Tonight is the night. All Hallows Eve. A night for apple bobbing, door answering and candy stealing.
Most Halloweens I make a big pot of chili for dinner, and once the kids have thinned out, I turn the lights off, put on a scary movie and curl up in front of the fire with my dinner. It inevitably goes untouched because by 8:00 or so I’m actually bleeding chocolate from my ears but chili is tradition so I make it anyway.
In terms of the scary movie I lean towards things that are actually scary. Like The Exorcist or The Shining or anything with Rob Schneider. Eek ick.
O.K. I actually lied about The Exorcist. I watched it when I was really young and it scared me so much that I can barely even type the words The Exorcist. And I’m not the only one who feels like this. The Exorcist is often listed as the scariest movie ever made. Anything to do with the devil, being possessed or ghosts scares me WAY more than a guy in a mask with an inferiority complex.
Movies about rooms mysteriously filled with flies though???? Haunted houses will do it every time.
My house was built around 1840. I know if you’re reading this from anywhere in Europe you’re probably wondering how I manage to live in something so modern and soulless, but around these parts, the 1800′s is about as old as it gets. When you think of an old house you immediately think that it could be haunted but the truth is, if you’re the type to believe in ghosts or hauntings, then the fact that your house is old doesn’t have a ton to do with it.
According to people in the know, a house can be haunted by ghosts or entities regardless of how old the house is. They can come in on objects or other people. And of course they can arrive through death.
I have no idea how the ghost in my house arrived but I can tell you it lived here before I did. When I moved into my house I was kind of hoping for a ghost; in that, ghosts don’t really exist, kind of way. Then as the days wore on and the confusion of moving in settled down I noticed something. It wasn’t a big thing. It was just big enough to be noticed.
At the top of my staircase is a an old window. It has four panes of glass, a wood frame and a latch. The first couple of time I noticed the open window I figured it had just blown open, or I had forgotten to close it even though it was the middle of December. I soon started to pay attention to pushing the window closed and clicking the latch into place before descending down the stairs. Without fail when I came up those stairs, no matter how long or how soon later, the window was open.
It didn’t scare me, didn’t startle me, didn’t really frighten me at all. If I were to dream my house was doing things like this it would terrify me. If I watched a movie about it it would scare me even more. Not even a fun scare. A heart pounding, maybe I should turn all the lights on kind of scared.
Soon I started to notice shadows moving and little black smoke-like puffs darting into corners or behind doors.
On the advice of a friend who really does believe in these sorts of things (I was still on the fence, even though my house was not) - I told it to leave.
I closed the window one last time and said, enough. This bugs me, I don’t like it, you’re pissing me off now, so GO.
And it went. The window never mysteriously opened again and the whooshing black whatever-they-weres disappeared around a corner for the last time.
I understand it’s not the most remarkable ghost story in the world. Or the scariest. There were no bloody hands shaped as hooks or furniture swirling up to the ceiling or gauzy apparitions floating across the room.
They were more like black clouds of smoke.
What makes it unique, to me at least, is that it’s the truth. One that I experienced myself and have no doubt about its authenticity.
Happy Halloween my Art of Doing Stuff ghouls.
Have a ghost story?
Now is the time to tell it.
I do think that our house has a presence in it. The family who lived in it before us, the mom tragically passed away in a car accident. My husband sincerely does not think there's anything spooky going on in our house, but my sister and I sincerely do. The hallway that leads to the bedrooms is really dark, like it seems darker than it should be? And I swear I have seen movement in the hallway when there shouldn't be. When in bed, I've seen what looks like a shadow in the hallway at our door. I dropped my wedding ring in the living room fairly soon after we moved in and we have never found it, despite tearing the room apart many times.
One night I was telling my husband that I thought that I'd seen movement in the hallway again that night and he blew it off. I said, "Okay, okay, you're right, it's not like our house is haunted or anything" and BAM! Our printer in the guest bedroom suddenly turned on and started spitting out page after page after page of blank paper. I basically levitated to our bed, I moved so fast.
I honestly do think that the mom who lived here before has been present and interestingly I do feel like the spookiness, for lack of a better term, has cooled down since we had kids. I've never gotten a malicious or even mischievous feeling from what's going on, other than the printer maybe lol, but just...a presence.
The majority of "ghosts" are actually demons. They don't have to scare you. Distracting us from God and the truth is all they have to do. Not that they can't be scary, just for the hell of it. The other ones, I don't know what they are. We did have a little girl "ghost" in the last childhood house, it was only a year old and no one had lived there before. Multiple people saw her, at different times. About 9 years old. Popped up a few times the first few years we lived there, then left.
Some people have a spiritual gift called (sometimes) discernment of spirits. Apparently spiritual gifts can run down families (like when you hear about families with 5 generations of teachers or cops or something, it may be some gift that runs in their families that makes them suited for whatever.) Anyway, seeing "spirits" - demons, angels, - runs in both my parents families. All of my immediate family has it to some extent or another. I didn't realize till my mid twenties that "normal" people don't see these things or know that they are real. I first had demonic nightmares when I was only two. I didn't need anyone to tell me they were demons, I just knew in my spirit that's what they were. That first house was horrible, no idea what the previous owners did there, but that house (not the one mentioned above) was filled with demons. It was often terrifying. Originally raised southern Baptist they didn't exactly teach us how to deal with this sort of thing. It wasn't till I was ten after visiting a different church that I even heard the term discernment of spirits. I'd been "haunted" by demons on and off my whole life (no it's not a mental disease) and I finally had a name for it! My parents and brother and I sometimes spoke of what we saw or things that happened, so I know it is very different for everyone, we don't all see / feel the same things. Wispy things and darkness are always demonic. Glowing can indicate angels (generally blue). At my first job I met a guy that was possessed. He seemed nice and all, but sometimes when he looked at me, he was not the only one looking at me. Lots of things were looking at me. And then some of them followed me home. When I found them in the shower with me that was enough. I told mom what was happening and we prayed and cast them out of the house. (By that time we finally knew we could do that, I should have done it sooner.) I'm glad your "ghost" left and didn't do anything bad to you for trying to get rid of it. (Why would something bad happen? I don't know if you are a Christian or not, but the point is, when you become one, the Holy Ghost, part of the Trinity of God, comes and lives inside of us, you can't then, to my knowledge, be possessed. When non Christian people try to make demons go away, as in the new testament, it can go very badly for them.) For a while we wnt to church at Metro Heights when they were doing Tribulation Trail (if anyone has heard of that?) You should have seen some of the angels there, at least 300-500 feet tall easy, and massive swords. Anyone who thinks cherubs or angels are weak little babies, just look in the Bible for the description of cherubs, they are terrifying warriors, not babies (I remember something about 4 faces, 4 swords, 8 wings or something, not something you want to meet!) Remember, the devil (who was the most beautiful angel, recall?) & his demons are on earth, not in hell, that comes later. There is good reason he is called the great deceiver. As for the rest of the "ghosts," I don't know. The little girl didn't feel evil... I don't know what she was or could have been. And when my grandparents (only the ones on dad's side for some reason) died, I felt when it happened. Granny had been living with us at the time, but was in the hospital (eating out is taking your life in your hands). I suppose you could almost say it was like she brushed past me on her way. Ghost? No idea. After both of mom's parents had past and one of my aunts and two of her grandchildren were living in their house, they woke up one morning to laughter out in the kitchen. There they were, sitting at the kitchen table, looking like they had in their prime of life, just hanging out, having a good time. Then they got up and walked up an invisible staircase through the ceiling and disappeared. Freaked my aunt and cousin out real bad. I know they weren't demons, but ghosts? I have no idea. It can be so frustrating having to wait until we have passed to get the answers to so many questions. I hope we get answers! Anyhow.
I live in a pretty haunted Southern city, but just about everyone I know has encountered a spirit. They have all been benign - maybe a practical joke or two -but never threatening. Mine left on their own - sometimes I wish I could see them again. Happy Halloween!