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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The Cathouse in Bethlehem, NH by James Paradie


Scared Sheetless
1st Edition: The Cathouse in Bethlehem, NH
Written by James Paradie

Publish History:
Published by: Newspaper(Jan. 9th, 2009 edition)

New Hampshire is infested with many things: Deer, Turkeys, Moose, Bear, and wannabe gangsters. But, another thing that the Great White Mountains is inhabited with is the Supernatural. Former citizens turned denizens of the yesteryears who didn’t take the express way to the afterlife, and wish to stay here. Why? We probably don’t know that and don‘t want to find that out anytime soon. Some ghost experts say it could range from regret to recognition, or both. Some even say that they have stayed behind to do some unfinished business. Either way, I will be talking about New England haunts and things that go bump in the night(that does not include your spouse falling off the bed when your sleeping).

I’m the type of person that likes a good story. I’m probably the only twenty year old who can kick back and listen to my grandfather talk about what it was like in his childhood and enjoy it. I can also listen to anyone’s stories without getting bored. Still, New Hampshire citizens are always full of stories. However, certain stories that I enjoy the most, don’t necessarily have to do with the living, but with the spirits from the land of the dead. It’s strange how no New Hampshire publications don’t have a section for spooks around this great state, so here’s where I come in with the "newspaper".

Let me point out, in no way am I a trained Paranormal Investigator. I’m just a person who has had one ghostly experience that has made me a fan of the Paranormal for life. The living, to me, can be pretty darn boring sometimes, and ghost stories are a way to lift up my interest or spirits, whichever you prefer. Ghost stories come natural to everyone. We all hear about it, and some people are skeptical, but sometimes I just think that some people are not open minded, but we do live in a really strange world, so nothing should be doubted.

Let’s start with a ghost story that I know very well from someone that I know very well, me. The story takes place in Bethlehem, New Hampshire, located on [redacted due to now being a private residence]. I first heard about the Cathouse from my cousin who was a frequent visitor of the not so famous ghost destination. The Cathouse is a run down home that has been abandoned for more then thirty-five years. Nobody knows where the two women who used to live there went. You can say, they just disappeared. According to local legend, an old lady and her daughter used to live in the home before disappearing in somewhere around 1975, and were never seen again. Nobody has any clue of where they went, however, from my experience I don’t think they went very far. The old lady was said to have well over a hundred cats. Now, I’m a cat lover myself(mostly cause I‘m allergic to dog hair), but that’s just ridiculous. I’d hate to see the cat food/litter bill even for it being the 70’s.


The house itself is run down, and vandalized. Most of the windows are smashed, the front door looks to be kicked in, things have been also stolen from in there. It’s said that the two ladies left everything behind. Even her car was still in the front yard until recently(it‘s now gone). Did I believe it was haunted when I first saw it? No. I just thought it was just an abandoned home, and that the break ins over the years gave it that haunted look. I was about to be proven wrong though. One night, when I was about sixteen or seventeen; me and my cousin went to Hell(no, not that hell-that story will come later), and after we went to Hell, we went to the Cathouse. Just to check it out on a summer night between 8:30 and 9 p.m. This was an experience that I soon not forget, and probably will take it to my grave. We drove up beside the house, my cousin looking for her digital camera and me just looking at the house. The house itself had this glow to it. Not a ghostly glow, but as if the house was alive. My mind started to play tricks on me; I started to hear a cat’s meow as if it was right next to me. I looked and there was nothing there, but the cracked pavement.

My cousin found the camera, but no batteries. So, as we’re looking for batteries, I remember that I looked into the glove compartment and something made me look out my cousins window(the house is on the left side of the road), and standing in the door way was an old lady. She had a dress on(looked early 20th century to me), and I couldn’t really make out the face, but the thing that got me was her eyes, or where her eyes were suppose to be. They were bright blue, as if someone took her eyes out and replaced them with blue ruby’s. It was both fascinating and frightening all at the same time. The only problem was, she was still there. Even after a minute of me staring at her. She was still there, like she didn’t care that a mortal saw her. My cousin finally snapped me out of my trance. I told her let’s get out of here, but it was a bit more explicit. She snapped a few photos, and we drove off. Either she saw something too that she didn’t want to talk about, or I was pretty good at keeping my excitement in, because we didn’t talk about what I saw and I never even asked her if she saw what I had seen.

The experience has given me something to share for years to come; to friends, to family, to my future kid’s, and future grandkids. Most people, I feel, are skeptical about my story. Some have even laughed in my face saying that ghosts don’t exist. But, I know what I saw, and with the house still standing, there maybe a future ghost experience for YOU.

If you would like to send feedback, or even a story of your own ghostly experience that MAY even be used in a future edition of Scared Sheetless, then feel free to email me at scaredsheetlessncn@hotmail.com or if you’d like to redistribute this story on your publication or your website, etc. then please email me at the same email address. Thanks for reading!

1 comment:

  1. bethlehem has some good ghost stories. im from bethlehem and i no i few of my own. next time your in town, go to the graveyard by the golf coarse on mainstreet and look for a grave with the name carrie written on it. But youll notice something about it. It ONLY says carrie on it. Weird? i would say so. There happends to be a story behind it. I Myself am not aloud to share this story. Stephan king wrote his book Carrie based on it. Do some research. I Hope that u will learn the story. But when u do, do not share it with anyone else
    - J Rivers

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