Personal Ghosts

My Own Haunted House
  
So far, I’ve described my experiences at several different haunted locations. It’s one thing to go and visit somewhere that is supposed to be haunted. It’s different when one of those places turns out to be your home.

I enjoy going to haunted places. I like learning about the history of these locations, discovering what happened there and why a spirit might be stuck there. I enjoy the thrill of the whole experience. However, I do not like thinking that my own home is haunted. I don’t mind going out to look for ghosts, but I don’t want them to follow me home. It’s unnerving to think that you’re always being watched, that there’s something lurking over your shoulder.

I believe that my house has been haunted for a long time. My friend likes to tell me this often… she doesn’t like to go in the basement at night. All of the doors down there give off the impression that something is going to come bursting out of them. I can’t blame her… I try to avoid the basement late at night too. 

I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard unexplained noises throughout my house. The strange feelings about the house increased after the death of my brother.

The Visitor

It was about a year after my brother died. I was a senior in high school at the time, so I walked myself home from the bus stop. I came home, and it was the usual routine. Kicked my shoes off on the hard, plastic mat. Dropped my book bag on the floor. Opened the fridge, looking for a snack. Then my mother came into the kitchen, demanding to know where I've been. I was confused... I was at school all day, and had only just arrived home, which is what I told her. 

She gave me a strange look, and said that she heard me come in ten minutes earlier. She heard someone do the same things that I did... open the door, kick off their shoes, and open the fridge. No one else was home at the time, so she assumed that it was me. 

I don’t know if my mother imagined it, or if there was something else in the house with her at the time. Both explanations seem possible. It could be that my brother was there with her, watching over her.