Our haunted hell

Moving into our new house on Rothesay Avenue the age old cliche “there’s no place like home” came to mind. We all settled in nicely, every single one of us.

The house was homely, and we were all excited to finally live in a girly house! For our first night out together we took a standard visit to Crisis, which was enjoyed too much by some.

Walking through the door, cheesy chips in hand, I noticed a light on in the cellar, the door to which has always been locked. I decided not to bring it up, considering the state we were in and I swore never to go down there.

The next day’s obligatory hungover trip to Sainsbury’s was halted after I couldn’t find my shoes. After looking in every possible spot they could have been dumped in the night before to no avail, I took the dreaded step into the basement, the one I swore not to go down.

There they were, at the bottom of the stairs, placed neatly beneath the light that I had noticed on the night before.

How did they get there?

Finally, I told the rest of the house, and all five of them just laughed. What was I expecting though really? It was probably a prank from the night before.

But then things got really weird.

A few days later, around about the start of term, I simply couldn’t find my phone. I had no idea where it was but was sure it would soon turn up, as these things do. But after deciding to watch Crazy, Stupid, Love in my housemate Hannah’s room, things went from bad to worse.

Sophie’s phone rings, although she wasn’t able to get to it in time. Imagine our confusion when we saw the caller ID… it was supposedly coming from my phone!

Not only that, but a voicemail had been left too, but when we listened. All we could hear was heavy breathing. Later I finally found my phone in the kitchen. None of my housemates were laughing by now, it had all become a little too freaky for our liking.

Us in our happier times…

After about a week, I came to think that all of these occurrences were just coincidental; that we were just being irrational. The shoes: probably a prank. The phone incident I couldn’t quite work out, but there must have been a logical reason.

But another night out came along and we were all there enjoying the pre-lash as a house drunkenly putting our names up in fridge magnets.

This time however, we returned from the night to find another name alongside ours. Mandy. So this ‘being’ had a name.

The house has a new addition…

Another prank? Surely not. That night, in the early hours, two of my house woke up to find a vase has crashed inexplicably to the floor. No windows open, no one awake, no one to accuse except Mandy.

It’s now got to stage where we’re really not sure how much more we can take. We have tried to speak to her, we have tried to stay awake and see what happens but to no avail. I guess there won’t ever be an explanation, and we’ll have to get used to our new unwelcome housemate.

I only hope she doesn’t turn on us.

Is Mandy in this very photo?