Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Excerpt from my book for Halloween

Chapter 21 Office Shenanigans


Any home where I have ever lived has been the site of much paranormal and unexplained activity. The same holds true for the offices I have occupied through the years as well. I think that’s because my energy attracts such goings-on, and, of course, I have the ability to see them. Everyone loves an audience, especially wayward spirits.

The first office that I rented was in a converted motel. My space consisted of two rooms at the top of the stairs over a health food store. The folks from the store warned us when we moved in that the office might be haunted as they had often felt a presence in their place. The presence was so strong that one of the workers had researched the history of the building and found that a traveling salesman had been murdered there some years before.


The stairway up to the office was L shaped, and a light switch was located at the foot of the stairs, at the turn in the middle, and another at the top. One evening after turning off the light switch at the top of the stairs and walking down to the landing midway, I was surprised to hear the switch click on behind me and to have the darkened stairs become illuminated once again. After glancing behind me and seeing no one, I hurried from the building, leaving lights on and door unlocked.

Another day, while busy at my computer, I happened to look up from my desk and see the transparent figure of a man ascending the stairs. He then completely faded from view just as quickly and silently as he had appeared.

One night my friend and helper Kim, my canine assistant Baby, and I returned to the office after conducting a paranormal investigation for some folks in a nearby mountain town. It had been a cold and rainy day, and the damp night air had chilled us to the bone. On our arrival at the office, we locked the main door and ran upstairs to the waiting room. Once there, we closed that door behind us and turned on a wall heater that was behind the door. As the three of us huddled there to get warm, we suddenly became aware of the sound of footsteps on the stairway. Our mouths dropped open and we looked at each other in fear. We were both certain that we had firmly locked the outside door at the bottom of the stairs before entering the office. The steps continued their slow ascent. Baby became alert and looked through the crack in the door while Kim and I remained frozen in place. Suddenly, our fear increased greatly as the sound of a gentle whistling of a tune began just beyond our door at the top of the stairs. It was a mere seven notes, but was loud and clear enough to send chills up our spine. We got up our courage and gently opened the door, and Baby went through it, evidently intent on conducting a paranormal investigation of her own. When she did not sound an alarm, we opened the door more widely and saw that, without a doubt, no one was there at all- at least not anyone of this world.

Another office in town that I rented for a while was small office and narrow, but long. There was a front room and a hallway that led to another room in the back. Upon my arrival, I expected that if any spirits were about, that they would be sure to make themselves known. I was not disappointed.

I fussed at my husband James as we were preparing to leave the office: “James,” I said, “have you been moving my business cards again?” He denied having done any such thing. I once again had found that the cards were not in their holder, but scattered on the coffee table. I had placed them back into the holder, and wondered how the cards came to be repeatedly strewn about. I remarked to James as we walked through the door, “Wouldn’t it be funny if we came back tomorrow and the cards were out on the table again?” He agreed that would be quite interesting.

The next day my client arrived and sat down on the sofa. I took my place opposite her and started to speak when I noticed that the cards were not only out of the holder, but fanned carefully out on the table. I was startled to say the least. When my client had left, I put the cards back once again into their rightful place and left to go about my business with the computer, which was in the front room. Before that evening, I returned to the back room to lock the door, when yet again the cards were waiting for me. This time they were standing up and leaning back on the holder. I became so unnerved that I went home immediately. Later, I had James return with me and I went to the back room and spoke to the spirit that was toying with me. I explained what I was doing there, that I only wanted to do my work, help people, and maybe make a little money. I asked that he please not scare me.

The cards stayed in their holder after that, and on most days, the spirit was a quiet and therefore delightful office mate. For that, I am truly grateful.

My home office has also provided some interesting moments. My friend Martha was sitting typing away at my computer while I lay on my couch and chatted with her. As I talked, I noticed that a pencil sketch of a fairy that I had drawn and mounted on the wall had become somewhat unfocused. It was as if I were looking through heat waves, the kind one sees on a highway in the summer. I pointed this out to Martha, who also saw this happening. Then, as we watched, the fairy girl who was portrayed as looking down into a rippling pond quickly glanced directly at us, then back again to the water that was drawn before her. It happened very quickly, but both of us witnessed the same action.