The Sixth Sense...

The cleaning woman here at my temp job just told me she saw a ghost on our floor last Wednesday night. She apparently saw some man at the end of the hallway while she was emptying the trashcans by the main desk. Having experienced such visitors several times before, she quietly observed the still and shadowed figure, who eventually disappeared from sight when she turned to look again. Similar experiences have happened to her in this building. Sometimes M & M's will be scattered over the carpet in an office area already cleaned by her. Other "figures" have appeared on other floors.

Details are sketchy, partly due to her thick Caribbean accent, but also in her "as a matter of fact" tone in which she tells it. How they were dressed, or what they were doing, or even the manner of their appearance escaped me.

A college friend of mine had ghost stories to tell, and he told them in a similar manner to the cleaning woman: interesting, but "as a matter of fact" that the spirits or visitors are supposed to be around and about.

I really only have one "ghost" story to call my own.

My last college house with 3 other roommates was, by our account, haunted. My own experience centered around that time of the morning when you wake up 2 minutes before your alarm is supposed to go off. My roommate Bill and I planned to clean up our backyard before our moveout date first thing that morning. As I lie half-asleep, I distinctly remember my bedroom door evenly opening a crack. I thought I observed a figure on the other side looking in on me. A few seconds later, and the door evenly closed and clicked shut. Thinking it was Bill checking in on me to see if I was awake, I waited until the radio alarm went off to change into jeans and t-grungy T-shirt.

Needless to say, I went downstairs and discovered Bill still asleep in his room. So was it a dream I had? Probably. But coupled with other happenings in the house, it left me to wonder still. Among these were a figure seen in the stairway window close to my bedroom by another roommate from outside, a rainstick turning full blast upside down in the middle of the night, and footsteps heard going from my bedroom upstairs back and forth to the bathroom (I came home 5 minutes later to find my roommate Joe wondering how I got downstairs and out the door and back without him noticing).