My Ghost Story

I’m going to start this post off by saying that I don’t believe in ghosts – even after what happened to me.   I still don’t believe in them.   All I’m saying is that this story was freaky and worthy of a good Halloween scare.   Having said that, here we go…

When I was in high school, I was asked to babysit/housesit for a new family in our town.   They got my name from our church, but I had never met them before.   Assuming that they were like every other suburban family I had ever babysat for, I agree to stay in their house for a week with their 3-year-old son, Finn.

On my first visit to the house, I noticed that it was kind of strange.   The family had just moved in after their grandfather who originally owned the house had passed away.   He was killed riding his bike over the bridge connecting the peninsula I grew up on to the main land.   The furniture was still draped with sheets and boxes were stacked up all over the place.   There was very little furniture.   There were no televisions and only one phone.   But the kid was nice and the neighborhood (though in the middle of the woods) was familiar to me.

My first night in the house was a little creepy.   I swore I heard footsteps and whispering down in the basement.   I wasn’t aware of exactly how creepy the house actually was, so I ventured out of my bedroom in the middle of the night to see what the noise was.   When I looked down the stairs to the basement, I noticed the light was on down there, but the footsteps and whispering had stopped, so I assumed I was just sleepy and seeing things and went back to bed.

The next afternoon, I was a little creeped out.   The house was starting to get to me and I was still unnerved by the previous night’s events, so I called my friend, Tony, to come stay with me for the afternoon.   If you ask Tony today, he will tell you that the next several events actually happened.   I was in the kitchen making a snack for the three of us (three includes the kid) and had turned the faucet in the sink on and then off again.   But when I turned my back to the faucet, the water turned back on.   Full stream.   Water just started coming out of the spout.   I look at Tony who kind of shrugs and I turn the faucet back off.   Suddenly, the water in the guest bathroom across the hall turned on in the sink.   Full stream.   This time Tony went and turned it off, both of us laughing nervously.   As soon as he turned it off, both faucets in the kitchen and bathroom started spraying water.   Full streams.   Clearly freaked out, we turned off both faucets and we left for the afternoon.

I called my mom and asked her to come stay with me, but she said I was being silly and needed to be responsible to my commitments.   Whatever.   I go back to the house that night and put Finn to bed.   Now, Finn’s bedroom was creeping enough in itself.   It was decorated in old baby dolls – you know, the kind that have no eyes – and yellowed, lace curtains.   Very creepy.   But Finn didn’t seem to find, so I put him down to go to bed, making sure to leave the bedroom door open with the doorstop so that he could see the light in the kitchen.   A few hours later, I went to bed.

In the middle of the night, I woke up to the footsteps and whispering again.   Only this time, they were on the first floor.   I get up and slowly open my bedroom door to peer out.   I didn’t see anything, but I thought I should check on the baby.   When I got to Finn’s bedroom door, it was closed.   Now, Finn’s door was promped open with one of those old fashioned iron doorstops, easily weighing 10 pounds.   And he slept in a crib.   There was no way he had climbed out of bed, moved the 10 pound doorstop, and closed his door.   At this point, I am freaking out.   But I go back to my bedroom and sit on my bed, waiting until the morning.

When the sun finally starts to come up, I open my door and peer across to Finn’s room.   His door is now open again and the doorstop is back in place.   I go to Finn in his crib and start getting him dressed for the day, silenting making plans to take him to my parent’s house for the rest of the week.   As I’m dressing Finn he is babbling about something and I’m not really paying attention until he says, “Opened door…Played with the Sandman.”

“What did you say, Finn?” I ask.

“I played with the Sandman.”

“Last night?”

“Yeah, he opened door and we played.”

Needless to say, I took Finn to my house and finished the week out there.   Finn had an older sister who was about my age that went to my high school.   While her parents were out of town, she was staying with a friend instead of keeping Finn.   I decided to find her in school and ask about the house.   When I asked her if she ever heard noises or had anything weird happen she just kind of laughed.

“Why do you think I’m not staying there with Finn?”   she said.

Like I said, I don’t believe in ghosts.   But that week was freaky in ways that I definitely can’t explain.     So, tonight while you’re out hunting candy or boozing in a costume somewhere, just look out for the Sandman.   I hear he likes to play at night.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!