hmmm

Most of the time I talk about politics, and the occasional interesting news tidbit. But this time I'm going to talk about something that will surprise, and maybe even shock, some people who read this.

As anyone who reads this has realized, though I'm passionate about many things, I prize logic and honesty above all other things. So it will probably come as a surprise to you that I believe in ghosts. I've had many people say "how can you believe in ghosts, but not believe in any god?". Well, I can assure you spirituality is not the same as religion or theism.

All ghosts are, are things we have yet to explain, nothing more.

I've found that, sometimes when people die they don't leave immediately. Some of them have the strength to remain longer than others, of course. But eventually their energy dissipates. Thats why you don't see 2000 year old ghosts.

Yes, Halloween is partly whats bringing this up, but its more than that.

For most of my life, I've had ghostly experiences of some sort. Its been happening since I was a child, and used to scare the daylights out of my mother, especially when she had an experience of her own that changed her opinion on the existence of them for the rest of her life.

No, I'm not going to bother you with telling you all the details unless I'm specifically asked. This post isn't about that.

But then what is it about? I can see you asking as you read this.

Simply this.

In 2004, I was in a bad car accident right before Halloween. And the sightings, the sounds, the smells, it all stopped. I had taken some brain damage, you see. My memory is still a bit effected sometimes, and my sense of taste and smell isn't very good. The doctors told me to give it time, and that my brain will likely heal itself.

I didn't believe them. Oh, I occasionally had sudden flashes where things would get better (Last Christmas, my sense of taste came back to me full blown for over a week. I can tell you I was stuffing myself with every bit of food I could get just because I could finally taste it. And then it went away again), but the ghostly experiences... I never thought I'd experience them again.

I have to say, I was rather glad of it. I never liked it when it happened, though I did get used to it over time. I don't know what causes it. Throughout my life, I've always noticed that ghostly happenings increased as we neared Halloween.

But it seems my brain is finally beginning to heal, because I'm having them again but only for the last few months.

The first time I saw something, it was in the hallway outside of one of the bedrooms. It wasn't big, not even up to my knees. It looked like a hazy orange ball surrounded by white and it sped past in only a second or two into the bedroom. I dismissed it as imagination or maybe one of the cats (we have an orange cat but he's so fat that he can't run fast or silently, though he can still run quite well).

A month or so later, I saw it again in the same spot. Only this time, it was at least as tall as I am (I'm five feet tall), but it looked the same, it was just huge. It also did the same thing.

And then there's last night.

I was in the kitchen, having just come out of the hallway that least to our bedroom and the bathroom and I heard it. The sound of an elderly persons walker moving on the ground. It was only a couple of feet from me and moving toward the back bedroom.

If you have ever been around a person who's using one, you cannot mistake the sound. No other thing sounds like it. I used one after I was in my accident since my balance was too badly effected to use crutches. I know that sound because I heard it in my head for 8 months since it was the only way I could move.

I went through the kitchen, the living room, and even the back bedroom and the second bathroom and couldn't find what was making the sound.

Then I heard it again. It was farther away, like it was in the hallway, but it was unmistakable.

I went to talk to my husband about it and he told me that he had heard it too, ever since his grandmother had died. Something he doesn't like admitting to because he says he's never had a ghostly experience before. Though it didn't frighten him because he thinks its his grandmother. The thing she wanted most before she died was to go home. She lived in the front bedroom almost until the day she died until we had to send her to a hospital to be properly taken care of for her last days.

So it would appear that the ability is back. I hoped I had lost it. Damn.