This account is from a former housekeeper who worked the overnight shift for six months at an office building in Polk County, Iowa. Several people had also quit the night shift after encountering some terrifying apparitions.
The office building was sizable, which from what I can glean from the witness included two large cafeterias for workers, large offices, meeting rooms, a glassed-in modern conference room and housed major companies. The large glassed-in conference room where office workers would congregate to plan was the site of Christmas parties, gatherings and other celebrations, but at night it was very lonely and silent as a tomb. Since I do not have permission from the owner to disclose the building’s actual name, let’s leave it as one building you would not want to work in after dark.
The overnight worker, “Amelia”, usually entered via a side stairwell that led into the building. On one particular night, she commenced her shift at the reception desk which was already deserted due to the lateness of the hour. The crew of workers included another lady who was later in her years and had worked for the company for a long time. Despite the history of the building and tragedy that occurred there, she had become accustomed to the hauntings and sinister vibe that accompanied it. Amelia would later find out why.
While at the reception area on the ground floor, the crew assembled and Amelia made the acquaintance of the older lady who indicated she had been working there for a while. She was in charge and knew the building well. Amelia, new to the building, followed instructions and was soon off to do her duties, taking the elevator to her assigned areas. One of the office workers, incidentally, met up with her as he was on his way out in a rush. She then proceeded to work the area he was just in, wondering and pondering why the young man was in such a rush. She soon found out.
As Amelia went into the bathrooms, working thoroughly and diligently, she heard what she thought were moaning sounds. The sounds were coming from right outside the door of the women’s bathroom which was a hallway that led to the conference room and the emergency exit. Amelia cleaned, wondering what was outside. She exited the bathroom, now done, only to hear sounds that began to scare her. Knowing she was alone on the floor at the moment, she wondered who the other woman was who was apparently in some distress.
As Amelia proceeded down the hallway to investigate, she noticed one glassed-in office adjacent to the large conference room. A blonde haired woman, appearing translucent, seemed to be at her computer. Amelia could hear her thumping away at the keys. Slowly, she approached, as the specter seemed to be where the moaning was originating from. As Amelia approached, the woman’s image through the glass office suddenly vanished.
Hairs on her arms stood on end. Despite the sense she was getting, she investigated, surveying the hallway for the woman who was just there seconds before. Then, behind her, the emergency exit light dimmed. She turned. Somewhere behind the exit door, she heard scratching, like fingernails, on the wall. A hollow sound like a woman whispering to someone reached her ears.
Now intrigued, but determined to assuage her own fears that it was just another crew member on shift whom she perhaps had not met, Amelia approached the exit door. As she strode forward in her sneakers, the red light on the exit sign stopped blinking. That’s when she smelled putrefaction. Now alarmed that someone was hurt or injured, which accounted for the moaning and sounds, Amelia pulled the door open and entered the emergency stairwell.
A cold breeze confronted Amelia at the top of the stairs. She looked down at the dim lighting and the cement steps leading down all the way to the ground floor. She yelled out to check if anyone was down the steps. What replied back is what would be sealed in her mind forever. Scratching. The scratching of fingernails on the cement walls of the stairs, seemingly increasing in volume as if it was headed in her direction. Up the steps, the scratching sounded, the steel bannister thumping as if there was a hand that had slammed on it, attempting to seek purchase as it made its way up.
The scent of a body in a state of decomposition filled her nostrils. She felt like vomiting.
Amelia bolted, pulling the handle of the door and returning to the hallway where she had seen the woman by the computer. The woman’s shadow was there, appearing to be standing and hovering over her computer. Amelia quickly pushed her cleaning cart and aimed for the other side of the hall. She kept her eyes focused straight so as to avoid anything more she may see or that may be near her.
However, as Amelia went past the glass-in conference room, the image of a man with a purple face, red splotches on his neck appeared to be watching her. She described him as wearing some type of black trench coat and black knee boots as if he was goth. His neck was at an odd angle as he looked back at her through the glass. Later on, she would learn the identity of this particular specter.
Amelia could not believe her experiences that night. When she returned the next several nights and the nights went into weeks, she began to cringe in the hours of the afternoons, leading to the time she had to return to work. As she entered the emergency stairwell from the street, now knowing it had a prescence which terrified her, Amelia tried to find a way to enter the building through a different route. Later on, she was able to avoid the stairwell and finally was able to enter through another street entrance. She also found herself praying before her shift and starting her shift at the reception area on the ground floor. Behind the reception desk, she would pray that whatever haunted the building would not confront her that night. However, it was unavoidable as the crew rotated areas.
Terrified, Amelia sought some validation from others to determine the truth to her encounters which continued. That was when she met one of the other women who worked at the other end of building.
She recounted for her the story of the executive who chose to stay late to complete his work for the day. The story goes that this young man was working alone after all his coworkers in the executive suite had left and he had been intently focused on his paperwork. Suddenly, at the corner of his eye, he saw a woman dressed neatly pass by on her way to the other end of the hall where the conference room was situated. He noted she seemed in a hurry and exited through the emergency door leading to the street. Upon following the specter, he entered the stairwell and that scent of putrefaction assailed him.
Then, he saw her floating down the steps as he looked below. He never worked after hours again, taking his work home with him instead.
As Amelia communicated her concerns to others on the shift, the stories began to pour out: the man in the trench coat and knee boots with the purple face was reportedly the night shift crew manager’s son. The same lady who had been working there for several years. She was comfortable because she knew who haunted the stairwell. Her son was one of the janitors who worked the night shift. One particular night, her son hung himself at the same stairwell, his body hanging from a steel banister. Back then the emergency stairwell was not a point of entry for the night shift workers, so his body wasn’t found until at least a week later, purple and splotched, neck broken and his body in a state of decomposition.
The moaning of the woman was attributed to a separate tragedy that may perhaps predate the janitor’s suicide. A secretary who purportedly worked late one night was attacked by someone and ended up running down the exit stairs in an effort to escape her assailant. Injured, she was found dead later on. Her former office was the office where Amelia saw the woman at her computer.
Amelia would stay at the job for six months and then finally, as the encounters wore on her nerves and invaded her daytime sleep with nightmares, she resigned. One night, at the height of the hauntings which invariably occurred at midnight, Amelia’s boss who was off-site, called on the phone. Fearful it was another specter trying to reach her, Amelia did not answer the phone which was in one office near where she had encountered another entity. Three times, she reportedly ignored the call, now very apprehensive of what may happen next. She also had keys which opened areas she was now reluctant to enter.
Amelia surrendered her keys and took a day job which ended her dilemma. She no longer had to enter that building ever again and refrained from walking past the emergency exit that was the entrance to her former job.
This story was shared by Teresa, a resident of Iowa.
