Chapter 4 – Cliffside Park (1987)

Debbie and I were sharing a townhouse in Cliffside Park, New Jersey. It was a very nice space with a beautiful view of NYC. We had lots of fun together and one of our curious pastimes was playing with the Ouija board. We didn’t have any experience with the game but the planchette that you placed your fingers on was going crazy all over the board.  I kept thinking that Debbie was pulling my leg and was forcibly moving the planchette while letting me believe ‘something’ else like a spirit or a ghost was moving it. What I didn’t know was that she was thinking the very same thing.

After several months living there, our friends Sandy and Janet came to visit us and we went out to dinner.  I remember ordering chunks of lobster with a spicy mustard sauce on the side. It was the most delicious dish. We were sharing with our friends our crazy experience with the Ouija board.  I then confessed to Debbie that I thought she was manipulating the planchette in order to scare me or to get me to believe it was being moved by an invisible force.

You should have seen Debbie’s expression.  Her face dropped and went slightly grey. She then confessed that she thought I was trying to scare her by intentionally moving the planchette. We both freaked out.  If she wasn’t moving it and I wasn’t moving it, who was moving it. This was another chills-up-the spine moment.

Then it occured to me that there was something unusual about our town house. I confessed to my girlfriends that there seem to be an energy or presence in the house, a feeling that I wasn’t alone.  There were many nights I would wake up in the middle of the night and I felt such a strong presence that I went into a state of terror. I would lie in bed with my eyes wide open waiting for the sunlight to return.  

Debbie grabbed my arm and said, “No way. I can’t believe we never shared how we were feeling!  I too feel there is something terribly off with the energy of our home. I am also awakened in the middle of the night and can’t help think I’m being watched. I’m so spooked right now”.

That night Debbie and I slept together. We were so scared. I remember taking the Ouija board and putting it on the small loft in Debbie’s bedroom.  The house had these really high ceilings and in her room, there was a loft about 20 feet long and 4 feet wide with a narrow wooden ladder leading up to it. The space didn’t seem to have a purpose. Debbie kept this huge pink panther stuffed toy on the loft space. After we shared our experience with the Ouija board, we put it up there with the pink panther and never played with it again.

About a month later, when the temperature started to warm up, we saw our neighbor standing outside and decided to introduce ourselves.  He told us he has lived there a long time. We started to ask him about the nearby properties and the prices since we were interested in possibly buying  one of the townhouses. After some small talk, he said he was surprised that the town allowed the real estate developers to relocate the cemetery. Say what?!!!!  Our eyes were popping out of our heads! Debbie asked, “Are you serious? Which house was built on a cemetery?” He said, “ Why all of them!”

I almost had to pick Debbie up off the ground. We didn’t have to say a word.  We knew for sure now that it wasn’t our imagination. Several months later we moved. On the balcony loft of Debbie’s room, we left the Pink Panther with the Ouija board.  We wondered if the people who moved in after us ever used the Ouija board and if they felt the same intense energy that we did.