I had another encounter when I was 13. My best friend and I were bored and goofing around in my room. We both had a penchant for witchcraft and often dreamed about being able to cast spells and predict the future. I grabbed a piece of chalk and a marble and told her that I just thought of something cool that we could do. The idea really did just come to me, it was as if someone were giving me instructions in my head as we went along. I drew a circle on the floor of my closet and put the marble in it and we held each other's hands over the circle. Our house was really old, so of course the floors were not level and the marble began to roll. It stopped at the chalk line. We began chanting something. I don't know what. Neither of us had ever done anything like that before, but for some strange reason, we were both chanting the same thing as if it had been rehearsed. The marble, which had stalled at the line, began to slowly roll back and forth. We both looked at each other in shock, but continued chanting. Then the marble began to roll around in the circle following the chalk line. We both got stiffer with excitement? fear perhaps? The marble rolled faster and faster and we kept chanting faster and faster, SUDDENLY the stereo in the room started broadcasting voices, but was not on. A poster peeled from my wall and the dresser nearest the closet doorway jumped from the wall about two inches. We jumped with it letting our hands go and in the process we broke the line of chalk and the marble rolled out...right where the chalk line had been broken. The stereo stopped broadcasting and the weird electric energy that had been building in the room was gone. We never did anything like that again. (That's not entirely true- none of the other times panned out quite as exciting is all).
Then there was the most recent time. About 10 years ago when we were living in a very nice, newer townhouse in The Cities. SSB and I worked different shifts so that we wouldn't have to put JD (our son) in daycare. I worked the day shift and he worked the night. JD would sleep in my bed to keep me company and so I could keep an eye on him (he had a history of fake-sleeping and waiting until we went to sleep to get up and wreck havoc on our house and neighbors). It was shortly after we had moved to the townhouse that it began. Our bedrooms were in the basement while the living areas were above us. We were in bed and just after JD had fallen asleep I could hear footsteps at the top of the stairs. I thought maybe it was SSB home early from work for some reason so I called out to him... nothing. More footsteps. I called to him again, a little louder... nothing. The footsteps came down the steps slowly. I know it was not the house "settling", the stairs were concrete and I know what footsteps sound like. They reached the bottom of the stairs. I pulled the covers up and put a hand on JD. The footsteps came down the hall and stop right before my bedroom doorway. I held my breath. There was no noise except my heart beating and my son's breathing. I always kept the hall light on and I could see no shadows, but I could FEEL something was there, just beyond the wall. Then the footsteps went back down the hall and back up the stairs. This would happen at least several times a week, only while SSB was at work and always after JD had fallen asleep. I think it was a ghost checking on me and my son to make sure that we were OK. Eventually I became used to it, but that first night, I have to say, really scared me.
Here are some ghost stories from other bloggers:
I Am Being Haunted (Tayster's World)
The Haunted House and The Intangible Haunting (Sierra Vistas)
Ghost Posties (The Bucky Four-Eyes Cotillion)
gah! i've got goosebumps! I'm sleeping with a nightlight on tonight, I think.
June 24, 2005 3:19 PM
ah ha ha ha ha ha...Ha ha...Great stories, I had a very similar experience at my parents' townhome. the former owner, Ol' Mrs. Espander, after she died, visited the downstairs bedroom quite often...I've actualyl had occasion to see her once or twice...Spooky crap, for sure.
June 24, 2005 3:23 PM
Lord, that's chilling! It reminds me of the time that me and three of my friends were checking out a ghost that was supposed to be haunting an abandoned amusement park. In the end, it just turned out to be the old caretaker, Mr. Caruthers. He had discovered gold and was trying to scare people away while he mined it.
Also, my dog talked.
June 24, 2005 7:48 PM
My wife tells me that she often senses an evil, foul smelling presence whenever I leave the bathroom.
P.S. Good one irb. Or should I say, "Rood Rone Rirb!"
June 25, 2005 1:59 AM
ESC- Light on is kinky and fun;)
Derek- Was there a story about that bedroom that you know about?
Irb- I laughed out loud! That was great.
Dr. Max- We have a similar presence in our bathroom. We keep a can of anti-specter spray to take care of that one.
June 25, 2005 7:08 AM
Oh boy, more good stuff!
I was also into witchcraft when I was young, but never actually tried chanting and spells, because I was afraid of what might happen...
June 25, 2005 11:29 AM
I never believed in ghosts until this year after my mom died. My parents bought this house around the same time she went to the hospital, (it was a very confusing time). She only lived here a week. After she died, I moved in w/ dad so he could keep the house. Well, she always smoked a certain cigarette and had never smoked it in this house. Neither my dad nor I smoke. For a while after her death, we'd be woken up with that unmistakeable smell of her cigarette smoke. My dad still occassionally smells it in the middle of the night and has even claimed to have seem her smoking in the living room. He's also had vivid dreams of her sitting in my room and wakes up smelling the smoke. Is it still haunting if it's your own mom? Anytime I smell it, I try to tell her it's ok to go...Maybe it's a ghost, maybe it isn't, but I want her to be at peace.
June 26, 2005 1:16 PM
Sierrabella- Now you know. It was good excitement for a couple of bored girls!
Shannon- That was a very touching story. I'm glad that you shared that.
June 26, 2005 10:21 PM
I'm pretty sure I wrote one...About the ghosts...Yeah...
June 27, 2005 12:05 AM
Creepy! But fasinating!
June 27, 2005 10:56 AM
Derek- where's your story? I couldn't find it. And I LOVE ghost stories!
Jennifer- I've never felt uncomfortable living in a house with a ghost. They just don't scae me that much.
June 27, 2005 12:30 PM
ah crap...I lied, I guess I haven't posted about the basement just yet...But I did post a while back about...well, one ghost...Believe me, I have more...I'll just have to get around to sharing...
old story:
http://sonofcheese.blogspot.com/2004_02_22_sonofcheese_archive.html#107755787730064136
June 27, 2005 2:17 PM