The Phelp's Mansion

Things aren't always what they seem, and you may end up fighting for your life.

The Phelps Mansion was situated behind a thicket of Oak and Elm trees. Covering the house almost completely. Some say the house was demolished back in 1974 but only the few supposedly sent to demolish the house knew that it was left where it stood. The Phelps Mansion had a terrible history. Dr. Eliakim Phelps was a man with a love for occult and spiritualism, which led him to a hobby of trying to contact spirits through séances.  But in March of 1850 one of the séances released a bad apple, a witch claimed by the name of Goody Bassett, who was hanged in 1661.

The house has been haunted ever since.

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“The address is 1738 Elm Street, Stratford, Connecticut,” said a rather frustrated woman. She had flaming red hair, deep green eyes and pasty pale skin. Her, her husband, and their family were all moving to Connecticut so they could live in the famous Phelps Mansion. She was searching for a well-priced house in Stratford so that she could once again visit the city she grew up in.

“Okay let me get the GPS programmed,” responded her husband leaning over the dashboard to fill in the information for their new home. The man was lightly tanned with blue eyes, and honey brown hair. He understood his wife’s love for Stratford, she had lived most of her life there and she was happier then than she was now. What he did not understand was why they had to travel 22 hours by car from Little Rock, AK to Stratford, CT.

“Do we have to leave? All my friends are here,” whined their 14-year-old son, Harry. He was the spitting image of his father except smaller and with a lighter tan. He had his IPod sitting in his jacket pocket and the sound of Hawthorne Heights was blaring through his ear buds.

“Well Mom wanted to move back to her home town and there we found a good house for sale so we put a deposit on the house. Now all we have to do is drive over there and unpack all of our bags. Then we can get situated in the house and after a while and we can start over new.”

“I know but I don’t want to leave were we live now and I don’t want to start over,” the boy said finally quickly blocking the sound of his father by sticking his ear buds back in his ears.

“Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, can we bring Buttons along with us? I think he might get sad and lonely if we let Annabelle take care of him while we move into the house. You know how much he loves me,” Anna ran out of the house carrying a young black Labrador in her thin arms, her red hair flying behind her. Looking at her daughters twinkling blue-green eyes the mother could not deny her daughter and allowed the dog to come with them instead of staying with Anna’s friend. Not, without a condition though.

“Okay, but if he gets mud on the mats can I count on you to clean them out since we got the dog for you and he is your responsibility?”

“Yes, Mommy, yes. Buttons won’t get even a speck of mud on the mat,” the thin girl said shaking her head vigorously. She proceeded to run into the house chatting to the dog about how much fun the 22-hour car ride would be. Harry looked at his younger sibling and officially decided she had to be put in a mental institution for girls as soon as they reached Stratford.

“Talking to the dog, crazy,” the boy muttered as he passed the girl down the hall. His mother ran through the house checking every room up and down making sure not to leave anything behind.

“Harry, Anna, Buttons car, now!” his father bellowed through the house. Slowly, Harry descended the stairs as Buttons scurried past him quickly followed by a flushed Anna. After the whole family, including Buttons, was loaded into the car the father pulled the gear into drive as Anna blurted out.

“Wait! I forgot Molly!” Anna opened her door and jumped onto the ground running into the house. A few minutes later Anna came back latching on to a brown haired doll with pigtails, clad in a light blue dress and black flats. Harry shook his head at Anna’s act. Though she was 7 she held onto that doll like a lifeline since she was 3. The father did one final round of making sure everyone had all their belongings and finally drove off while Anna waved goodbye to the old house.

“Let’s play ‘I Spy’,” suggested a bored Anna, Buttons lying asleep on her lap.

“No, Anna,” said her father, “Mom needs to get a lot of sleep so that when it is her turns to drive she can stay awake.”

“Oh, okay.”

Anna looked crestfallen, so she turned on her DS and began treating her dogs on her last saved game. After a few hours her DS lost all charge and she sat there looking out the window. ‘I wonder what the place will look like,’ she thought ‘maybe the house will look all creepy and have so many trees. We could have sleep over’s with the new friends I make there and…’ soon the young girl fell asleep her head resting on her hand.

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“Wake up! We are almost there!” shrieked Mom hitting the steering wheel in excitement. “Just imagine, in three hours we could be moving into a new house, starting over and showing everyone that we can be wonderful neighbors.

“Yeah, wonderful,” Harry said facetiously looking at his mother through the rear view mirror.

The mother looked at him disdainfully and told him “Well, if you keep up that attitude I will make you accept this house whether you like it or not.”

“Whatever,” the boy responded offhandedly. The mother huffed at this and continued to focus on the road in front of her. Sometimes the boy could tick her off to no end with all his ‘whatever’s and his rude tone. She just hoped it was only a phase. Something he would go in and out of quickly. She wished it was so but she couldn’t help but have this nagging feeling as if something really bad was going to happen.

The hours dragged on and when they finally reached the house they were all ready to stretch really quick and fall asleep wherever there were cushions. They had moved their furniture in before hand, and were thankful the house came with some furniture already, so that if they were tired after the long drive they could sleep right after they reached the house.

“Just grab your bags and put them in your rooms. Then you can go to sleep,” instructed Peter grabbing his bags and dragging them across the floor into the house. Slowly, the rest of his family followed him into The Phelps Mansion. As they walked in a sudden cold draft pushed through the room.

“Mommy?” asked a tired Anna.

“Yeah?”

“Why is it so cold in here?” she questioned, yawning.

“I don’t know I guess they didn’t want to keep the heater on,” Helen, the mother, told her looking down at her daughter. She turned away and walked through the hallway looking for the heater. From the outside the house was creepy. With the large trees blocking all view from the actual house. Something Helen said they would have to fix soon. The crusted white paint on the house also needed to be fixed. Inside, though, it was beautiful to put it simply.

The staircase descended from both sides of the living room going straight up to the 2^nd floor diagonally. The blood red carpet covering the oak wood of the stairs was dusty and the floorboards creaked noisily when you stepped in just the right places.  The walls were decorated in a dark brown wood, dust coating the thick surface. The few pieces of furniture in the room were old and antique giving a very eerie kind of setting all together.

“Now just go to bed and relax,” Peter informed them trudging up the stairs.

 

Harry tossed his bag across the room lazily and flopped on the bed.

“I wish we didn’t move here,” he said staring at the ceiling. They left the house fairly late, 10 o’clock to be exact, but through the whole drive there was nothing better to do than sleep so he now found himself in quite the predicament. He was not a bit tired. So for lack of a better thing to do he hopped off his new bed and began exploring.

Though Harry was not the exploring type he still found joy in taking walks yet he knew if he left the house his parents would go crazy. Down the hall way there were six doors three on the left two on the right and one at the end. The oak doors leading to the bedrooms were lined with cracks and groaned as you pushed the door open.

Carefully, Harry walked down the hall testing each floorboard for creaks.  He knew that he and Anna were living in both rooms on the right and that his parents slept in the bedroom closest to the stairs on the left. Next to their room was the bathroom and following that door was the fifth one that led to what would soon be his father’s office.

Attentively, he followed the hallway to the end and slowly turned the knob of the last door in the hallway. As he turned the knob there was a forceful resistance from the other side. He jingled it quickly and tried to pry the door open but it wouldn’t budge. Intent on finding the contents of what was behind the door he let go and lightly jogged his way to his room moving from side to side to avoid the noisy floorboards. Walking into his room, he felt something was out of place.

Looking around he could find nothing out of the ordinary but yet the feeling never left him. Dropping on the floor a few feet from his baggage he pulled the zipper open and began searching through its items. Finding what he wanted he pushed himself off the floor and returned to the mysterious door. Taking the paper clip he had grabbed and twisting a few times he stuck it in the keyhole hopping to do something, anything, to get the door open. As he pushed the malformed paperclip into the hole it flew out of his hands and onto the floor.

Bent on opening the door no matter what he followed the paperclip on the floor up and down the hall forgetting about the creaking steps, suddenly the paperclip stopped moving and lifted itself up off the floor and about 7 feet off the ground and pressed into the wall. Do not touch the door. Began etching itself onto the wall. Chilled, Harry stood were he was staring at the wall in fear.

Beside him, his parent’s door swung open and his father entered the hallway. Still scared, the boy turned around to face his father.

“What are you doing?” asked his father dazed.

“I was, uh, testing the, uh, floorboards out. Yeah, testing the floorboards out,” his father gave him a skeptical look but then nodded and headed back to his room. After Peter’s door was safely closed Harry spun around to the wall and looked at its surface. There, where the message used to be, was back to normal and Harry felt something in his pocket. Reaching in he pulled it out and examined it. It was the same paperclip that he used to pry the door at the end of the hall open.

Shocked beyond belief Harry ran to his room, locked the door, and flopped onto the bed, under the covers and forced himself to sleep.

 

Anna lay on the floor sprawled, the sheets laid out across the room with her lying on it.  On her right cheek there was the blotchy red print of a hand. Slowly, Anna woke up. Lifting herself off the floor and gazing around the room she noticed that she was no longer on the bed.

“How did I get here?” she muttered to herself looking around the room. Everything was the way she left it when she went to sleep. Shaking, she slowly raised herself off the floor and grabbed the sheets. She put the sheets on the bed and walked to the door. With one last look at the room she turned the knob and walked out.

She descended the stairs trying to clear her mind of all that had just happened and her feeling of shock. Suddenly, she had the urge to use the restroom.  She walked down the hall and turned to the bathroom right next to the kitchen. When she walked in she noticed something weird on her right cheek.

“Holy,” she whispered before here reflection began to change and soon she found herself staring at a lovely image of a woman with light brown hair cascading down her shoulders. She was beautiful spare the sneer etched on her face. Her eyes locked with Anna and Anna stood there paralyzed.

“W-who are y-you?” Anna asked shaking. In reply the reflection of the mirror raised her hand and brought it down on Anna’s arm, pricking her skin with a needle. Silently, Anna looked at the woman in the mirror as she faded away from the mirror and through the door and into the hall.

Harry walked down the staircase; he could already smell the pancakes his mother made for breakfast. Normally, he wasn’t scared of anything but what happened the night before left him paranoid. Now he made sure that he was always with someone unless he went to the bathroom or went to sleep. Walking down the stairs he saw an apparition float through the bathroom into the doorway of the kitchen and turn around to face him.

He looked at the figure, she was there with her head hanging slightly down, body limp and as Harry stood paralyzed her form slowly began to lose colour and finally her body faded away completely. The door to the bathroom opened and out walked his little sister Anna.

“Hey, Harry come eat,” as she bounded to the kitchen he could not help but notice that her skin was paler than usual and something about the way she walked seemed a little shaky. Slowly, Harry walked into the kitchen constantly looking over his shoulder. He sat down at the table next to Anna, and took a sip of the orange juice in his cup.

“Pancakes only?” he asked looking at his mother.

“Yup,” she replied.

“’Morning family!” Peter exclaimed looking giddy. They all sat at the table and began eating their breakfast.

Halfway in Peter looks at his family and says, “Can I count on everyone to un-pack their own bags?” Nods of agreement went around the table and breakfast in silence resumed. They had all finished unpacking their boxes; they even managed to play a game of Risk before the last meal of the day.

“What’s for dinner, Mommy?” asked Anna.

“Meat loaf,” the mother replied slipping on her oven mitts and taking the meatloaf out of the oven to place it lightly on the table. She slipped into her seat followed by the rest of her family.

“Pass the carrots,” Harry demanded.

“Say please,” reprimanded his mother.

“Please,” Harry snorted. Slightly infuriated Helen still handed the carrots, and as Harry began to reach out for the carrots he felt a small, cold hand slap his cheek.

“How dare you talk to your mother in that tone!” shrieked Anna in a raspy voice glaring at the boy fiercely. Harry met her glare and almost fell off his seat, in her eyes there was the same look that the ghost from this morning gave him! On the other side of Anna Buttons was growling and nipping, Anna’s body went stiff and she slumped over the table her head barely missing her plate full of food.

“Anna!” Peter yelled running over to his daughter looking to see if she was all right. For lack of a better excuse, Peter blamed it on the fact that Anna was cranky and tired from the long drive still. When she finally came to after a few shakes she looked up and across from her was the ghost mouthing the words ‘I’ll get you’. The next morning, after church, the family came home to an unusual sight; on the table leading to the parlor was the body of a dead, dirty corpse with its hands folded over the chest.

Slowly the body raised itself into the air and plummeted through the table and floor straight to the basement. A loud banging ensued for the top floor, possibly the attic, and the family began to find its location. They inspected each bedroom, and in the parents room there, on the bed, was the mothers dress with its arms over the chest, the same in the sons except with one of his jackets. Though, Anna was a different story all together, in her room Molly was torn to bits the stuffing littered around the room, her clothes hanging over the bed on the fan and every where in between.

Slowly, the family walked to the last room. The boy reached out to grab the handle but was pushed across the hall and into the railing.

 

“Everyone, in bed!” the mother yelled turning to her husband and whispering to take good care of the children. She ran down the stairs, grabbed her keys and jumped into her car turning on the engine. 

When she finally reached the library she looked up the history on the house they now resided in as quick as possible. After a while of nothing she finally found a hit. Skimming her eyes over the passage she recited the last sentences of the passage.

“If you ever find yourself in a situation similar to this we only have a few words of advice. Get out and fast,”

After a very crazy ride home she finally reached the house she no longer wanted to reside in. Running up the stairs she searched each of her child’s rooms and found no one she prayed they were all in her room. On the bed the rest of her family were huddled together and as she threw the door open they screamed. When they realized who was at the door they calmed so that she could speak.

Sitting on the side of the bed she didn’t bother to explain she just flat out told them “We have to move,” the door to the bedroom slammed shut and a cackle filled the room while the lights flickered.

“Let us out! Leave us alone and let us out!” Helen yelled pounding on the bedroom door and looking up at the ceiling. Stepping back Helen charged breaking down the door with her foot. Quickly, her family followed her into the hallway and down the stairs.

“Look out!” Harry yelled pulling his mother down as a sharp kitchen knife whizzed by her head.

“Thank you,” she said quickly running toward the front door. She tried kicking it down but it wouldn’t budge.

“The basement!” Peter yelled dodging the knives and candlesticks flying around the room. Down in the basement they ran up the steps leading to the trap door.

“It’s locked!” Harry hollered.

“I have an idea,” Anna said simply. “I’ll go and climb through the window and see what’s wrong with the door then fix it.” They nodded in agreement and hoisted her up through the window. She looked at the door and saw two boards nailed on it. Grabbing a sturdy piece of wood she tried to pry the nail out of the wood.

After minutes of waiting she had gotten all of the nails off the board, “Yes!” she exclaimed in excitement throwing the trap door open. Her family ran out of the basement and to the grocery store a block down the street.

“Help! The house! It’s haunted!” Helen screamed at the clerk from the store. No one believed them and the family was left to manage on their own. After a year their lives went back to normal and the idea of the house they used to live in was gone. But I can’t say the same about the next family who lived in that house.

Author's Note

Probably my first story ever written somewhat professionally. I entered it in a school contest (it was mandatory actually) and no matter how much my friends thought mine was the best, it wasn't their choice and so I did not win but it didn't bother me. Let me know what you think! XD

Reviews

[Wez Hardyn]

There were elements of this story I really liked - the family were believable characters and the initial spooky stuff was quite convincing. But then I thought you laid it on too thickly and didn't give yourself time to build up tension and terror. The grammar was competent and I think you have the makings of a good writer but work on your pacing and think how you would react if you encountered some of the things that happened.