A Haunting in the OC.

It is Halloween time and last year about this time, I told you of the many misadventures I and my idiot friends had as we…vandalized is too harsh a word, as we pranked our way all over the county. I have no more tales of Halloween mischief. I do have an experience to tell you about. Many of you have heard this story because I love to tell it, even though it did not happen to me.

The setting is late fall of 1994 or 95, and I am going to pick up a cousin and some pizza and we and Bratch will be dining and watching a late delay UK basketball game. The game starts around 10:30 PM and we stay up until halftime. My cousin decides he is going to bed. My parents are out of town (and this is the craziness we get up to when home alone as teenagers, well, that’s not quite true, but I won’t go into it here, I’ll just leave you with these words “fuzzy dice tag”), so he is going to sleep in my parents’ bed. Bratch and I also go to bed, but we continue to watch the game on TVs in our rooms.

My cousin said that he went into the bedroom and sort of swung the door shut without it actually shutting. You know how a door can close, but not necessarily latch? My cousin said that he never heard it latch, but it was shut. He then go into bed and tried to go to sleep. My parents’ bed at this time was a waterbed that was not more than three feet off the ground, so you could actually hang your arm off the bed and touch the floor.

As my cousin tried to go to sleep, he remembered looking at the clock and then closing his eyes. He reopened his eyes and looked at the clock and saw that only 3 or 4 minutes had passed. He then noticed something at the foot of the bed. It looked like someone was on their hands and knees; he could only see a shadow with no features. He said that the shadow started crawling up the floor towards the head of the bed. My cousin thought that this shadow was either me or Bratch trying to scare him.

As the shadow got within reach of him, he thought he would scare whoever was trying to scare him. He took his arm and swung it at the shadow and said, “Get out of my face.” Well, his hand went right through the shadow and the shadow disappeared. At this point he said he was petrified and could not move. As he lay there for a few seconds freaking out, he said he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He looked over and whatever it was disappeared.

Somehow he was able to go to sleep. The next morning was Sunday morning and parents or no parents at home; we were expected to go to church. My cousin forgot his “church” clothes so his mom brought him some that morning. His mom sent his sister in with the clothes. I am a very light sleeper, so I heard her come into the house. I also heard her come down the hall and go to my parents’ bedroom door. I heard what sounded like her trying to get in but eventually knocking on the door and telling my cousin she was hanging his clothes on the doorknob. When my cousin got up, he saw that not only was the door shut and latched, but the door was also locked. His sister also said it was locked and that was why she hanged the clothes on the door.

Now this is not exactly The Exorcist, but it is something that we have remembered and remembered clearly ever since. My mother was the only one who slept in the bed at night because my father worked third shift at the mines. Every night, as long as I can remember, she leaves the door half open and has a light on in the room. I asked if the ghost was the reason for this, but she said no it wasn’t.

A few years after this incident, a group of us was messing around with an Ouija board (I know, I know, this is stupid, but I just can’t see a board game company putting out a board game that opens up a portal to the other side. Although it is freaky and I doubt I will ever mess with one again.) We “rellegedly” talked with a spirit who said that our house was indeed haunted by an 18 year old guy. I have no idea about the history of the land before our house was built. I do know that the cornerstone from my Mammaw’s childhood home was used in the foundation. I am not sure if that has anything to do with it.

In later years, I have heard things. I have heard what sounds like footsteps in the hall, things falling, sometimes bangs; I have even sometimes thought I had heard someone say something. I have no proof that anything supernatural is going on and I do not think I would want proof. So, there is my ghost story of the Halloween season, it is not exactly the Bell Witch, but it made for a very interesting memory.