Hello everybody!
After a few weeks of craziness about the nomination of Harriet Miers, and all the feuding going on - not only on Free Republic, but also, in general - I thought it would be fun to get everyone off the subject of politics, hurricanes and stuff that's been permeating the news for the past three months. The leaves are changing colors and falling, the weather’s getting cooler, and the holidays are fast approaching; that means it's time to get into some fun - reminiscing of past holidays as well as planning for the ones coming up.
Of course, the first one (since it is October) is Halloween. And we all know what that means! Time to get the costumes for the kids’ trick-or-treating ready; bring out the candy and other goodies for the little monsters coming to your door on October the 31st. There are the Halloween parties and scary movies on TV, which make folks think of ghosts, vampires, witches and wizards, as well as other monsters of the imagination.
I have some memories of some scary and some not-so-scary moments. I remember I would sometimes mention encountering (or not encountering) ghosts. The jury’s still out on my belief - I guess you’d call me an open-minded skeptic. But I’ve had some strange things happen to me in past years that cause me to stop and think about what I believe. Below are some incidences I will relate to you, and you tell me whether I was “visited” by a ghost or if it was just my imagination.
When I was a little girl about seven years old, our family (Mom, Dad, my brother and two sisters) left Indiana and moved to Eastern Tennessee, around Greeneville, where my dad was born and raised. Now, in that part of the country there are lots of old farm houses, and the locals there were a superstitious folk. I mean *every* place according to them had “haints” in them.
Well, Dad and Mom bought this old home from an elderly woman who knew my dad’s family. The house was over 100 years old. We lived in it less than a year because my dad, being a restless job-seeker, found a job in Maryland.
But I digress!
 The house we were living in was reputedly haunted. While I never really experienced anything more frightening than a black snake in the outhouse, my dad told a story about being awakened by the former owner's ghost. (the old lady having died a few days earlier) She was, in a way, telling him to take care of her house.
When we got to Maryland we lived in a trailer park in Odenton. Some of the rumors and stories there I can’t repeat here as it may be too offensive for folks of certain ethnic heritage. But, one thing I can tell you was that our trailer park had bats! Rumor had it that if you stood under the porch light for too long, the bats would come and make nests in your hair! That certainly kept us inside at night!
Then we moved to Glen Burnie, to the house my parents still live in. It was a small house, only three bedrooms, a bathroom, living room and kitchen. It was built in the late forties or early fifties, and was owned by two families before us. We rented at first, then later bought the house.
 The neighbor next door used to tell us stories of the families who lived there before. They were some strange folks, according to her - including one man who used to chew or eat clothespins! She told us this man haunted the house, but I never ran into him.
My sisters and I were in the second largest bedroom; it’s now Mom’s sewing room/office. My brother was in the smallest bedroom (how he managed to get all the stuff he had in that room remains a mystery to me!).
Since the house was so small and my dad liked to stay up to watch TV, and my sisters liked to giggle a lot and talk while in bed, I always had a hard time getting to sleep so I'd just lie awake for the longest time.
 My bed was nearest the bedroom door and I would sometime stare at the door and I can swear I saw it move by itself!
Sometimes I heard noises I couldn’t explain. One night I thought I saw a woman at the door of the bedroom - it wasn’t my mom, and I kept staring at the woman until she went away.
We had this little dog, Dickie; he was a Terrier/Chihuahua mix. He lived 16 years. After he died, my niece was staying at Mom and Dad’s house and she had to get up for something in the kitchen. Now the kitchen was where Dickie used to sleep in a little box made up as a bed under the kitchen table. At night he used to come out of the kitchen to wake someone up to let him out to do his business.
When my niece got to the kitchen she thought she heard Dickie moving around, and she swears she saw him come out of the kitchen - and he had died three months earlier!
About the time my brother entered the Marine Corps, Mom, Dad and my sisters went down to his graduation from boot camp; I stayed with a friend of mine in the house. Back then we had a dog named Topsey. Topsey was a quiet dog and never barked or whined much at night. But this night my friend and I were asleep in my room, and we were awakened by the most blood-curdling noise we had ever heard! It was Topsey - she had never howled like that before and it was scary! My friend and I couldn’t get out of the house fast enough. Everyone says it was probably something Topsey always did when she was alone in the house. But I think she saw something!
I remember the times we would all go visit my grandparents in Tennessee; they lived in a big old house. The house was torn down sometime in the late 70’s, my grandpa died in 1975. But I remember the upstairs part was just one big room with about 4 beds. I guess when you have 8 kids in the house you needed the space!
I remember hearing and seeing a lot of strange things. I must be some sort of medium or something because it seems I can feel the presence of ghosts in some places. I know it sounds weird but can you give me a better explanation?
The last story took place about 1982, a year after my grandma in Canada died. That’s my mom’s mom. Grandma lived with Mom’s youngest sister, who was taking care of her, and two of Mom’s brothers. Grandma died in March of 1981 and my aunt died only 8 months later! At the time of their deaths, my uncles were in the process of building on the same property as the old house, a larger and more handicap-friendly house. It was built to my aunt’s specification but neither she nor my grandmother got to live in it as it wasn’t completed until late 1982.
In ’82, I took my oldest nephew up to Vancouver to the World’s Fair that was being held there and to visit Mom’s other sister who lived there. The three of us decided to go to Saskatchewan to visit with my uncles and maybe stay in the old house one last time. I don’t remember were Mike or my aunt slept, but I slept in the small room off the living room where my grandma used to sleep. There were still a lot of her things in the room. My aunt used to sleep on a small cot just outside the room; Grandma had Alzheimer’s and could not be left alone for too long.
 As I was starting to sleep, I felt like there was someone in the room with me; I wasn’t scared, instead I had a sense of peace and comfort. I felt safe. It is almost as if my grandmother and my aunt were there telling me that all was well and they were happy with their new “Home”. I had a good sleep that night!
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Well, there you have it! My stories, now it's your turn. Do you have stories of strange occurrences? Tell us about them - they can be scary or funny or even comforting. ~ Pippin
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