back fill

After the police incident, I started really noticing things I hadn't before.  Knocks.  Bumps. Whispers. And especially shadows.

Two separate times in the night, I heard Raike calling me from his room on the floor beneath mine.  "Mom.     Mom.     Mom."   I would jump up and run down the stairs, thinking he may be ill, only to find him sound asleep in his bed.

In late August, just before all this started, we had to have our incredibly naughty and much adored Australian Shepherd put to sleep. Raike and Lily have each, unbeknownst to each other, come to tell me that they have seen him walking down the halls at night.  So I thought, great, our ghost is Port.  I can totally live with that.  And how like him to roam around the house making mischief unencumbered with a body.

Then the girls started seeing a face.  Every night.  Sometimes two or three times.  In separate bedrooms.  "There's a face floating over my bed" they would cry, terrified, as they sprinted into my room.  Not a lot of sleep going on around here for a while, I tell you.

Just as we were settling into this new routine, another symptom appeared.  Bed shaking.  It happened to Lily first.  Petrified, she came and told me that something woke her up shaking her legs.  Of course, I chalked it up to a bad dream, tucked her back into her bed, and laid with her until she fell back to sleep.  Thirty minutes later, she's back in my room with "the face."

I was next with the shaking bed syndrome.  I thought it was another earthquake, and sat bolt upright in bed.  That's when I heard a ruckus in the hall outside my bedroom.  I jumped up to check all the children.  Sound asleep. The house was absolutely still.  Eerily so.

A few weeks later, Elsie got the shaking bed.  And the face.  I decided to sleep in her room for the rest of the night, in the spare twin bed.  Just as I was drifting to sleep, it felt as if someone had a hand on each side of my mattress, bouncing it as hard as they could.  I opened my eyes to see a face floating above me.  A man.  With a mustache.  At this point, my fear had turned to anger, and I told him that that was enough for one night and I was going back to sleep.

Following the advise of some very wise friends, I decided to have a chat with our spook.  I explained that the girls were frightened, and I wasn't too thrilled about being awakened so many times in the night.  We were all tired from lack of sleep.  I told him he was welcome, and that I thought we could all live together happily, as long as we could come to an understanding.

Things quieted down after that.  Not that he isn't here.  He still "floats" in the girls rooms, but not right over their beds.  They aren't terrified anymore.  Now, it's mostly tattling if he gets too close. 

I try to remember to chat out loud during the daytime.  I think perhaps he's lonely and needs some attention. Who's to say that just because someone is dead they don't need a little social interaction?  

The instances seem to kick up when I've been ignoring him.  I've been a bit preoccupied lately, and sure enough, Raike woke up a few days ago furious (at Lily) for pounding on his door in the middle of the night.  Lily was ill with a fever of 103 when it happened, so I'm thinking it wasn't her.

Something just now fell in the front hall.  Maybe he knows I'm talking about him.

Comments

[Mandy]

Here's hoping things stay manageable on the haunting front...shaking beds and floating faces may be a nuisance, but at least those activities are harmless (if you consider lost sleep harmless - as much as I love my sleep, I'm not sure I'd be so benevolent to the mustachioed man).

[jaya]

hey, you really scared the hair on my neck. and how cool is it that you told him "thats enough for one night!" . wow.

i found your 'burrowhouse' from some crafty site, and love the way you tell stories. but really..a ghost in your house...and you're not spooked? keep writing..

[Nicole]

I'm loving your ghost stories! I hope the fact that you haven't updated this in a while means that Mr. Mustache hasn't been any trouble lately, but please keep writing about his antics- you're such a wonderful storyteller!

[Christine]

I'm glad that he was just lonely and needed you to talk to him. I used to have people stand at the end of my bed. Sometimes it does help to talk. :) I love both of your blogs, please keep writing.