Ghosties, ghoulies and spooks

I'm going to take a rather large risk here. But what is blogging if it's not truthful?

I'm willing to bet that the topic I'm about to discuss will either resonate strongly with you...or make you shake your head at my lunacy. Nevertheless.

Deep breath. Here I go.

I believe in ghosts.

I do!! I have ever since I can remember. We lived in a house in Torquay when I was tiny, and I distinctly remember two children I played with. Their names were Mary and Michael, and whenever I blamed them for something naughty I did, my mum would chastise me for blaming my imaginary friends. They weren't imaginary to me - I could see them. What I didn't know, was that Mum was a bit freaked out - she knew there had been two children before us at that house who had died. So you can't blame her, really, can you?

Since then, I haven't seen anything as clearly as Mary and Michael, but I hear them. I feel them. I sense them. Sometimes, it's enough for me to walk into a house to feel distinctly uncomfortable - to feel watched, or unwanted. I catch glimpses of things out of the corner of my eye. Nothing a sceptic couldn't explain away.

The flat I lived in during my uni days definitely had a presence. It wasn't a pleasant one. Things happened in the kitchen. We would hear the TV turn on, only to enter the room and see that it was definitely off. Tiny handprints appeared on the walls, where no tiny hands had been. But still, we tried to ignore it and pretend nothing was happening. Until the couch collapsed upon itself one day, piece by piece.

When I was a barmaid in London, my co-workers tried to scare me with stories of hauntings in the ancient pub we lived in. It was clear they did not believe in ghosts. Certainly, I did not tell them of the footsteps outside my door at night, or the suffocating sick feeling I felt in the basement. It was only when Merv, a big, burly Canberra boy, was in the pub alone one Christmas Night that the others began to believe we shared the pub with more than drunk tourists. After closing everything up after Christmas drinks and going upstairs to bed, Merv heard the uber-heavy, locked-with-a-code door open. He heard footsteps come up the stairs to the second floor. Assuming one of us had come home early, he called out. There was no answer. Walking out to the landing, all was dark and quiet...until the footsteps started coming from behind Merv, from inside his bedroom. Needless to say, the others believed me after that night.

When my travels overseas had finished, and I was home in Australia, a fully-qualified teacher, I moved into my very own rented home. My girlfriend Caroline was visiting from the UK, and thankfully, blessedly, she lived with me for a few months. The house had always had a bit of a strange feeling, which I ignored because I so loved having my own house. The only thing that happened to me while Caroline was in the the next room, was that just as I got into bed one night, I thought a mouse had run across my foot. (To be truthful, it felt like someone's finger running the length of my foot, but I dismissed that pretty quickly!!) I leapt out of bed, screamed for Caroline, and searched for the "mouse". There was no mouse. No mouse dirt, no evidence whatsoever. And when, a few weeks later, I adopted Ernie, he didn't find any mice either.

As soon as Caz left to continue her backpacking journey, things began to go bump in the night. Creaking floorboards became distinct footsteps. One night, they came all the way to my bedroom door...and stopped. I sat up, shaking, for hours, waiting for whomever it was to come through the door.

One particularly windy night, I lay in bed listening to the howling wind come barreling off the ocean to hit my little wooden house. I was astounded that the house was shaking so badly that my bed was vibrating. So I moved the bed away from the wall, and went to sleep. The next night, there was no wind. But my bed shook so violently, that the bolts creaked. I have stood and shaken my solid, wooden bed. It doesn't move. Trust me. So I shouted, "Stop it!!!!" at the top of my lungs. And do you know what? It stopped. Immediately.

Not every experience I have had has been unpleasant or scary. When pregnant with Jack, I would often hear children laughing, or feel something run past me. And there's been instances a sceptic could not possibly find a logical or scientific answer for. Like hearing "Mummy" being called in my house, when none of the children were at home. Or having toys turn themselves on in a different room. Seriously. When a battery-operated toy turns itself on, and even the "off" button doesn't work, all you can do is laugh. I don't feel scared in my house when I hear kitchen cupboards opening at night, or hear footsteps around my bed that don't come with a little person saying, "Mummy, I've wet the bed." It just seems that this is how our family is. As normal as you can be with three kids, two cats, and two dogs, with the added bonus of some invisible visitors from time to time.

Tonight, Christian is taking me our for my birthday. We're doing a nighttime tour of the Old Melbourne Gaol - I'm so excited I might break something! We wanted to do the 'ghost hunter' tour, but it finishes at 3am - not particularly enticing when Archie's day typically begins at 5.30am, and the Mouse's at 5.45...

When we toured Port Arthur two years ago, we stayed late and did the ghost tour. We didn't see anything, however...as we were driving back to Hobart, we both heard a cough / laugh. We both asked each other if the other was ok. We both replied that neither of us had made a sound. And the cough / laugh had seemed to come from between us, in the back seat...

Cross your fingers for us that we don't bring anyone home with us tonight! Eeeeeekkkk!!!!! (I truly hope I haven't disgusted anybody out there...but this is my truth. And just so you know - I've kept the real toe-curling stuff for another time. Oh yes - these are the tame stories. Some of the things we have experienced in this house would make your hair stand on end!!!!! Would you like to hear them some time...????)