My Ghost Story

The first sitings of our ghost began when our younger son was about 2 years old. "Spirit" suits our visitor better as she isn't scary. Her earliest visits always seemed to occur in the master bedroom and bath and our younger son was the only one who could "feel" or "see" her presence. So at the time we merely thought he had a very active imagination as most people think of small children. Afterall we are the first owners of the house and no strange occurrences had happened before. But he was terrified of those rooms so I couldn't help to believe that perhaps something had happened on the property before the house was built. That belief would change later.

The master bedroom is where we'd all say our good nights when the kids were little. Everything would be seemingly fine then suddenly fear would enter our son's eyes and all the color would leave his face. I can't tell you how many times the poor kid would become pale. The chest of drawers near the bathroom door seemed to be our spirit's main hang out. So most times our son would refuse to go beyond the first bedpost just inside the bedroom door. Once I remember he did make it to the second bedpost beside that chest of drawers, turned pale and got on his hands and knees to look under that chest of drawers - as though something had disappeared beneath them. We have to pass by that same bedroom door in as we travel down the hall to get to the other bathroom. The only way he would go to that bathroom or his bedroom by himself for the longest time would be if I'd keep the master bedroom door shut.

As luck would have it, our spirit finally began to show the rest of us that she did exist. It was one fall night that I noticed our soap dish in the master bathroom was in the middle of the tub instead of on the side of the tub as it should be when I went to get a shower. So I asked everyone in the house if they had done that. I got a resounding no from all. The next night the same thing happened. I checked again as I thought it was a joke this time. Another round of no's. The next night was Halloween and we were getting ready to go to my mom's house to take the kids trick or treating in her neighborhood. I laughingly said that I had a good mind to move the soap dish onto the sink countertop and show that ghost who was in charge. But I didn't do it. We were ready so we left the house. When we arrived back home I quickly went to the bathroom and pulled back the shower curtain to see if the dish was in the tub. It wasn't but it also wasn't on the side of the tub. When I turned to the sink, there it was! I screamed very loudly for my husband. He could tell by my pale lips and face that something was wrong. I pointed to the sink and the color then left his face. We left the bathroom together earlier in the evening and immediately left the house with kids in tow so we knew it wasn't any of us. That's when I decided that our spirit was a girl....I just related it to cleanlinesss so that made the most sense. Later I will find out that my hunch was correct. But why was she haunting the master bedroom and bath?

An incident that occurred a few years earlier came to mind eventually and I recalled to my husband the night that I thought I had had a miscarriage. I had to pass by that chest of drawers to go into the master bathroom then get into the tub to clean up. A later visit to the doctor did reveal that I had lost a baby but still had one baby growing inside me (that's another story I'll have to tell you later). The lost baby was called a "vanishing twin" by my doctor. The baby never developed. The remaining baby was our younger son! So that made sense because he was the first one seeing the spirit. I still thought the spirit was female so I named her Katlyn as I would have if I had had a daughter.

Katlyn gradually began to wander around the house more. She liked to turn down the thermostat. One winter night I woke up freezing. The thermostat is always set on about 72 degrees and I couldn't figure out why it was so cold and the heat hadn't turned on. I was afraid that the heat pump was tore up but upon inspection of the thermostat, I noticed that it was turnd down to lowest setting of 50! We had only recently seen the movie "The Sixth Sense" so she must have liked that and played a joke. That has happened only a couple more times though. One time it was with the air conditioner. I noticed it wouldn't turn off and I was freezing that night so noticed again that it had been turned down extremely low. I think it was about 65 that time.

Once she played hide and seek with me and I thought it was our younger son as he typically liked to do that when I was in the little bathroom. So when I saw the figure sneak behind the wall on the other side of the bathroom I thought I'd scare our son this time. What a surprise when I jumped out of the bathroom with my scary "Rah!" and there wasn't anyone there. I checked and our younger son was playing in the living room.

My husband and son had another encounter in the basement. My husband was working on something down there and the older son was just outside the garage door riding his bicycle. My hasband heard someone say "Dad". He turned first thinking the younger one had come downstairs so naturally when he didn't see him he went and asked the older one if he had hollered for him. The older one told him no, that he thought it was his little brother because he heard it as well. So this wasn't just imagination. Both had heard this voice.

She used to like to poke on my husband and me when she was young...like little ones do to get you up at night. That still happens but only occasionally now. She has only shown herself once but only shortly after I expressed to my mom on the phone that I had never seen Katlyn.

But it was after Katlyn "disappeared" for a while that I mentioned this to my mom. Mom had actually called me and told me that she hoped I didn't think she was crazy but there has been a little girl spirit running around her house playing with the dolls in her house. One doll in particular that the little girl liked best was the doll Mom had taken home with her from my house. She liked it so I told her she could have it. Apparently, Katlyn liked it as well so went home with Mom for a while to play with it. When I said, "I wondered where Katlyn was", Mom was like WHO? So I told her that's what I named our ghost but I had noticed her presence was missing lately. She was actually letting my mom see her though and was calling her grandmother. And that's when I commented that I had never seen Katlyn. So my guess was right all along.

Shortly after Katlyn went home with her grandmother, Mom's neighbors who had small children mentioned to mom about the pitter patter of little feet that wasn't the pitter patter of their own children. Mom got a kick out of telling her that was Katlyn visiting. So she told her neighbor the story and to not worry. She was just playing.

Katlyn came home with us on our next visit to Mom and Dad's. Mom and her neighbor both reported that she wasn't showing activity at their houses. At the time only minor things had happened that suggested her return to our house. But the night she showed herself to me confirmed her return. I was sleeping on my right side and recall a poke on my hip. Still groggy, I brushed it off. Another much harder poke with a loudly whispered "Mom" woke me up. I thought it was one of the boys so I answered "What?" and sat up in bed. No one was at my side but a white figure was at the bedroom door. I quietly spoke her name, "Katlyn?" She hung her head as she walked into the hallway. I got up and followed but the figure was gone by the time I got into the hall. Since then, her presence has slowed down. I suppose she just wanted us to know that she did exist and she wanted to play like all small children do. Again, she still likes to poke us with her finger occasionally. That's mostly confined to me now. Only a month or so ago she loudly whispered "Mom" again while poking me.

Most of her major "appearances" happen in the fall months. The other night I was thinking that she would be 13 now based on the time of the miscarriage. That's when it occurred to me that perhaps that's the reason she shows up mainly in the fall. I like to think that perhaps she escorted my grandmother (who died the first day of fall in 2002) to Heaven. I was with my grandmother briefly only moments before she passed away. And it was so calm and quiet and peaceful. So the thought of Katlyn helping Granny make that transition from this world to the next is very soothing and comforting to me.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our little girl. Have a nice day.