The story I am about to share with you is true. It happened when I was in high School, and my Younger brothers were in Elementary school. The year was 1985. We were out walking the dog as we always did after supper. We were walking in the direction of the elementary school for the dog to get a good exercise. We were just returning back when we saw three kids, possibly 10 years of age run right up to us and say, "Have you seen the haunted house?" On a side note we never seen these kids before, nor have we ever seen them again.
The House
We looked and there was a small house set back farther than any other house on the block. It was a small house that seemed to be boarded up from the inside. We were curious, and young which was not a good combination, but we walked up to the house. We tied the dog leash to the pole that was on the small front porch in the front of the house. The front door had no door knob and all the windows were boarded up from the inside. We decided to use our most destructive brother to gain access.
The Entry
We told the middle brother we would get him an ice cream if he kicked the boards in. We walked to the back of the house and a small window, which we could gain access, had only one board boarding it up. He kicked the board and a thunderous thud was heard, but strangely, no one else seemed to hear it, or maybe they just did not care. We started to crawl through the window which led right to small bathroom, we were stepping on the old fashion toilet and walking into the house.
The Layout.
The entire house was small, from the bathroom as you walked out of, you were in a small living room, there a folded bed was folded into the wall, where a plaid pair of pants and a coat could be seen hanging on a bar behind it. A Piano set in the center by the front door. To the left there was a small kitchen where all the dishes were placed into the sink. the dishes were small and were very old fashion. If you looked to the right of the Piano, there was a door with a gypsy woman painted on it, and when you opened the door, it surprisingly opened up into a mirror.
We knew we were going to have to come back the next day, because it being Saturday, we decided to walk the dog after dinner and our chores and bring the OUIJA BOARD. We thought we could get some answers from the board, as well as do a little investigation on the history.
The next day, we decided to play at the park and inquire about the house on the address that we kinda discovered. The stories we got back was a person hung himself in that house, Side note on this I could find no evidence to this. I was told the people lived in that house in the early 1900's and the name of the woman was Olga Ramsey. This was confirmed by the letters and cards discovered after, but we will get to that.
The 2nd Night.
After dinner and our chores, we again grabbed the dog to take her for a walk, we made sure we walked her the same route, and then we again walked up to the house and tied the dog to the pole on the front porch. Again the rear bathroom window was boarded up, so the middle brother again kicked it in, thud #2 was a bit more deafening, but to our amazement, no one heard or cared. We entered the house.
This time we sat on the main room floor with the board and began to ask questions. We asked the board what is your name, it only spelled out R A M S E Y. Then we asked it if he commit suicide. The board went to "YES". Now remember we have not found any evidence to confirm or deny this. This does not mean this person did not commit suicide, it just means we could not find anything to substantiate this. Although it was 1909 so maybe the records were less than adequate on their filings. I digress, then we asked the board why, the response only came T H E L E T T E R. we picked up the board, and looked around more, we can see why the boards are placed some homeless people were in here lighting fires, we decided to do something really stupid, we decided to take every drawer with paper out and head home.
So now you have 4 boys climbing out a window and carrying two drawers each along with a dog heading for home. I can only imagine what someone would think if they saw us, but we were young and determined to find out. After we tied up the dog we headed to our rooms with the drawers. There was several cards to Olga Ramsey, several photos, a news paper clipping of Abbot and Costello live at the San Gabriel theater, but the only letter we found was from the Alhambra Fire Department banning the burning of trash in the back yard and stating a city department truck will pick up the trash left at the curb. The Garbage man job is born. Ok so no letter that would explain this person allegedly hanging himself, I can not believe this letter from the city of no more burning his trash had him that distraught. So this was where the mystery ended. I just wish we were able to find out. But the exploration alone, the answers from the board and the history collected only created more questions than answers. Like many mysteries, It may be the unknown that keeps us digging.
