The Haunting Continues

From: Teresa B. (tbuck@nebi.com)
Story type: Ghost
Location: My house in Nebraska
Source: Form Submission

Location -- My house in Nebraska
Subject: -- The Haunting Continues
Story-type: Ghost
Some of you may have read a previous posting by me in September 2002. In it I discussed true events that occurred in my home. You may refer to it for background.

Lately, it seems to me that unusual activity is occurring more frequently than before. I am not certain what has been happening to cause this increase. One thing is for certain, though: my son is as sensitive as I am to the goings-on here. I had mentioned hearing a voice in my last story, and though I have not heard it many times since posting the other story, I have heard it. However, rather than hearing what sounds like my son, I have heard what sounds like my husband. This happened on one occasion in particular, when my husband was actually at work. And this time, I was not alone. My daughter was with me, and I was grateful for that!

I had begun to think maybe I should seek psychiatric help.

But now, my son has heard a voice more than once. We were in the kitchen, and he stopped in his tracks. He held up one hand, "stop" style, and cocked his ear. He whispered, "did you guys hear that?" My daughter and I both said, "No." He didn't hear anything more, and just dropped into a chair at the table. He looked terrified, and said, "I just heard an old man's voice. He was saying 'hello...hello...'." We only stared at him. I had not told him about the voice I had heard, because I had not wanted to frighten him. Being eleven, he might have nightmares. Heck, I'm well over 30, and it keeps me from sleeping. My daughter and I went back to cooking and talking, and he leapt to his feet, shouting, "There it was again," and looked at us, imploringly. Neither of us had heard it either time, and I wondered if he had, either. But then he burst into tears, and said sadly, "You guys think I'm crazy, don't you?" I then told him of my encounter, because I didn't want him to feel alone. That would have been even scarier.

But far more frightening than a disembodied voice was another, completely different experience. As you know, my husband works at night, so I often sleep with only my dog to accompany me. I don't sleep well, and on the night in question, woke at 3:30 in the morning. I think most of you may be familiar with the phenomenon where sometimes when you first wake up, you may not recall the place in which you are sleeping, or possibly the circumstances. But that is very brief, and very quickly you get your bearings, and remember exactly where you are and what is happening. On this night, when I woke, I heard my husband's rhythmic breathing behind me (I was lying on my side) on his side of the bed. It was so clear, I could hear him inhale and exhale. But then I remembered he was not home, he was working. And the breathing was not coming from the spot behind my head, but the spot behind my feet. At this point, I was so scared, it was all I could do to keep from screaming at the top of my lungs. I was afraid to reach back and feel behind me; I could imagine someone breaking into the house, but why would they crash on my bed??All this time, I could still hear the breathing. Then it came to me! It had to be my dog. It didn't sound like my dog, but that thought made me a little braver. My heart was racing as I jumped out of bed and ran to the light switch. I flipped it on, and there was my empty bed. No dog. Nowhere in the room was anything, or anyone, but me. Now I was truly freaked out, and thought maybe I had scared the dog when I jumped off the bed, and he had run out of the room. Or maybe it had been the cat. I ran down the hall to the stairs, and ran downstairs. As I passed the front door, which is glass, I caught a glimpse of something. I slowly went back, and saw my cat. I thought I'd let him in...any company is better than nothing. He could come along to find my dog. I opened the door, and as I moved to let the cat pass, up the steps to the front door came my dog. He had been outside the whole time. Both animals had. So who had been breathing in my bed? I turned on every light on the first floor. Including the bathroom. I stayed awake until the sun came up. And I never told my son because I didn't want to scare him.

Last night, my husband, daughter, and I were watching television, while my son had already gone upstairs to bed. We were really into the movie, when all of the sudden, there was a horrible scream of, "MOM," from upstairs. As a parent you know when your kids are yelling and when they are screaming because they are in danger. I took off on a run for the stairs, and before I got to my son's room, I was already yelling, "What's the matter, what's the matter?" when I got to his doorway, I could see him in his dark room on his bed. He was face down, covers up over his head, his body crammed as far into the point where his bed and wall meet as he could get. When he heard me at the doorway, he started screaming, "look around my room, look around my room," which I did, expecting to find something or someone hiding in the shadows. But I found nothing. I said as much to him, and was terribly confused. He rolled over, pulled the covers down a bit, and tentatively scanned the floor. He said, "I was hoping I would see the dog," and I told him the dog had been at my feet downstairs when he began screaming. He said, "I was hearing this loud breathing in my room. I thought someone was in here." I immediately took him downstairs with the rest of us, and told him of my experience. Tonight, he wouldn't let us leave him alone in any room in the house.

I had never heard of breathing being one manifestation of a ghost. I would be interested to hear of anyone else's experience with this.