Up All Night IV - The Bedroom Window

The worst part about a window is that you might never know what's on the other side of it. As a child, I never really had a fear of windows themselves. But I was always afraid of what or who might be on the other side, in the darkness, looking in.

Now, I had read a story about the Croglin Grange Vampire in a book. Which book,I can't recall, but the story stuck with me. Particularly the part where the vampire runs his fingernails along the glass and it made a horrifying scratching noise. I was always a little iffy about what might be outside my window after that.

It wasn't until I moved into a house in California that I started to honestly think about windows. While that house was creepy and certainly haunted (Another story for another time), it was the window in my bedroom that scared me. 

This house was the first one where I recall my bedroom window facing the front of the house. As a result of that, I was always wondering what could be on the other side. I was never afraid of what might be in the backyard, but anything could have been in the frontyard.

During the day, it wasn't a problem at all, but at night it was scary. Always that thought in the back of your mind that something is looking in at you without your knowledge. I never really assigned an image to the thing in the darkness, though. I think that lack of definition probably made it worse.

Now, as far as I know, it never happened. Nothing and no one ever peaked through the blinds in the witching hour. But there will always be that lingering question in the back of my head as to if it did. It's enough to send a chill down your spine. 

Needless to say, all my windows have blinds now...just to put my mind at little bit at ease.

Up All Night III - The Staircase

Another haunting image from my childhood involved the staircase in my old house in Texas. The house had two staircases, one by the entrance of the house and one more secluded by the kitchen. Obviously, there was nothing scary about the kitchen staircase, but the one in the front was a large, almost spiral staircase. It lead to a landing, then a hallway, then right into my room.

(Here is the actual staircase. I took this from the real estate listing the house recently had.)

From where my bed was, I could see right to the top of the staircase. If there was ever a night where I left the door open, I would imagine just what could be coming up those stairs. Granted, whatever it was could have easily gone into either if my sister's rooms, but children's logic dictates otherwise.

Now, I thought anything could have come up those stairs. One of the more ridiculous notions was an evil robot Bugs Bunny after a night at Six Flags. There was also a time where I sat on the stairs in the middle of the night and scared my mom half to death. I still don't know how or why I ended up on those stairs.

But one night, something did come up the stairs...a very common sight is a shadow. Just a nondescript shadowy human shape. That night, this shadow came into my room and sat at the edge of my bed. I can't be sure for how long, but it was long enough to remember. It only happened the one time. Even remembering it now, I've got goosebumps.

There are always stairs, but most of the time they are certainly not scary, but you might not always know where they're going or who or what will be coming up them...