A Ghostly Tale

The following events transpired in the year of 2000.

It all started when I moved in to a little house in Sulphur Springs, Texas. There were 3 of us residing in the humble abode... Myself, a roommate, and a dog named SAM.

Upon studying the layout of the house, I chose a bedroom on the west side of the structure, immediately adjacent to the smaller of two bathrooms. I would have preferred the larger spare bedroom, but with 6 large windows facing the morning sun, I opted for a darker domain!

Later, I noticed that the vacant room mysteriously remained a noticeable 20 degrees cooler than the rest of the house. Even with 6 floor length windows staring into direct sunlight. I might also mention that the house was cooled by window units, but not one was mounted in this particular room.

After a few months, Sam started to act strange. Almost cautious at times, staring vacantly into the air. He would extend his nose as if to smell the air, but nothing was there. Now, the backdoor to the property was located off of the mysteriously cooled spare, vacant room. But, when Sam wanted to go outside, he absolutely refused to intrude on this territory to make his exit. He would stand at the threshold of the bedroom, sniffing , staring vacantly, and shaking!

Eventually, when he would zone out into oblivion, he got to wear after sniffing the air, he would slowly began to wag his tail.....After barking in a playful manner, he would dart off to the doorway of the vacant room. There he would halt in his tracks, back up and dash into the bathroom, the second portal of said room. Once again, he would stop.

One evening when Sam was carrying out his antics, I noticed a few more peculiarities....There was a dream catcher hanging on the wall. It would slowly start to sway, back and forth. Sam would stare intently , while playfully nipping at the air. I dismissed this, thinking the window unit was creating a breeze. But alas, the air conditioners were not running.

Now at this point, I hadn't really put a whole lot of thought into the fact that the vacant room was cooler, Sam would not enter it, and he seemed to have some sort of invisible playmate. After all, he was still a puppy, barely a year old. That is until......

On a dark and stormy night......

Okay, so it wasn't dark and stormy........One evening while sprawled out in the floor, playing with SAM, mayhem broke loose. In the middle of an intense wrestling match, Sam suddenly stops..... Looking over my shoulder, he thrusts his head forward and starts wagging his tail. I had assumed my roommate had returned home, but as I turned to look, no one was there. Then Sam's attention turned to the hanging dream catcher. I watched as it begin to move, ever so lightly. Gaining momentum, it eventually fell to the floor. Noticing once again, the window units were not running, I felt all the hair on my body stand up! I started to shiver as I noticed the room temperature has dropped. Sam began his custom of running from door to door, barking into the vacant room. I decided it was time to investigate.

The main entrance to the spare bedroom was located immediately off of the kitchen. As I wandered into the area, I immediately noticed that EVERY DRAWER and EVERY CABINET was standing open. Sam was literally raising hell at the doorway, and abruptly became silent and wandered back into the living room, where he commenced playing with a chew toy. After closing all the storage areas, I gazed into the vacant room for quite some time.. Sensing nothing, I returned to the living room myself. After 30 minutes had passed, Sam once again tears out and makes a mad dash through the kitchen. I jumped up to follow him, and there it was! ALL the drawers and cabinets OPEN again. By now, I am freaking out a little.

When my roommate returned to grab a few items before heading out on an overnight trip, I mentioned the strange happenings. She dismissed everything I said as a prank.

Over the course of the evening, the kitchen was inhabited several times. I finally went to bed leaving the everything open. I shut the door between the bathroom and the vacant room. This was something I did every night. I had noticed in the past that the door was always open in the morning. I had always assumed my roommate had opened it.

The next morning, I had a big surprise waiting for me. I entered the bathroom and not only did I see the second door standing ajar, but also the little prankster had been moving other things around. In the center of the floor, my step stool was turned upside down. On each of the four legs, one item belonging to me was precariously balanced.

Once again, my hair stood up as chills ran over my body. My roommate was out of town, and there was no way Sam could have done this...

Over the next few days, these strange occurrences would seem to happen with no rhyme or reason. The second time my stool was flipped over, I decided it was time for a confrontation. I nervously closed myself into the bathroom. I started talking to this spirit, asking it to show itself.. Nothing happened.....I made several attempts to communicate, but to no avail... Then I had the bright idea of using a form of code . I turned on the overhead light, and once again began to speak into the coolness of the room.... After asking several questions, the light flickered....

"One is for YES, two is for no.... Do you understand?" I cautiously murmured into the air. There it was again, a tiny flicker in the light. The spirit was communicating with me.

After what seemed like an eternity, with my hair standing on end the entire time, I was able to learn a little about my playful spirit. It was a friendly spirit, indeed, very playful. It meant no harm. It loved to play with Sam! and it had lived here in the flesh many years ago, and had died a peaceful death due to illness.

Over the course of the next few months, we played several more games with the cabinetry, and Sam eventually crossed the threshold of that room, only to claim it as his playroom. Whenever he would vanish from my sight, I would always find him yapping away, chasing invisible objects throughout the vacant room.

After living here for a year, I decided it was time to move on. I had one more bathroom session with the lights.... I told the spirit I was leaving. It answered with the flickering of lights, indicating sadness.... I asked it to come with me, I enjoyed its company as did Sam, but it once again I received a negative reply. It couldn't leave.

After making my departure, my roommate phoned to ask what had happened. She stated all the cabinet and drawers were open..."Were you in that big of a hurry to get out of here?" she asked.
Then she mentioned that several of the light bulbs throughout the house has shattered. It had never manifested itself in her presence, and never did!

Once I got settled into my new accommodations, I begin to miss my ghostly friend, and had hoped that somehow it could have made the journey. I tried the bathroom communication several times, hoping for a sign..... I never got one!