Wednesday, August 08, 2007

The Ghost and APj

We moved into the Weise House in 1974. It's funny, my folks have lived there for more than 30 years, longer than all (except one) in the neighborhood, and it is still called the Weise House. It was built sometime between WWI and WWII, relatively new, compared to some of the houses nearby. I remember feeling strange spots in the house almost immediately upon moving in. My mother thought I was just being sulky- as I hadn't wanted to move from California to Nebraska. When asked to explain it, all I could come up with was that it felt like someone was watching me. Like, if I turned around quick enough, I would catch whomever it was. I often found things (keys, change, books) in places that I knew I had not left them, but was always told that I just must have forgotten putting them there. Over time, anything not found was blamed on "Jayne's ghost."

I moved back to California in 1980. Funny how my vindication came only after I left....
My older brother John had slept in the moon room for years (yes, yes, a post will come soon about my mothers penchant for naming the rooms), but had abandoned the room in favor of a room in the basement after a nightmare. None of us has ever been told what the dream was about-- but we all heard him yell.... Jason, who up until this point had slept in the cubbyhole, lept at the opportunity for a "real room."
And the sightings began...
During the early summer of 1985 (a decade after we had moved in), Jason was talking to his girlfriend on the phone. "I saw something moving...out of the corner of my eye," Jason explained, "I thought it was Mom, so I just kept talking to Nickki. Suddenly, something grabbed my arm. I looked up -- and there was nothing....but something there! I screamed, threw the phone at the nothing, and bolted from the room." Jason refused to sleep in the room, and moved back into the cubbyhole. To this day, he refers to the Moon Room as the Ghost's Room, and will not go in alone.

In August of 1985, I sent my father a balloon-a-gram for his birthday. As many of you know, the latex ones begin to droop and drag by the second day, and the mylar ones keep floating. Such was the case, and so my mother had set the bunch next to the piano in the living room. As they were sitting on the couch one evening, the balloons began to move towards the dining room. "It's probably the air current" Dad assured Mom. "Let's follow it" challenged Mom(she is so-o-o brave and fearless!). Hardy Boy and Nancy Drew followed the balloons as they made their way through the dining room, into the kitchen, made a 60 degree turn into and through the "S" shaped hallway, and then proceeded up the stairs to the second floor. At the top of the stairs, the balloons made a 90degree left into my parents room, followed by a 90degree right turn into the football room (yes,yes more named rooms). The balloons floated up, and then sat on Dad's football chair. "I don't think it's air currents," concluded Hardy Boy. "Don't tell Jason,"admonished Nancy Drew.

The following spring found Jayne and baby Erynn visiting Nebraska. Erynn and I were sleeping one night when I felt the covers go taut. Thinking it was the family cat (aptly named, Spooky), I reached back to pet her. There was something there, resting against my legs.....but it wasn't Spooky....even though it was scary! "Please go away," I whispered, "I don't want to wake Erynn." The ghost left.

My mother thought the ghost had left for good, but I knew he was still around.

He didn't show himself again until about six years ago: I was watching T.V. in the den. Erynn was spending the night at the neighbors house, and Mom had gone up to take a bath. I was tired, so I decided to go up to bed. Turning the lights out in the den, I headed towards the staircase, turning the lights off in the living room as I started up the stairs. Suddenly, the light in the kitchen went on. "Hmmm..." I thought, "Mom must have come down." I turned back and went to the kitchen. Which was empty. "Strange," I thought, "I'm sure the light was of-" The light in the living room was on. Switching off the light in the kitchen, I sprinted to the living room, hoping to catch my playful mom, but the living room was empty too. Switching the light off, turning towards the stairs, I saw that the den light was on again. "Goodnight, ghost," I called, "I'm happy to see you, but I'm done playing for the night." I went up the stairs. Quickly, and looking straight forward, I headed to my bed. And turned the nightlight on....just in case.

Oh.....just in case you're wondering.......Mom was still upstairs in the tub.....

I always have the nightlight on........

13 comments:

Charlie said...

yikes! i've got goosebumps! I dont think i would have been able to say anything to the ghost..dry mouth, palpitations yes..speaking, no! Lovely house anyway.

Katie :) said...

Ghosts are interesting creatures. I don't have any in the place I live now, but growing up I had a very mean and nasty closet monster.....
Couldn't ever sleep with the door open.....

at least your ghost makes peace with you when you talk to it!

Dan said...

My wife would love this story! I'll have to print it out for her!

Brrrr ... chills. :)

KaMotion said...

chill bumpy story. the tiny hairs on my arms are standing on end. have you ever asked the ghost what it's name was? Do you know if the ghost is male or female?

Myers said...

Luckily, nightlights emit a particular type of radiation into the ether that is particularly offensive to ghosts, spirits, and strangely enough, Larry King.

airplanejayne said...

charlie:I don't know if-or-what I'd be able to say if I actually see him!

katie:my brother Jeff was my scary,mean closet monster...and under -the-bed monster...

dan-thanks!Funny thing:I'm less scared to be in my "out-in-the-country" home all alone then I am to sleep in the MoonRoom in Nebraska with a house-full of folks.

kamotion:Ghost is an adult male. Jason said it looked like he was wearing some kinda robe...

myers: Gawd! What a scary thought: Larry King in my bedroom!

Anonymous said...

oooooooooooo.......

Anonymous said...

oh, when I was a teenager, quite some moons ago, I witnessed Lecram being possessed. This was in a hotel in Malaysia notorious for spirits. One minute he was fine, the next he went into convulsions. Our friend exorcised the spirit. The I saw another possession downstairs in the restaurant. She was leaned backwards in her chair, left leg making small circular sweeps of the floor, and was speaking in tongues with the voice of a man.

(M)ary said...

i totally believe in ghosts and i had an apartment recently which i think was haunted.

i am glad you spoke to the ghost. it might be kind of lonely in its nether world between here and wherever we are supposed to go after we die.

KFarmer said...

Ohhhh a good ghost story :)

My mom used to tell me to stop being so dramatic when I would tell her something unusual... Me? Dramatic? I would hardly string three words together most of the time and kept to myself. Then I go and grow up to find I'm born of a house full of "witches" ;)

airplanejayne said...

kfarmer- I think a story about growing up in a house full of witches is in order!

m - not as brave as I wish I could be. But the ghost has never done anything mean,so....

kien-last time I leaned backwards in a chair and drew circles with my leg I'm pretty sure I was not poss---nevermind....

Jacob said...

I go to Lime. I check her blog roll out. I see Airplane in AirplaneJayne and am eyebrow boinging each and every time. I come here. I hope to see an airplane.

The Moon room. I like that. I like that your mother named rooms.

Jacob said...

There is a perfectly good explanation for all of this.

Disquieting, though, that we all know what that is....