Ghost Stories

My home is supposedly haunted. Well, actually it is, but not in a bad or scary way. The activity that we experience ranges from sightings of balls of light moving down the hallway, to Halloween toys turning on by themselves, to disembodied voices saying things like "Mommy", our names, or sometimes simply, "Hello".

Along with the occasional orb and unexpected voice, we've also seen a pizza box open up on its own, as if an unseen visitor helped themselves to a piece of pie. And one day, as I leaned against my desk, I heard (and felt) my metal tape measure open, and close just inches from my left hand. That one thrilled me to no end.

Fortunately, however, for sanity sake, we're not the only one's experiencing these things in our home. Our guests have told us of hearing footsteps on the hardwood floors, and feeling a loving touch when homesickness sets in. Even my Mom, a stoic skeptic, was shocked to witness our Yoda figurine say "May the Force Be With You", though no one was near it at the time, or had touched it all evening.

In 2007, out of curiosity, I started doing recordings for EVP (electronic voice phenomenon). Not expecting to get much of anything, I was shocked instead to find amazingly loud and clear disembodied voices on almost all my recordings.

Some of the best EVP's were captured during family get-togethers, or while doing house-hold projects. As a result, I've come to believe that some of our "visitors" are either family members that have passed, or want-a-bees just trying to live out memories slowing fading into the past.

The latest batch of paranormal activity has left me, well, quite speechless.

It was just yesterday, October 24th, and I was standing in my kitchen busily sautéing apples and celery to add to a batch of wild rice. On the burner next to my sauté pan, was another pan with a vegi-burger, still waiting to be cooked.

Realizing I'd forgotten to add cranberries to my apples and celery, I turned to grab the bag, and just as my back was turned, I heard a "whoosh" sound directly behind me.

Whirling back around, I looked towards the pan with the vegi-burger, and realized its burner was now lit. Shaken, and a bit unnerved, I spoke out loud to my unseen "helper":

"If you're trying to help, that's fine, but I don't like the stove being turned on. That is not funny. In fact it really scares me, so don't do it again!"

Taking a deep breath, I finished preparing my lunch, and sat down to eat.

After lunch was finished, I decided to start seasoning a pot of beans I'd been soaking since the day before. Looking through my pantry, I searched for a can of Italian seasoned tomatoes. To my disappointment, I found only tomatoes with green pepper, and a couple cans of the fire roasted type. After considering both, I grabbed one can of the latter, opened it and added it to my now simmering pot of beans. As I mixed in the tomatoes, I looked to my right, and there on the counter next to me was the other can of fire roasted tomatoes that I'd left in the pantry. Realizing what had just happened, I admitted out loud that the pot could actually use two cans, thanked my invisible "Sous Chef", and added the second can of tomatoes to the steaming brew.

Ready to add spices, I opened the pantry again, and pulled out oregano, basil, thyme, cinnamon and cumin. One by one, I measured out about 1/2 tablespoon of seasoning until I got to the cumin. Since I love cumin, I decided to add twice as much. Happy with the seasoning, I reached over to grab a spoon to stir the beans, and saw to my horror that the jar of cumin was actually cayenne pepper! Realizing my error, I quickly grabbed a large spoon and tried to get as much of the pepper out of the pot, but unfortunately, most had already dispersed into the boiling water. Looking at the spice jar, I shook my head in disbelief. I know I didn't grab cayenne pepper. I'm certain of it. Somehow my invisible helper switched spices on me.

Later that afternoon, as I sat down for Portuguese beans, and wild rice, I worried the beans would be horribly hot, and thus ruined. However, to my great surprise, they weren't hot at all. In fact, the batch turned out to be one of the best I've ever made.

Thank you, Sous Chef for your help.