Spooksville

When I first moved in with Drew, I noticed a couple of things that made me wonder whether his apartment was haunted. First, there were the few random dimes I discovered in various places. Ever since I lived in a haunted apartment in college where the ghost(s) used to leave dimes all over, I've been quick to jump to conclusions when I see a dime anywhere other than a coin purse and a musician's case on a subway platform.

In addition to the dimes, though, there was another indication that Drew's apartment may be haunted. From day one, both my cats see things that Drew and I do not see. It's clear when their attention is turned towards the ceiling and they're meowing or hissing or growling and there's nothing that we can actually see, that something spooky is going on.

"It might be Mr. Moffa," Drew said when I asked him who could possibly be haunting the place.
"Who's Mr. Moffa?" I asked, intrigued.
"He was my first landlord. He died a few years ago and now his son owns the place."
"Mr. Moffa, huh?" I said, and silently vowed to make friends with him.
"Yeah, I used to think he was haunting the place, and I told him he'd been a good landlord and I appreciated it, but that this was my apartment--I pay the rent here and I need my privacy," Drew said.
"Did it work?" I asked.
"Well, I haven't noticed anything weird since then."
"Until now," I added.
"Until now," he agreed.

So I introduced myself to Mr. Moffa. I told him that I lived here now and that I'd take good care of the place and that my cats were good and I wouldn't let them hurt anything and then I asked for privacy.

That was about 6 weeks ago and things were going ok for a little while, but now we have to reason to believe there are more ghosts. A female ghost perhaps. First, the cats are going crazy again. There's always something they see that we don't. They get transfixed on a spot on the ceiling, or on the rug, or on the wall and there's just nothing there. Not a bug, not a shadow, not anything. That we can see, that is. Then last week when I was trying to do some work, the desk lamp turned itself off and on a couple of times.

"No big deal," I thought, "It's probably just the wiring."
But then a couple days later, just beneath the desk lamp, I found an earring--a stud earring. One of those kinds of studs that little girls wear when they first get their ears pierced. I showed it to Drew and he couldn't understand where it could come from. He's had female roommates in the past, but its been years since another woman lived here, and the female friends we've had over would never wear this kind of earring.

"It's a birthstone," I said.
"For what month?" Drew asked.
"Well, it's yellow, so, November," I answered.
The day was November 30th.
"She wanted us to know it was her birthday, I bet," Drew replied.
I got chills.

I told Drew about the haunted apartment I lived in in college, about how I found a couple earrings there, too. That apartment was crazy haunted! There were the dimes and the earrings, but those were the least of the weird things. Appliances would turn on and off--once, when I was home alone watching Unsolved Mysteries, my hair dryer turned itself on in my bedroom upstairs. Sometimes the outgoing message on the answering machine would just randomly play without anyone touching it. I used to find shaving cream lining the entire bottom of my bathtub in the mornings. Once, when I was  putting some tator tots in the oven, a felt something down the back of my leg--I looked down and saw a dime drop on the floor and roll across the room. As I was watching that, a felt a tator tot hit me in the shoulder. These weren't even the scariest things.

I lost my glasses once. I'm sure I put them on my nightstand as I always did before going to bed, but in the morning they were gone. I looked everywhere. Everywhere! I called my mom and told her I thought the ghost took them. She was the only person I could say that to and not get laughed at. "You need to ask for them back," she told me. So I did. I said, "This isn't funny! I need my glasses back! They were expensive and I can't afford to buy a new pair and I need them!" Suddenly, something compelled me to look under my bed. I lifted the lid off a shoe box and there they were, my glasses. That wasn't the scariest thing.

The scariest thing happened one weekend when my roommate was out of town. These things always happened when she was gone, and in fact, if you were to ask her even now, I wouldn't be surprised if she'd tell you she's convinced I made it all up. But I didn't. These things all happened. And the scariest was that weekend she was gone and I woke up on a Sunday morning in my bedroom and the bedroom furniture had been rearraged during the night and right beside my bed, just inches from where I slept, was the rocking chair, facing me, like someone had been watching me sleep. I get chills even now just thinking about it.

So! I don't know what to make of the recent ghostly events here in New York--the cat's behavior, the desk lamp, the dimes, the earring. Is it nothing? Are there reasonable explanations? Am I a ghost magnet? Should I try to have a word with these spirits--the one who left her earring? I just don't know. Most of me thinks it's no big deal, that it's pretty harmless, really. But, what if it's not? What if it's an earring this week, and rearranged furniture next week? Maybe it's time for an intervention. Have you ever intervened with a ghost before?

Comments

[carrie]

I've been watching lots of scary movies lately, so this especially scares me. But all that scaryness went un-scary the second the tater tot jumped out of the pan and tapped you on the shoulder! tater tot. just the WORD makes me laugh! Now seriously, I've never been haunted before, but after all these movies i just watched, I'm pretty sure that if you walk around in dark and dusty places without a flashlight, especially at the exact moment you feel a cold chill, or are beckoned by a bodyless hand, and I'm sure that if you go everywhere alone and forget your keys once in a while, or at least fumble with them and make as much as noise as possible while doing so....that you'll find that ghost and you guys will resolve this issue once and for all.

[Jensational]

There's a psychic section of New York isn't there? That's where Sam went in Ghost and he met Whoopie Goldberg. Perhaps you can find that on yelp or something. If not, wave around some sage. I think sage works. Or holy water. Just go into a church during the middle of the day when no one is around and fill a watergun with some holy water. Spray it in the corners. I think ghosts like small spaces. Or maybe that's cats . . . either way, just spray the corners.

[AKJensen]

Oh my gosh...your ghost stories have me very freaked out.

[Nick]

Wow, that's seriously spooky. I think I'd be scared to death if it were happening to me. I hate to say it, but it does sound like you're a ghost magnet - when you said things always happened when your roommate was away. Haunting's not something I've experienced though so I wouldn't know what to recommend. I suppose if you're not too bothered it doesn't matter but if it gets really weird you'd have to call in someone to exorcise the apartment.

[TheGirlWho]

Do you ever watch Lisa Williams: Life among the Dead? And the other show that gives psychics tests... America's Psychic Challenge or something like that? Your post reminded me of all that stuff. When I lived in Brooklyn I found out the guy who had my apartment before me had a fight with his girlfriend and overdosed in my living room. I used to get his mail all the time and instead of just throwing it out I'd go through it out loud so he could see what I was tossing.

"This is just a stupid bill, David", I'd say. "Luck you, ya don't have to pay it!"

Anyway - I fly to New York tomorrow night. My husband's band has a show at the Bowery Ballroom on Saturday night! You should come! I would love to meet you.

http://www.boweryballroom.com/calendar/show/904/

[teahouseblossom]

Ooooh...this is spooky. Well, you can think of it in a positive way..maybe the spirits like you and are watching over you!

And that's too bad we couldn't get together on Sunday!! After you get back from your trip, then!

[Schnozz]

You're a stronger person than I, because I, at whatever financial cost to myself it required, would have MOVED THE HELL OUT the moment things got weird. This is because for one thing, I would be jumping every time the refrigerator cycled on, and for another, I always get mad at people in movies who don't move out when they obviously should. HELLO, BATHTUB LADY IS TOTALLY GOING TO KILL YOU. RUN!

[citywendy]

Monica, I actually won't be in NYC sat night--I'm taking a weekend trip back to Chicago. Too bad--would have liked to meet you too.

Schnozz, I actually did move out soon after the rearanged furniture business, but mainly because my lease was up and my roommate was moving to another town and I wanted to live alone. For some reason, I never felt like I needed to move out--laziness, probably, and I really liked my apartment and my roommate. But I think on some level, I was in a little bit of denial. The scary stuff wasn't happening to anyone else, so I wondered if it was in my head, despite the evidence. I lived across the street from a cemetary and when I moved out I ended up getting an apartment on the other side of the cemetary. That place wasn't haunted, though.

[Krissa]

DAH! I don't even believe in ghosts, not in the slightest, never have, but I know you wouldn't have imagined an ENTIRE ROCKING CHAIR. So now I'm freaked. AND home alone in an 80-year-old building with creaky pipes.

However, surely the cats staring transfixed thing is just a cat thing? Don't cats do that all the time?

[Stuart]

Tater tots, ten cents each.

You could start a stall?

[Allison]

I can attest to the cats acting weird. I had never been around Miles before, but I stayed with Wendy on many occassions, and Simone is a very calm cat. While at Wendy and Drew's apartment, there were several times when one or the other cat would just come dashing across the apartment. A few times, I thought they were just fighting, but before Wendy and I talked about her apartment being haunted, I made several comments about the apartment being haunted. I didn't feel anything, but those cats were spooked about something!

Wendy, when you were in college, or shortly thereafter, didn't you have a neighbor, also near the cemetery, who also had dimes dropped and weird dreams?

[chelsea]

I've never been haunted myself, but my parents always tell me about the time they house-sat for a friend and he forgot to tell them about his friendly ghost. The ghost played all sorts of tricks on them, hiding things in very strange places, making things rustle and move when the doors and windows were shut, that kind of thing. My mom insists she even saw him, that he was kind and smiled and didn't intend harm. When they asked their friend about it, he just said that he was a friendly ghost and that years before, they had just asked that whatever he do, he try not to harm them. Basically, they just acknowledged his presence and told him they wanted to peacefully co-exist. Seemed to work...though the ghost did often hide the checks left out for the maid as a joke (and she wasn't laughing).

[Lori]

I personally have never been haunted - thank god! - but I have heard about the earring thing before. In fact, I think Holly at Nothing But Bonfires had a similar experience recently, and my friend Nicole had a similar earring experience in her apt, which she swears is haunted. I have always believed in ghosts and I think some people probably are more receptive to that energy than others - so you may, in fact, be a ghost magnet. Hey, if you don't get a permanent job soon, you could consider being one of those New York psychics. I would pay money for that.

[Laurel]

My cat stares intently at the ceiling--if it makes you feel any better.

When I was little, I used to see my dead grandfather. I have no memory of this, but apparently my grandfather used to call all little kids "George." It was his little joke and the kids would laugh and say, "That's not my name!"

Anyway, my mom told me that when I saw his picture at the marina he used to own, I said, "I know him! He calls me George." I was three years old at the time and it terrified my mom. He died before I had been born.

[Natalee]

I am officially freaked out. I've had what I deemed to be "encounters", and all I would do is try to reason w/the ghost verbally. Don't know if it really helped, but it did calm me down.

You've obviously got some kind of "energy" about you that attracts these things. Might be worth looking into?

[citywendy]

Oh, Laurel, that's spooky!

Anyway, yeah, it's entirely possible I have an "energy" that attracts the ghosts. Or maybe I just believe in them and am receptive to their energy so I sense it more than most. I don't know. I do know that I seem to sense the difference between friendly ghosts and non-friendly ones. Like, the ones at my old apartment and the ones here are fine. But I used to feel like my grandparents' basement was haunted and I didn't like what I felt down there. It felt kind of evil.

I guess as long as it's the friendly spirits, I don't really mind co-existing. As long as they don't hide things from me. That's just annoying.

[Sara]

I just found a dime on my dining room floor...appeared out of nowhere. My house is 122 years old. Coincidence?

[nan]

Well, cats do hear insects and mice (and sometimes rats, gross but true)in the walls and sub-floorings in Manhattan. There are probably mice and/or insects inside the structure walls of every single apartment building there, not too many exceptions. Not very spooky, just yucky.

[Alyce]

I agree with Nan. It's totally creatures you don't want to know about in the walls/ceilings.

Also, it could be that you're crazy and are seeing things.

I'm just saying...

[lowly peasant errand girl]

When I was in college, our apartment was haunted. Although I never saw anything, my roommates definitely had some creepy stuff happen... one of them woke up in the middle of the night, unable to move, looking at a woman and two children standing at the end of his bed....

I have also been told that spirits/ghosts know who doesn't believe or couldn't stand to see something like that [like me] and would not reveal themselves...

[Jenny]

Whoa! Those are freaky stories

[Melissa]

Not yet have I had the luck to encounter a ghost or a haunting...I would love to, but given that I live in Southern California, and nothing has been around long enough to acquire a spectral presence, I will have to live vicariously.

Is it at all possible that your kitties are just head-cases? Most of the cats that have owned me acted in a similarly trippy manner.
But about the other stuff...while it's creepy, it's not time to bolt down the furniture. Ghosts get lonely, too, and want to be noticed--maybe they're just saying hi.