Welcome to spooktaular October.  I have a real live ghost story to tell.  (Maybe live is the wrong word, and it may not have been a ghost, but it scared the eight-year-old version of me so I will share it with you.)

I had finally gotten to the ripe old age where I could take a bath and be trusted not to squirt the entire bottle of Pert into the water or forget to wash. I was a Big Girl.  And I had a brother and a dad and I craved some privacy.  The parents and the brother sat watching television in the living room while I locked the bathroom door and slipped into the tub. Deep into applying enough shampoo to create a lovely pointed foamy cone, I felt a wave of cold run down my back and raise the tiny hairs on the back of my neck.  The room felt arctic and I swear I could see my breath, my whole body shook.

Then a rattle.

I knew. Absolutely, beyond the glimmer of a clever-second-grader’s doubt, that I had locked the door.

The lock twisted.

From the inside.

My breath stopped. My lungs shriveled and I couldn’t take in air, and then the doorknob turned and the door swung open.  No. One. Was. There.  My airless lungs couldn’t send a scream, only a hoarse, strangled whisper clawed from my throat.  “Mom! Mom!” My heart nearly exploded. The cold feeling intensified and I felt…something there.  I tried to scream again.  Nothing came out.  I had to act. I forced myself up and snatched a towel, wrapped it around me, and ran into the living room.

Three pairs of eyes stared at me, standing, dripping and trying to speak.  I don’t remember much of what happened next, except I was told to go back and rinse my hair and stop being so silly.  All I know is that from then on I never doubted that there is more in heaven and earth that is dreamt of in our philosophies.  And going to the bathroom became an exercise in fear control.  Eventually, I stopped being scared of the bathroom, but I did think the knots in the stained wood of the door always seemed to be looking at me, unblinking. Waiting.

What about you guys?  Any spooky encounters that you can’t explain?  Please share or just say hi.