Ghost Stories

I was going to write this back in October but never got around to it so you get Ghosts in February instead!

I have a lot of very bright friends who think I am nuts for believing in ghosts. But I do. Completely and totally and without a doubt I believe there are things out there that we don't understand and that have a presence without having a body. Now are they spirits, souls, random bits of energy? I have no idea what they are, but I do know they are something.

Growing up in a religious household a lot of people think that meant no ghosts. But that is actually the opposite. Nobody believes in spirits more than the religious. What do you think Satan is if not the ultimate boogie man? The Catholics came up with exorcism for goodness sake (pun not intended!). My mother used to say the Bible said there were unseen hosts walking among us and she believed it as well.

There was a missionary that would visit our church every few years, Brother Paul (I believe his last name was Bjalko but can't remember for sure). Now Brother Paul was the real deal, a former Satanist who had been a member of Aleister Crowley's Church and had even met the man when Brother Paul was very young and Mr. Crowley was very old. He told stories about Ouja boards, seances, demon possessions, great stuff to a young impressionable mind. He was the best story teller and of course you knew it was all going to turn out okay because he was standing there telling you the story. But it was still very scary, very cool stuff. I am not sure if the church really intend that to be the reaction, but for me it was.

Before I was born my family hosted a ghost for awhile who liked to watch TV. Everyone thought my sister had an invisible friend. She would mention a man who looked in her window (second story house so no one was worried about a peeping Tom) and liked the watch TV with her. I guess this went on for awhile until one day my mother walked by the room my sister was watching TV in and saw her invisible friend! When she went in to the room, he was gone. When my mom first told me this story I asked if she was scared, she said she wasn't, he didn't seem to mean anyone any harm, he just liked watching TV.

My first ghost experience happened when I was very young. I want to say I had to have been 8 or 9. We were over visiting my Aunt Lucille and Grandma Mary. They had other friends in town visiting that I didn't know as well so it was a house full of people. I had to use the restroom and was in Grandma Mary's bathroom peeing when all of a sudden I noticed the little boy in the bathtub taking a bath! He said, "Well, hello." very politely. I apologized and was horribly embarrassed that I had not only walked in on his bath but had gone pee in front of someone! I finished as quickly as I could and as I was washing my hands and apologizing again he said it was fine and asked if I wanted to stay and talk. I told him no thank you and left quickly! So a little later in the party I remembered my manners and went to the only adult female I didn't really know and apologized to her for walking in on her little boy in the bath. She had no idea what I was talking about. After talking to everyone there it became apparent that there was no little boy. But I know what I saw and who I talked to and I also know my Grandma Mary wasn't that surprised by the news of what I had seen.

As a teenager we had two resident ghosts in the house. Suzie, short for Little Suzie Homemaker and the Hall Walker. Suzie came with the trailer. She was there from the start. Hung out in the kitchen. When the family would gather for dinner or to talk or play a game the fan above the stove would turn on. Of course the first thought was that it was a short and my dad tried to fix it. But there was nothing wrong with the wiring. And the only time the fan would turn on was if the family was together. She just wanted to let us all know she was there. Suzie also baked bread. I would "forget" to eat when I was in high school. Existing on caffeine and nicotine. Well, if I reached too many days I would come home and the smell of freshly baking bread would fill the kitchen. No bread had been baked, just Suzie reminding me to eat. Crazy right? But I wasn't the only one to notice this. Everyone in the family experienced it as well as friends that would spend the night. Suzie was the most we could figure a young housewife and just wanted to take care of the family.

The Hall Walker is another story. I think we picked him up when we moved to the trailer park on University. I don't remember him when we lived in the Valley. I say him, but we never saw anything. You would just hear someone pacing the hallway in the middle of the night. Up and down the hallway. Measured even step. Nothing moved, nothing really scary, but I have to say you got the feeling that maybe you should stay in your room when he was walking. I would have to warn people when they would spend the night so they didn't freak out when they heard the walking. I forgot one time and woke to being hit in the face with a pillow from a girlfriend who had thought my brother was messing with us by walking up and down the hallway. When she opened the door (repeatedly) to catch him, no one was there. She spent the night freaking out! Oops...

There have been a few others through the years. Brent and I had one that was really freaky, but very informative. We were out shopping for furniture and this woman walked up to us and said, "Don't buy anything here." and walked away. As she was walking away a salesperson walked up to us, Brent made a joke about "Unhappy customers" to ease the tension and the salesperson looked at us like we were nuts, then we looked for the woman and she was gone and the sales person hadn't seen her at all. No way she could have made it out of the store or even out of our line of site, she just wasn't there. We left the store. Figured if a ghost goes out of their way to tell you not to shop someplace you should listen.

So yeah, like the lion in the Wizard of Oz, I do believe in spooks, I do, I do, I do believe in spooks. How about you?