Around two years ago, I finally moved into a brand new house in a brand new building estate in Australia. I was one of the first to have a finished build in the area and was elated to finally gain independence. The first few weeks went by as normal and during that time, I'd often take walks alone with the dog in the afternoons and roam the surrounding estate area.
All the roads around us had been partially completed and all the other properties were marked out, but no other houses were built excluding one that was directly opposite mine. The house looked finished, but there was no driveway laid yet and from what I could gather, noone lived there.
To the left of my house roughly a few hundred meters away was a field with a huge hill in it. I later found out that the whole area was council property, not only was noone allowed to build up there but the whole hill was basically a no go zone. For whatever reason, the council just didn't want people on it so the whole area was surrounded by a huge chain link fence.
The only other noticeable feature in the area was a small abandoned farm house with a shed a few kilometres down the road. I knew nothing about it and often went walking there with the dog as it gave me something mild to explore amongst the vast nothingness I was living around. The entire place was dilapidated and completely inhabitable, but it was still interesting none the less.
About a month or two after moving in, I awoke one morning to the sound of a violin. It sounded extremely distant and quite haunting, I actually enjoyed it and assumed that the neighbours opposite me has finally moved in. Excited that I finally had some people to talk to, I peeked out the curtain and saw the house opposite mine was still as vacant as it ever was. I got dressed but by the time I managed to look outside, the violin has stopped.
This happened roughly every second day for the next week, the violin would wake me up and then just disappear after about 45 seconds. I'd ignored it to the point where my curiosity simply got the better of me and the next morning when I heard the violin playing again I immediately jumped out of bed, threw on my dressing gown and shot out the front door. I scoured the early morning surrounding and there, up on the hill, was a figure playing a violin.
It was barely light, but the person looked very tall from the distance I was at and as they were playing, was doing what could only be described as a waltz-type walk, spinning slowly around in a circle as they played. I took my eyes off the person and walked over to pick up the morning paper and in the 10 seconds that took me, I heard the violin stop.
When I looked up, I noticed the figure was no longer playing or dancing, but was now standing still and most likely looking in my direction. It was so dark i couldn't make out and more and we both just stood there for half a minute not moving before the creeps got the better of me and I went back inside.
After that morning, things started happening. On my walks I began to notice footprints on the surrounding properties that weren't made by me and that I'd never seen before, which I just assumed were from people walking up from the other housing areas down the road. I never awoke to the violin, but I swore I could hear someone walking on the street next to my bedroom window in the early mornings, however I never saw anything.
Other really general things as well, like random tools such as spades and rakes laying around the area which I guessed were left there by construction crews, none of which I ever saw. I'd started getting calls at work that would immediately hang up on me and I also stopped walking up to the abandon farm house, as the experience with the violin player had me a little shaken.
One night as I was heading to bed, I turned off the television in the living room and again, could hear the faint sound of a violin playing, however it sounded more muffled and rehearsed.
I froze and a cold chill flowed through me instantaneously. Considering that it was about midnight and not the usual time I'd hear it playing, I went to the front window and peeked out to see that there was a light in the house opposite mine. It was clearly a candle as I could see the dim light flicker in the empty window and the music sounded like it was coming from an old record player, but in the ten minutes I watched, I never saw any movement inside the house.
I moved away from the window sufficiently freaked out and after another five minutes, I heard the music abruptly stop. I peeked out again to notice the light was now out. I never saw anyone. I began to become unsettled in the house and would often invite friends over to hang out until late, but of course nothing would ever happen when someone else was with me. I never bothered to tell any of my friends as without evidence, I figured they'd just give me shit about it and I'd just become more agitated.
But nothing compared to what happened next. In my living area, the desk sits right next to a small window which looks out to the fence surrounding my property. The steel fence is literally an arms length from the house and about six feet tall so I always figured that, unlike most of the other windows, I'd never need to cover this one with a sheet or blanket because noone could ever see in. I usually had headphones on when I played and I always had the lights off, for no other reason than I preferred to play games in the dark.
One night when I was gaming, I got up and walked into the dark kitchen and got a beer out of the fridge. It was dead silent excluding the faint sound coming out of my headphones. As I closed the fridge and turned around to face the desk, I saw directly out the window two very, very faint lights.
I didn't even catch on and immediately started walking back to the desk fixated on the small glowing balls and it wasn't until I had my nose almost pressed against the glass that I realised the two lights weren't lights at all.
They were eyes.
A set of eyes, sitting just above the fence line staring wide open at me. They didn't blink. They didn't move. My entire body locked up, all I could do was simply stare back as my brain was still comprehending that there was an actual person looking at me in the scariest way I could possibly ever imagine. I don't know what happened, either my head kicked into gear or my muscles loosened but my body automatically collapsed and I fell to the floor, scurrying to hide against the wall away from the window.
I could hear my heart beating through the carpet like a drum as I tried to lay as flat as possible and as my mind was still processing the sheer severity of the situation, a violin started playing. That fucking violin and the haunting tune it always emitted started up, except this time it was directly outside my window and much louder than I'd ever heard it before.
The lights were still off and I wanted to get up to turn off the PC screen so I couldn't be seen, but my whole body just wasn't ready to cooperate. Not only was the sound of the instrument extraordinarily loud, but it sounded like it was been played with frustration, notes been missed frequently and the strings screeching. The pace of it was getting faster and faster and by this time, my dog Jeb out in the backyard had picked up on the situation and registering an unfamiliar sound, gave one solitary, deep bark.
The violin instantly stopped and the house was finally dead silent excluding my headphones which I could hear quietly working away. I was still frozen to the carpet and it wasn't until Jeb gave a second menacing bark that I heard the figure outside the window start to walk away in the direction of my yard.
Once that first footstep hit the ground, I instantly thought of the welfare of my best mate and finally, my head connected with my extremities and my entire body kicked into overdrive. I left from the ground and slid across the laminated floor to the backdoor where Jeb was standing, staring into the backyard. I ducked to keep low and quietly unlocked and slid open the door.
Usually doing so would notify Jeb that he was allowed inside but when the door opened up, he didn't move an inch and was completely fixated on the pitch black backyard. Everything told me not to go outside but there was no chance I was letting anything happen to my dog and I moved out onto the alfresco, moved behind Jeb, put my hand under his collar and attempted to back him toward the house. Jeb is a pure labrador and weighs like a sack of sand so when he doesn't want to move, it takes a sheer force to pull him in the direction you want him to go and right now, Jeb wasn't going anywhere.
I yanked at his scruff and as I did, he emitted a bark like I'd never heard before, a deep, bellowing "fuck you right off" sound that elevated my nerves to an all time high. We both just stood there, waiting for some form of reply and I couldn't remember how long we both just froze there, but eventually i heard footsteps from around the side of the house begin to walk away. But not a simple walk, almost like whoever was doing it was slowly dancing in a circle, the footsteps keeping to a beat as they drifted away from the house into the distance.
Once I couldn't hear anything, Jeb licked his lips, gave me a look and wandered back inside. I followed, locked the door behind me and spent the night reverting to my child-like self; hiding under my bed covers with my dog. I didn't sleep a wink.
That was the last time I ever saw or heard the violin player. The following morning when the sun finally came up, I called into work sick and called the police. They scoured the lot next to mine and found footprints in the dirt, however there were so many there that it was impossible to tell who's were who's. The only description I could give to the officer was his height, he would have had to be over 6ft to stare over that fence at me but they explained that he could have been standing on something, or on his toes.
They also told me that they've never received a report of anyone playing a violin in the area or anyone been in the fenced off hill either. I essentially looked like an insane person, but the officers were very nice about the whole thing and offered to patrol the area for the next few nights which helped put my mind at ease. Nothing else has happened since then.
Over the next year or two, people finally started moving in and I tell them all the story about the figure I saw, some of which still use to keep their children in line which I found funny. One guy nicknamed the council lot 'Violin Hill' and the name has stuck around our street since then. I even spent a period of time scoring the depths of the Internet for that violin tune I kept hearing, but could never find it. There were a few classical pieces that seemed reminiscent, but I've since thought that whatever tune was played must have been self composed, which creeps me out even more.
I'm still in the house, I still tell people the story and I haven't changed my routine one bit which has really helped me to block out the fear of the experience.
I game with the blinds closed now.
