I can’t say I’ve ever seen a ghost, but I’m convinced that the house in which I currently live had a female spirit living in it when we moved in 17 years ago. Ooo-OOO-ooo boogity boogity!

Seriously, though, she was here. There were pockets of cold air throughout the house. The lights would flicker and uber-glow when new people came in. At first, I chalked it up to the house being older and having poor insulation and old wiring. But then weird shit started happening.

One night, I got up to nurse my daughter. My back was facing the open door, and the light from a counter-height nightlight shone across the hall and over my shoulder. It was early morning hours – probably around 2AM – and granted, I was tired. As I sat quietly, baby at my breast, I saw a shadow cross the hallway. For a moment, I thought it was our cat, but then I realized she’d have had to have been walking across the bathroom counter for that shadow to have been cast. My cat didn’t walk on counters. And no one else was up walking around the house. “Ok,” I thought, “I’m just a tired mom.”

From time to time, I would sense a non-threatening female presence. Comforting my son in his crib a few years later, I bent over the railing, and I swear someone placed a hand on my back, and I felt an instant peace. When I turned to see who was there, there was no one. Huh. Another time, in the middle of an afternoon while I rocked him to a favorite instrumental CD, I very clearly heard a woman singing words to one of the songs.

Although I didn’t feel that this presence was in any way antagonistic or evil, it made me uncomfortable enough to go get some sage and ask her to be on her way. I lit up my little bundle and walked throughout my home, waving the smoke, thanking her for watching over us, and asking her to please leave now. And I’ll be damned if all that weird shit stopped happening, including the cold air pockets and blinking lights. Because it sounds crazy as hell, I didn’t talk too much about it to very many people for a while.

Years later, a friend of mine who had housesat for us during the timeframe this stuff had been happening told me a story. She’d been hesitant to tell me previously because she thought it sounded crazy. Apparently, when she had been staying in our home and tending our cat, she had seen a blonde woman walking in our downstairs hallway in Victorian dress. When she investigated further, the woman was gone. Later, my friend had felt a warning to get out of the house, so she did. Her story sent chills up my spine, and I shared my experiences with her in return. We both pretty much freaked out.

So, my lady ghost was here, but now she’s gone, and, thankfully, no one’s the worse for wear.

Ooo-OOO-ooo boogity boogity!