Do you believe in ghosts?
Over the years, I have encountered many strange things I find difficult to explain.
The age old question "Do you believe in ghosts?" was something I could not answer with full honesty, remaining for long time a skeptic.
It was perhaps to save my own sanity. As a person I needed to hold onto the thought that everything can in the end be explained in a manner that satisfies logic and common sense. Having grown up decidedly a computer nerd, I learned to think in 1's and 0's. Yes or no.
Which is funny, considering computers themselves tend to act like they are possessed by the spirit of a clown on a LSD trip.
Sitting here now however, I can with confidence say, yes, I believe.
And honestly it is quite enjoyable. Life is so much more exciting when you accept the fact sometimes there is no logical answer to something you encountered, and perhaps what you thought impossible in fact is all things considered, the logical answer.
I shall share with you in due time all of the encounters that led me to this point, starting with:
The Man at the Window
The year is 2006, and I am 11 years of age.
(Note to self: Damn brother you are getting old)
We had just moved in to our "new" house. Meaning it is new to my family, but it has evidently been here for some time. According to what I know it was built in the 1960's. As such not ancient, but you could tell it was not exactly a...modern development.
As part of this, the blinds on the windows were very old, the pulley system creaking and groaning every morning when they were rolled up, and basically falling down at Mach 1 when they came down as whatever mechanism that was meant to slow their descent had long since failed.
As a consequence, at one point one of the blinds in my room broke and could no longer be operated properly, becoming permanently stuck 2/3 of the way down, leaving a sizeable gap through which one could peer in.
This was not a concern for privacy however as there is a nice, overgrown tree right in front, providing enough cover for would-be peeping Tom's.
I wish this had been the case for the living room as well for when I was rushing out of the bathroom to grab a towel butt naked, but that is a different story.
Yet something was wrong. I could tell. I could just feel it.
At night, laying in bed, I could not sleep. As if a primal instinct was telling me "You are being watched."
So strong was this feeling, I got up in the middle of the night and went to my mother.
I explained to her that someone is at the window - we can't actually see him, but he is there!
While a bit annoyed, seeing the distress I was in my mom played along, grabbed an old towel and two nails. She put up the towel as a cover over the exposed part of the window.
And just like that, the feeling disappeared. For now.
We kept up this towel trick for a few months, until renovations started in earnest, with new windows and blinds.
Over the years the feeling of being watched never fully went away, such as:
I would sit at my computer, and in the evening hours, lost in whatever game or project I was into at the time, I'd leave my blinds up into the late hours, and like clockwork, I would feel it. That primal warning. Something is behind you.
I'd swivel in my chair like I was performing the sickest 360 no-scope you have ever seen to not actually see anything, yet I could sense it. Right at that window, something standing there. Watching.
Was it malicious? I could not tell.
Many cats have been in my life, and all of them, no matter what, would periodically go crazy over the window whenever the blinds were left up. Jumping up to look at something.
Some of them would go into a defensive pose, then jump down and book it out of the room.
Others would sit there, peering out.
At times when I was brave enough, I'd sit by the window myself.
A tree branch would move here and there, while there was no wind.
A footstep could be heard right in front of the window, but no one visually present.
A few pebbles would be kicked up, a scratch on the building heard.
Visitors staying into the late evening, socializing with me would suddenly turn their head, almost in shock. Upon my inquiry they would just say "I thought I felt someone watching us."
Eventually, I learned to live with whatever entity was there, and accepted it's presence, and simply forgot.
And now we move to the year 2021.
I am in a new relationship. My now already ex-girlfriend, eventually confided in me that she is a medium. She has been sensing and seeing otherworldly entities her entire life, but she lacks the ability to communicate with them.
My skepticism at this point had passed, so I accepted it as fact.
And one evening we were in my room. I had forgot to put the blinds down.
Mid-conversation, she stops. Looks towards the window and freezes.
At that moment I remember: Oh.
"What is it babe?"
"Nothing. Nothing."
"There is something at the window. I know there is."
"Yes...there is."
"It has always been there."
She described to me that there is a man, between 60-70 years of age. He is wearing a cap and clothing normal to a man his age in our country.
Sometimes he looks towards us, but mostly he is just looking into the room.
He doesn't appear angry or malicious, rather he seems confused, perhaps sad.
I tell her the story of my previous experience with him. At least now I know, sort of, what it was all these years.
So, who was he?
Sadly, I never found out for sure.
We had no pictures of the previous home owners, and the family we purchased the property from was difficult to contact - also could be a bit weird:
Hey, could you show me pictures of your deceased relatives? Think their ghost is at my window!
What I do know is however that there indeed was a man matching that description who lived in this house from accounts of neighbors. He passed away not here but in a hospital.
As such I believe that the poor man never meant any harm: he is most likely just confused. Returning to his old home and not understanding why someone else is living there. Why so many things had changed.
I hope one day he will find his way.
Because my dear friend, as I sit here writing this post in the late hours of the night, with confidence I can say:
Someone is at the window.
