Hell House: Rite of Passage
In the countryside outside of Hanford, there was an old abandoned house out amongst the fields. This house was nicknamed the Hell House, as a few Satanists had painted a pentagram on the floor in one of the rooms. They apparently had also conducted a few animal sacrifices during their sessions. The house was said to be haunted by an unseen presence.
Being typical teenagers, my buddy Brad and I decided to test our courage by heading out to the house late one night. It is comical to look back on that night. Brad and I went armed to the teeth with bats, knives, and even a sword. Also, the cross was prominently displayed around our necks. The house was run down, with broken windows and holes in the floors. With the moonlight shining in the windows, we set out to explore the house. Brad and I made a pact to not deliberately scare each other out of concern one of us would brain the other. We actually made it through the house without injury. We saw the “Satan room” with the pentagram. Some fellow travelers had been there before us and painted Christian messages in the room to offset the evil stuff. The night was actually uneventful.
I went back a few times after that night. While most of the times were like the first night, there were a couple of occasions where things happened that I couldn’t explain. On one occasion, a couple of buddies and I were exploring the house. We went out the side door and entered what was the garage/shop area. The weird thing was that we had gone about four or so feet into the area when we all stopped at the same time. We all had the same feeling of dread about going any further into the room. It was just the weirdest feeling. We decided discretion was the better part of valor and backed out of the room.
Another time, a buddy and I took a couple of girls out there. The girls had never been to the house, but had heard stories about it. It was a typical foggy night that one experiences in the Central Valley in winter. We pulled up next to the house. The headlights and brake lights were our only illumination. I was in the front seat with one of the girls and my buddy was in the back with the other. There was a general sense of the heebie-jeebies. When my buddy rolled down his window, all of the sudden all four of us panicked. The girls were screaming for us to get out of there. That sense of dread was stronger than it had been before. Needless to say, we got the hell out of there!
The adventures to the house ended when someone finally torched it to the ground.