Wednesday, February 11, 2009

A ghost in my apartment?



I just may have a ghost in my apartment. That's right, a ghost. I normally love freaking myself out...something about it really gets me going. But the other night when I woke up around 2am, I was way too freaked out to go back to sleep, for almost the entire rest of the night.

It all started when my neighbor, Crissie, told me that twice in one week she woke up to find the lamp on her nightstand turned on. Weird, huh? She was positive she hadn't done it, even in her sleep. She asked me if I'd seen anything out of the ordinary, and I told her no. In the 4 years I've lived in this building, I've never seen anything suspicious. At least not from the non-living. We certainly have our share of hoodlums in this neighborhood, but that's another story.

The building I live in is a 3-story, 12-unit brick building that was built around 1915. It's got great detailing, has large old triple windows with big sills, fabulous hardwood floors, and high ceilings. I love it. However, I have no doubt that, given its age, many people have died here. Wouldn't you think? I will also say that as many times as I've had to go down to the cellar, where my storage unit is, I've never been freaked out or scared. Much less so than I used to get in my parents' house which was new in 1998. So that's it, nothing has ever given me reason to be scared in this apartment. Until the other night.

About a week after my neighbor told me about her lamp going on in the middle of the night, I awoke around 2am with a start. I nearly sat right up in bed. When I looked around, I noticed that my alarm clock was blinking like the power had gone out. I thought that was a bit strange, but I reset it immediately for fear I might not wake up at the right time if the clock was off. It was then that I realized my bathroom light was on. Freaky! Why the hell was the bathroom light on? I instantly had a chill run down the back of my neck. There was no way I was going to get up and turn it off. Something might get me! From underneath my bed, perhaps? So I lay there for at least an hour just completely freaked out, wide-eyed, and afraid to get out from under the covers. Eventually I drifted back to sleep, but it was a very light sleep, and full of tossing and turning.

In the morning when it was light out, I finally had the guts to get up like normal. Ghosts don't come out in the light, right? At least that's how I justified it to myself. I also noticed the next morning that a box of candy in the kitchen was all ripped and torn like something had been going through it. It's not a rat or mouse, I'm sure of it.

Either way, I hope whatever has been causing a ruckus stops messing with my sleep schedule! Anyone have good ghost stories they want to share in the meantime?

9 comments:

Jenn Sutherland said...

Oooh...I hope you can work it out with your new roomie, and create a peaceful co-existence.

My first job at age 15 was as a banquet server in an old mansion in a county park. The estate was turned over to the county after the dentist who lived there murdered his wife and 5 year old son in the house. The county turned the mansion into a banquet center, and the grounds into a beautiful park.

Anyway, each night, one server, bartender, disher and manager had to stay late to close up after the weddings and set-up for the next day...you drew straws for the dubious honor.

Going into the basement at the end of the night to take laundry down, you would often come across castle-shaped stacks of canned tomatoes, and walking by (quickly), the air was always cold right there over the stacks. The 5 year old boy was killed in the basement.

Going upstairs, to clean the bridal suite (which used to be the master bedroom), you'd tidy up, vacuum, remove any dishes, and turn out the lights. Walking out to the parking lot after work, you'd look up, and every single night, the desk lamp would be on in the master bedroom. It was not on a timer.

It still gives me goosebumps to think of all the run-ins with the unearthly residents of Addison Oaks, but I never felt malice from them, just a sense of lonliness. It made me sad thinking of them, and sometimes I would talk to them as I worked.

Unknown said...

SO SCARY! You have a ghost with a sweet tooth. You've heard all my ghost stories...however my friend's house has a ghost we call Nightman.

He groans in the house and makes bottles clink together in their bar.

Emily said...

That just sounds scary to me. When I was little I would watch Rescue 911 on tv with William Shatner. That show used to give me nightmares and I couldn't shower with someone sitting outside the bathroom door and being at home by myself was out of the questions. Gee thanks Abe for making me worry all over again.

amyv said...

OOOOOGETY BOOOOGETY!!!! (Ahem) now that I've got your attention, mmmm, no. It's one benefit of abandoning all supernatural belief along with Santa, the fairies at the bottom of the garden, and sky daddies on clouds, even as I realize that saying that might make me sound like a no-fun-whatsoever know-it-all!

There's always a more logical, more likely explanation than ghost stories... our eyes, and bodies play tricks on us because we don't experience the world as directly as we think we do; it's all our brains making the best approximation they can at any given moment, and sometimes there are little glitches, especially when we've consciously primed ourselves to expect them!

It's just that reality is way more weird and interesting than fiction...sounds like less fun but really it's WAY more fun!

Red from Ktown said...

I have no doubt there are ghosts. I have a story too, but mine has a logical answer. I recently bought a new ceiling fan and had it installed, but because I had fireproofing in my attic, a regular switch couldn't be installed, so I had to buy a remote. Even though I have switched the codes several times, I still find it frustrating that someone in the neighborhood has the same remote and my light is on at 2am and the fan running too! I know it's the remote, but I can't shut off a switch to keep it from happening and it's not only annoying, but also is getting costly when lights go on for NO REASON!!!

Anonymous said...

Yikes, did you see lines coming out of your head when you noticed the light was on?
No ghost stories here to report, but I remember one night in TN when I woke from a sleep and I know I heard the sound of glass breaking in the hallway outside our bedrooms. It was a tinkling noise, not a theif breaking a window noise, so I wasn't alarmed too much. I was more puzzled.
I didn't do anything about it, and was able to go back to sleep, remembering the episode in the morning.

Anonymous said...

Oh Abe. Chances are that when your electricity went out and turned off your alarm clock, it also messed with the lights and that's how the light in your kitchen came on(it's happened to me before). And your friend most likely did turn her lamp on. As for the open candy in your kitchen, have you been taking Ambien?? Ambien users tend to be night eaters. Take it from a girl who does weird things in her sleep, like getting up and talking to the air conditioner, you, and not ghosts, are probably the culprit of any weird things that go on in the middle of the night ;)

Anonymous said...

hahah that's the funniest one :D

I love ghost stories!

Here in Naples we say that, if a ghost wants you, it will leave you alone and maybe help you out in some things with its influence, but if it doesn't want you, it will do all what is able to do to make you leave your house.

So don't worry, it is surely not a ghost ;)

..By the way, if the problem is the "oldness" of your building, come over here at my house!! Muhahah

ciao :)

Anonymous said...

Wow, I have a story like this one. This past Saturday a friend and I went to her parent's house in Saltillo, TN. They built their house on old Indian burial ground. Sherrie(my friend's mom) was telling me about the spirits that roam around their land, and we talked about it for awhile. Then my friend(Brandy)and I came home(Nashville, TN). Sunday night, Brandy and her family came to my apartment for dinner and cards. While we were playing cards, I looked over at my bookcase and one of my book ends was turned around backwards. We joked about it and said I brought one of her mom's ghosts home with me the night before. No biggie, but I did have questions about it in my own mind because I knew I didn't move it and I live alone.
So this morning when I woke up, my alarm clock was blinking 1:30AM. I just thought we had a power surge during the night. Then I looked over at my computer monitor and the light was on(like it's in standby mode). So, curious, I went straight to the kitchen, and my automatic coffee maker had made the coffee(I set it to brew at 4:50AM every morning), the time on my microwave was right, and the time on my TV set was right, which told me that there couldn't have been a power surge, or all of these items would have lost time as well. Then I went back into the bedroom and saw that my electric blanket was still on, and it is plugged into the same outlet as my clock. I told Brandy about it this morning and she called her mom, and found out that they had an Indian ghost they called "Trickster" because he played tricks like this on them alot. She believes I did indeed bring him home with me Saturday, as they haven't had ant tricks played on them since we left Saturday night. So now I'm really freaking out. She told me to just acknowledge his presence and the "tricks" should stop.