Unwelcome Ghosts
I see ghosts. Not often, but sometimes when I enter an older house for the first time, I'll sense the presence of someone
other than the people around me. Most of these "ghosts" - I prefer "souls" - are harmless and seem more curious than threatening. I find that if I gently ask them to look behind them they will suddenly see the light that's been there all along but they were too intent on their old lives to see it. Once they focus on the light, it grows in size and intensity and draws them into it. I feel their presence leave and what remains is a sort of shadow of a shadow for want of a better way to describe it. There is also a feeling of peace that comes over the space as though some movement just out of sight suddenly stopped.
One such incident involving a ghost occurred one night during a violent storm. I was half-asleep in my reading chair, the drone the of rain against the glass-paned doors lulling me to sleep. Suddenly, a huge gust of wind hit the house and the floor lifted under me! I was fully awake instantly, all systems on alert! Another gust lifted the floor again and this time I saw a man with spade-shaped greyish beard glaring at me from the stairwell. He was unusually tall, intent to the point of seeming angry, and in his left hand he held a rusty iron bar. He was wearing a dirty blue shirt and looked to me as though he had just recently lost weight because the shirt seemed too big for him. In the next second I heard him say, "Moira, (or possibly Mara) get out!" The man's eyes were fixed on a spot to my left and behind where I was sitting. As I turned to follow his gaze, I saw a young woman in a pale yellow dress with tiny flowers on it, sort of gauzy looking, reminiscent of dresses from the 1930s. She had short reddish hair and a large mark of some kind on her right cheek. I had the feeling the mark was the result of a blow she had suffered at the hands of another man. Suddenly, a feeling of utter despair came over me and, as I watched in amazement, the woman turned and walked through the wall. As she did so, the man looked even angrier than before and turned toward me. The intensity of his glare was unsettling to say the least. This had gone far enough as far as I was concerned. Despite his threatening look, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I was about to mentally utter a banishment when I had a sudden memory. Sometimes one can dispel heavy energy through laughter! It had worked once before some years ago when I was faced with a frightening apparition who challenged me...
An Angry...Something
I recalled the incident as vividly as I could and I saw myself in the bedroom of my old house. It was late summer and I had awakened suddenly to find the face of woman hovering in a corner where the wall met the ceiling. She was decidedly unfriendly and, worse, had me pinned to my bed despite my efforts to strike out! Perhaps this was what is called "sleep paralysis" but the presence in my room was so malevolent that I didn't care what was causing the paralysis, I just wanted her gone! I saw her eyes focus on me and I heard her say something. It was some sort of riddle. She said, "First, there was the shepherd. Then, there were the sheep. Then, was there was the black sheep. Which are you?"
Say what? Despite my fear, I remember thinking: I hate riddles! I try to communicate clearly what I think because life is too short for mind-games in my book and I don't appreciate others playing them on me. Nevertheless, the presence continued to stare at me from the corner of the ceiling. She was beginning to piss me off! To hell with this! Nobody interrupts my sleep to play mind games! Mustering as much courage as I could, I considered her question and mentally answered her. "Am I a white sheep or a black sheep? I'd say that depends on who in my family you ask!" So there. Take that, ghost!
I was already laughing at my cheekiness and, instantly, I felt an intense fury coming from her. She had not expected an act of defiance, I guess. My answer totally surprised me, too. I had never before been able to 'fight back' when I was frightened and I've no idea where my answer came from. It just came out and a second later the image was gone and I was back to normal - well, relatively speaking...
As I remembered that incident and I reached the 'punch line' of the story, there was a very loud "cracking" noise from the area where the man had been standing. The noise startled me into opening my eyes. Where the angry male ghost had been in the stairwell, there was now a distinct blue light that gradually faded to nothing. I'm afraid I was so full of energy at that point, however, that I didn't sleep the rest of the night but as the morning light trickled through the window in my bedroom, I was finally seized by a deep fatigue. The next thing I knew the clock showed 11:22 AM. The sun was shining and the night was long gone.
Twice now I have been able to dispel a threatening energy with humour so I guess this is a lesson I am meant to pass on. If you're ever confronted by an angry ghost, try to remember something funny and laugh out loud!
© Delia O'Riordan 2012 - 2014
