by Melissa Graham
My friend and I moved into an historic apartment building a few years ago. It was built in 1904 in downtown Spokane and originally was a hotel. Our apartment even had the dumbwaiter and laundry chute, but was not operational. It was turned into an apartment building in the late 70's. We loved everything about it. Well, at first...
My roommate slept in the back bedroom, which had no windows and was very dark. She picked that bedroom because she is a nurse on night shift and figured it would be easier for her to sleep during the day. One day she mentioned to me that she was shoved in bed. We discussed the possibility of a ghost but quickly ruled it out. She had slept there for a few months without any problems and I had even slept in there a few times when I had trouble sleeping in my room (it was on the street side and very noisy and bright). But most of all, my roommate has a history of being a deep sleeper and often talks in her sleep and has a hard time distinguishing dream from reality. I blew it off as too much Tylenol PM and moved on.
Maybe a few months later, I wanted to lie down for a nap in the dark and ventured into Katie's room. I fell asleep and at some point was awakened with the feeling of someone pressing down on my shoulders and I could feel the weight on my chest. I heard whispering in my ear but I could not understand what was being said. I jumped up and flipped on the light and nothing was there. I am pretty skeptical and figured that I MUST have been dreaming. To me, that was the only possible explanation but I did feel a little uneasy because I am a very light sleeper and never have experiences like this. But I told myself that although it was odd, it must be normal and went back to sleep.
Not too long after that I woke up to the same feeling like handson my shoulders and whispering in my ear. I laid there squinting my eyes with concentration trying to make out what the whispering was saying. I heard the word "you" several times but couldn't understand the rest. I was getting frustrated that I couldn't make out what it was saying. Then it hit me that I was awake and trying to understand something when I was supposed to be alone and got freaked out and jumped up and flipped on the light. There wasn't anything there. I was alarmed, my heart was beating fast but I was still trying to reason with myself. I told myself that the only explanation was another dream. I was more uneasy this time but forced myself to get back in bed.
Then I woke up again to the SAME thing. This time the whispering was angrier. I remember thinking, "this has happened three times, it's not a dream, get out." I flew out of bed and never again slept in that room. I even hated going in there to get something.
My roommate and I talked about it and while she thought it was a good possibility that we had a ghost, she felt comfortable still sleeping in the room. She did alright for a few months. I came home one day and she said that she turned off the light to get into bed and laid down and immediately heard a hiss and a tough jab in her side. She was so afraid that she slept on the couch.
On another day, I was cleaning. I was home alone and all of the windows were open because it was so hot. Our apartment was brick and didn't have air conditioning. In the middle of cleaning, I looked up and saw a man in a thick, old, dark coat standing in my doorway. I jumped and screamed and he was gone. He couldn't have been there for more than a few seconds. I ran into the hallway and living room, wondering if someone had climbed through the windows. I searched the house and found nothing. Then it hit me that he was wearing a thick coat on such a hot day. And I remembered how old and tattered it looked. I recalled how he seemed to disappear right before my eyes and I thought, "Wow, maybe I just saw a ghost".
A month later I had gotten a dog. He was a sweet stray that I couldn't turn away. He liked to sleep on my bedroom floor. I woke up in the middle of the night for no reason but had a bad feeling. I opened my eyes and saw my dog, who was alert and staring intently on my doorway. I looked up and I saw a man in a dark coat and then he disappeared. I was so startled that I woke up my boyfriend. He got up with me and we searched the house, just in case. We found nothing.
That was the last odd thing that happened. I have always believed in ghosts, but thought that most stories and encounters were exploited and not real. I certainly never thought that I would ever be a person who would say that they think they may have seen a ghost. I've told several people. Some believe it must have been in our imaginations or that there was an explanation for everything, some believe that the dog scared off the ghost and some thought that we needed to exorcize the apartment! My own father was worried that man was getting in through a secret trap door or something! It was kind of funny...but also irritating because there wasn't a clear explanation.
I've never had anything like this happen to me, in all of my 25 years on this earth. We have since moved from that apartment and I haven't experienced anything like this anywhere else I've been. When I've told the story, I cringe hearing the words come out of my mouth because I'm sure I sound insane; saying that I heard whispering and saw disappearing men in my apartment. Yet I have no history of delusions or lively imagination tendencies. But I can't deny what happened in that apartment. And I can't explain it...perhaps it wasn't a ghost but deep down I think it was.