Family Move Into New House—Chills at Message Found Scratched Inside Closet

Newsweek

3 days ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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A homeowner endured a few sleepless nights after discovering an unsettling message scratched in the back of a closet in her 1920s home.
Madeleine Jones and her family moved into their new home in Arlington, Massachusetts, a year ago, but didn't notice anything was amiss until she recently began reorganizing her clothes. That was when she saw the chilling 15-word message written in the back.
"It's way in the back of a probably a 3ft+ closet, scratched into the contact paper," Jones told Newsweek. "It totally creeped me out!"
Etched crudely into the wood at the back of the vintage piece of furniture were the following words:
"A red river clogs my eyes as I slide down deeper from despair to death."
Jones' home dates back to 1924, meaning the message could have been written anytime in the past century. So far, her efforts at finding the origins of meaning behind it have been fruitless.
"I initially thought it must be song lyrics, but my Google search didn't turn up anything," Jones said. "I showed the photo to all of my friends and family who were equally spooked."
The lack of answers and the fact it felt like something out of a horror movie left Jones suffering from a few sleepless nights. "Who could sleep 5 feet away from something like that," she said.
Jones would be forgiven for thinking something paranormal was at play.
While it's not the majority, a significant proportion of Americans do believe in the supernatural world.
Earlier this month, a Gallup Poll revealed nearly half of U.S. adults, 48 percent, believe in psychic or spiritual healing.
Slightly fewer, 39 percent, believe in ghosts, while between 24 percent and 29 percent say they believe in six other supernatural phenomena, including telepathy, communication with the dead, clairvoyance, astrology, reincarnation and witches.
Eager to get answers, Jones took to Reddit, posting a picture of the message under the handle u/vitaminmm. "I love posting on Reddit, you get such a wide range of reactions! My personal favorite are the people who accuse you of staging something like this for upvotes," Jones said.
One user described the message as an example of "high school teenage angst."
Another, meanwhile, shared a memory of doing similar.
"When I was 12 -ish I distinctly remember writing weird things on the wall of my closet, over the door where they'd never really be seen," they said. "Things like I will burn this house down and I hear voices at night. Why? I wanted someone to be scared if they stumbled upon it. Will have to check if it's still there next time I visit."
It turns out that that may not be a million miles from the truth of Jones's situation.
"I talked to our neighbors who have lived next door since the 1970s and they told me that three daughters shared our bedroom, which is a maximum of 100 square feet, in the '70s and early '80s," Jones said.
"Upon further investigation of the closet, there are a number of things written inside: 'Eileen '84' and 'I love Gary' with Gary crossed out. My ultimate conclusion is that this was the early 1980s emo musings of a teenage girl. Still not the kind of thing you want to find etched into your 100-year-old closet wall though!"
Despite the unsettling nature of what was written, Jones has no plans to get rid of the wardrobe. "It's a closet so we're pretty stuck with it," she said. "I may wallpaper over it at some point, but I am enjoying the creep factor for the time being!"