*The informant is a resident of Maine, a wife of 20 years, a mother of three, and has a college education. She has an open mind to spirits and the paranormal, but is a bit skeptical.

**The house where this story occurred had been said to be haunted. The story occurred around 9pm in the summertime.

Informant: It was at my grandparent’s home in Cherryfield, Maine. The house was built in 1790, but it was built with timbre that was marked with the King’s Lumber. I was 16 at the time. I was upstairs in the bedroom that I had used growing up, it was my room at my grandparents house, and it was not directly above the dining room but really close to the dining room. I was up there and the whole family was gathered [in the dining room] and I was just getting over a breakup so I was spending a lot of time by myself and reading books. I heard somebody walking down the hallway and they stopped in front of the bedroom door. I said “What do you want?” and there was no response. I got up off the bed and opened the door and there was nobody there. I get back in the bed and I keep reading and a little while later I hear the walking resume in front of the door. I thought “I’m getting annoyed” and I get up off the bed normally, walking over to the door loud and ripping the door open and nothing. So then I started to get up really really quietly and would walk to the door. I could hear everybody downstairs chatting because the sound carries up, so then after like going really quietly and opening the door and there was still nobody there, I closed the door and I moved my feet like I was walking away but I was really just standing there. I was waiting and then I heard the steps start again, right in front of the door, and I ripped the door open and there was no one there. I ran out of the room and ran down the stairs and everybody was in the dining room. There’s no way it was them,because that’s the closest stairwell to the dining room and they wouldn’t be able to attempt to trick me upstairs and be able to get back there before I did. And there’s no way that they would have been able to leave the front of the door because I was standing on the other side of the door and as soon as I heard those steps stop in front of the door I yanked the door open. There was nobody there. It was clear footsteps, it wasn’t like a squeaky floor board. It was clear footsteps.

Collector’s Thought: The informant whole-heartedly believes she was in the presence of a ghost. Through her storytelling she tells it as if it happened yesterday, and at some parts she was more excited to tell the story and at others she seemed lost for words. I have visited this house before and while it is a beautiful home, you can definitely tell it is older and that many people have lived there. The informant was in a very emotional state when the occurrence happened. The fact that this story occurred in an older home, late at night, while the informant was alone and emotional seems to follow many of the ghostly motifs we have encountered in stories.