The Restless Dead

On a cold winter day last year, we drove up to the Devil Queen to work on the plumbing with Charlie. When we arrived, Charlie’s battered pickup truck was already parked in the drive. We went into the Queen to look for him. A moment later his head popped out from under the house.

“Hey! I think y’all have got haints in this house,” he said.

“Haints? Why do you say that?” I asked.

“Well,” he said, “I was down here working on the plumbing, and I heard someone walking up and down the hallway. I thought it was y’all, but, when I came out to say
hello there was no one was here but me.”

“Oh.”

* * *


Not too long after we’d moved into the Queen, Scarlet, Gideon, and I went out one weekend to run some errands. When we got home, I unlocked the front door and carried a couple sacks of groceries back to the kitchen. By the time I made it to the kitchen, I heard a small person’s footsteps running down the back porch, into the house, and down the main hall. This freaked me out because I thought Gideon has somehow made it onto the back porch. This porch is 5 to 7 feet off the ground and still doesn’t have railings yet, so I was terrified he’d fall off it (and wondering how the hell he’d managed to unlock it).

I dropped the groceries and ran back to the hall. The back door was closed and locked. I went out side and saw Scarlet and Gideon playing together in the sand pile. They’d been outside the entire time.

* * *

Two weeks ago, I was waiting for my wife to home from work. Monday nights, she has to work extremely late. Gideon was asleep, and I was watching Conan O’Brian. The door to the hall was shut. I had the TV turned down pretty low so it wouldn’t wake up Gideon. Around midnight, I heard a door open and close very quietly. I thought, “Wow, Scarlet’s home!” I heard light footsteps pad down the hall and turn into the master bedroom.

“Weird,” I thought. “Surely she saw the light or heard the TV. She must know that I’m in here. Maybe she needed to use the bathroom?” So, I waited. Five or ten minutes later I went to check on her. She wasn’t home. There was just a sleeping baby and I.


* * *

There have been other odd happenings too. People have heard a piano being played (we don’t have one). We’ve also heard a baby crying; when we’ve gone to check on Gideon, he was sound asleep. Sometimes were hear it when he's spending the night at his grandparents.

Sure, it’s nothing like Poltergeists, but it does make for an interesting home life. And, in case you might be wondering, these have been witnessed by people other than us too: workers, family, and friends. If this is too improbable, “impossible,” or unpalatable for you, that is okay; no hard feelings among friends.

Happy Halloween.