HAPPY SAMHAIN EVERYONE!
13 years ago
Happy Samhain everybody!
(And happy Beltaine for all you Southern Hemisphere furs!)
First thing's first. I'd like to apologize for not being as active as I'd like to be here lately. Just got back from our honeymoon and getting a lot of other things done at the moment! Aaaaaah!
Now that that's out of the way I'd like to move on to one of the more interesting things this time of year is known for-...
Ghosts!
You see, I was planing on making a big journal about what Samhain is and how it came to be, but then I got home and a lot of weird things started happening. I've had little things happen on and off here since we moved in, but lately I've noticed lights turning on and off, ceiling fans spinning when their not on, cabinet doors opening, foot steps, doors rattling, our cats meowing repetitively at nothing.... the works. I'm used to having ghosts/spirits around since my house growing up had a lot of activity so it's not a big deal here. Then this got me wondering. Who here has also dealt with this sort of thing? What does everyone think about ghosts, spirits, demons, and all the other spooky creatures Halloween/Samhain is known for?
What kind of things, if any, have you guys seen/heard/experienced? Who has a ghost/spirit story they'd like to share?
What I'd call a ~normal~ haunting? My house here, which is across from Todds Farm in Maryland. I've seen him and friends have seen him this - 'tall dark man' that wanders my house at night and just stares at you. Things in my bathroom will fall down if I don't clean it after too long. My mother's house is haunted by a number of ghosts - I've only seen one (the child). And my Aunts house in Gettysburg...
Then of course, which has to deal with the first thing I stated; Shit Aubrey's Done™.
And great topic!
My experiences are:
Since I've moved into this house about 11 years ago (I was 7), I've seen these shadow figures standing in my hallway. This is an older house, built in the 60s on old farm land. I have many neighbors, but this is an old community as well. Anyway.. these figures never do anything. They don't move, don't talk, don't have any features.. just tall and black. I first saw them when I was little and I had stayed up too late and needed to go to bed. I went from the living room to my room and all of a sudden I was covering my face because I felt like I was running into--or through-- someone. I dismissed it as my hair being in my eyes...until I saw them again. I've seen them many times. They go through periods where they don't show up for a long time, but then BOOM there they are! I also tried dismissing them as just "figments of my over-active imagination" until my mother started dating this guy who had children. They live with us and the children (two boys, 16 and 14 now) have seen them too, without me telling me about them. Again, they don't seem to be harmful, just watchful.
I have this fear of the dark, in a sense... I think part of it stems from that in this house, people's faces turn into skulls in the dark (again, boys have seen it too).
My most terrifying:
I was walking home from the rec center one late night, probably around 9 or 10pm, late enough for the moon to be shining. I was walking down this street that doesn't have a lot of activity during the day, but the houses are occupied, judging by the cars. I looked around, getting a nervous feeling, and I happen to glance into this very shaded dirt driveway with tons of trees and bushes around it (absolutely lovely during the day) and i saw this--again-- silhouette, but of a shaggy dog. Just standing there and watching me. Since then, I've had nightmares about black dogs trying to kill me. I looked into the mythological creature "black dog" as well and it syncs up pretty concisely.. And once more, the older of the boys has seen the black dog, but a more vicious form of it that tried to lunge at his window (we were neighbors before they moved in) but couldn't make it passed the fence.
so I do believe in ghosts and they scare the shit out of me!
That's more meh and possible forgetfulness, tho.
What isn't is when I'm walking around stores (any store, really. Sometimes my house too) I'll see a shadowy figure of a man or a woman walk by out of the corner of my eye. But wherever I see them, there's no way they could be out of my sight when I turn to look; they'll have been walking halfway down an aisle, between two clothing racks, or into a dead end. But when I go look, they're just GONE.