certainly hell on earth for me.

Every time I left the house it felt like something was pushing me out, and every time I came back home it felt like I wasn’t welcome and should leave again. I didn’t know how much more I could take but I knew it couldn’t be much. I hit my breaking point when I was standing at the top of the stairs to the basement with a full laundry basket when I was pushed down. These stairs weren’t carpeted, they were concrete. Thankfully, I grabbed the railing before I could fall down to the concrete floor. If I hadn’t been able to grab the railing I probably would have been killed by the sheer force of the push and by hitting the concrete floor at the bottom. I knew at that point that I had to get out no matter what. I would break my lease or pay whatever I had to, but I could no longer stay in a place that obviously wanted me to get out. I called my parents and moved in with them that same day. I packed a bag with just my necessary belongings and ran out of there as fast as I could. I would come back for my things later, but for now I had to get out.

I started to feel better knowing I would never have to live in that apartment again. For the next few weeks I came with my parents to pack up all my things. I never wanted to be in that apartment alone again. I was able to talk my landlord into breaking my lease even though I had lived there only nine months instead of a full year. The only thing I would lose money wise was my security deposit. I didn’t care though because I was finally free. Every day that I was away from that place I felt stronger and happier. My appetite came back and I was able to gain back enough pounds so that I was at a healthy weight again. I no longer felt sad or depressed, rather I felt like a huge weight had been lifted and I could be me again. The only thing that still bothered me was what exactly had happened in that place for it to be so haunted and full of negativity? I knew I had to find out one way or another.

After a lot of research I was able to find out that my apartment actually had a suicide happen in it about ten years ago. Someone had killed themselves in that closet in my bedroom that I hated so much. It was the closet that I would shut tightly at night but would always open itself by the morning. Someone had actually killed themselves in that closet that was two feet away from the bed I slept in! Another thing I found out in my research was that a murderer had lived there only five years prior. This man was now serving a lifetime sentence in prison for raping and killing young girls. I think he probably did his raping and killing in this apartment. I finally had an explanation for all the negativity and hauntings I had experienced there. I figure whoever was pushing me so the ghost of the person who had killed himself in that closet. All the negativity was due to the suicide and the rape and murder of all those young girls. Although I was glad to finally know the truth, it disgusted me that someone could rent out an apartment like this to people and expect them to pay good money for it. I called my landlord and told him of my findings. He listened to me but acted like I was a crazy person. He did say he would “look into it” but I don’t know what good that will do. The only thing to do in a situation like this is never to rent out this apartment to anyone ever again.

If I could give anyone advice about what to do in a similar situation, I would say listen to your instincts and trust yourself. If you feel something is wrong don’t try and stick out for as long as you can, like I did. I wish I had listened to myself and left much earlier. My first mistake was not seeing the apartment before I rented it. If I had seen it myself and felt something was off I might have saved myself a lot of pain and discomfort by never renting it in the first place. If you do live in a haunted place filled with negativity, do try to remove it yourself first with candles, sage, and prayer. I also read that it helps to paint walls and change carpeting, but of course I couldn’t do this because it was just an apartment and I didn’t own it. If you have to invite a priest and have him spray holy water and say prayers, do that too. But if all this doesn’t work, just leave. Simply get out and leave because it’s just not worth putting yourself or your family at risk.

***IF YOU HAVE YOUR OWN PERSONAL STORY OF LIVING IN A HAUNTED HOUSE PLEASE SHARE IT IN THE COMMENTS BELOW. I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!***