A Ghost Story Without Any Moral

Author's Note: This story feels like fiction, but it's actually a collage created from past (real) diary entries about my encounters with a ghost living in my house-- a perfectly ordinary slab-on-grade brick and vinyl siding house in a perfectly ordinary southeast Louisiana residential suburb built in 1979. I have no clue where we acquired a ghost. Diary entries have been lightly edited for clarity.

Aug 24, 2005

After we turned the DVD off, we could hear the ghost bells. I haven't written about the ghost bells before, but a few weeks ago or maybe a few months ago, hubby and I started hearing the faint tinkle of far-away bells or chimes-- but only in the living room.

The wind chimes, which have been outside the bedroom window for years, are not responsible, since 1) they were perfectly still, and 2) they couldn't be heard from the bedroom or heard or seen moving from the porch.

I don't know how a house can suddenly be haunted after you've been living there for more than a decade and nobody died.

We went outside and checked all the wind chimes, front and back, that we could find, but they were perfectly still, for there was no wind. This morning our house guest, who slept on the couch, reported he heard them in the living room. It's definitely something new, since he never heard them before when staying here.

Aug 29, 2005

Aug 31, 2006

I heard the ghost again. It sounded like the tinkling of distant bells, and I about had myself convinced it was the wind chimes by the porch. Although not quite convinced enough to walk out on said porch to determine if they were actually ringing.

And then I heard, distinctly, two trumpet hoots. Two saxophone slides? I'm not musical so I don't know what you'd call it. But I sure heard it.

It's a good thing people don't go mad at this age, or I'd start to be a little worried. Well, they don't go hearing-things mad. They go buying stupid-red-convertibles mad.

I'll take the spirit trombones. They're cheaper.

Anyway, the bells continued on and off for the better part of an hour, but I didn't hear any more saxophones. Once I thought I heard voices but, irritatingly, too low to make out any words.

September 1, 2006

I hear the bells tinkling late last night, but just for a minute. If I try, I can make myself believe it's the wind chimes. It has to be. Even though I can't hear the wind chimes from there during the day, no matter how wildly the wind is blowing pre-thunderstorm.

If you think I was about to step outside and see for sure, ha. I'm not ready to be disillusioned yet.

May 27, 2014

I was awakened in the night by the sound of the keyboard tapping. Maybe I dreamed it but it didn't seem so.

May 28, 2014

Trapped in the house by street flooding, which is fairly terrifying. The storm continues.

The National Weather Service scared the you-know out of me by sending a 911 on the cell phone sitting right at my elbow. Says to expect flash flood conditions through 11:45.

Type: Severe Alert. Whatever that means. It hardly matters. Can't drive out now anyway. They should have said something earlier.

I just checked the more extended panic attack they posted online.

How certain is the event? Certain.

When is it taking place? Now.

Welp, that's real useful. I can see the street flooding now by looking out my window. We pay you dudes to make a forecast.

Undated

Was... the ghost trying to warn us about the weather? How would a ghost know? If bad weather troubles the undead, when do they ever sleep?

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