This is a true story.

Nick, Judy and Rob (that's me) were three nerdy strangers studying Computer Science at Curtin university during the 1990s. Living in my family home was not ideal. With two brothers and two sisters it was not only overcrowded but noisy, making study very difficult. So, when Nick advertised for a couple of students to share his rental accommodation I jumped at the chance. Judy was in a similar situation, and after a "get to know you coffee" at the university cafeteria we decided to move in together.

It was an old weatherboard house that needed some repairs, but the rent was cheap and with three bedrooms plus a large living and dining area it suited us perfectly. Judy got the main bedroom that had a small ensuite bathroom at the front while Nick and I got the smaller bedrooms at the back of the house with a shared bathroom. Between our studies and part time jobs we all had very busy lifestyles, but still managed two or three nights a week to sit down together and share a meal, listen to some music, or watch a bit of television.

It was Judy who first noticed something weird happening. She worked a few nights a week at a local restaurant and didn't get home until around midnight. The first time she noticed that the front door was not only unlocked but wide open was strange and a little concerning. Nick and I were both security nuts and assured her that we had locked the door. We put it down to the fact that the house was old and that due to settling had sprung open. After the second occasion, as nothing had been stolen, I suspected that maybe a previous tenant with a key was playing a joke on us. I changed the lock, but to no avail, every time Judy came home the door was always open. The only time it wasn't was if Nick or I stood at the door waiting for her to come home. Nick installed a simple alarm that buzzed whenever the door was opened, and although we now knew when the door had been opened, we could still find no rational explanation.

The next strange thing that started happening was when Judy noticed stuff in her room had been moved during the day while she was at uni. Nick and I assured her it wasn't us playing a sick joke. She started locking her door but that still didn't stop it happening.

A storm had blown in and the sound of the rain on the old tin roof accompanied by loud thunder and flashes of lightning made us glad that we were home for the evening. We were all in the living room watching some television and discussing the strange events when the lights started to flicker on and off. At the same time the door alarm buzzer sounded, and we heard the creaky old front door open. The door had been locked. Before we could move, we heard loud footsteps on the wooden floor as someone walked down the hallway towards the living room. The footsteps, minus a body, continued past the living room towards the back of the house. We heard the back door open, and the footsteps then just stopped. We checked, no one was there. Hearing those footsteps, without a body, was the scariest thing I had ever witnessed and the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. Judy's mouth was open in what I could only assume was a silent scream. As Nick and I relocked the doors we couldn't help but notice the dirty boot marks left on the floor.

Perhaps it was the lateness of the hour, or the storm that was raging outside, I don't know why, but we didn't leave. No one slept that night and we all huddled together in the living room as we discussed what to do next. Judy was adamant that she was moving out first thing in the morning, which she promptly did.

I planned to stay in the house with Nick until he could find somewhere else to go and then I would move back home.

Then the strangest thing happened. As soon as Judy moved out everything returned to normal. After three weeks and no mysterious events Nick and I decided we would stay.

There was a knock at the door one afternoon and the young mum who lived next door was there returning a package for Nick that had been incorrectly delivered. We stood chatting for a couple of minutes before an icy blast chilled us both. It was a hot day, and it wasn't a change in the weather. There was no doubt that this house was haunted, and something was sending us an unpleasant message. I told Nick that night what had happened, and we both agreed to move out on the following weekend.

Everything seemed ok and on Friday night my new girlfriend, Lee, came over to help me pack. She had stacked my tee shirts in a neat pile on my bed when I called her to come into the living room for a coffee that I had just made. She just sat down when the alarm buzzer went off and we heard the front door creaking open. It wasn't Nick. The heavy footsteps, again with no body, walked past the living room, but this time entered my bedroom. I didn't hesitate, I grabbed Lee, ran outside, jumped into my car, and drove away as fast as I could. Lee was hysterical.

It was a few days before I mustered the courage to go back, with a couple of my mates, and get my belongings. The sight on my bed frightened the life out of me. A large (very large) knife had been stabbed right through the middle of the neatly stacked pile of tee shirts.

As far as I know the house was never rented again and remained vacant for many years.

Some thirty years later, the house is long gone, replaced with an apartment block, but these events still haunt me, not only in my wakeful dreams but as vivid flashbacks as well.

I did some research, and it appears that a guy had brutally murdered his unfaithful wife in that house some fifty years ago. He protested his innocence but spent the rest of his life in jail.

On reflection, Nick and I surmised that the hauntings had only occurred when a woman had been present in the house.

Well, I guess that if the murderer was truly innocent that might account for his extreme behavior, or perhaps he was a misogynist and just didn't like women. We will never know.