Years ago, I took a part time job working for my friend Debbie at Life Uniform Store in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. It was right underneath a Wendy's Restaurant (yes, I couldn't share this story without a real picture of the location!). When you opened the door, you walked down some stairs and into this subterranean, stuffy retail store. Debbie told me right off, that she had experienced some strange activity, and wanted to have me keep my eyes open for anything odd. I was instantly excited and began asking her what things she had seen. She told me she would hear people walking around in the store from her office, hear clothing moving across racks, lights flickering, voices....you name it. All when she was alone!
She had a shoe mirror set up right outside her office door to watch for customers, and she even said she would see feet pass by the mirror, only to find that no one was in the store.
It wasn't too long before I had my first experience. One morning, I was opening alone, and I began with a quick vacuuming of the floor. I was pushing along, when all of a sudden, I looked up and saw an older black woman standing in the middle of a clothing rack. The clothing obscured most of her, except for the neck up. To be honest, she looked like she was trying to stay out of the way, and she seemed just as shocked that I could see her. We locked eyes for a few moments and she was gone. I was so shaken, I shut off the vacuum, locked the door and went upstairs to Wendy's for a bit. On another occasion, I was closing alone, and was trying to transmit the sales from the register to the company via the phone line. It would start, have an error and I'd have to start all over again. It really began frustrating me. Finally, I stopped and went to call my manager Debbie at home. There was a crackling and strange noises on the line, and I couldn't complete the call. Then, the lights in the store began turning off and on, one light at a time. This was impossible because there were three rows of lights, each row controlled by one light switch. Again, I locked the door and left, feeling completely freaked out. It wasn't just the events in that store, but also that I could feel multiple eyes watching me all the time. It could be rather unsettling.
One day, Debbie was working in the spare space next to ours, and she called me to come quickly. The space next door had no electric, just the light that came from the hallways. I rushed over, and she was crying outside in the hallway. She explained that she could see people walking around in the spare space, and she wasn't scared, but was just so in awe of it, that it made her cry. Sure enough, I entered the room, and there were shadows of people, milling about in there. It was unlike anything I've ever seen.
Soon after that, the floods began. Out of nowhere, water would start pouring out of the dressing rooms and cover the whole floor in less than 5 minutes. After that, the flying bugs would arrive. In both cases, neither the landlord or the cleaning crews could find the source. This would happen about 5 times during the time I worked there.
We were visited by the landlord one day, who showed us the basement level below ours. It was a creepy, dark, cavernous place, and it was during this visit that he explained the history of the building we were in. It had been the dorms for black students at the University of Pittsburgh back when there was racial segregation. I don't know for sure, but after that, I always imagined that the older black woman I saw was the "house mom" for the dorms, and just never left.
That store is no longer there, and from what I've read, I think the Wendy's is now closed. Perhaps now, the energies that reside there have a little peace and quiet.
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