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Ghosts
I was flipping through the channels last night and came across Ghostbusters. I hadn't seen it in a while, but it made me wonder how many seemingly normal other people thought they'd had some sort of ghost experience. I'm not sure mine qualifies, but my dog is sure.
In 1998-1999, I worked for a small youth development agency in Atlanta. The office was on a small nature preserve in an old farmhouse. There was a street of homes that backed up to the property, but the nearest house was about 100 yards away from the office house.
When I first arrived, I noticed some strange things about the house. There were bricks in front of the file cabinets, for one. My boss explained that sometimes they'd just open. I said it was likely old wood floors being crooked, but she insisted that they'd leveled the cabinets properly but it didn't seem to matter. The file cabinets in her office, especially the one next to her desk, were the prime offenders.
Also, we had visits from neighbors on the street across the field. One old guy would ask who had been in the office so late the previous night, turning all the lights on and off. No one had been there. He said he was sure, because he could see shadows in the windows. The alarm had not been set off, and had been armed all night. This happened with reasonable frequency. Eventually, it became a joke to talk of 'the ghost'. Some of my coworkers would refrain from visiting the office after hours, but I never gave it a second thought.
I got a promotion after almost a year which required a bit more work. So, I'd sometimes go in after dinner. One time, I took my dog. He was thrilled to sniff everywhere, as dogs do. He sniffed all around the exterior of the house, then sped inside, sniffing here and there. I started working at my desk downstairs, but eventually the dog came over and started to compete for my attention. So, I decided to take him upstairs.
He shot up the steps, and darted from room to room, sniffing all the while. I watched him cover each room, perhaps looking for one of the raccoons that we knew inhabited the walls from time to time. When we were exploring the Office Manager's office, a 4x8 foam core mounted photograph suddenly fell off the wall in the hallway. It was quite loud, but did not break, and I went out to re-hang it, sure that the dog must have bumped it in his sniffing frenzy. As I was hanging it, the incessant clip-clip-clip of his toenails on the wood floor ceased suddenly, and I turned to see him peering into the last room that we had yet to enter. This was my boss' office.
I told him to "Go on!", but he was alert; hair on his back was raised, and his head was lower than his shoulders, as though he were looking for or at something. I walked up behind him and pushed his backside, at which he dug in and backed up to his original position. I walked past him into the office, and gave him a couple of commands (which, I might add, he always obeys- he's very well trained). They fell on deaf ears. I tried to cajole him into the room, got down on one knee and tried to drag him into the room, all to no avail. He absolutely would not enter the room. So, I gave up. I walked back past him towards the staircase to go back down to my office. He seemed slightly emboldened, and craned his neck then quickly withdrew it several times, as one might test the hotness of a stovetop. I'd had enough. "Come here". He retreated to my side, but kept both eyes on the doorway. At this point, I heard a noise downstairs, and peered down and around the corner to see what it was. The copier had spontaniously made a copy.
At that point, I decided that I had finished what I needed to accomplish that evening, and escorted the dog out the door. I set the alarm, and we went home. I still have no idea what got into him that night, as he's never ever behaved that way before or since. Ghosts?
What wierdness have you encountered?
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