The Jumping Spirit

My parents separated while I was very young, and because my mother lived overseas (in Australia) I was only able to visit her once a year during summer vacation. On one such visit a very strange thing occurred when I was around 12 years old (I'm now 30). I've come to the conclusion that this was an encounter with a spirit.

There was a particular girl, the daughter of a family friend of my mothers, who would often be my playmate while I was staying in Australia. Her name was Rhonda, and one day she and I were playing at my mother and stepfather's house, when my mom told us she was going to visit her neighbor for about an hour or so. She asked us if we wanted to come or stay alone at the house, and we were so caught up in our playing that we said we'd stay. Now, my mother's house at that time that was at the end of a long gravel driveway and so it wasn't easy to get to, and since the neighbor she went to see lived just around the corner from the main road, she saw no harm in leaving us two girls alone for short periods of time. Also, I had been alone in the house before and had never felt afraid or uncomfortable there.

After mom left my friend Rhonda and I were on the sofa in the lounge room giggling and talking, when we started to dare each other to do silly things. At one point we dared each other to jump off the railing that separated the kitchen/dining area, from the lounge area, which had a slightly lower floor. This is when things started to get really strange. I remember turning to look at the railing during our conversation when I saw it: Through the kitchen walkway there was a small transparent figure. It seemed to be trying to look into the oven, and then it walked out of the kitchen and bounced to the top of the railing. The figure was so transparent that you could barely see it, but I got the impression that it was a little boy or some type of an imp. It was short with a slight build and short curly hair. And it definitely had a playful, sort of mischievous energy. Once the figure was on the railing it crouched down and jumped to the floor. And when it landed it vanished with a "pop" sensation that I felt rather then heard.

This whole incident took place within the space of about ten or fifteen seconds. Anyway, after it happened I was sitting there kind of stupefied still registering it, when Rhonda blurted, "I thought I just saw someone jump off the railing." A chill went through me. Hearing of it spoken out loud somehow made it frightening, and since she had seen it too it couldn't have been my imagination! I was afraid to admit to her that I had seen the figure, though. I knew that if I told her I'd also seen it, she might just accuse me of trying to creep her out or something. We just sat there staring at each other in silence for a while getting more and more freaked out.

She asked me if I believed in ghosts and I said, "Yes." After another awkward silence, she insisted we go find my mom. I hastily agreed, and we nervously scrambled up and went outside to go to the neighbor's. As soon as we were out the door we both took off on a mad sprint down the long gravel driveway. And I could feel someone watching us from the window until we made it all the way to the main road.

Of course, when we got to the neighbor's place we acted towards my mom as if we'd just gotten bored at the house, and Rhonda and I never really talked frankly about what we saw. We were just scared kids. The rest of my visit in Australia went by without anymore 'incidents', and that occurrence was never mentioned again until years later. several months ago I spoke to a mutual friend who knows a lot about Rhonda. The topic of ghosts came up in the conversation and I ended up telling her the whole story. Our mutual friend then quietly confided to me that over the years Rhonda has had a lot of strange things happen to her, and seems to attract ghostly experiences for some reason. The funny thing is that this makes sense because never before or after that incident did I experience anything strange in that house. It didn't have a haunted feel, and I've always been sensitive to things like that.

If there is a presence around I can usually feel it. Is it possible my friend attracted the spirit? In any case, even though I was frightened at the time when I had the experience, looking back, I can see that the whoever or whatever that spirit was it was probably harmless, and just joking around with us when it took up our dare to jump off the railing. Actually, I think it's sort of cute that it did that.