Ghostly Laughter

From: Amanda (bubbles_94@go.com)
Story type: Ghost
Location: Richmond, VA, USA
Source: Form Submission
Date submitted: Sat Jun 30 02:48:15 2007

I've always considered myself a fairly ordinary person. However, the house I grew up in is far from being an ordinary house. For as long as I can remember, the house has been a different place at night. There are creaking noises that come from odd places when no one is awake except me and I'm not doing anything that would make such a sound.

For years, whenever I have gone into the bathroom on the first floor, I have heard a weird clicking noise that I can't compare with anything around the house. I have had the sensation of being tapped on the shoulder and have seen a figure walking into the room out of the corner of my eye and nothing when I look over directly.

In my bedroom, I almost never mess with the blinds. One evening, when I walked in and happened to glance toward the window, some of the blind strips looked as though they had been pushed out of place. I fixed them and settled into bed, not thinking much of it. In the morning, they were exactly the same as they had been before I fixed them: deliberately messed up.

My mother had even stranger stories to tell, hearing a voice whispering her name, trying to get her attention. Also, she claims she saw a figure walking down the upstairs hallway towards her bedroom. Her cat, Poki, was witness to that. I didn't see it, but I believe her. It's not surprising to me.

Over the years, I have tried to live with the fact that I probably have a spirit on my hands. I've never felt threatened, so it hasn't been hard. However, there is one particular instance that stands out in my mind.

I was 12 years old at the time. I was having a perfectly ordinary day followed by a perfectly ordinary evening. Planning to finish it up with a perfectly ordinary night, I started up the stairwell. As I walked to the top, I started breaking out in laughter. There was no particular reason for me to laugh. No one had told a joke. I just seemed to be laughing for no reason at all. Immediately, I felt that it wasn't me that was laughing. My mother, in her room across the hallway (the same hallway she later saw a figure walk through) asked me what was wrong. I couldn't answer her because I was laughing so hard. I also glanced at her cat, Poki, staring at me as though he saw a ghost (if you will pardon the pun).

Trying to stop laughing, I tried to brush my teeth, muttering something to the effect of: "Why can't I stop laughing? Brushing your teeth isn't funny." As soon as I said that, I stopped. Suddenly, I felt completely like myself again: a completely normal, unnerved girl.

My mother told me later that a few seconds after I started laughing, she felt someone unseen sit down on the bed. Since we were both creeped out, we had to talk about it for a minute to get it out of our systems. She told me that my laugh had sounded strange, nothing like the way I normally laugh.

I always have believed in ghosts, and I always will. I'm not saying that you have to just because I've experienced something strange. All you have to believe is that it's interesting for me, having a roommate that I can't see.