The Spooky House in the Neighborhood

When we were kids, it wasn’t scary to walk around in the neighborhood, even after dark. Unless you needed to go by that one house…

Seems growing up almost everyone had a spooky house in their neighborhood. It was the house that was farther back on the lot or was surrounded by an iron fence. Maybe it had a “no trespassing” or “private property” sign on the lawn or gate. Did anyone actually live there, or was it completely abandoned? By the look of the yard and the overgrown bushes covering the front picture window, if someone did live there they didn’t come out much. The curtains were always closed, but was someone seen looking out between them?

Of course, the spookiness of the spooky house was fed by the stories the kids in the neighborhood told about it. Often someone had supposedly died in that house, or people were seen going in but never coming out. Any dogs or cats that lived there were probably either vicious or possessed. And whoever was inside, they were out to get you. No one would have ever gone to the door for any reason (although no one was entirely sure what would happen to you if you did).

Birch Point has its own spooky house. It’s an old hospital that was built to look like a castle. Jimmy Schroeder lives across the alley. He’s seen a lot of suspicious things, and he’s warning the other kids about it. The former doctor really did die there. The new doctor is burying things in the back yard. And there’s a black cat that hangs around the building. Everyone knows what that means…

Was there a spooky house in your neighborhood that you would run by as fast as you could? Or did you cross over to the other side of the street to avoid walking too close to it? We would love to hear about it.  Share your stories in the comments.