Monday, October 31, 2011

Boo

When I was young, we lived in a big old house. Built in the late 1800s, it had history. There were rumors of the families that had lived there. Of tragedy and mystery. But we didn't know anything for sure and at that age, I didn't really think about those sorts of things.

My first floor bedroom was across from the door to the unfinished basement. More of a cellar, really, it had a dirt floor and crumbly brick walls. We almost never went down there. Only in tornadoes. And in Kansas, that was more often than I care to say. Even then, we were none too excited to open that door and descend those steps. None of us had ever had a bad experience down there, it was just a general unpleasant sense that everyone that went down there felt.

The first time something unusual happened to me, I was 8. I lay in my bed. The light in the bathroom across the hall was on and both my door and the bathroom door were open. I don't know what I was thinking, not sure how deep my thoughts were at that age, but I am certain that I was very awake. Quite suddenly, the blankets on my bed were roughly pulled off and under my bed. With the fearlessness of a child certain there are no monsters, I leaned over the edge. My head nearly touching the floor, I looked under my bed, fully expecting to see my sister playing a trick on me. But there was no one there.

After that, I would lay in bed at night staring at the partially cracked door to the basement. A door that wouldn't close all the way, no matter how hard you pushed on it. I stared and I waited. There were no repeats of the sheet snatching but few were the nights that didn't involve troubled dreams and I never truly felt comfortable in that house again. Mercifully, we moved a few years later.

Over the years, a number of other unexplained things have happened to and around me. Shifting shadows, noises, doors opening and closing, objects moving, voices. Some houses have a stronger presence than others. One apartment in a fairly new building I lived in when I first moved to Maryland was particularly active, while some older places have been entirely quiet.

The rational side of me says there are no ghosts, that bumps in the night are no more than settling or wind or little living creatures working their way through walls and floors or perhaps even an over active imagination. But the emotional side. The side that remembers my name clearly whispered into my ear when I sat alone on the sofa watching television. That side says there ARE things we can't explain. And that side will insist on a nightlight this all hallows eve.

As it does every night.

Happy Halloween!

12 comments:

  1. Okay, well, thank you very much for completely freaking me out at work, and giving me the chills! THAT IS DAMN FREAKY! I wrote about the scariest movies ever today on my blog and one of them is Paranormal Activity. Sounds to me what you've written about here is very similar to that movie!

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  2. I've got the chills now. Our neighborhood paper published a story this weekend about the various haunted spots in this area. I LOVED reading all about them. I've never experienced a ghostly visitor (that I know of), but I believe it can happen!

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  3. They don't celebrate Halloween in Romania, but tonight, we'll be going to a cemetery to light candles with some of our Romanian friends as part of Day of the Dead. And all I'm going to be thinking about is this post! =>

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  4. I believe wholeheartedly in spirits and ghosts. I loooooove your story!! Although at any age I would have probably fainted if it were me... lol. Any more stories like this? If so please post!

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  5. Girl, that is some spooky stuff!

    Gabe is currently addicted to the show Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures. We love watching the hosts hunt for ghost and see if the places they visit are truly haunted.

    That being said, I'd rather it be on my TV than actually in my home. My throat is still sore from screaming my fool head off at Paranormal activity 3 this past weekend!

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  6. I am 42 and afraid of the dark - wonder if there's a scaredy pants anonymous? That being said I LOVE scary movies and freak myself out on a regular basis.

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  7. Freaky. Genuinely freaky, Cara.

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  8. No kidding, I just wrote a post about Paranormal Activity (like your first commenter) and then read your blog. (The post is scheduled for Sunday...) But holy crap, I am going to have trouble sleeping tonight.

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  9. Aaaand now I won't be sleeping anytime soon thank you

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  10. I have had some odd experiences too, but the blanket snatching is really creepy. And made me think of Paranormal Activity a bit. Sorry, probably that's not very helpful!

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  11. Your story brought me chills. Specially with that sheet snatching thing D:

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Give me some sugar, baby!