Dad And The Phantom Baby

Ok here’s a couple of stories for you, both true.

Dad.

When I was 21, my father died suddenly. To say he was a workaholic would be an understatement. He worked an average of 16 hours a day at his main job, and ran a scrap yard on the side for "fun." He was a great bear of a man, but never really took proper care of himself. He was a self-educated man, and had been working full time since he was 15. Perhaps predictably, he died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 47. The night he died, I stayed with my Mom at her house. At 4:30AM, I heard a shuffling past my old bedroom door, and the sound of steps on the staircase going down to the utility room where my father had kept his work clothes. I got out of bed, and went to see what was going on. I though my Mom might be up, and going to see his things in her grief. Instead, when I got to the utility room, I saw my father looking at his clothes, and trying to get dressed for work. He turned to me, and looked confused. I said to him,

"Dad, it’s ok.. You don't have to do this anymore."

He looked at me, with tears in his eyes, and was gone.

The rational, scientific part of me tells me I was probably dreaming. But I don't think so.

Phantom Baby?

After my daughter was born, my wife and I decided we needed more living space than out apartment afforded us. We were not yet ready to buy a house, so we ended up renting one of the oldest houses in the city. At the time, the house was 130 years old, and had been nicely remodeled. We settled in, and life resumed. One night while we were lying in bed, we heard a baby crying very faintly. We got up to see if our daughter needed changing or feeding, but when we went into her room, she was sleeping soundly. We could still hear the sound of a baby crying however. We looked all over the house, and could hear it in every room, except the kitchen, which had been added on to the house during the remodel.

We tried to figure it out. Could it be from the baby monitor? Not on. Windows closed. No other small children in the neighborhood. The sound seemed to be coming from no particular direction.. We could both hear it in any room we went into, except the kitchen. We never felt scared by this, just perplexed. How many kids had the house taken care of in 130 years?