[braingonebad]

My granddaughter did something really odd tonight. She was walking past the fron door and said to me "Somebody is knocking at the door."

Now I probably would have heard, maybe not, but the dogs sure would have and they'd have barked. Millie was sleeping, Ozzy looked up, quiet, Rudy went to the door tense, cocking his head. Weird.

So I went to the door - sometimes, even the dogs can miss a noise with Jadi in the house (she's pretty rowdy).
I open the door, but nobody is out there.

"See? Nobody," I said.
"Somebody is there. See?" she insists.
She is not smiling, it's not like she's joking.
I ask, "Who do you see? A man or a lady?"
"It's a lady, an old lady. You should let her in, she's cold." she says, and she opens the storm door.

I was a little unsettled right about then, didn't know what to do, so I closed the door and asked, "Do you see her?"
"Yes, she's right here." she points, like a person has come in, walked betwen us, headed for the next room.
Jadi looked at me funny, still pointing insistantly, "You see her?"


Jadi is 3.5, and she goes off to play, she eats, we watch Snow White like 6 times. You'd think she would forget about this. But about 6 hours later she asks, "Where did that lady go, do you think?"
"I don't know," I said.
"I don't think she's here anymore," Jadi said.

How weird is that?

[pabb]

show her family pictures, see if she recognizes anyone.....if that doesnt produce any results, perhaps pictures of former occupants of the house?
look at this as a gift....

[kicker]

OK, your story gave me goosebumps. I remember as a 6 year old going into the old family house we were buying from an aunt, looking at all the rooms to choose my new one, going into 3rd floor rooms and seeing disarray and cats. My aunt looked at me funny when I cames back down and told her I never knew she had cats!!! She took me back and it was just a plain old bedroom. I seldom allow that memory to surface. When we moved to new house (100 year old farmhouse) and we all slept on Living room floor floor (furniture being driven from Jersey the next day and arriving early in a moving van) I got an unreasonable inner fear of ghosts appearing. 9 years later, never a one and I am NEVER open to it!!! I just don't think about it

[Riverwild]

When I was a kid, my Dad was in the Air Force and we were overseas a lot of the time. We were coming home from the Philippines once for vacation and had landed in California, bought an old station wagon and drove across the country to get back to the east coast.

We were driving through the midwest and passing through a small town and I told my mother that I used to live there. She told me we had never been there and I said "No, only I lived there, down that street in the yellow house"

My mother looked at my father and told him to make the turn and drive down the street. There was a big yellow house and I pointed at it and told them "right there"

You couldn't see it from where we had been driving. There was no way I could have known it was there, but I KNEW that house. I knew that there was a barn in back, I knew what room was mine and I knew what color the walls were in the house.

My mom wanted to knock on the door and see if they would let me go in but Dad vetoed that and off we drove. They looked at me funny for a long time, but they always listened to me when I said I remembered something after that.

Years later my Dad owned a huge old Victorian house, the kind that looks like an old riverboat, all gingerbread curliques and balconies and such. I moved in when I was 19. I went down the front stairway from upstairs for the first time and I could NOT go down those stairs without holding on to the railing. I told my Dad that I got the feeling someone was behind me and would push me if I let go of the railing, and it was a malevolent feeling, as if it was someone who wanted to push me.

He looked at me with this really strange look on his face and went to his bedroom and got a bunch of old papers. One was the deed with all the original owners. One was a news clipping.

He showed me the clipping. An old woman who had owned the house had died by falling down the front stairs. It was believed that her little grandson had pushed her down the stairs accidentally. I never used that stairway again. I have the old bedroom furniture from the room I slept in and from the age of the set, I know it has to have been hers. It was left in place by three previous owners until my Dad sold the house and gave it to me. It's huge and old and heavy and beautiful and I will never give it up.

It's entirely possible your granddaughter saw someone. I'd go through the pictures and see who visited, and see if I could find pictures of previous owners.

Thanks for opening the door!

[SallyC]

It's not unusual for the very young to see a spirit. They are, after all, closer to the spirit world. ...Que, twilight zone music..

[karousel]

Wow!! That was so cool, thanks for sharing.

[Debbie D]

As Sal said, the young are open to the things we people who've been here longer can no longer see...
don't discount it...she sees something...ask her to draw a picture...don't act fearful...just inquisitive.
When my DD was around 4, I was tucking her in for sleep one night. I was telling her how much I loved her, etc.
Suddenly, she grabbed my arm, and said in a very mature, matter-of-fact voice,
"I was your mother..."
She'd never used the term "mother" before.
I asked her, What did you say?" she repeated it, in the same tone.
Okay... she has had many instances of acting like my mom over the years...my mom died when I was 20 and pregnant with her older brother...

I don't question the wisdom of the young ones...she no longer remembers this...but I do They're in touch with the other side until they get "indoctrinated" by the material world...

[braingonebad]

Originally Posted by pabb

show her family pictures, see if she recognizes anyone.....if that doesnt produce any results, perhaps pictures of former occupants of the house?
look at this as a gift....

Actually, that is a good idea. I'll try it.

The house is 125 yrs old, and she's not the only one who has odd things happen here. I thought I was going nuts.

My SIL knows a woman who lived next door as a kid, and the two were talking. That woman asked SIL if we had mentioned anything weird about this house, and SIL said we had a few unexplained things. According to that woman, a lot of people in town knew this house had a *reputation*.

To hear it from her, that's a big part of why the house took so long to sell.

Dh says to run the camcorder and see if we catch anything.

[hollym]

Sounds like a good beginning for a novel for you to write...

[braingonebad]

Hmm, I like it!

I should send you *The Pull Off*, a story based on a dream I had.