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William and Taylor were watching Ghost Whisperer the other night when Taylor asked William if he believed in ghosts and said to him "My mum has seen a ghost!"
This is true. When I was about 6 I woke up in the middle of the night, looked down my bed and there was someone who looked exactly like Old Mother Hubbard from that nursery rhyme. I could see my Holly Hobbie wallpaper through her. I was terrified, even though she was not frightening looking. I was also in a dilemma as to how to get out of my room because I had to pass right by Old Mother Hubbard and my 6 year old self was quite terrified that she might make a grab for me. I sat there for what seemed like hours but I am sure was only seconds before I made a run for it down the hall to my mum and dad's room. "Daddy, Daddy there's a ghost by my closet!" I said. "Emma get back to bed." He was always great in a crisis, my dad. My mum got up, took me to my room and turned on the light to prove there was no ghost. I didn't believe her and ended up sleeping between the two of them, running any potential plans my dad may have had to get lucky.
Well, that's what you get for not taking a six year old seriously.
He also did not take me seriously when I awoke him when I was 9 and told him that the picture of Mona Lisa that I had foolishly insisted on purchasing at the Louvre was following me with her eyes. He was quite pissed off that he had to get out of bed to take the picture down. But by then I was 9 and no longer had to sleep in between my parents. On the floor was fine.
Note that it was my father who first told me that ghosts were real. He told me that when my granda was in the RAF, he woke up one night to see his mother sitting on the edge of the bed and she said to him "Don't worry, Tootsie, everything will be fine." Now I have no idea why my granda was called Tootise, but that's besides the point. Later that day my granda heard that his mum had died during the night. I always thought that was a bit freaky, but never doubted the truth of it.
If any of you people laughed at me for having Holly Hobbie wallpaper, remember that I was SIX and it was 1980. If anything, I was cutting edge.
14 January, 2006
Do you believe in ghosts?
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8 comments:
Funny post but ghosts aren't real. They're the stuff of fiction like leprechauns or attractive Corkonian women...
That is freaky, but your whole "Holly Hobbie" bit is over my head I'm afraid.
I have a "maybe, maybe not" approach to ghosts. I'm not saying they exist, but I'm not saying they don't either.
united irelander........what do you mean leprechauns aren't real!!!?? You'll be telling me next that there's no father christmas!
I don't believe in ghosts as such but I believe that bits of the past sometimes briefly merge into our present and likewise that our present sometimes collides with the future. I have often caught a glimpse of movement and shapes out of the corner of my eye when there isn't anything there..like someone passing by a doorway when the house is empty. There have been times when I've felt as if someone has walked past me, like a brush with the past.
I think those feelings of "someone walking over your grave" and sudden dizziness is when our physical presence briefly crosses into the future.
Well that's my theory anyway. Of course it could be absolute rubbish but it makes sense to me, although I don't think I explained it very well.
I've never actually clearly seen a ghost but I've had unusual feelings and sensations before and those little glimpses.
A couple of years ago Pookie woke me up in the middle of the night and told me there was a monkey sitting on the end of the bed. It was dark and I couldn't see very well, but it sure looked like a monkey, so I grabbed a handfull of blankets and jumped on it to try to catch it, at which point Pookie said, "what are you doing?" and I said, "I'm trying to catch that monkey!" "What monkey?" And of course, there was no monkey, and Pookie denies ever telling me there was a monkey. She says I shouldn't have eaten that whole jar of anchovies right before I went to bed.
I believe in the Power. I used to see the Star Wars Characters standing outside my closet. Looney or what? I always had to have my closet light on with the doors open. My mom covered a can of aersol flower spray with white paper and wrote Boogey Man Spray on it to spray before bed each night, no wonder I hate the smell of flowers now.
Long winded story warning...
Recently one of my daughters (5 years old) woke up screaming that she was seeing spiders. This was entirely possible in our house so I took her seriously, turned on the lights, and found no spiders. But it was clear that she was seeing the spiders, even though there were no spiders. And she was clearly awake.
As I stood there with her, the spiders became (in her mind) coloured blobs floating through the air. It was fascinating. I couldn't see anytyhing and neither could her twin sister, or my wife. But they were very real to her. We tried to reason with her: "There's nothing there, it's just your imagination," but she continued to be freaked out by it, and none of us could go back to bed, until...
...one of the coloured blobs passed through her foot. She stood and stared at it in amazement, describing its passage through her foot. I leapt at the opportunity. "You see, it's just your imagination, if it were real it couldn't possibly pass through your foot."
Even though she's just five, she's a logical, smart girl. "It's just my imagination?" she asked.
I assured her that it was, and she went back to bed. Pretty much the same thing happened the next night, and then it never happened again (this took place this past summer).
I researched the phenomenon and it turns out there's something called "hypnogogic hallucinations" in which an individual can be mostly awake, but a part of the brain remains asleep, generating waking dreams that seem utterly real to the person experiencing them. Clearly this was the case with my daughter. Perhaps it is the case with some folks' ghosts. :-)
Sorry for barging in on your blog!
Joe
Joe, I used to have terrible dreams about both spiders and snakes swarming my room. They were very real to me.
I'd hardly call that barging..it's always a pleasure to have new visitors.
Glad you feel that way. :-)
Joe
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