Haunting at Hickory Hills

Let me start out by saying I don't believe in ghosts. At least, I don't think I do. But there have been some pretty strange things happening in the apartment lately, and I have no explanation for them.

Wednesday, June 19
When I first moved into the apartment, John and I put up a wire shelf in my closet. I embarrassingly needed more room for my clothes, plus it was nice to have extra storage space. Currently, my laundry supplies, hats and a box of athletic shoes/gear are kept on the shelf. Last week I bought a package of toilet paper and set it on top of the box until it was needed. And there everything peacefully sat, but then....

I'm in the shower Wednesday and I hear a big boom. When I open the closet door, I see the box and toilet paper have fallen off. Strange. I put it back and think the vents must have blown it off or something (I had the air running while I was in the shower so the mirror wouldn't fog).

A few hours later I hear a boom again. The box and paper towels have AGAIN fallen off. I put them back and notice there are absolutely no vents in the closet. I deduce that since the box is up against the wall, a neighbor must have banged in that spot causing everything to shift.

Later that night, John is over and I've told him about the mysterious falling box. A little while later, we hear the boom. Box and TP are on the floor. John refuses to open the door and fix it, though he swears he's not spooked and there's no such thing as ghosts. So the next day, I put the box and paper back up, made sure it was really sitting level, and it hasn't fallen off since. But that doesn't mean things weren't still happening...

The box of athletic gear and toilet paper that kept falling off.

Friday, June 21

I'm sitting in the living room eating my breakfast. I only have 5 minutes until I have to leave for work, so I don't bother turning the tv on. I'm just sitting in the dark, munching on some toast when I hear ticking. The ticking starts to increase faster and faster until "whoong," gong sound. Time's up.

I know what this ticking is. It's the timer to my scattegories game. I had taken it over to John's grandma's so we could play when Emily was in town. This was mid-May. The timer was at the top of the box because I remember it going off when I put the game away. This was mid-May. I had never heard the timer go off since that time, until that Friday morning. Weird.

Again, I think it must have something to do with vibrations through the wall. Maybe my upstairs neighbor stepped heavily right above the box. My games are stacked shelf to ceiling, this could make sense.

I'm sitting at home that afternoon after work,when I hear the timer go off AGAIN! Twice in one day?? I facetime my sister to tell her what's going on and see what she thinks. As we talk, I also remember that the tenant before us broke her lease early. Why? Why did she leave? We don't know. But could it be because there's a ghost?

Saturday, June 22

Forgetting about the timer, I open the coat closet to get my purse. The timer goes off again. Now the ghost is really playing games with me, and I am not in the mood for scattegories. I go and take care of the business I was heading out to do. I get home and start to relax when I hear the timer AGAIN!

That's it.

I rearrange the games so that scattegories is no longer in the corner. I haven't heard the timer since.

Scattegories sat in the top, left corner of my coat closet when the timer kept going off. I have since rearranged the games.

Am I starting to believe in ghosts?

When I was talking to Megan, she said from her experiences (watching Long Island Medium), ghosts aren't out to haunt or hurt. They usually just want you to realize something or find something.

So, I decided to do some google searches on hauntings in Hickory Hills (my apartment complex). I found an article about a woman who "committed suicide" in my apartment complex (doesn't say which unit). She apparently shot herself while her boyfriend was in the shower. Now I'm wondering if I'm supposed to be solving her death. Was it really a murder? Should I be looking for clues? Call up the old boyfriend?

Megan also said that she thinks super natural stuff happens to those who don't believe in it, so that they will become believers. So yes, I believe in ghosts. Leave me alone now, ghost.

(For the record, my google searches didn't turn up anything about ghost hauntings in Hickory Hills.)

Me and the ghost. We're friends. All is good here!

I don't want any of this to stop you from coming to visit though. My other sister, Sara, said the ghost is probably friendly. After all, she likes games. And Scattegories really is one of the best there is.