The Basement

 

  This story was told to my parents and I one day by a friend of the family while he was visiting us. I was very young, 7 or 8 years old, so it would have had to be in the early 60's. Since it was so long ago I don't remember who told us the story or when or where it was supposed to have happened, so I put it in the category of a Halloween or camp fire story meant to scare people. 

So here this goes.

Many years ago there was a young couple with a son who was about 6 years old. They moved into old farm house near a small midwest town. The house had the usual creeks and growns of an old house. The parents loved being in the old house but the boy never liked being there, especially when he was in the kitchen. It was mainly because the door to the basement was in the kitchen. Whenever he was in the kitchen he was always glued to his mothers or fathers side, and always kept on eye on the basement door. When ever his parents asked him what he was scared of, he would tell them that there was something in the basement that wanted to take him. Each time he told them that, the father would take him down in the basement and show him nothing was there. Each time the father did this the result was a near melt down. The parents were never able to convince the boy that there was nothing in the basement. This went on for over a year. Finally at witts end the parents decided to seek the help of a professional. Fortunately they were able to find a child psychologist in the next town over, "about 10 miles away". The called the doctor and made an appointment to take there son in to see him. Over the next few months the doctor saw the child many times and didn't seem to make any headway in convincing the boy that there was not anything to fear in the basement. Finally the doctor told the parents that he would like to try something different. What he suggested to the parents was to make the boy directly face his fear to prove there is nothing to be afraid of. He proposed a session at the home. They would open the basement door and place the boy on a chair in front of the door. They made him sit there, and they would leave the boy there to prove to him nothing is there. He told them he would be there to help with the session. The parents agreed and they made plans to do this the following week. The day of the planned session the doctor arrived at the home around sunset, he explained that the plan was to sit the boy in front of the door in the kitchen, and he and the parents would go to the living room and play cards. The parents agreed and the session began. They opened the door and sat the boy down. He was unwilling to sit by himself so they decided they would have to restrain the boy. The father had some rope so they tied the boy to the chair, left him alone in the kitchen and went to the living room. Needless to say the boy was very distressed, begging and pleading for them to release him. The doctor kept assuring the parents that he would be ok and this would work. This kept up for over an hour of the child crying and pleading for them to unite him, then finally the boy fell silent. The doctor told the that they should wait about 15 minutes then they could go check on the boy. After the breef period the decided it was time to go and check on the boy. To their shock, when they got to the kitchen the boy was gone. The chair was still where they had placed it, but the boy wasn't in it. Not only that but the rope was still tied, and even the boys clothing was still in the chair, as though the boy has simply vanished. Frantically the parents and the doctor started searching the house. After not finding him the police were called and they began a search of the surrounding area. This search went on for weeks, but the child was never seen again. 

D.L.Garvin