[creepy organ music]

Heya, Happy Halloween! For a complete synopsis of everything Halloween, check out Andi's other blog, Lists Galore! She covered it all, leaving nothing for me to do, which, incidentally, is exactly how I like it.

But, if you have the time, I'll share a scary story with you. It has nothing to do with the above photo, which was taken in my high school chapel. (By the way, I have no idea why that shot turned out so red. I didn't tint it.) But if any of the SAS peeps have scary stories involving said chapel, I'd love to hear them.

Anyway, we've established that this story isn't about the chapel. It's about my house. We have an older home, built prior to 1904. It's terrifying mostly because of the old wiring, lack of insulation and a tendency toward slow leaks, but one day when we'd been living here for a year or so, things got weird.

My mother-in-law and her three sisters were here to see the house for the first time. (These are religious women who would not lie to you.) We were all sitting in the living room talking when a very loud noise interrupted. It was a radio; a man's voice speaking over static. But it was SO LOUD! I thought it must be a car with a loudspeaker on the street directly outside. But Brent ran upstairs, figuring that the sound must be coming from our TV room.

He said that it was so loud in there that the sound pulsed. He had to cover his ears. He had one hand covering his ear, the other ear pressed to his shoulder and was reaching to turn off the stereo when he realized that it wasn't on. Yet, as soon as his finger touched the button, the sound (as he described it) "sucked back into the speakers."

So what's with that? There were two other times when the stereo 'came on' (but not really, because the power was off) by itself. Once I was on the phone standing outside the room and once I was looking for a magazine about three inches from the stereo. Both times I managed to get down the stairs without falling, but I'm not sure how. There had also been previous incidents of the TV and stereo turning themselves off.

The problems went away on their own a couple of years ago. We had a foster dog during that time, so maybe she scared the ghosts back into their own realm? But seriously, if anyone has a more plausible explanation for why/how that happened, I'd love to hear it. Truthfully, I don't even believe in ghosts. Except for, you know... the fact that we seem to live in a haunted house.