Thursday, October 28, 2010

Proof

We have fake spiderwebs over the front door, grinning stuffed spiders hanging from the silk, and six pumpkins in varying degrees of scariness lining the steps (I was worried Halloween would bring up some disturbing imagery to the girls so soon after their Grandma's recent death, but it turns out the holiday is much too cartoonish to summon anything emotionally real). We have candy. We have costumes. We have roasted pumpkin seeds.

Adding to the flavor of the season: every kid in the neighborhood is convinced our house is haunted. I am not. I'm open to the idea of ghosts, though I've never seen one (with possibly one exception, but that's another post). But our house feels too sane, too safe, too comfortable. I will admit to visualizing a ghostly woman at the end of the hallway late at night, some nights, but I have a laughably active imagination.

The girls, blessed/cursed with similar imaginations, both say they've seen a woman walking past their bedroom doorways, in the same hallway where I imagine my own apparition.

Still, I am unconvinced. Bolstering my beliefs is the fact that ghost hunters actually investigated our house the year before we moved in. I say ghost hunters; they are a group of stoner kids that work at the Loaf N Jug down the street. But they've got ambitions, they've fashioned themselves into a team of ghostbusters, and so brought in video cameras and sound recorders, searched the house, found nothing.

No matter. Our house is 117 years old, it looks haunted. Add in the dusty attic, the Hannibal Lecter-ready basement. Who need proof? Not our kids, or our neighbor's kids. They have something much more powerful: belief.

8 comments:

Laurita said...

Sounds like the perfect house for Halloweening. I always wanted to live in an older house, ghosts or not. They just have character.

Hope the family has a happy halloween. SOunds like you have all the fixings.

ArtSparker said...

If you can't trust stoner kids, who can you trust?

Gwil W said...

The house where I live is 110 years old. It has things that go bump in the night. I saw a 'ghost' once. It wasn't here. It was in Wales. When I looked into the matter I discovered that some archaeologists were excavating a Roman ruin nearby. I suspect, in fact I know instinctively that the Roman's had built over an older Celtric site. And to confirm that, the ghost I saw, when I researched it later, turned out to be a typical Celtic Chieftain.
Happy 'All Hallows Eve'.

Sueann said...

Yeppers! Active imaginations for sure!
Hugs
SueAnn

femminismo said...

Ah, belief! The magical ingredient of life. Have a great Halloween in your ancient house. I don't want to think about the basement. Keep blogging, and thank you for your comments. I deeply appreciate them.

Wanderlust Scarlett said...

It's so fun to believe in it! What is the fascination with creepy?

Happy Halloween!!

Scarlett & Viaggiatore

Hilary said...

Sounds like your kidlets and you will have a great time.

Clowncar said...

Laurita, older houses are wonderful, but they are a lot of work. I wish those ghosts would help me weatherproof the windows.

Art, I was a stoner kid. I trust them.

PiR, in my callow youth I always wanted to see a ghost. Now, if I saw one, I'd probably run.

Perhaps a little too active, Sue Ann. Youngest had nightmares on Halloween and crawled into bed with us.

Femme, I don't want to think about my basement either. Sadly, I have no choice.

Scarlett, I like the tension between proof and belief, that shadowland with facts on one side and the chaos of the unknown on the other.

We did, Hil. Except for youngest's nightmare (see above). but that was my fault - one too many scary stories before bedtime.