Ghosts, UFOs, and Terror At An Old Newark Farmhouse

It was the mid 1960's. I spent every other weekend and two
weeks during every summer at the Newark farmhouse that you see
above. Looking back, it seems that there were mysteries occurring
more times than not during my visits.

Many of the evening events, took place on Saturday nights. I know
this because I would arrive on Saturday morning and go home on the
following Sunday afternoon.

One recurring incident seemed to happen quite often during those
evenings in front of the television. It was a terrifying scream by one
of my stepsister with claims of a face looking in the livingroom
window. We never found anyone outside but, as time would pass,
it would become more likely that they really did see something or
someone.

During the summer months, we often would go swimming in the
pond. It's quite close to the road and a small walk across the large
front yard. We usually walked down along the road to the end of the
pond where the dock was located. Most of our swimming was during
the daytime. However, that changed after our parents purchased a
large plastic, inflatable dragon. The dragon was a ring with some
heads on it. We would try to knock each other off and steal the seat.

One day during swimming, a car stopped by the road and just sat
there. It seemed strange and before long, a couple of us went to
approach the car to see what the problem was. The car hurried away
when we started toward it. This happened a few times but, we never
really gave it any thought of danger. Then it happened a couple times
at night. This continued until one time, my stepfather was ready for
the person. When the car stopped, he jumped in the car and chased
the person down. Turns out that it was a man. I'm told that he told
the guy to never come around or else. The car encounters stopped.

Over those years, my stepsisters had incidents where they were
chased through the trees between home and the neighbor's house. A
small path between the trees was used to visit the girl next door. On
some occasions, when walking home after dark, they thought they
were being chased. One's imagination can easily run away in the
black of night in the woods. But, then again, could it have been that
guy in the car? Or... someone or something else?

There were a few real hair raising incidents. Onetime, my oldest
step-sister and I were the only ones home besides my mother. My
mother was downstairs doing some dishes and we had decided to use
the Ouija board for lack of anything else to do. The weather was
windy and threatening to rain so, outside seemed out of the question.

We asked the Ouija board a whole slew of meaningless questions
and at some point decided to ask it to make contact with her sister
who had passed away many years ago as a baby in a house fire. We
asked for a sign that she was with us. Nothing happened. We asked
again. A simple sign. BOOM! The metal storm window slammed
shut! It was more than we expected. We really never expected any-
thing. In a flash, we were running! Scared out of our skins, we
stood in the middle of the yard looking up at the bedroom window.
I'm glad I didn't have to sleep in that room that night! My mother?
She didn't know what happened as we flew out of the house. We
didn't use the board any more that day.

One day, after dinner (it was dark), our parents had to go up the
road to the landlord's home. It was only about a quarter mile away
and within sight. Seems that they were behind in the rent and had to
go pay them or make some arrangements. In any case, they left and
took my deaf sister with them. The rest of us cleaned up the dinner
dishes and then we all went into the basement to play on the newest
toy... a ping pong table!

To get into the basement, we had to go out onto the back porch and
through another small room. The light switch was at the top of the
stairs. After about 15 minutes or so of playing in the basement, a
loud and distinct "Click" was heard as the light turned into blackness!
After a brief silence, the girls screamed and we were all tripping over
each other while trying to escape the basement. We ran out of the
basement and sought the safety of the house. But, the door to the
house was wide open. Entering seemed just as scary as being in that
basement in the dark.

Looking around, we noticed that none of the neighbors were home.
In panic, looking for a safe place, we all ran to the road and jumped
into the drainage ditch that was partially filled with rain. Now, we
wondered. Who turned off that light and are they in the house? What
to do? We decided to send two people up the road to get our
parents. The rest would watch to see if anyone left the house. We
were cold and wet. When our parents arrived, no one had left the
house and no one was in the house. Our parents didn't believe our
story.

One incident was easily dated. It was July 20th, 1969. We took a
historical step for mankind as we landed a man on the moon that day.

We were all waiting for the final moments of the landing. The ship
seemed to circle the moon endlessly. We kids were sleeping outside
in the tent that night. The coverage went so long that we all went out
and waited for our parents to call us in just before it happened. We
ended up almost asleep before we were all suddenly awakened. We
had a dog named "Butch" that we had found wandering. Butch was
a great dog. He only had one eye but, he was really friendly.




That night, Butch was sleeping near our tent. Our tent was next to
the driveway, right across from the house. All of a sudden, Butch
began to growl. We had never heard him growl before. It was a
very serious sounding growl. Then we heard what sounded like
footsteps coming up the dirt driveway. Only, there was a dragging
noise. Like one foot was dragging. Butch's growl became even more
ferocious. Yet, he didn't budge. The steps got closer. No none
dared to move. No one dared to breathe! I could feel my hair
standing on end as a large upright shadow passed over the side of
the tent. Maybe the outside light made the shadow look bigger than
it was. But, it sounded big and was upright like a person. Whatever
it was, continued up to the barn. No one dared to look.

When the sounds disappeared, there was silence again which was
again suddenly shattered by the sound of what sounded like some-
one throwing a 55 gallon steel drum. After that, we all ran for the
house! Nothing was ever found and it remains unexplained.

Now, you have read a handful of my experiences. And logically,
all could be explained away by the stalker in the car in the above
encounter. However, now, we'll shift a little bit to add another factor.

One winter evening, my dad had to meet with my step-parents. So,
although it was blizzard conditions, we set out to Newark. When we
arrived there, it was dark and the roads were very bad. The snowing
had stopped but, it was deep. Route 88 had barely enough room for
two cars to pass. There was easily 2 to 3 feet of snow in the road.
Most roads were not plowed. When we got to the house, the kids
were all outside and I was invited to join them as my dad talked over
custody issues with my step-parents.



During my youth, the house was two apartments. Our side was the
bigger side and included all of the upstairs. The neighbors that had
recently moved in, had moved from Marion. They had three boys,
one who had been in my class at school. So, I came to know them
all. Back to the story...

Outside, all the kids from the house were down clearing the ice on
the pond so that they could play some ice hockey. It was windy but,
the snow had stopped. One of the neighbor kids and I were about to
walk down toward the pond to join them when we noticed four
bright lights above the hill across the road. There are no roads on
that hill and these lights appeared to be above it. The lights were as
bright as headlights. The blinked on and off one after the other. We
were at a loss of what to do. Neither wanted to miss anything. We
wanted to go get someone but, neither wanted to miss a detail!

The lights hovered above the hill for just a few minutes. It was to
windy to hear anything. Then slowly, the four lights moved beyond
the hill and out of our view. We wanted to have someone take us to
see the back of the hill. This could easily be done by driving down
Ryder Rd. However, having just passed that road. I knew it was not
plowed and driving it would be impossible. Unfortunately, we could
not see a shape either. Just four bright lights. In the spring, I
borrowed a Geiger Counter from school and hiked up the hill to see if
there were any kind of markings or radiation left. I found nothing.

However, I did make some discoveries some years later. Some
years later, in the 1980s, I retold the story of the lights to my step-
father. He told me that him and the neighbor would sometimes sit on
the front porch at night after work and have a beer. He stated that
they would often see lights above the hill. He has seen them shoot
straight up and out of sight. I asked him why he never told anyone.
It was a simple answer. People would think we were crazy.

At a later date, I ran into one of the neighbor boys, now a grown
man. We reminisced of old times and the house came up. He said
he would never admit some of the things that happened there because
people would think he was crazy. He had grown up in the other half
of the house. His most memorable experience... a face looking into
their kitchen window during dinner. A window that is about 12 feet
above the ground!

So, this sheds a new light on the above stories. Did the farm have a
stalker or did it have some visitors from who knows where?

Today, the farmhouse still stands. The barn is gone and no one
swims in the pond. The house is now four apartments. Do things
still happen there? Do lights still appear above the hill? How many
people have moved away with stories of their own to tell? If you
know someone who lived there with a story to tell, I'd love to hear
from them.