Haunted

Ever since I turned 18 and moved out of my parents' house, I have felt haunted. Actually, it was even before that.

When I was in junior high I had a couple of incidents with hauntings. My horror movie loving best friend was always around when these things occurred, so I blame her. She once showed me the ashes of her dog and as she was putting them away I felt something brush across my leg. It was fast, too. I remember turning around to see what it was and nothing was there. The cat wasn't around, the dog wasn't around and the iguana wasn't around. Of course, it couldn't have been the iguana because it was way too fast so there was only one solution... GHOST DOG! Another time, with that same friend, we saw a ghost floating down the street. It could have been a plastic bag but it wasn't windy and it disappeared just after passing the house (if I am remembering correctly). Needless to say, it was a little bit freaky.

Anyway, when I lived on my own for the first time I had a haunting experience. Nothing scary, and nothing blatantly ghostly but it was still weird. I had recently lost a child and I had just set her memory cabinet up in my new room just the way I had wanted it. I left my room for some time and when I went back, the baby blanket was spread out over my dresser instead of folded up nicely over the top of the curio cabinet. My roommates swear they were not in my room and I believe them. Why would they mess with something like that anyway?!

The next time I remember having an out of this world experience was after I had bought a touch lamp from Goodwill. It was a gorgeous lamp and I couldn't pass it up for only $2.50. I swear I brought home a spirit with it though. I would be sleeping and the lamp would turn on all by itself waking me up. Sometimes I would just be sitting there reading and the light would cycle through the settings before stopping back where I had it. I am no electrician, so I suppose it could have been a wiring issue or even a static issue but I am not convinced. I was sad to part with it when we moved but I also didn't want to take any spirits with us either.

When I was younger, I had liked the Child's Play movies but then I realized that they were NOT funny anymore when they came out with My Buddy and it looked too much like Chucky for my tastes. My siblings and cousins thought it would be funny to hang the doll from the top bunk one morning while I was sleeping and it scared the living daylights out of me. This fear of mine would come back to haunt me years later.

As I was sleeping in bed next to my husband with all three kids in my room I heard a strange noise coming from the other side of the house. I sat up and listened intently. It was one of the kids' dolls TALKING! I immediately woke my husband up and sent him to get the demon toy. He asked what to do with it and I told him it was going in the garbage... it was not staying in my house. Thankfully the next day was garbage day!

I don't recall having many (if any) haunting experiences while living in Georgia which seems pretty strange considering all the haunted tours that you can take there. It wasn't until we moved to Iowa that I started feeling haunted again. This time it is just random noises. My upstairs floor creaks when no one is up there and my bedroom ceiling fan makes noises in a rhythmic fashion as if someone were playing music. My husband thinks I am crazy but I swear I am not (at least not THAT crazy).