About mid September, the nightly bug raids began to taper off. One night after they went to bed, they felt something crawling on their arms and when they turned on the lights, they found slugs crawling on them. Each night the slugs grew in number. Another night the June Bugs were back and then on another night it was hundreds of Pill Bugs. Since some of these bugs and snails obviously do not fly, they felt like they were being thrown at them. Mixed in with these bugs were also Doodle Bugs. Again, this only happened with the lights out. One night of all things there were little pieces of glass and rock salt being thrown at them. During all of this, there was nobody else in the house but Mr. Beaird and his son. His son was not doing it, they were in the same room together and as quick as the light switch was flipped it would stop or start.

One particular day they started finding hand written notes in Johnnie’s room. Now Johnnie was not there doing this. By now, she was in a hospital seeking help for her mental problems. They found piled in the middle of her bed was a conglomeration of objects, among which was a ten-pound bag of rock salt, most of which had been poured in a pile on the carpet under the bed. There was an old hair net mixed with it, some burned matches, an unwrapped cake of “hotel” soap, and on top of the pile was a note, printed the way a six-year-old child would do it, “Evil spirit go away”. As they continued to look for the next several days, there were many notes found in the room, all written in the child like handwriting. There were notes with many names on them along with birthdates and then a date of Death on them. Names of people that Mr. Beaird new as a child but had not seen since he was very little were even found. People that only he knew, but his family didn’t know or ever heard of.

One day when Andy got home, he found in the living room in the middle of the floor a new bar of soap and a potato masher. The soap was in pieces. That night when they went to bed, instead of bugs being thrown at them they had small pieces of soap thrown at them.

Another night while Mr. Beaird was outside doing their laundry Andy came out to tell him that June Bugs, Slugs were flying all over the house. Mr. Beaird said he had heard something hit the wall of the garage and when they went to look at what it might be, they found a little black wallet about the size of a billfold filled with loose tobacco. They threw the wallet into the trashcan and a while later while they were in the house; the wallet was thrown at them from nowhere.

During the preceding days, they found several other notes, all written or printed the same peculiar way, as if a child had written them. They had no idea what they meant, if anything but here are some of the notes:

Johnnie Beaird                                    Joe Bailey-1972                                  Amy Beard

1913 Murder                                         Reid Lesser-1966                                                The End

Bill Robenson-1967                            TiNK Lesser-1964                              

The dog-leave-1965

Die-1972

 

Another note was found and it had been burned. The only thing they could make out on the note was: Johnnie Beaird-Death 1991.

 

There were many more. Note these that were found. Look at the use of Capital Letters:

JoHN is goIn                        Be Nice IN                            There IS A                             IpOisOned

To Die                                    FROnt                                     Hertz in Mt                             little FOOLS

 

On the 23^rd of November, Mr. Beaird was going to put down new carpet. As he pulled up the carpet in Johnnie’s room, (remember this is daytime now) Hundreds of June Bugs, Slugs and nails started flying all over the room. As if being thrown from every direction. Finally, that stopped and he proceeded to finish pulling out the carpet, repainting the room and cleaning the curtains and all. This was over the next several days.

On the 26^th of November, Mr. Beaird cleaned the house thoroughly, and no unusual activity took place that night. On the 27^th bugs were everywhere. Just before dark, he was taking a bath, and when he was finished, standing up in the tub, he saw something hit the screen but could not tell what it was. So he called out to Andy who was in the den and told him to go out to see what it was. It turned out to be one of John’s rubber gloves that had been put out in the garbage can to be picked up with the rest of the trash.

On Thanksgiving Day he took all of the outside locks off so that he and his son could take them to a local Locksmith the next day. He thought that maybe there was a slight chance that his wife was driving into Tyler and doing some of these crazy things to the house. So he figured he would change all the locks and not give her a key. After all, she was in Dangerfield (about a little over an hour from Tyler), and had not been home now for quite a while. After getting them all changed, he put the locks back on all the doors.

The following Wednesday, December 1, 1965, somebody (he thought perhaps John his wife) had punched a hole in the back screen door near the hook and unhooked the door. If it were John though, she didn’t have a key that would fit the house.

December 4^th was the worst. It was Saturday, and they had gone to bed around 10:30. Something that sounded exactly like fingers drumming lightly on the bed. Although they were under the covers, they could feel whatever it was tugging at the sheets, actually trying to jerk the covers off them! They would turn on the light, and the tugging would stop! There were no bugs that night, but when the lights were off, they could feel something on their arms that seemed like small flying bugs bouncing up and down, sort of like gnats might do. They would slap at them, but there was absolutely nothing there. They sprayed the air everywhere with insect spray but it did no good. They said it felt exactly like someone lightly grabbing the hair on your arms with the thumb and forefinger, not actually pulling very hard at first, but later jerking the hair hard enough to hurt.

“While laying on the bed with the light on, Mr. Beairds shoes weighing approximately 2 pounds each, flew right over their heads and landed on the other side of the bed. Andy’s house shoes got up from the floor and flung themselves against the blinds. Their clothes, which were hanging in the closet with the door closed, got out of there somehow without the door being opened and landed across the room. Finally, they turned off the lights and heard a strange sound that they could not identify. It was under the bed, and sounded like bed rollers being turned rapidly with the fingers; but the bed was not on rollers! Suddenly something hit the blinds like a bullet. They turned on the light and found that the handle from the gas jet under the bed had unscrewed itself, and both the bolt and the handle had flung themselves against the blind. Then the bed started moving away from the wall. They would roll it back again only to have it do the same thing over and over. That was about all they could stand, and as it was 2 a.m. Sunday, they quickly put on some clothes and left the house to spend the rest of their night in a hotel.

As they were walking down the driveway, after closing and locking the door, a handkerchief still folded hit them on the back and the neck. Just as they got in the car, another handkerchief Mr. Beaird had left on the bedside table hit him on the back after he had closed the car doors.

By the time they arrived at the hotel, they were exhausted. Nothing more happened to them the remainder of the night. They got up the next morning and went home around 9:30 AM. When they arrived home, some of John’s clothes were in Mr. Beairds closet and some of his was in hers. There were strange notes fluttering around the house. He cleaned up all the mess and just as he was finishing up a big cigar hit him in the back of the neck from out of nowhere. He picked it up and threw it in the wastebasket. Andy wanted some soup so Mr. Beaird started off to a store a few blocks away. Just as he left the house Andy saw the cigar jump out of the wastebasket and land on the floor. He put it back in the basket. When he went to the door to tell his dad what had happened, Mr. Beaird turned around just in time to see the cigar go flying past his sons head and land right beside him at his truck. He ran back to the house and walked in just in time to see some of his clothes come flying out of his room into the kitchen.

By this time, he realized it did absolutely no good to have changed the locks on the house. Apparently, who or whatever this was did not need a key to get in the house anyway. His cap was on top of the fridge only to come flying off. They stood there eyes wide open just watching as things jumped up and flew off where they were sitting. A can of veggies popped up off the counter and flew across the room, paper towels flying, it was just total madness.

All of a sudden, they heard a click. The toaster had been turned on and off again. Andy yelled to his dad to watch out and he watched as the outline of a hand vanish near his head.

Later, while in the den, Mr. Beaird began to ask questions aloud, such as if he was asking his wife. He ask: John, tell me where we stayed last night? A few seconds later a note came floating down in front of them reading “ Motel on T.B. Road. Couldn’t Get IN. Got To Go you’ve ruined me.” Mr. Beaird said they did spend the night before at a motel on the road to the Tuberculosis Hospital where he worked. He then said aloud, trying to sound funny in a totally unfunny situation: With all that power, why don’t you just drop $5,000.00 on us. Almost immediately a check with nothing but $5,000 written on the face dropped from out of nowhere. He then asked, “John, why don’t you appear here before us right this minute?” In about five seconds, a note came down saying: Can’t come ToDay happy YuLeTide. He then asked. “Are you going to be able to sleep tonight?” This answer came down to them: “CaN’t make aNyTHing happen tONighT you BROKE MY POWER Call HOUsTon.”

Previously she told him to call Houston police and ask them about a witch who had solved the murder of a man named Gonzales. He felt like a fool, but he did call the Houston Police Department. He told them they could think he was drunk, crazy or anything they wished to, but he just wanted a yes or no answer, and asked if they had any record of a witch ever helping the Houston police solve a murder of a man named Gonzales. The man he talked to did not appear surprised and simply asked me to wait a moment, and a few seconds later said that he could find no record of any such event.

This entity or whatever also wrote directions for breaking its power. It was to “break an egg, mix with water and a dash of salt and then throw it in the back yard”.

Out of not knowing what else to do he and his son did just that. A few bugs then started flying around the house and a note came floating down and it read “power will end at 10 O Clock give or take an hour.”

For several days they received what seemed like hundreds of notes from right out of nowhere, simply materializing in midair, some folding themselves as they came toward them. Sometime after he had seen the outline of the hand, Andy saw what looked like his mother standing in the window and he watched her fade away.

They heard other voices after talking with the one that claimed to be John (the mother and wife). All seemed very strained, especially the female speakers, and they would often say that they had a mist in their throat and could not continue to talk to Mr. Beaird.

There were many times that they had these notes falling down from nowhere and that most of them were from the same two people. One being Mrs. Elliott who had been dead for three or four years when all this began to happen. The other was from Mr. Gree, of whom they had never heard of, but whom seemed eager to help with advice, and he was especially concerned about the care of Andy’s cats and dogs. They were “visited” by a great variety of public figures whose names were often in the news. Finally, Mr. Beaird started dating all the notes. However, at times so many would be descending at once that he could not keep count of the order they were falling in.

There was one that tormented them from the beginning and his name was Henry Anglin. He was the one that eventually caused them to move out. One night Henry came to their room after they had gone to bed and his voice asked if he could cook himself an egg. We heard nothing else from him that night. However, the next morning, when Mr. Beaird went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast, there in a Teflon-lined skillet on the stove burner turned down low was an egg burned to a crisp!

Another night, Henry came to their room and insisted that Mr. Beaird call Houston. This was about the time he was beginning to be terribly mean. Mr. Beaird played along and told him that he had already made one silly call to the Houston police, and that he had no intention of doing it again. He counted that he had not questioned them enough, and for him to phone them again. This went on for a while. Finally, he said he would leave them alone only if they would get in the car where he would also show up and drive him around the Loop 323. (This is a loop that circles our city) Finally, Andy and his dad did just that. For the rest of the night no other ghost came to them and they were finally able to sleep.

A few nights after all of this Mrs. Elliot and Mrs. Snow told Mr. Beaird that they had taken Henry back to his grave. They said he would never bother them again.

About this time they started receiving notes from people who were allegedly still living and also some from persons other than those previously mentioned who had been dead for several years. Among those still living were Mrs. W.H. Jarvis, and Odell Young, who lives in Grand Saline. Mr. Beaird also received a note from Mr. W.H. Quinn, who had been dead for several years. He used to be a railroad agent in Grand Saline.

For a number of years Mr Beaird had occasion to have Mr. Quinn sign shipping papers, so he was very familiar with his backhand fashion handwriting. Here is a note that was written by him and floated down out of nowhere.

Dear Howard and Andy,

I pay tribute to you. You have put up with a lot from old man Anglin. It is all over now. Friday I am going to my grave to join my wife, whom I love. I am going to Marion’s house to see him once more. He is my favorite child. I have always liked You,  John and the Boy and I hope someday you will be together again.

Hiram Quinn

P.S. I enjoyed hearing about John going with Marion to get new teeth.

The P.S. about his son’s false teeth refers to the time about thirty years ago when John and Mr. Beaird went to see Marion just after he had received his first set of dentures. At that time they lived just across the street from Marion and his wife and were friendly with them.