It's About Time for a Good Ghost Story

Do you believe in ghosts?

They're one of life's mysteries. I didn't believe in ghosts until my early 20's, when I had a few experiences that I just couldn't explain any other way. Interestingly, I haven't had any "visitations" since then, but I can never forget those that I did have. Only one was frightening.

My very first ghostly experience was one that I didn't even realize was one until many years later. Here's what I mean: one night when I was 10 years old I had just gone to bed when I felt something. It felt like something tiny and light had jumped up onto the bed. I knew it couldn't have been my dog, for she was much heavier, plus I would have heard her, too. I sat up in bed and looked around, because there was a lot of light coming into the room from outside. But there was nothing there.

I lay back down and tried to go to sleep, and then I felt something again. I just paid attention to the strange feeling, and I wasn't afraid, not at all. The "thing" seemed to walk lightly around and me several times, and stopped. I felt a series of rhythmic movements on my legs before it felt like it made a ball and stopped moving. I fell asleep a little while later but I never forgot those strange feelings.

When I was 26 I got my first kitten. Before that, I'd never even held a kitten before, in my life, and had no idea how lightweight they were, or how they behaved. The very first time my little cat jumped on my bed, walked up my legs and kneaded itself a little spot to curl up and fall asleep, I gasped at the familiarity of my strange memory from all those years ago! To this day, I believe that when I was 10 I was visited by the ghost of a kitten.

I had another experience with a "pet ghost": this one involved my dear dog from childhood, Butterball. We had to put her to sleep when I was about 21 years old. A couple of years later, as I was visiting my parents and we were all sitting around the dinner table, I felt Butterball moving around my legs under the table, as she always used to. I mean, I felt every detail: her curly hair against my legs, the way she turned and swished her tail, and then plopped down at my feet. It was a comforting, warm feeling -- not at all frightening. I didn't say anything to the rest of my family until later, and they said they didn't notice it. I cherish that memory of Butterball's visit.

I've found that when the subject comes up, many people I know have had at least one unexplainable experience that they attribute to a ghost, either personally, or in their family. I thought it would be fun to put out a call for you to think about your own ghostly experiences, and then have a little event on this blog called "Phantom Friday".

If you'd like to participate, comment on this post only, and then get ready to post your ghost story on your own blog by this Friday, October 30. I'll link to all of your posts here on my blog on Friday and we'll have a spine-tingling fest!

Feel free copy and paste this little button that I created on your own blog, to help me spread the word:

I'm saving my best ghost story about people, not pets, for Friday. I hope you'll join me!