My house has a presence. I learned this about a month after moving in. Although, I’m not the least bit surprised considering the history of the house (two sets of adults passed away in this home).
To give you some history:
February 2012, I closed on a home that was built in 1915 and owned by two Italian families (how fortuitous!). From what I was able to find out, there are only two owners on record (well three if you count me). The original owners sold the house in 1935 to another Italian family, the G’s (out of respect for privacy, I will refrain from using full names). Mr. and Mrs. G. had four children: 2 boys and 2 girls, who are now in their late 60s and 70s. Because the house was an estate sale, I met two of the siblings (brothers R & J) at the closing, both in their mid-late 70s. During the closing, R & J told me that at one time, eight people resided in the home: grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, 2 boys and 2 girls. Considering the house is a cute, cozy 1,044 SF home, I couldn’t imagine eight people living in it. Of course, when I think back to my childhood (the 60/70s), everyone lived in small houses so it wasn’t uncommon for the parents and grandparents to reside under the same roof. R & J mentioned that the grandparents passed away in the house. They also said their mother passed away in the home (she passed in her sleep) after having lived there for 75 years, she was 94 years old. Evidently, their mother had all of her faculties about her, only she was becoming more and more frail. [I got the impression they were waiting for her to die and grateful they didn’t’ have to put her in a home.]
About 2 months after moving into the house, the sister of R & J (also the youngest of the four) stopped by to introduce herself. I gave her the nickel tour and she was thrilled with everything we had done to the house. It was during the tour when I learned not only had her mother passed away in the home, but the father too. At that moment I realized, four people died in this house. No wonder there is a “presence”! Listening to the sister tell the story of her parents made me a bit sad. I mean, standing before me was a women whose entire history was wrapped up in this piece of real estate. I could tell it was emotional for her. During the closing, her brother, R, was also very emotional.
Ok, back to things that go bump in the night.
About a month after moving in, I started to sense something. Nothing menacing like you see in the movies. [Personally, I think Hollywood has given houses with a ‘presence’ a bad reputation.] It’s hard to say exactly what I was sensing but I knew there was energy in the home – not a bad energy, it is a good energy. That’s the first thing I noticed (and liked) about the house, the first time I walked through it. Even my R.E. Broker agreed that the house has “good energy”. The house was loved – which was apparent. Anyway, after moving in and sensing the energy, I consulted with a professional and she advised me to not be afraid (which I wasn’t). She also advised that I not acknowledge the presence, for acknowledging it will give it more energy. In other words, speaking to the presence (whether in a positive or negative fashion) will make it more active. She made a few recommendations (which included a couple of books) on how to handle the energy on my own, versus paying her $$$ every time I have a problem. Now, I don’t know about you, but I have had friends who claim they know how to clear a house and…well… all I can say is, after working with an expert, I realized those friends are FoS! You cannot just walk through your house with lit sage, say a few words and expect that to clear you home – believe it or not, there is more to it.
Get to the good stuff, will ya?
Okay, okay… in addition to sensing something, the following incidents have happened in the six months of living in the home:
One time (I forget when) before dawn, I was awoken to a white vapor hovering above me. instinctual, as if a reflex action, I moved my hand through vapor which caused it to disappear.
One Saturday in March, while busy with chores, one of the upstairs bedroom doors slammed shut on its own [and no, it wasn’t from the draft of an open window.]
On another occasion, while downstairs watching TV I heard something drop on the floor above me. It’s hard to describe the sound — it wasn’t muffled, it sounded like someone dropped an object of some sort. I went upstairs to investigate to see if one of my cats were up to something but after checking all the bedrooms, I couldn’t trace the source of the noise and there wasn’t anything on the floor to indicate my cats had gotten into anything – not to mention, they were not even in the vicinity.
And that’s another thing – I can always tell when the presence in my home is acting up again because the cats start acting nuts. Now I have had cats my entire life, so I’d like to think of myself as an expert in feline behaviors and there is a significant difference between cats behaving normally versus cats that are out of sorts. One of my cats in particular, Anubis (who we call Noobie or Scooby), is extremely sensitive to the energy in the house. Whenever he starts acting squirrelly I know something is up. Sometimes, he will not go upstairs. He sits at the bottom of the landing, staring up the stairs, refusing to move. One of my other cats, a stray I found and named Mother Teresa (because I found her near a closed/abandoned church), is also extremely sensitive to the presence; although, unlike Anubis, she talks to it. Often times I’ll find her sitting facing a particular corner of the bedroom, looking up, meowing and tilting her head to the side and she keeps meowing like she’s talking to someone (or someone is talking to her). Mother Teresa is a character of a cat. She is a grateful little stray who often acts like a small dog, following me around the house from room to room. And sometimes, she’ll sit on the floor or on the bed staring at me and if I talk to her she’ll tilt her head one side, just like a dog. It is hysterical! Out of all of our cats, she is the only female. She is also very small, but don’t let her size fool you, she’s tough and challenges the bigger cats, especially Buddy, our Maine Coon, who is about 20 lbs. We like to call her MT for short (which sounds like ‘meet’).
The goings on in my home is never consistent. It comes and goes and I never know what’s going to trigger the energy to start-up again. Whenever I feel the energy is out of control, I do as instructed and cleanse the house which involves, sage, salt, candles, rose-water, a chant, etc… it’s a process and time-consuming and not something that can be done on the fly. However, I do feel it calms the energy, but (as instructed) it will never completely remove it.
So what prompted me to blog about the energy in my home? Well, around 3 o’clock this morning (give or take) I was awoken to someone caressing my head. Similar to what you’d see in a movie, say in a hospital seen, where the family member is stroking the head of the patient who is lying in bed. The feeling was very soothing but clearly significant enough to wake me up. Actually, the way I awoke is hard to describe, because as I said the feeling was very soothing but once I came to and realized what was happening, I sprang upright in bed.
I don’t mind living with a presence, I really don’t, especially when the presence is harmless like the one I’m living with, but this is the first time the presence has made physical contact. I suppose I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a wee bit freaked out. That said, I don’t really even mind so much, but what I do find annoying is when I’m woken from a sound sleep – which happens quite a bit. For some reason, these shenanigans often happen between the hours of 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. After last night’s incident, I lied awake until about 4:00 a.m. debating on whether or not I should just get up and get jump-start to my day. Instead, I opted to lie in a bed, falling in and out of sleep. As I type this, I am a bit bleary-eyed with Louis Vuitton Steamer Trunks under my eyes, (those are some seriously HUGE bags under my eyes) which means I cannot be held responsible if this post doesn’t make much sense. I also spent a good part of the day painting my porch, which turned out to be much bigger endeavor than I had anticipated. As I wrap up this post, it is now 12:17 a.m. Saturday morning and I have a wee bit of apprehension about going to sleep… which I need to get over because I have another full day of painting ahead of me.
[yawn]
Well, that’s it for now…off to bed I go.
Yours truly,
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (or in this case: Ms.)
😉
Girl for Animal Liberation 