Last week I got an e-mail from a guy called Derek Miller, who wanted me to change his name and keep his identity private, so I’ll call him Derek. He said to me, “Bro, I don’t want my name out there if you tell this (story). I’m still having nightmares about it.” So knowing that, I’m gonna be straight with you: What happened to Derek’s family in Gary, Indiana, back in 1987 was not just weird, but it was pure evil. It’s definitely not a TikTok prank or hoax; this really happened. Derek’s father worked for Amtrak, and this story starts with them choosing to leave Chicago to save money.
Basically, Frank Miller, Derek’s dad, was a rail inspector who was well paid. Frank had been at a depot in Chicago and was transferred to a depot near Gary, IN. Frank said, “Why should I pay rent in 2 places?” So, he gathered his wife, Linda, along with his 5 year-old son, Derek, and 2 year-old brother, Tyler, and moved them into an inexpensive rental on Maple St., which was right next to the old steel mills.
In the 1980s Gary was not exactly a Beverly Hills type area. Factories were shutting down, jobs were disappearing, and half of the blocks looked like ghost towns. Frank didn’t care, he was paying $180 rent, which was almost unheard of at that time. The landlord, Mr. Kowalski, was an old man and he wanted Frank to pay 2 months’ worth of rent before Frank could move into the home.
But the funny thing was, Frank’s sister Aunt Carol lived just two doors down! So Frank thought to himself, “If anything goes wrong, good ‘ol Aunt Carol is right there!”
And Aunt Carol tried to warn him!
She took Frank aside on moving day and said, “Frank, this house has been empty for more than a year and no one has stayed in it longer than a few weeks, there’s something wrong with it.”
But Frank just laughed and said, “Oh come on, it’s just an old house, creaky floors and weird shadows; that’s it.”
Boy was he wrong about that!
The layout of the house was pretty simple: one story bungalow with a front porch, living room and small kitchen area, two bedrooms were in a narrow hallway and the bathroom was located off the kitchen. The second floor was just an attic with a padlock that Mr Kowalski said belonged to his son, who would sleep in the attic when he came into town from Detroit.
He hasn’t been back in ages, though.”
Linda couldn’t sleep on the first night; she heard whispers from inside the walls. It was like someone was breathing on her neck. She figured it was just her stress about moving with two toddlers across town.
However, on Day Three
Frank drove back to Chicago for a work meeting; he left early in the morning, and Linda decided to spend the day with the boys at Aunt Carol’s where they could play outside, have lunch, and not be left alone at home with the spooky house.
They returned home around 7 P.M. when it was dark and cold from the October wind blowing through the trees.
Linda set the hot plate up near the front window to cook some soup; Tyler was asleep on the couch, and Derek was colouring at the dining room table.
Suddenly, there was a rap at the back door.
Three sharp knocks on the door.
Linda stopped and said, “What the hell?”.
She looked out the blinds; there was nothing but the empty yard and the rusted swings.
She went back to preparing dinner.
More knocking this time, this was much more aggressive.
Linda grabbed a frying pan, walked to the back door, yanked it open, and found nothing.
However, when she turned around to go back into the house, she saw it.
There was a handprint visible on the kitchen window that had fogged up from the steam of cooking, it was a child’s handprint, it was a small print, it looked like a 4-year old.
Beneath it was the inscription, written into the fogged glass: “GET OUT”
Linda screamed; picked up both boys and ran to Carol’s place.
Frank came home that night from work and thought Linda was over-reacting and said “It was probably just some kids fooling around. Gary is a rough neighbourhood but it is not a haunting”
The next day, things would go from bad to worse.
Derek woke Linda up at 3 AM, screaming and pointing straight up at the ceiling and saying “Mom! There is a woman, and she is crying black tears!”
Linda decided she’d better go check the attic door again just to be sure that it was still locked, but the problem was when she looked at it, the padlock was hanging open.
There was no way she would be going up to that attic ever again.
On Sunday, Frank was home and Linda was in the kitchen making pancakes while the kids were asleep in bed.
Straight out of nowhere, Tyler (who never spoke very much) sat bolt upright, crystal clear, and said “The lady said you stole her room”.
Linda’s blood turned to ice as she didn’t know how to respond.
Before she could comprehend what was happening.
Suddenly the lights turned off and the refrigerator buzzed like a bee hive, and in the hallway footsteps, very slowly and dragging, started making their presence known.
All of a sudden, Linda heard a woman’s voice, whispering directly into her ear.
Out of nowhere, Linda hears, “You don’t belong here! LEAVE NOW or I’ll take your children like I did with mine.”
So she turns around, but there’s nobody there!
But the back door was wide open…
And there were wet footprints across the floor leading from the kitchen straight to the attic stairs.
Finally, Frank believed her!
That afternoon, Frank went over to talk to Mr. Kowalski.
Mr. Kowalski got white as a ghost, sat down on the porch steps with shaking hands and whispered, “Her name was Emily; my daughter. She got pregnant in ’84. Her boyfriend wanted her to keep it, but I told her to get rid of it cause I said it would ruin our family name.”
He started choking up.
“She hanged herself in that attic right over your bedroom. We never told anybody and we buried her in the backyard under the oak tree, without even a priest.”
So Frank asked for their money back and told Mr. Kowalski he wanted out right away.
But Mr. Kowalski pleaded with him to just send his family away for two weeks and stay there himself; maybe Emily would calm down.
Frank almost punched him!
They moved out that night, packed everything up into their station wagon and never looked back.
But the part that really haunts Derek is this: About a month later, a new family moved in there: a young couple.Toddlers are tough, right? Two weeks later, that kid fell down the basement stairs and broke his neck! Before he died, the boy was whispering something in the hospital. “The sad lady pushed me…she said I was sleeping in her son’s bed.” Guess what? Emily was eight months pregnant when she died. The room that Frank’s family used as a bedroom was actually supposed to be a nursery.
Derek’s dad died in 2019. Now, every October, Derek still gets a call from Aunt Carol. “Staying safe, hon? You’re not living next to old houses, are you?” Because some doors never really close, once you open them.
If you have a true story like this, something that happened to you or someone you know, I’d love to hear about it. Email me at ghosttales@creepmail.com and let me know if you want your name to be kept private or not.
Until next time, sleep with the lights on.
And remember: Not all renters are alive.
Peace out! ✌️