You may recall that for many years we had some odd occurrences in our home. Seeing things that shouldn't be there, hearing things that shouldn't be heard, and objects flinging themselves all willy-nilly at random intervals.
After The Pony moved to town, those happenings gradually stopped happening. The Pony said such things occurred in his house. As they had when he was living in a college apartment. I figured whatever it was liked The Pony better, and chose to abandon us. I was fine with that!
Last week, we had a resurgence of odd occurrences.
One night, after Hick had been in bed for about an hour, I heard a thump. I was sitting at the kitchen table. The thump was in the living room area. There's nothing in there to thump. I thought maybe it was from our bedroom. What if Hick had gotten his feet tangled in the sheets, and fell out of bed while trying to get up???
I went to look. Nothing was out of place in the living room. I opened the bedroom door, and Hick was in bed, snoozing peacefully, hooked up to his breather. I went back to look on the front porch, but the dogs were not around. I stopped short of descending into the basement. If something was down there, it could just have a party. I was not interfering.
A couple days later, it was mid-morning. I was in the kitchen washing dishes at 9:30. I heard something fall in the living room. There's really nothing in there that could fall. I went to look, and nothing was out of place. I opened the front door. No dogs. None of Hick's precious assorted figurines were toppled over. Everything was where it always was.
Saturday, at 10:30 a.m., I was in the laundry room off the kitchen. I had just put in a load of towels from the clothes basket in there. As I was putting the Tide box back up on the shelf, I heard a crash in the living room. I went to the living room, again expecting to find nothing. But this time, I found SOMETHING!
That's a book that was sitting on top of the bookcase, with my very old glasses and case, and a mechanical pencil, four bandaids, an emery board, a toothpick, and three old casino player cards from Oklahoma casinos.
I came across the linoleum of the kitchen floor and saw it. Then I stepped over to get my phone off the table between Hick's recliner and the short couch, for a pic to show it happened. This was my view from behind the short couch. That book was arranged just like that, so I could read the title! "It's Been a Hell of a Ride." It's a book written by a guy Hick knows. Not exactly a best-seller.
Of course I immediately sent that picture to The Pony.
"I was in the laundry room and heard a crash! [picture] Fell off the bookcase. Or was flung!"
"That specific book falling sounds ominous!"
"I agree!"
"As I told you my stuff would get flung off the tub in your bathroom! Angry ghost!"
"That stuff has been sitting there a couple of years. It was on the two boxes of headlamps that Dad got for you when you were working late nights. They are not moved."
I haven't shown Hick the picture yet. I'm sure he will have some logical explanation that doesn't hold water.
Val, that is very strange. All I can think of is that you have a squirrel somewhere in your house and it's up to squirrel mischief:)
ReplyDeleteAll of our squirrels are on the outside of the house. They run across the porch rail with impunity, jumping down to eat dry food out of the dog dish, then back up to avoid the dogs. An inside pest that could be seen would be not as unsettling as the unknown.
DeleteVal, the New Madrid Seismic Zone runs right beneath you or close to you. It's the most active earthquake zone east of the Rocky Mountains and every year hundreds of small quakes happen. (I'm getting all of this on-line.) I think this probably explains all of your "ghostly" phenomena. You'll be happy to know, however, that there hasn't been a "major" earthquake in your area since the early 1800's. 'Course that could mean you're overdue! 😉
ReplyDeleteI am quite aware that I sit upon a ticking time bomb! I was teaching in Steelville, MO in December 1990 when some crackpot predicted the big one would hit. I think we called off school that day because the parents were declaring they would not send their kids. Here's a story:
Deletehttps://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/the-day-iben-browning-predicted-the-big-one-would-rock-our-world/article_e02af96c-1583-11ea-a681-6f732f142df7.html
I've only ever felt one earthquake. Not sure of the year, but it was when I lived in my $17,000 house in town. I was lying on the couch, and thought a dump truck went down the street out front. My old windows rattled. I later found out there had been an earthquake, but I don't remember the magnitude. It wasn't close.
Any tremor that flings things off shelves would surely be felt, even by my ample rumpus. The Missouri Earthquake Preparedness website shows only a few earthquakes within the past 7 days, in a radius of 400 miles. All are less than a 2 magnitude. They don't show the dates.
https://sema.dps.mo.gov/earthquake_preparedness/earthquake_map.php
An earthquake might explain the occurances and also make me want to move!!
ReplyDeleteIf the New Madrid Fault slips again, I'm pretty sure you're gonna feel it! Supposedly it made church bells ring in Boston.
DeleteSo according to catalyst all the unexplained thumps are the earth moving under your area. Makes sense to me. And now you don't have to worry about angry ghosts.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that would make perfect sense, IF we were actually having earthquakes. We sit on bedrock. Had to blast with dynamite to get our basement. Lead mines run under most of the county like giant man-made caverns. So we don't shimmy and shake like a softer, deeper soil layer would.
DeleteI would just like a logical explanation for these occurrences. One which can be proven. I can't explain how I saw a headless man in our basement.
One time, I woke several mornings to things moved, mostly flung to the floor. I talked to my friend, and she said someone was in my house and sent her husband and fireman son to look in every closet. I was terrified and ran to my neighbor's house to wait until they arrived. They looked in and under and behind everything in the house.
ReplyDeleteStill, it continued.
She called me a few days later, and I told her it still happened. She declared I had a poltergeist. I don't believe in those.
Someone said I was sleepwalking. But, things i valued and were valuable in some cases where the things flung to the floor.
One day, I saw something moving. It was a squirrel. It was cold but I chased it around the house with a broom. It jumped on my dresser to escape through it. I had another dresser in the same room. As it tried to jump through the mirrors, it wiped out everything on my dressers.
After this, I had no more problems.
The things I noticed before were a square yardstick hung over the door was on the floor, the tops of gathered curtains, were no longer standing, just mashed. I bell in the kitchen window was always in the sink. I forgot what else.
It was a nightmare, but not supernatural.
So, that is my poltergeist story.
The squirrel came in through the chimney even though the chimney had a metal cap.
I'm glad your mystery was solved, and there was a logical explanation!
DeleteI find it amusing that commenters above seem to think I've had earthquakes strong enough to fling objects around, yet I never felt them. And that I've had a squirrel in the house for 20 years without knowing it. No one has yet suggested an escapee from the local prison living within my walls. I suppose the next explanation will be the crazy temple swirly finger!
I forgot you are on bedrock. Back to the angry ghost then.
ReplyDeleteI don't wish an earthquake upon myself, but I DO wish there was a logical explanation. I just don't think an earthquake is it.
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