Thursday, October 07, 2004

Do you believe in ghosts?

I think that my office is haunted! About 7 years ago, one of the City's employees died here, while working late one evening. He fell down the stairs and had a heart attack. I believe (and so do most of my coworkers) that he haunts the place. What made me think about it today, is that I am sitting here watching the Diet Cherry Coke can on my desk. The can is lying on its side, and it is slowing rolling back and forth. It gave me the chills to see it.

There are actually lots of strange occurrances here. Lots of times I have seen file and desk drawers open slowly all by themselves. I have been here late at night and heard what sounded like something banging and crashing in the stairwell (like someone falling down the stairs perhaps?). The weirdest was one night a couple of years ago. I had gone to the eye doctor and he had dialated my eyes. I was afraid to drive home because I couldn't see very well, so I came back to work for a couple of hours before driving home. It was dark in the office and I was sitting at my desk at the computer. I heard someone talking in one of the other offices down the hall. I looked at my phone, and saw a coworker's extension lit up, meaning he was on the phone. I decided to walk down there and say hi since I really didn't feel much like working. But, when I got there, no one was in the office and the phone was sitting in the cradle. It was very unnerving, because had he left his office, I would have seen him go out the door. I was alone, yet I clearly heard someone talking and plainly saw his extension lit up. This was the same office where the man that died in the building worked when he was alive. I totaly freaked! I got my keys and left the building - immediately!

I suppose I have always believed in ghosts. Both my uncle's house and my grandparent's houses are haunted, and I have grown up having spooky experiences. My uncle owns a 200+ year old row house, where he lives alone. Let me also preface this by saying that my uncle is an educated man that ownes a successful real estate business. He has owned his home for almost 15 years, and the previous owner was a woman named Edna. She had been born in the house sometime in the 1890s, and she lived there her entire life - she even died in the house in the late 1980s. Edna never married, and lived alone for decades. After she died, her house stood vacant for around 10 years, until my uncle bought the house and moved in. He immediately began renovations. Apparently, Edna did not like a man changing things around in her house. My uncle would come home to find things differently than when he left. At first it was subtle differences, like the heat being turned up or things having been put in different places than where he left them. But then, he started noticing more obvious things - furniture being moved and dishes being washed. One Christmas Eve, he was busily wrapping presents before going off to the family party. He realized he was running late, and left the house without cleaning up his mess, but when he got home, everything was cleaned up. Obviously Edna expects a clean house. At first he was pretty scared by everything, but eventually he has learned to live with her. Maybe they even keep eachother company.

I have lots of stories about my grandparent's house as well, but those will have to wait for another day when I have more time.

No comments: