A Real Ghost Story
Since it's Halloween (boo!), I thought I would share with you a real ghost story in my family. Now, when this happened, I was only about a year old, so I couldn't tell you if it was true or not. BUT, my aunt still turns pale white when this is mentioned.
And with her, my uncle, and my aunt's sister, mother and father--all normal (I'd even go so far as to say "unimaginative") people--swearing up and down these things happened and appearing visibly unnerved every time they relate the events, it's pretty difficult not to believe them.
Okay, so like I said, I was about a year old. My cousin Margie was a newborn. And she and my aunt and uncle (my uncle is my mother's brother) had just bought a house up in one of the oldest parts of the city. One of the rooms was this adorable little nook upstairs (as my aunt declared it) that had a little widow's peak balcony window that let the morning sun in each day. It was really cozy, and perfect for the baby's room.
Problem was, my cousin would scream bloody murder every time my aunt and uncle would try to leave her in the room. They didn't think anything of it at that point, but being new parents they simply ended up having her sleep with them in their room.
So they went about their business, and began to get settled into the new house. After a couple months, my aunt started noticing an overpowering scent of gardenia whenever she was in the kitchen. Try as she might, she could never figure out where on earth it was coming from. And then there were times it would abruptly just disappear! It was the oddest thing.
Unbeknownst to her, other people in the family were having their own experiences. My aunt's mother and father lived with my aunt and uncle (they're from the "old country" where this is traditional). Both later related their own separate experiences about occasionally catching sight of something or someone out of the corner of their eye darting down the hallway from one room to another. But it was always gone by the time they'd turn to see directly. My aunt's mom would also occasionally feel the sensation of someone's hand was on her shoulder. She'd reach up or brush at the spot only to find nothing was there.
My uncle, who for the most part is a fairly oblivious person, would sometimes feel like there was something or someone standing right behind him. You know that sense you have? Like if there's a wall behind you, you just "know" it's there. That's what he said it felt like. But he'd turn, and there'd be nothing there. He literally thought something might be going on with his equilibrium.
Now, none of the little odd things that happened at first were anything unusual enough that anyone even thought to bring it up to anyone else in the house. But that changed one evening when something unseen would not let my uncle stand up from the couch.
Yeah! Is that freaky or what?!
The family was sitting around the living room, and when my uncle went to stand up, he said he felt two strong hands on his shoulders and they were physically holding him down. Everyone started freaking out, thinking he was having some kind of fit or heart attack because he was doing this weird flailing around thing.
Whatever the force was finally let him up, and that's the night everyone started putting two and two together and sharing their odd experiences. They realized then that something strange was definitely going on that wasn't normal, and they were starting to get really freaked out.
(Did I say things were getting seriously freaky? Yeah, they were!)
The last straw came when one night my aunt went up to the baby's room. Since my cousin wouldn't sleep in there, they had turned it into a cloakroom, and she had gone to grab a coat so they all could go out to dinner.
Well, when you walk into that room, the first thing that you see is the window. You can't help but see outside. She said as she entered the room, and before she opened the closet door to her right, something caught her attention on the street below.
Before she realized it, she was transfixed by an unfamiliar scene, as if she was in a trance, she says. Looking up at the window from the street below was a little girl about 8 or 10 years old dressed in a really old-fashioned way. As my aunt stared down, unable to look away, she noticed that she wasn't even seeing her own neighborhood. The street was cobblestoned and many of the houses that were supposed to be there, were not there. There were also a couple horse-drawn type carts and some way-old looking cars.
The shock must have snapped her out of it, and as soon as it did, she was back to reality. But so shaken up! She said she flew down the stairs and couldn't get out of that house fast enough.
By this time, the family had decided they were completely unnerved in this house and put it up for sale. It hadn't even been six months!
After they found another house and sold that one, my uncle did some poking around on the history of the house. The things they experienced were so odd and scary, he just couldn't shake the curiosity about what on earth could have caused it all. He never found anything unusual or sinister as you'd expect. The most he found out was that a little girl had died of pneumonia or some other childhood disease, and apparently, her room was the one where my aunt had the weird "time-travel" experience. They think the little girl looking up at the window was the same one.
So that's the one and only official ghost story lore in my family. I know it's not all blood and guts and scary monsters and murders, but you have that kind of stuff happen to you and I dare you not to pee your pants with terror.
My aunt and uncle and my aunt's mom and dad will look you dead in the eye, and tell you with unwavering conviction (and trembling hands) that there is absolutely supernatural, paranormal things in this world that cannot be explained.
Happy Halloween!
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