"At times the odor of the pipe would be so overpowering that the family needed to open windows and doors. This ghost has visited this family now every year for the past 40 years."
The following account was sent to me by my late friend & colleague Chris Holly several years ago:
"A very average American family lives here on Long Island, New York in a very average neighborhood in a very modest comfortable home on a friendly street. All is well and all are happy but for one slight intrusion.
Every year around this time, for the last 40 years, this one family deals with a ghost who visits their house.
The story goes that a family that consisted of a young couple, two kids, and a grandfather built the house. The grandfather lived on the second floor and loved his new home. He had a sitting room on the second floor with a bedroom and private bath. Outside he kept roses and flowers that he loved and tended with care.
Both the young husband and wife worked full-time jobs. The grandfather watched over the children until the couple returned home at night. The family seemed typical to the other families in the neighborhood. The granddad was happy to be with his family and tend his roses. He was content with his life. Often you could find him smoking his pipe waiting in his rocking chair on the front porch for the children to return from school. Life seemed to be working smoothly for all.
It started during one hot summer. The young couple began to fight. The young man started to drink heavily. Often you could hear yelling and loud arguing erupting from the house. The neighbors began to talk about it and eventually called the police when the fighting became too loud or violent. You could hear doors slamming and furniture being thrown against walls. By the fall of that year, gunshots were heard a few times and the police were a constant fixture at the home. It was sad knowing the family was dissolving. Neighbors felt sorry for the old grandfather caught in the middle. It was a difficult time.
The couple divorced. The wife took the children and moved away. The young husband placed the house for sale. The grandfather had to be placed in an old folks home. Word had it his heart was broken.
That was 40 years ago. The family now living in this home is a lovely happy normal family. They raised their kids in the house, kept the house up, and even replaced the bathrooms and kitchens a few times along the way. They also put up with Grandpa's ghost!
It is said that the old man did not make out too well once he left his once-happy home. He hated the old folks home and only lasted a few years before he passed away.
Coincidentally, a few years after owning this house, the new family started to notice odd activities around the home. It would always seem to be noticed the most around the holidays. The family would be sitting in the dining room eating when they would hear the front door open and someone walk up the staircase to the second floor. The family would call out to see who was there without any reply. They would then search the house to find it empty but for the family sitting at the table.
The family would hear someone slamming doors or footsteps overhead as they sat in the family room of someone walking around on the second floor. They would search only to always find an empty house. The worst of it all was the smell of the burning pipe. Each time this would occur the house would fill with the smell of a freshly lit pipe being smoked. At times the odor of the pipe would be so overpowering that the family needed to open windows and doors. This ghost has visited this family now every year for the past 40 years.
I ran into the woman who owns this house recently in Macy’s while Christmas shopping. We caught up on our families and neighbors. Before we parted I asked her how she was making out with her yearly ghostly visits of the old grandfather?
“Oh, he is with us again this year. He is a bit unhappy with us as we are doing renovations on the house and he always hates when we work on the house. He has picked up his visits to daily explosions up the staircase and marches around in the bedroom above the dining room as usual. The problem is that this year he visits every day and always has that darn smelly pipe with him. We know he is really annoyed, as he now has added the new event of slamming the cabinet doors in the kitchen when we are in the den watching TV. ”
I was stunned at how matter of fact my fellow town dweller was taking this ghostly invasion. I wondered if they ever feared this ghost or were concerned he was changing his activity? I asked her if she ever thought about bringing in a ghost hunter?
“No, we are not fearful at all. After 40 years of walking around the house and up the stairs we all feel he is harmless. For some reason, he likes to be in the house during the holidays. He also refuses to move on. We think he still is tending his roses and smoking his pipe. It doesn’t interfere with our lives so we just let it be. Anyway, we never touch those roses yet they have gotten bigger and more beautiful each and every year for the last 40 years. Why spoil a good thing? Once Christmas comes and goes I take down the tree and he leaves till the next holiday arrives. We don’t mind, we are used to him.”
I must say I am envious of how easily this family deals with an obvious and ongoing journey with the paranormal. I am not sure I could just shrug my shoulders as ghostly footsteps invaded my staircase and filled my house with smoke from the other side. I know I could not handle it with the ease and grace this family does.
As I wished my neighbor a good holiday I glanced into her shopping cart filled with Christmas tree ornaments, and bright red stockings with the names of the family members printed across the top of each stocking. I could not help but notice that the second stocking down had the word Grandpa written across it. They are a kind and good family.
I truly wish them a very Merry Christmas…and you too Grandpa!"
Thanks to Chris Holly at Chris Holly's Paranormal World
Coast To Coast Ghosts: True Stories of Hauntings Across America
The Big Book of Pennsylvania Ghost Stories (Big Book of Ghost Stories)
Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories
True Ghost Stories: Frightening Accounts of Haunted Houses, Paranormal Mysteries, and Unexplained Phenomenon
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