It was supposed to watch over the house and keep our old Catholic family safe. It was a heavy, ornate crucifix, covered in rosary beads, sitting on the highest shelf in the room. The suffering Christ witnessed all goings on in the house, but just seemed to sit there never doing a thing to releive our suffering.

It was dark in the room that night. Yet, the crucifix still seemed to reflect what little light moved around us. But we didn't notice. The movie "The Changeling" held our attention. But, just at the part where we should have been most frightened, we both turned our attention from the television as we heard the soft sound of something heavy being pushed along a wooden surface.

After a few minutes, we forgot about the sound and refocused on the movie.

Then it happened again. And just when it happed, a flash of light reflected of the polished surface of the crucifix. We saw it move, slowly toward the edge of the shelf.

We couldn't take our eyes off the crucifix even as the most terrifying parts on the movie played on. We were too afraid to approach the old symbol of safety and comfort. We just stared toward it, waiting for the next inevitable move.

Then, right before our eyes, it happened again. Whatever was doing it clearly wanted to make itself known. It was then hanging over the edge, teetering back and forth. Then the movie ended and the television went dark. We heard the loud sound of something heavy and metal hitting the floor. When light returned to the room, we saw the crucifix lying helplessly on the floor, still relecting what little light remained in the room.

We never touched the crucifix or even looked behind us as we ran toward our bedrooms. I slept underneath my sheets that night.

The next morning, my brother and I went back into the crucifix room. But it was no longer lying on the floor. It stood tall on the top of the shelf reflecting the little sliver of sunlight off its polished surface. We looked closely at it and could see stripes in the dust where it had been moved. We also saw a break in the carpet where it had fallen. But somehow it was back in its place. And we thought maybe, somehow, somewhere, there was hope.

Story
Background

We lived in the Carper Military Apartments in the summer of 1985 until the spring of 1990. Most members of my family claim the same thing- a lot of weird and unexplained stuff happened there. I returned in the spring of 2000 to see that all of the houses had been demolished, but all of the streets, sidewalks, driveways and even trees were still there. It was the spookiest I'd ever seen the place. [Close]