Ghosts

I have always been sensitive. Some might call me empathetic. I know that from a young age, animals have always been drawn to me, especially when frightened. The same goes with people that have certain handicaps for lack of a better word and I don't mean to be derogatory in any way, but people with Down's syndrome or other disorders that cause emotional/mental issues.

I sense things that others do not. I can always read the true feelings behind someone's words. I see their true feelings and intentions and it is often unpleasant and disappointing. Because of this, I tend not to get close to very many people.

I have seen "ghosts" quite a few times in my life. I don't know why. I don't see them all the time, thankfully, but I have seen them.

When I was an older teenager, I helped my grandmother move to a new apartment. I spent the night with her that night and throughout the entire night I did not get much sleep due to three very nasty old women who did not seem to understand that they didn't belong in this world any longer.

They laughed and goaded me all night long. I sat up against the wall at the head of my bed and just kept telling them to go away to no avail.  I did not tell my grandmother of this occurrence because I didn't want to influence her situation and hoped it was just me.

My grandmother was also known to be sensitive to certain things and had a number of "experiences" in her life. Several months after she moved in, I noticed that she didn't seem very happy or content in her new apartment. I asked her what was bothering her and she told me nothing was wrong.

It became apparent that something was wrong after another month or so and I finally coaxed her to tell me what it was. She told me that I would think she was crazy but that three very nasty women haunted the apartment and tormented her nearly every night.

I was astonished that her experience so closely resembled my own, even down to her description of the women. She moved not long after that.

When I was much older, with young children of my own, I had another experience. I have two daughters. At the time of this experience, they were about 2 and 4 years old. I had an in home daycare and had several children all around this age at the time. On this day, we were eating lunch at the breakfast table which sat in a large bay window.

All of the children and myself saw a young boy in a blue shirt walking up our front walkway towards the front door. I instructed the children to finish their lunch and I walked to the door thinking it was the little boy from down the street, who was too young to be walking to my house by himself, but when I got to the door, no one was there.

The children went back outside to play and never saw the boy again. Later that evening, I was by myself in the home. My children were asleep in their own rooms, my husband was working late and I was up cleaning and crocheting with the company of our little dog.

I was in the family room and heard something in the living room. I walked through switching on the kitchen light which shone into the living room. When I arrived in the living room, which was already lit by a soft table lamp, I saw something run from the curtains in the bay window to stand behind a television cabinet. It was the size of a young child. I could see it was a boy. His head was just visible over the top of the cabinet and he was gripping the top of the cabinet with his fingers.

I called out for him to come out of hiding with no response. I walked to where he was standing and there was nothing there. I thought maybe I was seeing things, but the little dog that followed me everywhere was standing at the edge of the room, hair standing on end, growling and staring at the spot where the child had just been moments before.

I checked my children's rooms and they were both sound asleep and could not have slipped past me to go back to their rooms from this location in our home. I never saw the child again, but I assume it was a deceased child that was drawn to the play and commotion of all the children.

I did learn later that the brother and sister that I watched had lost an older sibling several months before I started watching them, but I believe it was a girl, not a boy.

Strange things happen, dear readers, I'd love to hear some of your experiences!