My Husband and I took a job at a new Room and Board in the country. It was like a dream.
It was a huge old ranch that had been vacant for the past 8 years. There were 6 small cottages and a main house with 6 bedrooms. There was also a big storage bulding and a barn.
Lastly, the building where we lived was the staff dwelling. The bottom level was a living room, an industrial kitchen and a smaller single family kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom. Upstairs was our room which adjoined our daughters bedroom and she had a patio that overlooked the 20 acres of property.
There was an orchard and a big grassy field. Between working 12 hour days and being a family we had very little time to enjoy our beautiful surroundings but for the most part it was nice living there...
The first couple nights were a little odd. There was a truck that would pull into the driveway with its brights on and then it would sit for a minute or two then drive off.
The neighbors were not super friendly but I found out later it was because they didn't want anyone living on the property. I guess back in the 1970's and 80's it was a foster home for troubled kids.
Sometimes kids would run to the neighbors and claim they were being abused and starved. The police would come and take the kids back to the ranch and no evidence was ever found to support the alligations.
But the neighbors were automatically hostile towards anyone trying to buy the place.
The first thing that kind of made me uncomfortable was the closet. Behind the downstairs bedroom closet was a hidden door that led to a room with a water spicket and a light bulb which had a pull string.
Then in the floor of the secret room was a trap door that led to the crawl space where I found gloves, a blanket and about 20 little girls hairties. I showed it to the other staff members and the owner. She said it was probably a kids clubhouse down there or something.
I brushed it off because there was no record of anything sinister going on here and I figured it was probably my imagination and too many crime dramas on tv.
Then my daughter started having nightmares. She would come down and say that there was a man upstairs. He just kept saying her name over and over. And when she'd wake up he would leave.
after a few days of this she started complaining that her bed was shaking. So I brought her into my room and cuddled her to sleep.
But then I woke up because of what felt like our great Dane scratching his ear really passionately and it went on so long I sat up to tell him to get off the bed. But as soon as I sat up it stopped and I realized the dog was locked out of the room... the bed was shaking, I swear it was.
It happened again the following night so I brought my daughter downstairs and we slept on the couch.
My Mom offered to host a reunion of all the grandkids including my daughter for a whole two weeks. The first night she was gone was peaceful.
The second night I was cleaning her room and I heard the voice. A man's voice... calling my daughter's name. It sounded angrier each time I heard it. The dog kept pacing and whining and there was an overall feeling of unease.
But the final straw was when I was outside taking out the trash and I looked up at the patio... the light in her room was on and I could see a tall man pacing in her room.
I ran inside and told my husband and when we went upstairs there was nothing there.
I put my foot down and said we were moving. And we did. We put in our notice of resignation and 30 days later we were out of there.
After the move I Googled old police reports associated with the address of the ranch. 10 children had gone missing there when it was a foster home. They were presumed runaways and it was never investigated propperly.
