Horrific Hauntings : A Demon in the House

 After securing a job that offered a great salary, a war veteran named Garry Hodges had to move to Lawton, Oklahoma along with his family. Since they had not spent much time with Garry in the past few years because of him being in the military, Garry’s brothers Kevin and Westly were excited about this as they would be able to live with their brother yet again. Thus, in 2009, Garry started to search for a house that would be big enough for his family which was made up of Garry himself, his girlfriend Heather, Heather’s daughter Caitlin, Kevin, Westly and Westly’s girlfriend Sabrina.

 In his search, he found a house with enough space for his family which was present in the middle of a perfect neighbourhood. When he reached the doorstep of this house, he was greeted by its previous tenant who had cut his lease period short. When Garry asked him why he was suddenly breaking his lease, his hands started trembling and he started beating around the bush. The man told Gary that he felt that he had spent enough time in the house and it was the reason behind him breaking the lease period. Garry, who had spent more than two years in a war zone before, understood that man was lying at that very moment but the size of the house and the cost of its lease were too inviting for him. Thus, he decided to take a look at the house before taking a decision.

 When Garry asked the previous tenant if he could walk around the house, he immediately agreed. Still, when Garry entered the house, he noticed that the previous tenant was too hesitant to accompany him. In fact, he never entered the house. Thus, Garry entered the house all alone and the moment he stepped into the house, he started feeling a strange sense of oddity inside it. As he walked through the house, he noticed that all the lights in the house, including the lights in the closet were turned on. This was really strange as it was just afternoon and the house was well-lit by the sunlight coming from outside.

 Despite the strangeness, Garry decided to lease this house. When he told the previous tenant about this, he immediately took two trash bags filled with his belongings and drove away from the house. It appeared as if he fled from the house but this did not change Garry’s decision and the family ended up moving into the house.

The First Night of Creepiness

 Two weeks after moving in, while the family excluding Caitlin was sitting in the hall watching TV one night, they heard the sound of heavy marching footsteps coming from the floor above them. Garry being the eldest member decided to go upstairs and check what was causing this sound. He initially thought it was Caitlin who was walking around but when he checked her room, he found her sound asleep. The sound which had stopped by then resumed all of a sudden but now, it seemed to be coming from his bedroom. Garry thought that he had an intruder and burst into the room only to find no one inside. Not being able to come up with a logical explanation, Garry concluded that he was making things up.

 Later that night, while Garry and Heather were getting ready to sleep in their bedroom, Heather got into bed after turning off the lights in the room and the closet. Seconds later, she noticed that the closet light was turned on again. When she told Garry about it, he told her that she might have forgotten to turn off the closet light. Although Heather was sure about turning off the closet light, she got out of bed and turned it off again before going to sleep. Garry woke up in the middle of that night with the feeling of being watched and when he opened his eyes, he saw that the closet door was open and the light was turned on. He immediately woke Heather up and showed it to her hoping to get a rational explanation but even she couldn’t come up with an explanation.

 Garry concluded that his brothers were playing a prank on him and confronted them the next day. His brothers told him that they were not behind the events of the previous night and suggested that it could be a faulty wire line. Garry did not believe them and stormed out of the place.

A Strange Shadow inside the Closet

 A couple of nights later, Garry woke up in the middle of the night as he felt Heather’s side of the bed slowly press down as if somebody sat on it. Coincidentally, Heather felt it as well. The couple jumped off their bed and turned on the lights but they found no one else in the room. Garry thought that his brothers were playing a prank on them and bolted out of the room to confront them but he found them sound asleep in their bedrooms. He returned back to his room completely confused and sat on the bed with Heather, trying to come up with a logical explanation. As the couple was trying to rationalise what had just happened, they saw the light in the closet turn on its own and through its grilled door, they saw a huge shadow move around the closet. Garry slowly walked towards the closet and opened its door only to find no one inside.

 The couple understood that something was wrong with the room and they decided to sleep in the hall that night. While they were almost asleep after settling down on the couch, they heard glass shatter on the hallway floor. When they walked towards the hallway to investigate, they found a drinking glass shattered on the floor. With the nearest table present multiple feet away, it appeared as if the glass flew from the table and hit the floor. These events made Garry believe that something paranormal was happening in the house.

 Garry became grumpy after that night because of his lack of sleep and his brothers felt as if he was being overreactive. This led to a heated argument in the dining room one day and during the argument, the family saw a glass fly off a table in the kitchen and shatter on the floor. Seeing this happen right in front of their eyes, Kevin and Westly started believing their brother's claims. Although the family wanted to move out of the house at once, they couldn’t do it because of a lack of finances.

"ZOZO"

 A couple of days later, while the family were sitting in the hall watching TV, they heavy thumping footsteps on the floor above them. Although creeped out, they decided to go upstairs together and check out what it was but despite completely checking the first floor, they found no one. Making sure the first floor was empty, they walked back to the hall. The moment they got back to the ground floor, they noticed that all the cabinets and drawers were open. Whatever that had opened them, opened the refrigerator and oven in the kitchen as well.

 That night, while Garry was taking a shower, he heard loud thumping footsteps on the ceiling above him. Hearing these footsteps, Heather rushed into the bathroom to make sure her husband was safe but the moment she stepped in, Garry felt an extreme burning sensation and three deep claw marks slowly appeared on his back. The couple rushed out of the washroom in fear and the footsteps stopped.

 The very same night, while trying to sleep, Kevin heard someone climb up the stairs and walk up to the door of his room. Once the footsteps reached his door, they abruptly stopped. Kevin got down from his bed and opened his door anticipating one of the family members to be there but there was no one outside the door. Kevin thought that he was making it up and went back to his bed to sleep. Moments later, he heard eerie dragging sounds around him and when he opened his eyes to investigate, he saw a demonic figure crawl towards him. Kevin shouted in fear and the demonic figure magically disappeared. He immediately ran downstairs towards Garry and started crying in fear.

 Seeing the terror on Nelson’s face, Garry and Westly decided to investigate his room. Thus, grabbing a knife, they walked into Nelson’s room but except for flickering lights, they found nothing. Garry grabbed a couple of pillows and a blanket for his brother and started walking back to the hall. On his way back, he heard footsteps in Caitlin's room and he broke into the room. Just as always, Garry found no one inside the room. While he was about to walk out, he heard a tapping sound coming from the covered window. When he slowly pulled off the curtain to see who was tapping, he noticed the word “ZOZO” on the window and it was present on the outside of the window pane.

A Ouija Board Seance

 Garry searched the internet and he discovered what the word ZOZO meant. ZOZO is a demon that has a reputation for bringing bad intentions, bad luck, death, suicide and much more. The ZOZO demon is mainly associated with Ouija boards. After getting to know these details, Garry and his brothers decided to make their own Ouija board and communicate with the demon haunting them. Using a shot glass as a planchette, the family started the séance.

 When Garry asked “Is anyone there?”, they did not get any answers but a couple of minutes later, the family felt a breeze hit them and the shot glass moved to “YES”, then to “NO” and then back to “YES”. The cycle continued and the shot glass moved back and forth until Sabrina asked “What is your name?”. The moment she finished her question, the shot glass moved to the letter “Z”, then to the letter “O” and then back to the letter “Z” continuously thus spelling Z-O-Z-O multiple times. Knowing that they were communicating with the demon in their house, Garry asked “What do you want?”. The very next moment, the shot glass moved around the board spelling out “KILL GARRY”.

 As the family looked at each other in shock, they started hearing thumping footsteps on the floor above them. The shot glass they were using as the planchette, flew off the board and fell on the floor thus shattering into pieces. The chairs around them started turning over and Heather feeling she had seen enough, lifted their handmade board off the table. The moment she did it, the paranormal events around them stopped. The family ended up burning the board in fear.

The Final Encounter

 After the séance, the family did not notice anything paranormal for a week and their happiness slowly returned but this did not last long. One day, all of a sudden, the family heard loud stomps coming from the floor above them. The brothers decided to walk upstairs and check what was causing this sound. As they walked upstairs, they noticed that the sound was coming from Garry’s bedroom and thus, they walked towards his room. The door of the room was slightly open and they cautiously peeked through the opening. What they saw completely freaked them out. They saw a huge demonic figure with a bull-like head, aggressively walk around the room. The demonic figure suddenly stopped, slowly turned its head towards the peeking brothers and started running towards them. 

 Completely petrified, the brothers ran downstairs to save themselves. Garry’s fright slowly turned into rage and he ended up confronting the demon. He shouted, “I am not scared of you. Come now if you can”. After hearing this, the demon slowly descended the staircase. As the footsteps slowly approached them, the doors around the family started shutting close and the family found themselves locked in the hall.

 When the demon finally descended into the hall, Garry shouted “Get out of here”. Hearing this, the demon looked dead at the family and gave a deafening growl. The growl was so loud that the glass objects around them shattered. These shattered pieces of glass slowly gathered into one shimmering cloud that was floating in mid-air. The shattered pieces suddenly flew towards the family. Luckily, the family were able to duck down in time and they were not hurt. They gathered themselves up and looked out for the demon but it had already disappeared. The family ended up moving out of this house shortly after this event.