3 posts from May 2008

When my family moved into our older home built in the 70’s for parties, I can honestly say I did not believe in ghosts. Ten years later and I was convinced that the house was Grand Central Station for them. It did not take me long to believe, and although my dad was convinced they were all demons, I new not all of them were. Some were quite helpful, others just stared one loved music, and others were just creepy and definitely not good.

The house we moved into had been empty for a long time before we bought it at a highly discounted price. The people who had the house before us were devil worshipers and had painted the walls black with upside down crosses around. I would find out much later that my parents had knocked out the wall in my room and replaced it as my room was one of the worst. I was young, I want to say about 12 or 13 and the unusual activities began rather slowly. Sitting in the study you always felt as if someone or thing was watching you. It was eerie and annoying at first, your hairs would always stick up on your arms and legs. But after so long, it just became a part of that room.

Things would move around in the house, you would set a glass on the table, run to the restroom, come back and the glass would be on the bench across the room. This of course would happen when you knew you were alone in the house. Then things got a little bigger. On a particularly hot day I was on my computer in my room, I had a small fan blowing nice cool air on me when I dropped my pen. Bending down to pick it up I noticed that the outlet in the wall was empty of plugs. Curious as to where I had plugged in my fan, I grabbed the cord to follow it only to find the end in my hand, and the fan still blowing wonderfully cool air at me.

Another time I was practicing a dance in our very large living room, with the couch pushed back about twenty feet behind me. There was no carpet on the floors just a hard rock tile. As I did a little kick, my foot slipped and I knew I was going to fall backwards only I didn’t. I remember a strange weightless feeling and looking down to see the floor moving beneath me, then I was on the couch, just sitting there in shock.

One particularly scary night, I woke up suddenly from a deep sleep. Opening my eyes I looked around for what woke me, only to find a pair of green…evil eyes staring back at me from my closet. I froze in horror, I needed to get out of there but the only exit was right next to the closet. The sudden need for light struck me and I pulled the light cord on my running ceiling fan, nothing. Desperate I ran to the TV and hit the power button, nothing. I turned on my clock radio, nothing. I ran back to my bed and hid under the covers for a moment trying to formulate a plan. I was 16 by then and felt like a five year old as I grabbed my pillow and held it against my chest, then covered myself in my blanket and ran for the exit. The next day my parents blessed my room and closet, the green eyed thing never came back that I know of. I had and still have to this day a small fear of dark closets.

On one occasion I was by myself in the house doing dishes when I saw a black woman figure walk by towards the living room.  For some reason my brain clicked that it was mom and I quickly shut off the water and ran towards the living room all the while talking to her. It wasn’t until I got there that I realized I was alone. A few months later while in the van with mom she glanced at me and told me that a few weeks before she and I were alone at home, I was outside doing laundry and she was washing dishes. She turned and saw the same figure I had seen before and thought it was me. She shut off the water and headed to the living room while talking to me,  that is before she realized that I was still outside.

We were all eating dinner once when an old glass jar flew across the room hit the wall and then the rock floor without even cracking. Whatever we had been talking about was quickly changed to a new topic. Another time while eating the garage door opened, my brother got up and shut it again. As soon as he sat down, up it went again. Frowning, we put it back down. A few minutes later it was re-opening. By then my mom had had it and she yelled towards the door as if she were yelling at one of us. ‘Shut that door and leave it alone!’ The door shut and did not open itself again.

By the end of my time living with my parents the number of ghosts has diminished to just a few. One of them found a liking to the song I’m a Survivor by Destinies Child. Anytime that CD was put in, the player would skip tracks until it got to that song. If the song was on the radio then the radio would turn on. Often scared the crap out of us because the music system was hooked to a surround sound system which blasted out the whole house. It was really bad when the song would play in the middle of the night. Now days my family still lives there and as far as I know there are no ghost remaining.

My ghost stories don’t stop there, once you live with them for as long as I did, you know what to look for. I’ve worked summer camps where we would have to keep dormitories for older kids so as not to terrorize the really young kids with giant fans that turned on and off by themselves without being plugged in. Or bouncy balls that would suddenly fly across the room, stop half way then turn around to go after you. Doors slamming in your face, knocking on doors from rooms that are locked.  Water facets turning on by themselves. White mists floating by, leaving you feeling cold and slightly damp.  This did not always shield them however as an older couple of ghost one in a wedding gown and one in a tux would walk around the young kids dorm over and over at night. We would get many questions about them in the morning.

One week we HAD to put the six year olds in that dorm and as we were leaving for dinner all of the porch lights would not turn on. We grabbed our flashlights and headed off. When it was time to come back none of our flashlights would work. I was alone with 40 children, walking through the woods, in almost pitch blackness towards out dorm. I had the kids form a sort of train holding each others shirt tails. Since I could make my way back to the dorm in my sleep I slowly led the way. When we got to the dorm it was blacker then the night. I carefully stepped in and put my hand out to begin turning on all of the many, many switches. I had not quite gotten my hand there however when every single light in the dorm including closets and bathrooms came on of there own accord. The children looked at me wide eyed and asked me how I did it. I told them it was magic and moved them forward, telling them to get ready for showers and bed.

On another occasion I was walking back to my dorm by myself when something physically slapped be across the face leaving a sharp sting behind. I ran the rest of the way.

I began to help friends out when they came telling me about there haunted houses and soon found myself helping start HAPS. I loved those hunts, and could tell quite a bit more stories. I have since had to leave the group as it was interfering with my job, but every once in awhile I will get a call from a friend…

I finally have an engagement ring! 

Is this me?
It's as if I am living someone else's life.
I sit thinking about how much has changed,
And everything that is about to.
I'm still me,
Wondering through someone else's life,
Because surly my life could not have changed this much!
I'm still me.
My thoughts are the same,
I feel the same,
Yes, I'm still me.
I'm still me.