I’ve Got a Bad Feeling About This . . .
When my mom was around 12, my grandma moved her and my aunts into a new apartment duplex. It was a wide building, with the landlord living on one side, and my grandma, mom, and aunts on the other.
The new apartment seemed nice. My mom even got her own room, the one on the farthest end of the unit.
It didn’t take long, however, for my mom to notice that things didn’t feel right.
Every morning at 2 AM, she would wake up. She couldn’t credit this to any weird, ‘new house’ noises like creaky floorboards or a squeaking fridge. No. When she woke, the apartment would be quiet and still.
Sometimes my mom would wake up at 2 AM because of a nightmare she could never quite remember. More often than not, she just couldn’t shake the bad feeling that came over her.
Eventually, all my mom wanted was a solid night’s sleep. Her solution? She kept her radio on. All. The. Time.
This of course drove her sisters (my aunts) crazy, but my mom insisted. It was the only way to keep that strange, uncomfortable feeling at bay.
Meanwhile . . .
Unbeknownst to my mom, my grandma started having the strangest dream.
The dream started off innocently enough, with my grandma lying in bed, looking at her dresser.
The dresser drawers would open. Her clothes would spill out, one by one, while she watched, unable to move.
Her shirts and pants would float or crawl their way toward the bed. When they reached her body, sleeves and pant legs would wrap around her. Helpless, the fabric would tighten around her like a python, until she woke, gasping for air.
The Truth
Needless to say, after about a year, when the lease came up, my grandma decided to move her family elsewhere.
When my grandma informed the landlord of this fact, the landlord mentioned how sorry she was to see them go.
Then the landlord said something that gave my grandma the chills.
The landlord had been having a very difficult time keeping tenants in that apartment.
Why?
Well, several years prior, she had rented the apartment to a couple. The relationship quickly soured.
One night, during a particularly nasty fight, the man murdered his wife.
Where?
Near the room on the farthest end of the unit.
Sweet Dreams
In Start the Car! I touched on sleep paralysis, a state where a person is awake but can’t move. This condition often explains why people think they’ve seen a ghost or had an otherworldly experience.
Ghostly nightmares can also represent the things your subconscious works through while you’re sleeping. According to one dream expert, a ghostly appearance most likely means that you’ve got unfinished business in your day-to-day life that needs attention.
Both make reasonable explanations for what my grandma and mom experienced. However, they never claimed to see a ghost in that apartment— even in their dreams. The repetative nightmares only added to the uneasiness they both felt, especially at night.
The part of this ghost story this author can’t get over is that no one, not even my grandma knew about the brutal murder that took place in the apartment. At least not until she decided to move out.
So what do you think? Coincidence, subconscious issues, or emotional remnants of a terrifying incident? Sound off in the comments and ‘see’ you next week!