My Step Mother's Brother

I have had several ghostly experiences, none really frightening, but I was completely aware that they were paranormal when they were happening. Except in the house where I lived for 8 years.

I had no idea what I was experiencing until my family and I moved to a different house.

My step-mother and my dad had just married and I moved in with them when I was 7. The house was originally my step-mother's brother's house. He had passed away some years earlier, according to my step-mom, of a broken heart. Being a kid, I thought he had died of a heart attack. I really never gave him much thought at all, except on the days we went to the cemetery to visit our deceased loved ones (they were all buried in the same cemetery). The thing was, I always felt "alert" in this house, like my ears were always perked up, listening for something when I was alone in the house.

It's funny how your body acts when you sense something, isn't it? Like every hair, nerve and muscle are tensed and alert. It never occured to me that the house was haunted, even when I started reading ghost story books of my step-mom's.

I constantly felt like someone was standing right behind me, no matter what I was doing. Looking back on it, it felt like someone was there wondering who I was and what was I doing in this house. I never felt comfortable in this house, alone or otherwise. In hindsight, it wasn't unfriendly, just like a confused feeling. "His" room was across the hallway from mine and I never felt right being in there. The only times I was in there was on Christmas Eve just about every year, as my Grandma and Uncle would come spend Christmas with us and I would sleep in "his" room with my Grandma, while my Uncle slept in my room, which had a single bed. It was like my eyes refused to close in that room, they were constantly looking around, for what, I don't know. It was like I was expecting to see something (not Santa Claus).

My step-mom told me later, after we moved, that I constantly had nightmares in that house. She said I would wake up screaming at least a couple of times a week.

One experience I did have, was one night, I was thinking of "him" for some reason, I was drying my hair, just thinking of how young he was when he died (he was 27), and all of a sudden the lights went out. They only went out in my room and his room across the hall. Needless to say, I moved very quickly to get out of my room and into the hallway. Daddy couldn't figure out why just those two rooms lost power.

Anyway, we lived there for 8 years. I never saw anything, things did not fly across the room, etc. My parents decided they wanted us to live in a smaller town and we moved when I was 15. I immediately felt comfortable in the new house. I had no problems sleeping, no feelings of someone looking over my shoulder. Again, I didn't think of my experience at that house as paranormal, it was just something that was a part of my every day life. Until one day, my step-mom and I were talking about her brother and how he died. You see, he was in love with the neighbor's daughter, he would sit in his room, looking out his window for hours, just to catch her comings and goings (his windows faced the neighbors carport). She didn't return his affections. She wasn't mean to him at all, she just didn't like men (understand?). He just couldn't accept it and move on. He was a very handsome guy, blonde hair, tan, muscular, rode a motorcycle, what woman wouldn't like him? Except he didn't want anyone else, he wanted her. Finally, he couldn't take the pain in his heart any longer and shot himself in the house. It was 2 days before anyone discovered him. Ironically, it was her father that found him.

My step-mom did have something interesting to say about the house though, she told me that one weekend I was at my grandparent's house and she and my dad were outside. Daddy was working in the garden and she was walking around the side of the house with my black lab (who was the sweetest dog in the world, wouldn't harm a fly), and all of a sudden Sassy stopped at "his" bedroom window (the one he used to look out of for hours), and got between the window and my step- mom and was growling, hackles raised, and made such a fuss that my step-mom called to my dad and told him to go look in the house, that there must be someone in there.
He did, and there was no-one in the house. Daddy couldn't figure out why Sassy had acted the way she did, but my step- mom knew. I just hope he has finally found peace.