Ghostly Encounter

When I die, I'm coming back, just to prove a point.

Every once in a while, I see dead people--or at least people who shouldn't be waltzing through my green beans and okra.

The other day I was bucketing a ration of feed for the chickens. My feed and all my gardening supplies are kept in a nice little building thirty feet across from where my chicken yard is.

The double doors were wide open since it's been so unbearably hot as of late. Greg was in the garden adjusting the sprinklers when I looked up from the feed barrel and saw a woman in a long blue and white dress walk past the doorway.

Her hair was hidden underneath a bonnet of some sort. In her hands she held something, though to be honest I wasn't sure what it was. It looked like a little book to me.

I'm staring at her with my mouth hanging open and she just vanishes--right in front of me. I walked outside to see if she would reappear somewhere else, then I called to Greg.

Me: Did you see that?

Greg: See what?

Me: That woman in the long blue skirt. She walked right past the doorway.

Greg: Seeing things again, eh?

At which point the conversation ends with me mumbling some unkind things about his ancestry.

Greg doesn't pay much attention to me anymore when I point out apparitions. He knows there are some things in this world that I'll see and he can't.

I can't explain the phenomenon. I do know it tends to happen in spates. I might go a year or more without seeing anything unusual, then BAM! within a week, there will be a whole rash of appearances.

In the same week of the lady in the blue dress, there was a shadowy man who leaned over my shoulder while I was reading some operating instructions, and several voices that became silent as soon as I walked into the room.

I've long since stopped worrying about ghosts. They're there and as oblivious of me as I am of them (most of the time).

But why do I see these people when I do? I used to blame it on my overactive imagination, but it almost always happens when I'm doing something that requires analytical thought, like measuring or counting.

The lady in blue startled me because she was so very clear. I could easily see the stiffness of her dress, the faded blue skirt, and how tiny she was. I even heard the hem of her dress drag on the grass.

It was that sound that made me look up in the first place. (I thought it was a snake rustling through the grass and I was fixing to get my hoe and make it a good snake.)

As soon as I saw what she was wearing, I knew she wasn't physical, so I didn't say anything. Though I wonder now if she would have acknowledged me if I had.

Except for a couple of instances long ago, I've never been able to communicate with these apparitions. I promised Greg that if I died first I was coming back to tell him what was on the other side.

And he said he didn't want to know! :sigh:

I'd want to know. How about you? Any takers? Maybe I could just swing by your place instead.

Comments

Marianne Arkins said…
Absolutely come visit. I'm more a "out of the corner of my eye" person... I see flashes of things all the time, then look and ... nothing.

I'd rather you came before you were dead, though. *G*
Mike Keyton said…
You could stone a few plums for me...in fact, give me a day or two and I could give you a whole list of jobs.

The only ghost I've ever seen I saw twice. Same woman, two different places. I woke up in the early hours of the morning and saw the classic white lady at the foot of the bed. There was no fear - just excitement on my part, despite the fact she was dressed. I knew I wouldn't believe it in the morning and eased myself up on the pillow, pinching myself hard under the blankets, knowing I'd be tempted to explain it away as a dream. She stayed there a time and then faded, and I lay awake, unwilling to sleep in case it merged into dream. A year later I saw the same lady in Liverpool. This time she was bending over me. I opened my eyes and there she was, her face inches from mine - and my first thought was recognition. It was the swansea lady who'd formerly had the good grace to stand at the foot of my bed.
Seen nothing since, so I suppose I now fall into the Greg catagory.

Mike.

Don't forget the plums. Wear a rose so I recognise you.
J.L. Johnson said…
I'm like your friend, I see things from the corner of my eye. The ones that haunt our family have a good sense of humour. They would hide stuff on me or unplug applicances (serious. Really freaked me out). I think it's family, husband's grandfather to be exact.

When Sithboy was a baby, he'd make noises like he was talking to someone, and stare vacently past us. Grandpa would also make my son laugh night. Kid would be in his room and suddenly we'd hear him belly laugh.

I finally had to ask whoever to stop. It was getting distracting. I mean, it's hard enough getting a todler to eat without the ghost of his great-grandfather talking to him.

It hasn't happened since, and part of me wishes I hadn't said anything.
Linda Leszczuk said…
I don't usually see things - I'm more a corner of the eye person, too - but I do hear them. Usually multiple voices. There's what sounds like a couple arguing, and I hear a bunch of people in a pub (I don't know why I know it's a pub but I do). The odd part is all these people have thick English accents, common born and out of date. Sometimes I can pick out words and phrases but never enough to know what's being discussed.

My grandmother came from England so mayby I'm picking up some old connections of hers. Strange, huh?
Dru said…
That is so cool!

You can come visit, but give me a warning before you pop or walk on by.
Maria Zannini said…
Marianne:
Ref: I'd rather you came before you were dead, though. *G*

I have got to learn not to be drinking anything when I read your comments. LOL.

I'll do my best to visit before I die.
Maria Zannini said…
Mike:

Your story gave me chills. I could have been telling the same story.

Who is this woman in white? I haven't seen her since I was a kid, but it's one of my clearest memories.

There's a novel in there somewhere.
Maria Zannini said…
JL:

I don't mind voices or seeing people, but I am not fond of things moving or being unplugged.

Ref: Sithboy
Kids are far more aware than adults. I guess we get too caught up in the day to day world and forget that we share it with the ghosts still here.
Maria Zannini said…
Linda: Now that is weird. I wonder what and 'when' you're hearing?

Ref: thick English voices
Lest we forget, the people who came over to this country were English. Which makes me wonder if you're not hearing things back quite far in time.
Maria Zannini said…
Dru: I promise, I'll give you a sign first.One of your books will fall open on its own. That'll be me. :)


Mike: Speaking of signs...
I'll wear a rose, but you're not getting any work out of me. If I'm dead, I'm taking a vacation.
Krista D. Ball said…
I'm from Newfoundland. We don't believe in ghosts because that's not very Christian, but we totally believe in ghosts ;)

Back home, people who see thinks are called "sensitive" in that they see things that others don't see.

When I die, I am going to request not being reincarnated or turned into some helpful animal spirit. I want to haunt a building for a while, say five hundred years.
Sarah Ahiers said…
creepy and awesome all at once!

Also, i am so so jealous of your chickens.
Maria Zannini said…
Krista:

:wink, wink:

You know, I told Greg that we definitely had to reincarnate because there was still too much stuff I wanted to learn about this world and he tells me: "No way. I'm done."

:sigh: Guess I'll just have to convince him all over again. :)
Maria Zannini said…
Sarah: Yvie would like chickens. Think of the blog posts she could write! :grin:
Sherri said…
Oh...please come haunt me *g*

Nothing cool like that ever happens to me, I just know people it happens to, and I won't make you work. Though I admit I'd much rather a visit while you're still alive, I'm guessing the conversation would be better.
Maria Zannini said…
Sherri:

Ref: I'm guessing the conversation would be better.

Ha! Yeah, there would probably be a lot less: "whooooooooooo" and the rattling chains probably get noisy too.

Thank you for not making me work when I'm dead. (Mike Keyton is mean to me.)
I'm a huge "Ghost Whisperer" fan, and I believe there are people who see spirits and can even communicate with them. Perhaps your visions will become more interactive with age.

I've never seen a spirit, but frequently, when my house is silent, I hear the muted conversations of what could be a cocktail party or meeting. I wish I could decipher words, but I feel honored enough being privy to their voices.

By the way, I'm with Marianne: I'd rather you came to see me before you were dead.
Stacy said…
That's all so cool! You are more tuned-in than most of us. I want a visit but would like it long before either of us is dead. Let's have it when we can still enjoy the boysenberry cobbler I'll make to celebrate! I'll miss food...
Maria Zannini said…
Wendy: Would you believe, I've never seen Ghost Whisperer. I've seen the commercials so I know what it is, but I tend to avoid 'ghost' shows/movies.

I made the mistake of seeing The Sixth Sense and that hit a little too close to home. LOL!
Maria Zannini said…
Stacy: Well at least my friends want to see me before I kick the bucket. :)

Ref: food
OMG. I hadn't thought about that. Love boysenberry pie too. One of my all time favorites.

If I'm ever in California, I'm looking you up! --especially if there's pie.
Unknown said…
Ooooo - me! Mememememememe!!! Visit me! Purdy please?

I've only ever been "visited" by animals/people I know who've passed away. Never managed to see an actual ghost, so if you're intent on haunting someone, I'd be pleased as punch to be one of those folks. :D
Maria Zannini said…
Catie: ROTFL!

Okay, you're on the list. I'll be the one with the limp and the ghost dog.

I don't go anywhere without the dog(s).
James Garcia Jr said…
All I can say is, Wow! Not just with you, Maria, but everyone else who has been commenting. There's a whole community of you folks, seeing things.
I'd like to join the consensus that would much rather you visit me while you are alive and well.
As for what's on the other side; I'm hoping it's the Lord. I really want to know just what it is that he has against my Chicago Cubs baseball team! 102 years now without a championship.
On the serious side, I take it that you have never felt threatened by what you have seen or been visited by?
By the way, I think I'd rather see a ghost than a snake!
-Jimmy
Maria Zannini said…
Jimmy: I'd rather visit you when I'm alive too. :)

Ref: Cubs
Oh, man! Don't get me started. They get so close and then they choke.

Ref: ghost vs snake
Amen. Snakes don't scare me too much as long as they don't surprise me. The only reason I'd kill them is if they get too close to the chickens or the dogs. I just don't want to rush anybody to emergency for a snake bite.
Anonymous said…
Cool, Maria! I wonder if there's a story to your property? Anyone interesting own it before you did? Any local lore?

I don't see apparitions (wish I did!) but I get an awful lot of deja vu, even in places I've never been. Weird.
Maria Zannini said…
Liz: As far as I know this whole place was woods up until 12 years ago.

If people settled here there probably weren't very many of them.
Wow! I'd want to know, but I'd be too afraid to take in anything you said. I think we had a ghost in our last house that lived in the bathroom. Not in a perv kind of way, more pathetic. Several times I woke to the sound of someone throwing up in the bathroom, but there was no one there. And when I was in the living room downstairs, there were footsteps overhead. When asked if the ghost freaked me out, I always said, how could I be afraid of someone destined to vomit for all eternity? It just made me sad.
Angela Brown said…
LOL!! I agree with Greg on this one. Let me find out when my time comes.
I probably picked the wrong time to read this story given I have a very active imagination, it's almost 1 am and I'm about to go to sleep...at least I was (lol!!!)
Maria Zannini said…
Barbara:
Ref: vomiting ghost

Oh, man, that is sad. Poor ghost.
Maria Zannini said…
Angela: eek! Sorry, girl.

This is the reason I don't like to watch horror movies at night. (I don't need the encouragement.)