Papa is Watching

From: Anonymous
Story type: Ghost
Location: Indiana
Source: Form Submission

This story is based on Personal Experience. When I was a pre-teen growing up in Bloomington Indiana, I had a very close friend with whom I would "sleep over" frequently. One night over dinner, my friend"s mother rather calmly stated that Papa (her father) had been to see her the previous night. He had promised to look in on the kids while she and her husband were at a party on Saturday night. My friend seemed a little uncomfortable about this. After dinner I asked why, and was shocked to find out that her grandfather had passed away in 1972 (4 years earlier).

Since that time, her mother claimed to have been regularly visited by him via what she believed to be a dream. Although my friend loved her grandfather dearly,she was not comfortable with the concept that the dead could visit the living. She also was afraid that her mother might be a little nuts.

When Saturday arrived I was asked to sleep over as usual. I had completely forgotten about the scheduled "visit" from Papa. When her parents left for the party at 7pm we were left in the care of my friend"s older brother - who was more into listening to the music of KISS than to paying attention to a couple of 12 year old kids. At around 11pm my friend and I unfolded the sofabed in their family room as we always did. By around 11:30 we were both ready to turn out the lights and get to sleep. At about 11:45, a large recliner directly to the right of the sofa bed opened up, and reclined on its own. I was jolted awake and looked over at my friend who was staring at the chair with wide eyes.

"Papa.", she said breathlessly.

When I asked what she meant, she indicated that the recliner had been her grandfather"s, and that he spent nearly 12 hours a day in it during the last years of his life. She believed that her dead Papa was "visiting" in the chair he had loved so much.

I became so terrified I couldn"t move. My friend and I laid there in the dark shaking for about 5 minutes until the chair slipped back into it"s normal position. Then we went upstairs to sleep on the floor in the living room. The next morning at breakfast, my friend"s mother said that Papa had "visited" again the night before. My friend looked at me and said, "I know mama. I know".