This story I heard from my sister’s friend, we’ll call her Carson because, well, that’s her name – was studying in university  and they had just moved into a house sharing with 4 other girls. A lot of things happened which, looking back, could be taken as other-wordly. Televisions and lights would turn themselves off and on, dogs would bark at empty air, and the smell of cigarette smoke would permeate the house although none of the girls smoked – nothing really that spooky.

After about three months it began occurring more frequently. The dogs were always restless and the smell of cigarettes was constantly in the house. Carson had been living there about 6 months and Spring Break was coming up. All of the girls went home except for her and one other girl, Haley. That night, Carson and Haley were sitting in the living room when the dogs ran into the kitchen and went absolutely berserk. Carson and Haley ran into the kitchen to find the dogs barking at the dead-bolted back door and cigarette smoke wafting through the air. The dogs could not be calmed down so Carson finally opened the door and the dogs wasted no time running outside.

All of them except Carson’s black Lab, who stood between her and the door. Carson went to bed that night and Zadie (her Lab) jumped into bed with her. Zadie was always protective and affectionate so she didn’t mind that Zadie wanted to sleep with her. All was quiet for a few hours until Carson was awakened to the sound of Zadie snarling and growling. She opened her eyes to see Zadie, teeth bared and viciously growling at the foot of the bed. Carson, looked around the room and, seeing nothing, told Zadie to be quiet and go to sleep. Zadie, however, never took her eyes off the foot of the bed and continued growling so viciously that she was beginning to drool like a rabid animal.

Carson again told Zadie to be quiet and looked again around the bedroom. This time something looked back. Seated at the foot of her bed was an almost transparent woman, blurry and almost not there at all. The woman was old, wearing an old-fashioned house coat/night gown and smoking a cigarette. She took a long drag from the cigarette and looked directly at Carson. When the woman exhaled Carson could smell the smoke and actually feel it blow across her face. Before Carson could even react, the woman was gone and Zadie stopped growling. Immediately Carson ran to Haley’s room, only to find Haley sitting in her bed paralyzed with fear. Apparently both girls had been visited that night. Together they ran from the house and spent the night with a friend. The next morning they confronted the landlord/owner about what they had seen. His response? “Yeah, that’s my grandmother. She died in that house. I’m sure I mentioned that to you girls when you moved in.” They both moved out that day.