I was desperate to find a place its important that this fact is clear, I had been paying over 200 for a rent by the week suite in a less than wonderful area of Pittsburgh, Pa with my 3 kids. My coworker had the place and after some begging he agreed to rent to me, handed me a key and told me to go check it out. I didn’t like the place, it was heavy and felt negative but I needed a place and so I took the apartment and of course showed nothing but a happy face to my 3 kids.
I moved in my belongings the following week, the first night there I heard noises, figured this was due to its age and tried to downplay it as a new place Id have to learn the personality of. The second night there I had terrible dreams gray skinned figures in white gowns surrounded the bed I was in (in my dream I had the same pj's on, the room was in life and dream the same) these figures were moaning hands reached out toward me and edging ever closer. Their eyes were closed skin looked dry and cracked. My daughter woke me saying I was praying and crying in my sleep. I had always experienced dreams but again I attempted to down play this not only to calm my self but to keep my children from fearing the new place.
My son at the time was 7, special needs (high functioning autistic), began to act very strangely. He had always been fearless, but shortly after our first week he began refusing to go into the bathroom on his own, when I would ask why his response was “The black men in the shower” one evening while sitting on the couch with my 2 daughters my son walked to the bathroom, opened the door and quickly slammed it shut. I asked what was wrong. He told me “the men are in there”, when I said what men he said “Open the door and see” he looked nervous began biting his nails and staring at the shut door. I must admit it took every ounce of courage I had to open that door, but I had to do it not just to set his mind at ease but mine as well. As I opened the door he stood as far back as possible. I looked and there was nothing I could see, he made me stand at the door and he stared into the shower pointing and saying “right there see” I told him to go potty Id stay put and it was fine.
As the days went on more activity began to happen. My son came out of the room one day and told my oldest daughter that “The terrible guy had tried to lick his face” when we asked who the terrible guy was he demonstrated that the “guy” walked on hands and feet, literally knees off the floor. He said the terrible guy had long arms and legs and wobbled when he walked. This of course made things more difficult, the girls were now terrified and asked me questions all night. I did what any parent does I told them this was just a 7 year old's imagination and regaled them with tales of their imaginary friends. I tried my best to keep things calm and funny. But then the growls began. At first little movements in the corners, blurry masses out of the corner of our eyes, then one afternoon my daughter (the oldest) arrived home about 40 min before the rest of us, I pulled up and found her outside on the curb sobbing. The story she told me was as follows: she had come in the front door which faced the bathroom, as she closed the front door, she heard movement in the bathroom looked up and sticking out of the tub were feet that quickly yanked back into the shower, she didn’t stick around to see what else happened she darted from the home, and decided she wouldn’t be going back in till got home. Even now as I write this the emotional trauma and fear is overpowering. After this incident things got worse fast. One afternoon I was sitting on the couch Id been having terrible nightmares nightly, so bad and vivid that I was unable to fall back to sleep. Sleep deprived I called my mother, explained what I was going through as I’m explaining this to my mom, just that I was suffering some stress and bad dreams, this blowing came from the right and I felt it like pins and needles on my arm, I said “Mom I feel something, its blowing on me” she began to pray (her life was full of paranormal happenings so her contribution from afar was of the spiritual nature) as soon as she did the blowing stopped, but right as I am saying to my mom “It stopped” my middle child screamed, came running from the other side of the apartment yelling “My hair just got ripped out” I look at her and her face is in utter terror, she felt a strong tug and the hair being pulled from her head. I held her comforted her tried to find an explanation the normal “Was it a nail?, was it caught on your shirt?” etc but to all I heard “NO!!!” she told me I was sitting on my bed playing on my DS and suddenly my head was jerked back and I felt my hair pull out. I walked into the room, and laying on the opposite end of the bed was a clump of hair, my child’s hair, and that was the turning point I knew now it had been annoyed by my moms prayer and had gone after my child to punish me. My other daughter had her hair tugged as she left the bathroom about a week before and I explained it away... maybe it was her imagination, maybe a draft, etc... all along I knew my fears upon entering this apartment that first day were founded. After that the kids began having nightmares similar to the ones I had never told them about. After some other incidents we decided to move the mattresses into the main room and sleep in there as a family. The first night I slept on the couch, with mattresses on the floor next to me. I dreamed one of the worse dreams yet, I say this because I really don’t believe I was dreaming, I think its the only was my mind can handle it. I dreamed a black figure was leaning over me on the couch blowing on my shoulder, I woke up still feeling this cold pins and needles feeling on my shoulder. After months of this, I was worn down. After the dreams my kids had I began staying up and watching over them as they slept, one evening around 315 am my son began talking in his sleep, he'd never done this, I listened but the voice got deeper and deeper almost guttural and within seconds both my daughters were speaking the same in their sleep all sounded like a low guttural chant, then my son got on all 4s still asleep and began crawling over his sisters and making these growling noises. I laid him down and calmed them all and quietly but forcefully said “You are not allowed to touch my children, mess with their sleep or them in any way” about 2 min later they were silent and slept the rest of the night without incident.
I went and got holy water, burned my sage and blessed the apartment inside and out. I printed out the Saint Michael prayer and kept it close, as this was comforting to me. Weeks went by and it seemed calm. So I in an effort to normalize the situation allowed my oldest daughters friend to stay over. My middle child decided to record a part of the movie that they were watching (the grudge, not sure why but they wanted a horror movie) she wanted to record this part so she could watch it later and also to scare her sister and her sisters friend... typical sibling stuff. After recording it she wanted to play it back to make sure it got it... they brought me the DS and asked me to watch it. I watched and on the video though its dark in the room, you can see a huge shadow man walk in front of the DS, no one had moved, my son and I were in a different part of the house and my kids (and their friend) were laying on the bed together never got up or walked around. I couldn’t explain this but it made sense, here my son had talked of “Black men” and it dawned on me what would a shadow person look like to a 7 year old autistic child??? well I imagine a black man a dark male shaped figure... after this video things picked up a bit, 2 nights later we heard clatter in the bedroom closest we walked into the room and the hangers were rocking back and forth not a tiny motion but a full on swinging motion. I played this off and said “Well I’m sure the upstairs neighbor made the walls shake or something. But I knew he wasn’t home, I just didn’t want the kids freaking out. Other tenants had left this apartment abruptly my landlord told me a few left with nothing more than a few outfits but all else, furniture, papers, clothing, etc had been left. The downstairs neighbor seemed to experience bouts of rage, a very adorable puppy he had who was perfectly healthy one afternoon ended up dead that night, the aid worker for the man the vet was unable to find a cause for this puppies death. This neighbor would begin screaming in his apartment and throwing things around at random times and stare blankly up at my window from the yard for over an hour. I cant say for certain what it was he was going through but I do know the feeling I and my kids got around him was uneasy.
Both neighbors had severe drinking problems and I had the urge to drink while there, though I rarely did it was often in my mind to drink, stay in bed, I was unable to control my emotions at times as were my daughters. My son often spoke of a little boy named Aiden. He told me that Aiden didn’t like Mr D because Mr D got drunk and hurt his family. There was no Aiden in his class, nor had their been. I made the decision to leave the apartment but felt the need to be kind of sneaky about it, I knew I needed to leave, but also felt I should not talk about it in the apartment. I packed and moved 1 year and 6 months after moving in. but a week before I left after putting the kids on their buses I went upstairs and fell asleep I dreamed I was laying on the mattress (the very mattress I had fallen asleep on) and I was talking to a little boy blond hair blue eyes maybe 5-6 years old. I knew in my dream he was dead I mean I literally accepted it as a fact hes dead we're conversing no biggie... but in my dream something suddenly dawned on me and I turned to the little boy and said “You aren’t a little boy, I knew what you are” I saw this creepy sly smile form on his face and I knew he had hidden as this little boy and appeared to my son, to gain trust. Since moving I have had only one dream about that place. And life got better instantly. I lost 3 cars living there, 2 jobs, had non stop depression, anger and confusion, I felt lost and hopeless, run down and ill. Since the first night living that all went away. I found a job 2 days after moving, got a car, kids are happy, my mood is constant and I’m the optimistic person I always was before that apartment.
The drawings below are my interpretation of Ava's account and not 100% accurate.