Saturday, October 2, 2010

Ghosts of children's laughter

After my episode with the wardrobe and asking whatever was there to go away, life settled down again. (refer to the blog: Ghosts - the beginning). Then one morning while everyone was at work and at school, I was walking from the middle hallway of our home into the large living room, and as I passed the bathroom/toilet alcove at the base of the stairs going up to Bronwyn's room, I heard music and children laughing.  I stopped and turned around and listenend--there was definitely a low rumble of music and I could hear excited talking.  Thinking that Bronwyn must have left her clock radio turned on, I climbed the stairs to her room to turn off the radio - but no--just silence in her room.

"OK!  That's strange!", I thought to myself, as I turned and came back down the stairway.  I couldn't hear anything anymore, so I shrugged my shoulders and just went on with my day. 

Well this became a common occurence, and after awhile I accepted the fact that that particular section of the house was in a strange 'time-warp' zone.  I never felt threatened, it just made me curious. At times, the girls heard it too - we just accepted it.

Then, a few months later the girls each had a friend staying over for the night.  Bron and her friend, Emma,  had gone up to her room as the night went on, and were talking and listening to music, and Lauren and her buddy, Melanie, had gone down to her room to go to bed (eventually).  Knowing that everyone was safely tucked away, I went to bed and fell asleep.

The next day I found out that our 'visitors' had decided to have some fun too!

Apparently, while Bronwyn and Emma were in her room, their bedroom door was shut, but she could hear what sounded like Lauren and Melanie running up and down the stairs to Bron's room, and giggling outside of her doorway, as they sat on the loft landing.  She yelled out to them to go to bed, and was getting impatient.  The next thing she heard was what sounded like the two younger girls jumping on the couches downstairs and laughing.  Through her door, Bronwyn yelled at them again, and told them to go to bed, or she "would tell Mum!".

The noise continued, so she burst open her bedroom door, to a darkened living area downstairs below her loft level.  Still a bit angry and frustrated with what she was sure was Lauren's cheeky behaviour, she stormed down the lower back stairway to Lauren's room to tell her to stop it!  But both Lauren and Melanie were sound asleep, and it appeared that they had been asleep for quite some time.

Confused, she went back upstairs, closed her bedroom door, locked it, and then after a while she and Emma went to sleep.

The next morning I heard all about the night's events as Bronwyn and Emma excitedly told me about what they had gone through, and I wondered about what kind of 'visitors' we had in our home!  They were certainly playful!  These occurrences continued again in various forms, but only occasionally.  Finally I decided that I had to walk through the affected area and tell our 'little friends' that we lived here now, and they needed to treat this home in a more respectful manner. I felt almost sorry for them, but in time, they settled down.
 
However, as time went on, I discovered some interesting facts about this property and its history -- but that's a whole other story!

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