The Occasional Friendly Houseguest in an Upper Milford Home

We moved to Upper Milford Township over 22 years ago. The purchase included 1.01 acres of land, a ranch-style house, a very large butternut tree and, unbeknownst to us, a friendly ghost.

Our boys were 9, 6 and almost 2 when we moved here. And, with five people living in the house, it wasn’t unusual for someone to be walking down the hallway to the bathroom during the night. Hearing noises after everyone was tucked in was common, especially when the kids were young. 

But as they got older and slept for longer periods through the night, the sounds in the hallway continued.

These nighttime noises began as the sound of the basement door closing. Then… the creaking sounds of the stairs and floor boards. Someone, it seemed, was coming up from the basement, through the kitchen and down the hallway to the boys’ bedrooms.

Sometimes when we heard it, my husband and I hopped out of bed and ran into their rooms in hopes of catching the guilty party. But all were asleep and snoring. 

The noises continued every night. For years.

Except on the rare occasion that all the boys were away for the night.

We noticed it one week when all three of them were at summer camp. No footsteps. No creaks. Odd, we thought.

The boys came home from camp, and that night the basement door “closed.”  The stairs and floors creaked. And always around 2-3 a.m.

Our future daughter-in-law stayed overnight one evening. The next morning she said she heard someone come up the cellar steps and walk toward the kids’ rooms, but saw no one. 

One of our sons mentioned the strange noises to a teacher, who suggested we may have a ghost in our house! 

So we tried to research the property, but to no avail. There were no other homes ever recorded as being on our property. 

Area residents told us there could once have been Indians living on the property—maybe something happened to one of them.

Here is our theory: we think a mother, possibly an Indian, may have lived here and lost a child, possibly a son. He may have died during the night while sleeping. We feel she comes to care for other children, to protect them and keep them keep them safe throughout the night. 

Our sons all grew up and moved to homes of their own. The nightly visits stopped. No more closing doors, footsteps and creaks.

Until…our grandchildren began to sleep over. She returned. 

The basement door “closes.” The stairs and floor creak again. Footsteps are heard in the hallway.

Our visitor is back, protecting the children. When we hear the noises, my husband and I just roll over in bed. No need to worry—she’s here, watching and caring.