Monday, June 12, 2006

Spooky

Friday night, I saw a ghost, a real ghost, not one of those Hollywood vapory things that everyone thinks of as a ghost. This guy had presence, body and substance.

At two thirty in the morning, I awoke with a parched palate. I intended to tough it out, count myself back to sleep and ignore the urge to slake my thirst. I reasoned that if I got a drink now, in an hour I'd be awake to go wee-wee. I have a hard time sleeping through the night as it is, so annoyance at needing a drink had me even more awake. Dammit, I thought, I'll just get up, have a few sips of lemonade, pee now to make more room and maybe I'd be able to sleep the last two hours until the alarm would go off.

I flung the covers back and smacked my husband just out of principle (he snored away, so I took a cheap shot, ok.) I shuffled my way to the kitchen, guiding myself like a blind man, touching and feeling the walls on each side of me in the hall, cringing at the cold on my feet once I hit first the hardwood floor of the livingroom and then the ceramic tiles of the kitchen floor. I snapped my eyes shut when the glare of the refrigerator light blinded me. Peeking out of the corner of my right eye, I found the juice bottle, unscrewed the cap and started to drink directly from the bottle. Half way through my swallow, I stopped and not because I remember my mother's chastisements about drinking right from the jug. Someone was in the room with me.

At first, I just sensed the empty area around me not be empty anymore. It felt the way it feels when someone gets in your space. It seemed as if someone stepped into my comfort zone, that personal 12 inches around your body that houses your aura. Then, the quality of the air changed. In stories, they tell you the air becomes colder but in reality the opposite happens. The molecules bounced against one another and a warm mass took shape.

I said a silent, “Hello,” and high-tailed it back to bed, hiding my head under the blankies. For the rest of the night, I lay fitful, thinking about the seventy year old man who owned this house six years ago and died in my kitchen.

16 comments:

  1. Ok Nessa that was a great post and it actually gave me chills. My heart is beating wildly now.

    I don't know what I would have done.

    Swooned probably.

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  2. Jenn: Thanks. While it's true that I knew he had did here when we bought the house, I haven't really thought about itbefore. Also, I usually poo-poo this kind of stuff. I gave up paying attention to ghosts when I was about 12. I figured I had enough to do, dealing with the living. He's not malicious. I think he's happy we're here. But it's just weird to have a ghostie about. (He stands next to the frig, which is not where he died.) I'll be calling my shrink tomorrow.

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  3. You should install motion detection cameras and click a photo of the old man. It is freaky to have a ghost in the house even if he means no harm. Whats the next plan of action?

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  4. are you serious? did this happen or maybe you were just imagining it?

    shiver

    my mother in law once had an encounter with the ghost of her close friend who had committed suicide. apparently her spirit wasn't leaving because it had something important to say. you think this old man had something e needed to say? are you scared?

    beautifully written, by the way. very vivid.

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  5. I used to live in a place that had three wonderful (non-flatulent) ghosties. Two of them were, we think, spurned lovers. The guy would often hang out in my roommate's room and the woman would come into my room. I would wake up with her sitting on the bed watching me sleep. (You're right, by the way. A room will get colder as a ghost is trying to appear and then get warmer when it actually does.)

    The third ghost was a mean little shit that would harass anyone unfortunate enough to fall asleep downstairs.

    It's good that your ghost not malicious, and it's probably good that you said hello to him. Just be cool and keep us posted.

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  6. first thing i thought: you are so lucky you can wake up in the middle of the night and choose not to go to the bathroom. i wake up often throughout the night, and EVERY SINGLE TIME i must use the bathroom, otherwise i can't sleep. sometimes i don't really have to go, but my bladder tricks me. most of the time, though, and the reason why i can't ignore the "feeling", i do really have to go, even if i just went an hr ago. i have overactive bladder. nothing works on it. it's just a miserable way to live, for me =(

    second: omg!!!! i believe in ghosts. i've presenced a few, and have friends and relatives who have presenced them too.

    i would've turned on every single light in my path. it hurts the eyes, yes, but i'm a huge scaredy-cat...

    in fact, i always leave my hallway light on, because i'm going to be using the bathroom at least 3 times through the night (and only "at least" 3 because i only sleep about 6-7 hrs; on weekends i probably get up about 7 times through the night). also, the light is on because i'm a scaredy-cat. did i say that already? hehe

    i like how you write. :)

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  7. HOLY HELL! I read the first line and instantly moved closer to my monitor. That is so freaking cool!!!!

    You should set up a sound recorder (even an old style tape recorder) in your kitchen overnight to see if you pick up anything. (I'm not going to go all dorky and mention EVPs here, because I'm not a dork. No. Really. I'm not. Okay. I am.)

    Finally... I'm STILL laughing my ass off about the your smacking your husband out of principle. That is soooooooooooo funny! You rock.

    Please, please, PLEASE keep us informed of any future encounters. Too cool!

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  8. Jax: I'm going to have to talk to him sometime soon. He has something to say and won't let me sleep until he does. I'm barting for sometime after Father's Day.

    Pink: Thanks. Yes, while I often imagine I'm seeing things, this was definitely different.

    PTB: Aren't you lucky your ghosts were non-flatulant (those silent-but-deadlies drive the girls away) and that you got the girl ghost.

    Jadzia: When my husband goes away, I leave the TV on all night, like a nightlight because I'm such a scaredy cat. I used to could sleep 12 or 14 hours without needy to get up. Not so any more. And thanks.

    DCMM: I don't hear things aurally so I'm not sure if there would be anything to record. I experience these things more psychically, if you know what I mean.

    Do you think I could get in trouble for spousal abuse?

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  9. You write so well! You drew me in, made me laugh and gave me chills at the end. So freaky! However did you make it back to bed without screaming your husband out of principle?

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  10. Supposedly, if you record what seems to you as "blank air," you might be able to hear something at a higher volume level. I've seen this done a few times on TV... very cool.

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  11. wow, Vanessa, I don't think I'd get back to sleep easily either.
    We occasionally get voices here, and we don't have any close neighbors, so it's not that.
    No idea where they come from...who knows.

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  12. Omgosh!! Wow!! Seriously?? that is freaky lol. I would wake up my husband for that! Oh and I love the post as I do all of your posts, you are an excellent writer.

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  13. Sar: Thanks. My husband never woke up and I didn't wake him up. He already thinks I'm a witch, which scares him (just the way I like it, by the way.)

    DCMM: I've seen some of those. It does look cool.

    Logo: Usually, I don't pay attention to these things or worry much about them, but he's being pretty persistent.

    Jamie: You are sweet. Thanks.

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  14. This seriously creeped me out. It's like curries - I love them, but I can't help going back for more!

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  15. Hey, I'm really back now! This ghost thing that happend to you, I know what you speak of. I've had the pleasure of having my mind slapped out of my head by having a visit from an apparition while working in an old building, doing a remodeling job. I also took a course in parapsychology in college and went on ghost investigations. Didn't see stuff with my naked eye, but collected some evidence and felt/smelled them around me.

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  16. Jay: Curries are creepy and irresistable.

    The Grunt: So glad you are back. I'd love to read some of your ghost stories!

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