Back in the early 1980s my aunt lived in a house that was literally located in the middle of nowhere.It used to really creep my younger brother and me out, but we loved to go there because my aunt had four children.

在上個世紀80年代早期，我姑媽家住的房子基本上可以說是位于荒郊野外。那是一個曾經使我和弟弟毛骨悚然的地方，但我們還是喜歡去她那兒，因為姑媽家有四個孩子。

The house was very old, and it had all wooden floors. There was always an uneasy feeling when you were inside. For the most part not much happened that was out of the ordinary when we were there. There were a lot of noises during the night, though. On several occasions I heard floorboards creaking, as if someone were walking around. Most of this seemed to be coming from upstairs, and sometimes in the hallway downstairs that connects the front of the house to the back rooms. Sometimes I also heard a thumping sound from upstairs at night. The thing is, no one stayed upstairs ever. There was just a spare room, a bathroom and some small storage spaces up there.

這棟房子已經非常有年頭了，地板都是木制的，只要你呆在里邊，就總會感到有些不自在。盡管在夜里有這樣那樣的叫聲，但是我們在那里呆的絕大部分時間內并沒有發生什么不正常的事情。有好幾次，我都聽到地板在吱嘎吱嘎的響，好像是有人在上面行走一樣，這種情況下大部分是從樓上傳來的，有些時候是來自樓下連接樓前樓后房間的走廊。但事實是：樓上什么人也沒有，那里只有一間空房，一個洗手間，此外，在上面還有一些不大的儲藏間。

My aunt’s room was downstairs, and we all stayed in a room down the hall from hers. I told myself that the sounds were caused by the wind, or the fact that the house was so old, and really never thought twice about it. I refused to ever go upstairs though. The thought that the place could be haunted never really crossed my mind. I just thought it was a creepy old house. That is, until one night in particular.

姑媽的房間在樓下，我們幾個都呆在她南面的那個房間里。我經常告誡自己這些聲音是由風引起的，或者是因為這些房子年久的緣故。雖然我不愿意到樓上去看看，但我真得是沒有考慮過還有別的原因。我覺得這只是一所讓人不寒而栗的老房子，真得從來沒產生過房子里會鬧鬼這樣的想法。但是，在一天夜里，出現了特別。

Bedtime had come a long time ago, but us being kids we stayed awake and goofed around for a while. Eventually we all fell asleep. This night I seemed to have a lot of trouble staying asleep though. I kept waking up periodically for no apparent reason. On about the fourth time waking up, I thought I felt a poke on the heel of my foot, which is what woke me. I rolled over and looked around the room, but nothing was out of the ordinary.

那天夜里，早就應該睡覺了，但我們這些孩子們仍然很清醒，在一起又玩了一會。但最終，我們還是都睡著了。不過，那天夜里對我來說是有點麻煩，老睡不熟，無緣無故的隔一段時間就醒來一次。在我第四次醒來時，覺得好像腳跟被戳了一下，接著我就醒了，我翻過身來，打量了一下房間，沒發現什么異常的。

I lay back down and tried to go back to sleep. After I had lain there for about 5 minutes, I started to hear a tapping sound. I listened for a minute, and that was when I realized that the sound was coming from underneath my bed! I was too afraid to look under it, so I just tried to ignore it and go to sleep. After it did it for almost 10 minutes, the tapping suddenly stopped. What happened next I will never forget for as long as I live.

于是，我又躺回去，抓緊時間睡覺。在我躺下不到五分鐘，就開始聽到有輕輕的叩擊聲從我床底下傳來，嚇得我也不敢下去看，只好置之不理，繼續睡覺。就這樣過了足足十分鐘，敲擊聲突然停了，而接下來發生了一件令我今生難忘的事情!

There was a lone window in the room, and that night the curtains were pulled back. I was facing the window, and just moments after the tapping stopped, a white transparent figure slowly moved past the window from right to left. It seemed to be walking on the front porch, which covered the entire front of the house. The figure appeared to have a glow to it, kind of like the moon has. Needless to say, I was horrified. I froze in terror, with my eyes fixed on the window. Fortunately I didn’t see it again. I tried to rationalize what I had just seen, but I couldn’t. We were in the middle of nowhere! There were no roads, no cars, no nothing, just a long dirt road and a bunch of trees. Everyone else was asleep, so I was the only one who saw this. I was too scared to sleep after that, so I just lay there for the rest of the night. The next morning I was thinking about what I had seen, and I remembered that sometimes my aunt would hang clothes out to dry on the front porch. This must have been what I had seen, right? Maybe it was a sheet or something. I asked her at breakfast if she had left any clothes out on the porch last night. She said she didn’t dry anything at all yesterday! There was no other explanation for what I had seen. Honestly, I really didn't think a sheet could have looked like that, anyway. This thing’s movement was too animated to be a sheet. I guess I just wanted to think that.

這間屋子有一個很高的窗戶，那天夜里窗簾沒拉上，而我就正對著窗戶。在敲擊聲剛剛結束的瞬間，一個白色的、輪廓明顯的身影就慢慢地從右向左經過了窗前，看上去好像是沿著前面的門廊走了過去，房子的前面都用這種門廊遮蓋著，這個身影看上去帶著跟月光一樣的亮光。毫無疑問，我被嚇呆了，我愣在那里，兩眼直勾勾的緊盯著窗戶，幸運的是，我沒有再看到他。我想給我剛才所看到的找一個合理的解釋，但是，我做不到。我們是在一個荒無人煙的地方，這兒沒有公路，沒有汽車，什么都沒有，只有一條長長的土路和樹叢。當時，他們幾個都睡著了，而我是唯一一個看到這個影子的人，第二天早上我還在琢磨昨晚我看到的那一幕，突然想起來姑媽有時候會在前面的門廊上曬衣服，是不是我看錯了呢?也許，那只是一張床單或者其它什么的。于是在吃早飯時，我問姑媽昨晚上她有沒有在前面門廊上留下衣服。她說昨天一天她什么也沒有曬!我再找不到什么可以用來解釋我所看到的這一切了。說實話，不管怎樣，我打心眼里也不認為床單看上去會是那個樣子，床單不會像它這樣活生生地動啊!我覺得也許我只是那么想而已。

Back in the early 1980s my aunt lived in a house that was literally located in the middle of nowhere.It used to really creep my younger brother and me out, but we loved to go there because my aunt had four children.

在上個世紀80年代早期，我姑媽家住的房子基本上可以說是位于荒郊野外。那是一個曾經使我和弟弟毛骨悚然的地方，但我們還是喜歡去她那兒，因為姑媽家有四個孩子。

The house was very old, and it had all wooden floors. There was always an uneasy feeling when you were inside. For the most part not much happened that was out of the ordinary when we were there. There were a lot of noises during the night, though. On several occasions I heard floorboards creaking, as if someone were walking around. Most of this seemed to be coming from upstairs, and sometimes in the hallway downstairs that connects the front of the house to the back rooms. Sometimes I also heard a thumping sound from upstairs at night. The thing is, no one stayed upstairs ever. There was just a spare room, a bathroom and some small storage spaces up there.

這棟房子已經非常有年頭了，地板都是木制的，只要你呆在里邊，就總會感到有些不自在。盡管在夜里有這樣那樣的叫聲，但是我們在那里呆的絕大部分時間內并沒有發生什么不正常的事情。有好幾次，我都聽到地板在吱嘎吱嘎的響，好像是有人在上面行走一樣，這種情況下大部分是從樓上傳來的，有些時候是來自樓下連接樓前樓后房間的走廊。但事實是：樓上什么人也沒有，那里只有一間空房，一個洗手間，此外，在上面還有一些不大的儲藏間。

My aunt’s room was downstairs, and we all stayed in a room down the hall from hers. I told myself that the sounds were caused by the wind, or the fact that the house was so old, and really never thought twice about it. I refused to ever go upstairs though. The thought that the place could be haunted never really crossed my mind. I just thought it was a creepy old house. That is, until one night in particular.

姑媽的房間在樓下，我們幾個都呆在她南面的那個房間里。我經常告誡自己這些聲音是由風引起的，或者是因為這些房子年久的緣故。雖然我不愿意到樓上去看看，但我真得是沒有考慮過還有別的原因。我覺得這只是一所讓人不寒而栗的老房子，真得從來沒產生過房子里會鬧鬼這樣的想法。但是，在一天夜里，出現了特別。

Bedtime had come a long time ago, but us being kids we stayed awake and goofed around for a while. Eventually we all fell asleep. This night I seemed to have a lot of trouble staying asleep though. I kept waking up periodically for no apparent reason. On about the fourth time waking up, I thought I felt a poke on the heel of my foot, which is what woke me. I rolled over and looked around the room, but nothing was out of the ordinary.

那天夜里，早就應該睡覺了，但我們這些孩子們仍然很清醒，在一起又玩了一會。但最終，我們還是都睡著了。不過，那天夜里對我來說是有點麻煩，老睡不熟，無緣無故的隔一段時間就醒來一次。在我第四次醒來時，覺得好像腳跟被戳了一下，接著我就醒了，我翻過身來，打量了一下房間，沒發現什么異常的。

I lay back down and tried to go back to sleep. After I had lain there for about 5 minutes, I started to hear a tapping sound. I listened for a minute, and that was when I realized that the sound was coming from underneath my bed! I was too afraid to look under it, so I just tried to ignore it and go to sleep. After it did it for almost 10 minutes, the tapping suddenly stopped. What happened next I will never forget for as long as I live.

于是，我又躺回去，抓緊時間睡覺。在我躺下不到五分鐘，就開始聽到有輕輕的叩擊聲從我床底下傳來，嚇得我也不敢下去看，只好置之不理，繼續睡覺。就這樣過了足足十分鐘，敲擊聲突然停了，而接下來發生了一件令我今生難忘的事情!

There was a lone window in the room, and that night the curtains were pulled back. I was facing the window, and just moments after the tapping stopped, a white transparent figure slowly moved past the window from right to left. It seemed to be walking on the front porch, which covered the entire front of the house. The figure appeared to have a glow to it, kind of like the moon has. Needless to say, I was horrified. I froze in terror, with my eyes fixed on the window. Fortunately I didn’t see it again. I tried to rationalize what I had just seen, but I couldn’t. We were in the middle of nowhere! There were no roads, no cars, no nothing, just a long dirt road and a bunch of trees. Everyone else was asleep, so I was the only one who saw this. I was too scared to sleep after that, so I just lay there for the rest of the night. The next morning I was thinking about what I had seen, and I remembered that sometimes my aunt would hang clothes out to dry on the front porch. This must have been what I had seen, right? Maybe it was a sheet or something. I asked her at breakfast if she had left any clothes out on the porch last night. She said she didn’t dry anything at all yesterday! There was no other explanation for what I had seen. Honestly, I really didn't think a sheet could have looked like that, anyway. This thing’s movement was too animated to be a sheet. I guess I just wanted to think that.

這間屋子有一個很高的窗戶，那天夜里窗簾沒拉上，而我就正對著窗戶。在敲擊聲剛剛結束的瞬間，一個白色的、輪廓明顯的身影就慢慢地從右向左經過了窗前，看上去好像是沿著前面的門廊走了過去，房子的前面都用這種門廊遮蓋著，這個身影看上去帶著跟月光一樣的亮光。毫無疑問，我被嚇呆了，我愣在那里，兩眼直勾勾的緊盯著窗戶，幸運的是，我沒有再看到他。我想給我剛才所看到的找一個合理的解釋，但是，我做不到。我們是在一個荒無人煙的地方，這兒沒有公路，沒有汽車，什么都沒有，只有一條長長的土路和樹叢。當時，他們幾個都睡著了，而我是唯一一個看到這個影子的人，第二天早上我還在琢磨昨晚我看到的那一幕，突然想起來姑媽有時候會在前面的門廊上曬衣服，是不是我看錯了呢?也許，那只是一張床單或者其它什么的。于是在吃早飯時，我問姑媽昨晚上她有沒有在前面門廊上留下衣服。她說昨天一天她什么也沒有曬!我再找不到什么可以用來解釋我所看到的這一切了。說實話，不管怎樣，我打心眼里也不認為床單看上去會是那個樣子，床單不會像它這樣活生生地動啊!我覺得也許我只是那么想而已。