a ghost story...

I have decided that our house is haunted.

Rattling windows

Creaky floorboards

Doors that squeak and open unexpectedly...

Yes, all of those spine tingling freakish occurrences clued me in on the possibility, but, it's an old house...right? Explainable, right?

Well then, riddle me this:

One cold night, a dark, eery night, we sat together on the couch, conversing about our days.

The house was quiet, empty, void of life and noise aside from the two of us huddled on the sofa.

Our soft voices shared stories and secrets.

Nothing but the two of us. And a dog.

And then we heard it. A solid thud from the ceiling.

Our eyes met.

We searched the floor to make sure Lena was still beneath us, and not playing tricks on us in the empty rooms upstairs.

There she lay, still and asleep at our feet.

Quickly, ours eyes met again, we drew sharp breaths.

Looking up to the ceiling, we heard something worse...

The unmistakable sound of someone running.

From directly above us, to the opposite side of the house.

From our master bedroom, down the stairs that lead to the foyer.

Pounding and then fading.

Someone running.

I kid you not.

Un-mistake-able.

And then it stopped.

We looked back at each other and, in unison, said:

"That was weird."

And then we watched tv.

After doing some research on our home and neighborhood. We discovered ours was probably built in the late 1890's. The first owner, named Mr. John, was a coachman and he had a wife.

At some point through the years, someone must have decided to utilize a room, nay, a cellar type thing, in the basement. It has one single light bulb, a medicine cabinet with a mirror, exposed electrical and plumbing, and a doorknob splashed with childlike colors to the tune of a sunset.

Oh, and a padlock. From the outside. All the way at the top, out of reach.

Creepy.

Do you want to hear something even creepier? Do you want to know John's wife's name? the first woman to ever reside in our abode?

Lena.

Yup. Lena.

This piece of information alone affirms my belief in the haunting. 

Here is my theory:

Mr. John must have been evil and locked her up in the basement room. Without anything to eat, Lena must have trained her body to digest unnatural things. Things like sticks she would find in the yard, kleenex that Mr. John tossed away, and the boots he would kick off at the landing by the basement staircase.

One day, he found this out and chased her around the house. She ran upstairs from the master bedroom to the stairs that lead to the foyer, running and running, trying to get away!

But, it's not that big of a house, so he eventually caught up with her and killed her.

So, Lena waited, hovering in the afterlife until she could return once again.

After Mr. John passed away, the spirit of Lena moved back into the house. She tried to keep company with the newlyweds, the families, and the students who moved in and out. But everyone that lived there was too afraid of the noises. Some would move out quickly, others tried to be brave, but that would only end in divorce.

Over the course of a hundred years, Lena started liking her peace and quiet. New couples would move in, Lena would shake and stir the house. New couples would move out, Lena would be calm and comforted in her solitude.

And then came us.

Lena rattled the windows,

creaked the floors,

and slammed the doors!

What she didn't realize though, is that Mr. Todd and I watch scary movies all the time, a little bit of noise and clamor wouldn't shake us.

Lena was mad, it wasn't working,

she ran through the house,

up this way and that,

she reared back, prepared to lunge at us,

but tripped and landed on Lena the dog!

At that very moment, Lena's haunting spirit entered Lena the lazy dog. BAM! Just like that.

Now Lena lives through Lena the dog. I know this because of both of their diets.

Sticks

Kleenex

Boots

It's obvious.

So that is my theory. 

Either:

A. Lena the dog is possessed by a really old ghost

B. Lena the dog is Lena reincarnate

C. Our house is haunted by something else entirely

D. It's all in my head

E. It's all in my head, I came home from work early today and I have way too much time on my hands

Who knows, but I did snap this picture today via mac...

You decide.