w w w . c a s t l e o f s p i r i t s . c o m THE FRIENDLY GHOST In 1982, after the air traffic controller strike I was hired by the FAA. My first facility was in Youngstown Ohio. I rented an apartment in Girard Ohio and my ghost story is from that residence. A little background...the training is intense in air traffic and I know I was under some stress while training in Youngstown. It is a military base and there was a lot to learn when I trained there. But I only stayed there for under 2 years and transferred to a much busier airport in Detroit. I don't feel I was under such enormous stress as to imagine these happenings. So my story... I do not have a history of the apartment building but it was in an older section of the town. This apartment had one bedroom, a bath, living room and kitchen. When I would go to sleep at night I would often be awakened by the sound of the shower running! It would wake me up from a sound sleep. I would lay there staring into the dark listening, trying to tell myself it was someone elses shower and I was just hearing it through the walls. This was kind of foolish because it was loud enough to wake me and definitely sounded right next to me! I grew up with 7 brothers and sisters and was always used to a full house. Being away from Michigan, in a strange town and living alone always spooked me, especially late at night. So needless to say, I was too timid to venture out of bed to see if the shower was really running! After the shower sounds I would hear what sounded like marbles rolling across a wooden floor and this would precede my visitor. There were no wooden floors in this apartment building but I heard that sound none the less. Then, I would feel the presence of a person sitting on the edge of my bed. The weight of this person pushing on the mattress. Then his hand would rub my leg! I never saw anyone but somehow I knew it was an old man! He would rub my leg and want me to get up to "play" with him! Thats all I could think of, he seemed friendly, nice, and just wanted company. I never felt fear which is strange when you think about it! I would be nervous about going to sleep at night, wondering if I would be awoken by my friend. One night, he woke me up by pulling the covers off and jumping on the bed! I freaked... I just yelled at him, "Please get out of here and leave me alone! I hate you; don't bother me anymore!" That was it. He was gone! I felt kind of bad after that! Weird huh! I remember about a week after, when he never bothered me anymore, I spoke out loud that I was sorry, and if you come back I will try to talk with you and find out what you are about. He never did come back and I moved from there back to Michigan. I often think about that man and wish I would have been more understanding and tried to communicate with him! Submitted From: Linda, MI, USA Contact me here: j3cub98@sbcglobal.net