Scary House

Have you ever been really creeped out? Like when you were a kid and maybe you found yourself alone in some dark place like a basement or attic. I used to get that all the time at my Grandparents house in Winnipeg. I loved going to their place but I hated being in the basement by myself.

Their basement was half finished. One area was all set up with carpeting, nice walls and a drop ceiling. There was a bar, a hide-a-bed some chairs a TV and a dartboard. The other part was unfinished and it had dry storage and a workshop as well as other standard basement things.

One of my favorite things about visiting their house was playing darts. We'd spend hours playing doubles tournaments and stuff. In the day time I'd go down and practice, but I wouldn't go down there unless someone was down there with me. I can't count the number of times I'd be practicing away, when out of the blue my backup would leave me and head upstairs. Once I was alone, I'd try to keep practicing but there was always an uneasiness that would start to creep in. It would increase steadily until I got to the point of near panic and I'd throw all the darts and bolt up the stairs. Saying nothing about it of course. I wouldn't want anyone to think I was a chicken. I remember a couple of times bolting up the stairs like my hair was on fire and then trying to act all non-chalent when everyone looked to see what was wrong.

I used to hang out at the top of the stairs and watch TV or color or whatever it was I was into at the time but I was always aware of the presence of the basement behind me. For some unknown reason this basement freaked me out more than any other place I had ever been, or have ever been since. The basement there gave me the willies. It's a strange term, "willies" but it is very fitting in this case. A couple of times I was sent down to the dark unfinished area to get potatoes or something and, believe me, my stress meter was through the roof. I sprinted from light switch to light switch there and back as fast as my feet would carry me.

I was 16 when my grandparents moved out of that house and, although I did work up the nerve to sleep on the hide-a-bed down there once, the basement still freaked me out.

So one day on our last visit to their house before they moved my Dad says. "Did you know that someone was murdered in Grandma and Grandpa house?"

BOOIINNNNGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!! My eyes pop out. "Ya, Right!!" I said.

My Dad then proceeded to tell me the story of how, in 1979, a female realtor named Irene Pearson had been there by herself waiting to show the house to some people when she was murdered. Her body was found in the basement the next morning. She'd been struck in the head a few times and stabbed repeatedly in the chest. ~INSERT HORRIFIED SCREAM HERE~. Then he says, "We've known about it all these years but figured it was better if you guys didn't know."

Again. BOOIINNNNGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!! FUCKING RIGHT! NO DOUBT IT WAS BETTER THAT WE DIDN'T KNOW BEFORE!!!! I didn't even want to know then. I was so freaked out by that basement, I can't even imagine what I would have been like if I'd known the history.

The killer was never found and to this day it remains one of Winnipegs most famous unsolved murder cases. Check out the details.