Believe

My friend, Jackie, sent me a frantic e-mail message yesterday... apparently there is a "spirit" in her house. She said she was awakened several times the other night and saw a figure standing by her bed. She didn't wake her boyfriend up, but the next morning he said that during the night, the room was lit up very bright (they only have a 60 watt bulb in their room and it was MUCH brighter than this) and then went dark suddenly. She asked around and her neighbor informed her that an older couple had lived in the house for many years and that the husband had died.

Before you become skeptical, you should know that a few days prior to this, Jackie was having lunch with my husband and I and we got into a discussion about haunted houses -- she said she didn't believe in them. A few days later, this happened.

The conversation began because Jackie was the photographer at my sister's wedding. I asked her if she saw any strange lights or figures in any of the photos and she asked why. I explained to her that the King's Mansion (the site of the wedding) is haunted. In fact, during the rehearsal, my mom saw a ghost - it was a woman and she looked alive. Throughout the entire event, I was freaked out and would get strange vibes every time I was alone. My cousin, Leyla and my friend, Frances are both very in tune with "the other side" and both said they felt a bad presence there.

I've had several "otherworld" experiences in my life that have made me a believer.

*The night my older brother died, I was only three years old - they hadn't told me what happened to him but that night, I dreamt that a giant took him away from us. I was three years old (had turned three a week beforehand), but I remember that dream in detail. As I got older, a few times I dreamt that the man who shot him (it was a hunting accident) was after me...every time I had this dream, the fire alarm in the house went off.

*My friend, Rhett died at the age of 17. He accidentally shot himself so it came as a huge shock. On the Christmas Eve after he died, I went to the cemetery - his parents were both there so the three of us stood at the gravesite. I physically felt a hand brush my ankle. Not only that but every time I drove past the cemetery, my foot would tingle.

*A friend and I used to use a ouija board to try and talk to Rhett...one time she and I were on it when several of my friends were in the room with us. An "evil spirit" got one the board and was spelling out all kinds of horrible and evil things. The board was moving so fast that we could barely keep up. I will never get on a ouija board again because of that incident.

*I lived in a house that was a brothel back in the forties. There was definitely some kind of a presence there. Sometimes I would glance at something and it would fall off the wall. One time, my cousin and room mate were downstairs (nobody else was home) and they could hear someone pacing upstairs in my bedroom (the floors were all wood so it was very loud). They checked (after some terrified hesitation) and there was nobody there.

*Before my husband's dad died, I used to use tarot cards all of the time. Every time I used them, it kept saying something bad was about to happen. After his dad died, they said that something bad had just happened.

There are actually more, but these are the ones that stand out the most. If you haven't guessed, I believe.