Ooooookay. Things around the Turner household turned a bit for the weird this month when a ghost apparently took up residence in our attic. I never expected that to happen in a house less than five years old, but it apparently did.
On the afternoon of Saturday, January 9th, the kids and I were out shooting baskets in our driveway. It was clear and sunny at the time. As I was about to shoot another basket I caught a whiff of a familiar smell: gasoline!
I stopped and immediately asked the kids if they smelled anything. “Yeah, gasoline!” they responded.
I looked all around for potential sources of the smell. There were no cars passing by (we live on a dead-end street), no neighbors were mowing or trimming their lawns, no planes were flying over, and no gasoline was stored in our open garage. That got me wondering if the smell might not have been a physical one. I was reminded of the phantom gasoline smell we had in our home on March 3rd, 2009. Was our ghost back?
The smell quickly dissipated and we continued playing. Everything seemed normal. That is, until that Monday morning, January 11th!
I got the dog out for an early-morning jog, heading down Edmund to Brookside and back up Monroe. During our cool-down walk up Weatherford and back, I glanced up at the house.
Our attic light was on!
The room in question is unfinished. It has a sticky door – one that requires some force to open (though the other door to the attic also provides access to this room). It was too early for the kids to be awake and they’d never shown an iota of interest in this room. Yet plainly the light was on when it should not be!
I walked closer to the house, trying to reconcile what my eyes were telling me with what I knew to be true: that room couldn’t possibly be occupied. Yet as I stared in disbelief the light clicked off again. What the hell?
I got the dog back inside and checked the family. The kids were still sound asleep and so was Kelly: just as I thought they’d be. My mind took me back to the past weekend and the phantom gasoline smell: was my deceased neighbor hanging around the house?
Once she awoke, Kelly was skeptical that the light was on, though she seemed to believe that I believed I saw something. I became frustrated as I needed some proof. I could walk into that room and feel a definite energy but whoever it was wasn’t communicating. At least the energy wasn’t threatening or disruptive, as far as I could tell.
I sent a note to some of my psi friends asking for references to psychics who might help me solve the mystery. I was referred to George Matthis, a Raleigh ghost hunter, and we set up a time when he could bring a “sensitive” friend with him who might be able to tell us more.
They arrived this past Thursday night. George’s protocol is to keep quiet on most of the details and let his friend see what she could discover on her own. Though I led them through the opposite attic door, she was nevertheless drawn to the area of the attic where the light had mysteriously turned on. She also concurred with my judgment that the ghost wasn’t harmful, even if it wasn’t particularly outgoing. We agreed to have them return again sometime soon and do a more thorough investigation.
George’s ghost-hunting stories reminded me that I have a radio IR alarm that I intended to use for tracking when people walk through our yard. Friday afternoon, I set up the IR sensor in the attic and went about my evening routine with the family.
At 9:30 PM, the alarm chirped two times, consistent with someone walking in front of it! The room was definitely empty at the time: at least of all earthly beings. It was yet another clue I hadn’t been imagining things.
So what happens now? Hard to say. Since I put the alarm in that room I haven’t felt the energy like I used to. Nor has the alarm tripped again. Either the ghost wandered off for the weekend (it snowed Friday night) or he’s left for good, I’m not sure which one. Frankly I’m okay with either scenario, though I would like to know why he chose to visit me. If he leaves I may never know.
Looking back, I now wonder if that October morning’s tweak on the nose and the sound of my name being called may have been ghost-related.
So many clues but no real picture about why.