Watch Your Step

Aundrae, being a veteran tour guide here at Shaker’s, has had her fair share of paranormal experiences whilst giving tours. As an intuitive and spiritually inclined empath, she tends to feel the energies around her more intensely than some others might.

The smaller, more intimate tours can often times be the ones where everyone in the group collectively experiences the same things. This was the case during one of Aundrae’s tours that took place recently on a weeknight. It was just her and two girls – roughly college-aged. They were in the basement portion of the tour near the cistern. Amid Aundrae talking, something peculiar happened.

“Oh, shoot,” one of the girls uttered suddenly as she stepped over to the side – as if getting out of the way of something that was passing beside her. In that moment, Aundrae felt a wave of heat develop from her insides out. She knew this feeling well and became aware that there was some sort of presence near them. The girls all looked at each other, wide-eyed, and bolted back upstairs collectively.

Once upstairs, Aundrae asked the two girls if they had felt what she felt, too. They shook their heads no, but that they had heard footsteps.

Aundrae hadn’t heard the footsteps. “Are you sure the footsteps weren’t from upstairs?” They insisted that, no, they were not footsteps from upstairs. They had heard the footsteps upstairs earlier in the basement, and this time was different. The girls explained that it sounded like the steps were shuffling on the concrete floor in the basement – like there were feet kicking dirt. They were fast-paced footsteps that started by the safe and came to where they were standing.

The three took a break back by the bar to collect themselves. The girls admitted they were too afraid to go back in the basement – but Aundrae insisted they do. She bought the girls’ their next round of beers and convinced them to head back down.

They gave it another go, and this time started by the safe. Aundrae immediately felt the presence still lingering around. She felt chills on her legs, as did the other girls, and something continuously touching her arms. She felt the presence coming toward them, and then backing away, again and again. Aundrae asked the spirit, out loud, to please leave them alone so that they could finish the tour. The presence persisted. Closer and back. Closer and back. Aundrae felt herself getting hot again. Finally, one of the girls said she didn’t feel comfortable being down there any longer, and she wanted to head back upstairs. As they began walking back toward the stairs, Aundrae felt almost stuck – like something was pulling her back to stay in the basement. Safe to say – that was a pull that she did not want to listen to.