A Haunted Farm?

It's that time of year farm friends.  The time for witches, goblins, ghosts and ghouls to have their special night. Halloween comes only once a year, but hauntings can happen anytime, anywhere, to anybody. As an adult, I'm not sure I believe in ghosts. However, growing up in a family of storytellers, especially during the witching season, sure made me think about the possibility.  And, Hollywood's contributions didn't help much either.

Two of my nephews when they would dress up in sweet costumes

As a child, I was scared of pretty much everything.  When the "Amityville Horror" was released my parents wouldn't let me see it,  I was only 10 years old.  Eventually, the movie came on television and I begged and begged to watch it. I could be quite overbearing when I had my mind on something and they finally agreed, with one stipulation-- I had to sleep by myself afterward. Well, that is no big deal. I won't be that scared. Deal!

Me preparing for piano recital around 10 years old

That night, I sat glued to the little TV in my parent's room. I was terrified by the opening music. By the time the Lutz family fled the house, I was beside myself. Off to my room I went, leaping into bed and under the covers in case something was underneath. I fashioned a small slit through the sheet to breathe. I couldn't and wouldn't expose my face to anything on the outside of the covers.  Of course, I was a sitting duck--blind to whatever monster, creature, ghost, goblin or Jodie the pig decided to do to a shivering figure breathing through a slit in the sheets. Never mind the  clock tick, tick, ticking away the moments until 3:15 a.m. I hated 3:15. If you watch the movie, you know why. I never made it to 3:15, however. This witching hour would come and go with me under a blanket, in the floor next to mom and dad's bed, clutching a pillow.

The Amityville Horror House

My intense desire to watch scary movies and then regret it afterward continued into my adulthood.  I've spent many nights awake, when my husband was out of town because I had to watch a crazy, scary movie.  Now, my husband on the other hand, he won't watch anything like that.  He is not one to bring on a scare.  He has had a few brushes with the undead over the years, according to him.  Me, nothing.  I would almost beg to see some wisp of a figure walk through the hall.  Him, he doesn't want anything to do with it--but he often smells unexplained odors, such as cologne or cigar smoke, or unlocked doors will magically lock themselves. Sometimes, he hears footsteps or the back door mysteriously open. I always have an explanation for anything he throws at me but he insists I am wrong. Now, I attribute most of this to his eccentricities, but from time to time he's made me stop and think.

The barn is where he often feels things are "off," so to speak.  Many nights he puts the donkeys in their stall with the doors closed and when he feeds the next morning one of the donkeys will be separated and in the second stall with the door still closed.  This has happened so many times.  I just poo poo him, but last New Year's Eve my sister and her family came to house sit for us.  She called to tell me she got the strangest feeling in the barn.  She said she closed down the barn the night before and the next morning she found the closed doors open and the donkeys moved.  When she told me this, I have to admit, I got chill bumps.  The husband is used to it. He even thinks he saw it one time, calling it the black haired farmer. Whoever/whatever is just simply mischievous and loves the barn, Richie said.  I like to think it's the old farmer who built the barn many years ago, but I don't really believe in spirits.

Haunted Verde Barn?

How about it. does your home go bump in the night? Is your barn inhabited by an opaque, donkey moving, black-haired farmer, or some other poor and restless soul?  If so, don't worry about it too much, unless you start waking up at 3:15 a.m. and your walls are bleeding. In that case, flee by the 28th day!

Happy Halloween All!