I'm not sure whether this is a ghost story, but I enjoy telling it.
When I was 19 or so and just getting started in the business world, I moved back in with my folks for a year or so. On summer weekends, they went to their lake place a couple hours away. I worked a retail job on the weekends, and of course, hosted parties of Friday and Saturday nights while my folks were gone.
The house was back in the woods, and the driveway was half a mile long. The driveway cut through a marshy area. The property was bordered on one side by a river, two sides by a lake, and by swamp on the remaining side. One way in, one way out, unless you had a boat. It was very secluded.
On the ground level of the house was a pool room- that is, we had a pool table. That's where the action happened. My buddies and I played pool, listened to music, and drank. To get to the front door, one had to pass by the large windows of the pool room.
So on this particular night, I arrived home about 10 pm after working. As I turned down the road that led to our driveway, by the mailboxes, were the two friends I had invited over- Ronnie and his girlfriend, Heather- sitting in their car. I stopped and asked them what they were doing. Both were visibly shaken, as they recounted what happened:
A short time prior, Ronnie and Heather had arrived at the house. They didn't see my vehicle, so they decided to wait. However, they could see the light on in the pool room, so they logically deduced that I was home, despite the absence of my vehicle. They walked past the pool room windows as they approached the front door. The blind was down, but they could clearly see the light was on, and that the music was blasting.
Then they knocked on the door. When they did, the lights and the music shut off- immediately and simultaneously. Scared sh*tless, Ronnie and Heather jumped in the car and took off, and waited for me at the mailboxes.
When they told me the story, I kind of scoffed. At nineteen years old, I was pretty fearless, or at least had to act like I was. So, we all went back to the house, played pool, drank some beer, and listened to music. Nothing further happened.
But, I have yet to come up with a satisfactory explanation for what happened. The most obvious- that Ronnie and Heather were pranking me- I've all but ruled out. It just didn't fit with who they were. They were simple country folk. I never knew them as pranksters in any fashion. They lacked the imagination, creativity, and "spunk" for even the simplest of pranks. There was nothing mischievous about either of them. They also had zero talent for acting; yet the fear I saw as they told their story, as well as their reluctance to go back to the house, struck me as being genuine.
The only other conceivable explanation is that someone else was in the house. Since they didn't leave by way of the driveway (they would have to go past Ronnie and Heather), they clearly didn't get to the house by car. So, they would have had to access the property by boat, and/or wade though large swamps, and at least a half mile of woods, in the dark. Then, entered the house (simple enough, the door was never locked) for the sole purpose of listening to music in the pool room. Nothing was stolen, the pool table had not been used, and no beer had been consumed. Then, they somehow heard the knock at the door over the loud music, and turned off the light and the music at the same time. Conceivable, but very, very improbable.
If anyone has any plausible alternate theories on this, I would be interested in hearing them. Although I never got the feeling that the house was haunted, it may be worth noting that an alcoholic uncle of mine had died in the house a few years prior. In the pool room, as a matter of fact.
