Spirits: Part 1

I know not everyone believes in spirits. Spirits as in those who have passed away still inhabiting the same spaces we inhabit - except in a different form. I can understand how it would be easy to be skeptical if you haven't experienced the presence of spirits. I grew up in a large Victorian home built in 1893 that was originally used as a mortuary. My parents still live in that house today. The home went into disrepair in the 1940's or 1950's after the mortician owner died and it sat abandoned for decades until a couple in the mid 70's bought the home and remodeled it from top to bottom. Converting the old mortuary part downstairs and the family living area upstairs into a very large family home. Then my parents bought the house in 1977.

It wasn't long after we moved in that my oldest sister first met "George". KSS occupied the bedroom at the top of the stairs that had a private adjoining bathroom. We always called it the "red room" because it had red carpet. Yes, red carpet and paneled walls - think mid 70's decor. She used to mention how the closet door always seemed to open by itself in the middle of the night and the light would be on inside the closet. Every member of the family who slept in that room experienced the closet door phenomena. The walls weren't crooked, the foundation wasn't moving - the door latched securely and if left ajar it wouldn't swing open or closed so it wasn't a matter of a door off-kilter. We just assumed that for some reason "George" didn't like that door shut and he might be afraid of the dark because the light would always be on inside the closet. Later when that room became my bedroom as a teenager, I removed the closet light bulb.

One night KSS had a friend stay the night. She had a king-sized bed that was a hand-me-down from my parents and Shawn said her and her friend went to sleep with the bed and bedspread made up in the regular way. Sometime during the night either Shawn or her friend had to go to the bathroom and was surprised (and quite a bit freaked out) that the bedspread was tightly tucked in ALL THE WAY around the bed. This was a long bedspread that hung to the floor. It was fully tucked in underneath the mattress so tightly one woke up the other for help to get out of the bed. (Shawn or Mom - feel free to comment if I've gotten any of these stories wrong a little bit. It's been told so many times over the years, I know there have been variations told.) Shawn's friend would never stay the night or go in Shawn's room again.

My mother's sister, my aunt - was one of those people who was very intuitive. She sensed things. She knew who was going to call before the phone ring. She knew when something bad had happened to a family member before being told. (By the way, my mom is that way also.) When we first moved into the house, the red room was used as a guest room for visiting family members. My mom woke up to find my aunt asleep on the couch in the living room. She told mom that there was no way in hell she was sleeping in that red room - something else was in there. She wasn't the only person who sensed "George" without ever being told anything about him.

The most startling thing George did was he appeared to two of my oldest sisters. Both times in the bathroom adjoining the red room. KSS said she was brushing her teeth and looking in the mirror and a man was standing behind her. Gray hair, mustache, bowler or derby type of hat, suit with a pin-stripe, vest and pocket watch. Very old-timey clothing. She turned around and nothing was there. She looked back in the mirror and he was gone. The same thing happened to my other sister. I never saw him.

I did, however, strike up a conversation with a lady at the hospital when I was a 14 year-old candy striper. This woman was very interested in me when she found out I lived in "the haunted house". Yes, our house had been called the haunted house for years while it sat abandoned and several of my teachers throughout my school years told me stories of how they would dare their friends to go into the house when they were youngsters. This woman at the hospital was elderly and she told me her husband's great-uncle was the mortician who built and lived in the home. I paid a visit to her house not long after that because she said he had old photo albums with the great-uncle in them. I kid you not, the uncle's name was George. The very name we had given the ghost just so we'd have something to call him. His picture was exactly as my sisters had described him - exactly. Her husband told me George had died of old age in that bedroom at the top of the stairs. That had been his room.

George still makes himself known from time to time and I think all of us, to this day, greet him or talk to him when we go back upstairs to stay when we're home visiting over the holidays. Although George is quieter now that he has the upstairs to himself several years ago he must've had a fit of some kind. My mother and my sister KDR were downstairs in the living room when they heard a LOUD noise - a THUD coming from upstairs. They were the only ones in the house. They went upstairs and there was an old antique chest of drawers in the red room. The kind that has a mirror attached to two spindle posts and the mirror can be tilted. My little brother had last occupied the room, but had since moved out - however several of his things still littered the top of the chest. Cups full of change, model cars, etc. The spindle posts supporting the mirror had broken - snapped. Now if it was just a case of old wood and it finally breaking due to the weight of the mirror, the mirror would have surely fallen forwards and knocked something off the top of the chest. The mirror was a good 5 feet from the dresser laying in the floor - MIRROR SIDE UP. Had it just fallen forwards, it would be face down. We say George did it. You tell me. Nothing, none of the cups or model cars were disturbed - the dresser was dusty and nothing had been moved at all.

So yes, I believe in spirits. Everyone in my family does. And believe me when I say that my redneck dad and brother are not the type to believe in something "frivolous". And they both admit, yeah, there's something up there.

The reason I told you about this is because I haven't lived at home for over 20 years. In all the places I've lived since then, I've never sensed or experienced a spirit. Until now. We just moved into this house less than a month ago and I've been sensing a presence.

To be continued to Part 2.