Saturday, October 31, 2009

True Scary Story

Sometime quite a few months back, Ken and I are heading home after meeting our pastor at the church to make the initial plans for our wedding. The sun has just set. It's a regular weekday evening. Lights are on in all the units in our condo complex. The air wafting from the building vents smells of boiling rice and stewing beef. You would be hard-pressed to find a more domestic, cozy scene.

We reach our front door, unlock it, flick on the entranceway light, and step inside. I reach around the corner and hit another light switch, which illuminates our living room. Everything is just as we left it. I'm glad to be home, looking forward to putting my feet up and relaxing.

As I'm reaching to untie my shoes, Ken suddenly startles, and jumps back against the wall. His face perfectly illustrates the expression "he looked like he'd just seen a ghost". He's staring into the middle of the living room like he's spotted something terrifying. I look back into the living room. There's the sofa. There's the TV and remote control. Nothing out of order.

Ken is still backed into a corner between all wall and the hall closet door. His face is grey.

"Did you see that?" he asks me.

"See what?"

"That guy."

I look at him like, more information please!

"There was a man standing right there in the middle of our living room."

"What did he look like?"

"He was tall, bald, and creepy-looking. He was wearing a long dark coat. He saw me looking at him. Then as soon as I saw him he started vanishing from the feet up. He was gone by the time I asked you if you saw anything."

Ken was not fooling with me. He wasn't drunk, overtired, or on medication. He has no history of schizophrenia. I'm as sure as I can be that he can see disembodied spirits.

Ken's dad and his brother also have the ability to see ghosts. This isn't the only ghost story I have from Ken, but it was the only time I was there. And it made me really, really glad that, despite my ability to experience some things beyond my five senses, I can't see ghosts. Because that apparition scared the poop out of him.

Fortunately the scary ghost man never re-appeared in our living room.

Believe what you will, but this story is true to me. Happy Hallowe'en! May you have lots of fun and candy, and no ghosts.

13 comments:

Claire said...

Brrr. Gave me chills.

Cxx

Kate said...

The Dead Guy knew things that normal people aren't supposed to know. It creeped me out, but I also thought it was an incredible gift.

anon said...

When my son was 4 years old he asked me one morning who the big, old guy was that stood guard at his bedroom door at night.

We don't have any big, old guys standing guard at our kids doors.

He wasn't scared, he said he felt safe.

Then he never mentioned him again.

Warped Mind of Ron said...

When I die I am so going to try to look as creepy as possible and hang out in peoples houses to do just that!! Awesome. Well.... I would do that whenever I wasn't hanging out at the local college sorority shower.

DarcsFalcon said...

That would be seriously unnerving.

You have a great Halloween too sweetie. :)

Jenski said...

I totally just got chills too. Doesn't help that I watched The Exorcist earlier in the day either.

Happy Halloween!

Anonymous said...

Awesome! Way to bring it on Halloween, Spark! Thank you for sharing. :)

Anonymous said...

Scary.

Scarlet said...

The way you tell the story gave me the creeps! I could just picture the guy as he saw him, then disappearing slowly. I believe this is a true story. I know others who say they've seen ghosts and like you, I'm glad I'm not one of them!

LL Cool Joe said...

I've heard of many people who see angels at the end of their beds etc. I'd rather see an angel than a ghost.

I wrote this ages ago on my blog, I do believe we have some sort of spirit that lives in this house.

Nilsa @ SoMi Speaks said...

I can't let my husband read this post. He'd freak out. Ghosts freak him out. His brother and sister-in-law are convinced they have a ghost in their house. He hates their house. I'm sort of indifferent. So long as the ghost isn't bothering us. Or isn't mean. Then I'm ok with sharing space with him/her.

Sparkling Red said...

Claire: Don't worry - he never came back after that day. Not that we noticed, anyway...

Kate: It's always weird getting information outside of one's normal 5 senses. Even when it helps it kind of makes you question all your assumptions about reality. This can create existential angst.

Powedergirl: That would creep me out! Even if it's not a harmful spirit, anyone who can come into my home without my fore-knowledge or permission is crossing boundaries and that makes me uncomfortable.

Ron: I bet you'll make an excellent ghost. If you die before me, please try not to startle me too much if you come and visit. And no peeping!

DarcsFalcon: We were pretty wary for the rest of the night. But he never showed up again, so it's all good.

Jenski: Nothing like a good horror movie to get you in the mood for a ghost story. :-)

darcknyt: Fortunately I only had one scary story from the whole year. I wonder if I'll have another by next Hallowe'en?

Unsigned: Yup.

Scarlet: I think the scariest part was that he was looking right back at Ken like, "I see you!". That makes me shudder.

LL Cool Joe: Now that you mention it, I remember that you wrote about your "extra" resident. I don't believe we have any permanent spirits in our place. I think that guy was just passing through.

Nilsa: Hmm... You're very tolerant. I'm not sure how I would feel living with a disembodied spirit in the house. I guess it depends on the spirit. I suppose you can get used to anything, given time.

Unknown said...

I totally believe you guys.
I have my own ghost stories...and one of my bloggy friends has weird things happening in her house as well.
Glad that Dude never made it back :)