My daughter has also been seeing a lot more of them in the house, and is now seeing them at her school.  Today, she finally told me that she has been seeing this almost full apparition in class.  She says that she thinks that it knows she can see him, and that he looks like he is trying to avoid the other people walking around the classroom.  She said that it appears to look lost, and just keeps looking around the room.  She also said that it is wearing dull gray clothing.  She said that her friend saw that she was looking at something today, and asked her what was wrong.  Unfortunately, she was not able to just tell her. 

The other day I slipped on the stairs.  Now, I am a very athletic and have great reflexes, and don’t just go around falling everywhere.  I can’t even remember a time that I have tripped and fallen down.  In fact, I don’t think I ever have until now.  It was strange, because it felt like someone had put roller blades on the bottom of my feet.  I slipped down five steps, and luckily I was able to grab the railing and use my other arm to stop my fall.  It just didn’t feel like an accident, and I can’t say that it was anything else, but I have my suspicions.  Anyway, as I am writing this I just saw one of them run up the stairs, and about an hour ago, the dogs were barking at nothing we could see or hear, but it was at the bottom of the stairs.  These next few days are going to be interesting.

The Leonis Adobe House was built in 1844, and is one of the oldest surviving homes in the area.  It is located in what is now Calabasas, California.  It was registered with the The National Register of Historic Places in 1975, and now serves as a museum. 

Leonis Adobe, acquired the house in the mid 1800’s.  He purchased half of the property from its dying owner, but the second half he acquired by marrying a widowed mission Indian named Espiritu Chujilla.  She lived with Leonis in the house for 30 years, until 1889 when he was killed after suffering from injuries received when he was run over by his own wagon.  His Will was read soon after his death, and in it, he denied Espiritu as his wife, and referred to her as his “Faithful Housekeeper.”  The property was worth $1,000,000.00 at the time of his death, he left Espiritu $10,000.00, and left the remaining property to his siblings.  There was a 15 year legal battle over the estate, and Espiritu suffered greatly.  Having no money, she was forced to eat what she could find or hunt down, sometimes eating the acorns that she picked off of the ground.  Even though several witnesses testified that Leonis acknowledged Espiritu as his wife, his siblings wanted the estate.  She even showed them the grave of their only daughter who died before adulthood.  His name was on the grave, identifying him as her father.  Anyway, she ended up being awarded half of the estate, but was taken advantage of by lawyers, and lost all of the property by bogus lawsuits. Espiritu lived in the Leonis Adobe house until her death in 1906, at which time her son, by her first marriage, moved his family into the home. 

The house was named one of the most haunted places in Los Angeles, and was featured on the British television show “Most Haunted” in 2005.  Many of the people that work and visit the house have reported having paranormal experiences.  There have been reports of very clearly heard voices on both levels of the home, but when checked, there is never anyone to be found.  A shadow figure of a woman on the upstairs balcony has been reported seen by passers by.  There was even a report of a woman who was standing on the balcony, who was pulled back by an invisible set of hands, at the exact time that the balcony collapsed.  Leonis himself, has been seen walking his dog, and even on his deathbed.  Footsteps on the upper floor and stairways, and a strong smell of soap, are always a commonly reported experience. 

I honestly can’t wait to take my family to the house.  I am looking forward to taking some good pictures and maybe even asking Espiritu to take one with me.  If you have any stories to share, please email me at lisa@scarygeek.com.  I would love to read them, and with permission, post them to my site.

Yesterday, I decided that as soon as we can get the money, we are going to have to move. The kids will never be relaxed here because too much has happened. Every noise that they hear, spirit or no spirit, is always going to be a spirit, because that is the way they have been conditioned. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell them that it is a protective spirit or that it is not here to hurt us, it will never be the same. My two-year-old will always see the monster in the closet, my four-year-old will always want someone to go with here any times she leaves the room, my 11-year-old will always sleep with all the lights on, and my oldest daughter will never get any sleep. We will always hear someone walking up and down the stairs, because that is just the way it is.

Yesterday, my 11-year-old, Jake, was here sitting on the couch with his little sister when they heard something walk down the stairs. Jake usually handles it all pretty well, but this time he was sitting and saw and felt something put a hand on his knee and whatever it was held it there for a while. He was scared but did not panic, just sat there waiting for it to go.  He isn’t sure how long it was there, but was pretty excited about it and talked about it for the next few hours. They took a little longer than usual to fall asleep last night again, I think it was about 11:15pm. Definitely not the time school aged kids should be going to sleep.

So, I am not sure when, but we will have to move to see if we can get some peace and quiet. I know that there is a chance we will find more ghosts in a new house, or that these will follow us, but that is a chance we are willing to take. This had definitely not been fun!