Dear Ghost, Get the Hell Out of My Bed. I'm Crabby.
In the winter of 2010 I flew from NYC to LA hugely pregnant with my Himalayan cat on my lap. We were moving back to LA and into a rental that a friend found for us - sight unseen. In other words, Welcome Back to LA, here is the house you are going to live in for ... awhile!
I arrived with my cat while my husband tied up lose ends in NYC (you know, getting our furniture packed and shipped cross country, minor details). Meanwhile, I was gigantic and pregnant and supposed to be on bed rest and all we really had were a couple air mattresses and some crappy flea bitten couch that had been in storage.
The house was enormous for what we needed, but we got a steal of a rental price because the owner had fallen out of escrow. Good enough for me.
It was an unusual house. Even though it's at the beach, it was built with all authentic tiles and wood from Mexico. All sorts or interesting construction, detailing, woodwork, etc. Very dark in color, high beamed ceilings. There were two stair cases. One in the front, and one in the back - both leading upstairs. The upstairs almost had "wings" that a door could be shut to divide up the house (perfect for people with teenagers). The Master bedroom nowhere near the other rooms.
There was a motion detector and burglar alarm in the master bedroom, where my luxurious air mattress was. The first night I went to bed with my cat (the dog was arriving next day, and husband in two more days). It felt creepy to be in a giant house with no furniture, alone, especially having previously lived in a NYC apartment with a doorman, security etc.
That first night I heard all sorts of creaking sounds, but figured it was nothing but the house settling, or a raccoon on the roof. Then at around 3 in the morning I heard what I thought were footsteps. My cat was right next to me. I laid there staring at the motion detector that indicates where in the house the motion is happening. According to the motion detector, the movement was happening near the front door of the house, the farthest area away from the master bedroom.
My Cat and I were paralyzed. I figured It must be windy, a fluke, a rat, something. It had to be nothing to worry about.
As time went on, I would occasionally hear voices. "Hello..." It happened when my husband was out with friends and I was home in bed, growing very near the time to have my baby. I chalked it up to hormonal insanity. That can happen after all. I would hear footsteps now and again, and just assumed the house was creaky.
Once the baby was born, I moved into a room in the other "wing" of the house so I could be next to her in her bassinet and my husband would sleep down in the master room in an attempt to get sleep (though, we did alternate nights when we could and before his new job). That is when someone started crawling into my bed at night.
The first time was very clear. My baby finally had fallen asleep and so of course I did too. I felt the weight of a body crawling into the bed, so I assumed my husband had come down to check on us, or that my cat or dog climbed in with me. I pulled of my sleeping mask (I am addicted to them after living in NYC where it's never dark), and nobody was there.
My cat was sleeping in his cat tree across the room. The dog was downstairs. My husband fast sleep in the master bedroom.
Huh.
I must just be hormonal. Right?
Then it started to happen every night. Even on nights when my husband would sleep in with the baby and I would get a break and go to the master bedroom, again, I would feel the weight of a body crawling into my bed. I started to realize after many occasions and checking to see where the other family / pet members were that I was not alone.
Then it started to piss me off. I was so sleep deprived with a baby that had some health issues and cried up to 20 hours in a 24 hour period that all I wanted was sleep. It got to the point when "it" would crawl into my bed, I'd literally sit up and get bitchy. "Get the HELL out of my bed. I am exhausted. Can you not see how exhausted and cranky I am? Go to the other room, go to the air mattress, just get OUT of my bed. You are pissing me off."
Yes. I said this out loud. And, sometimes it worked. I assume "it" would go to the air mattress in the room across the hall.
I didn't bother to tell people at first, they would think I'm more crazy than they already think. I didn't even tell my husband...for awhile.
One night we had a night nurse stay over because I was so desperate for sleep and the baby was having such a hard time. She came to me and said she heard voices through the baby monitor, and was so terrified that she said prayers (she is heavily religious and from Guatemala) and went and laid on the floor next to my daughter's crib (at this point she was in the crib and not the bassinet). She told me she laid there awake all night saying prayers and warding off spirits.
I had never told her about the thing that crawled into my bed.
Regularly I would hear the voices, the hello, the walking up and down the hall, creaking of the floors. I wasn't scared anymore, I was used to it. Then, "it" pissed me off again.
I was watching my baby sleep on the monitor while she was in her crib. I saw filmy white matter hovering above her crib. That was the last straw. You do not fu*& with a new mom. Not even if you are a ghost.
I went into my baby's room and had some words with the ghost. Told it to crawl into bed with me, to make noise, to do whatever, but that I would not tolerate it going near my baby.
After that, every time I would go to put my baby down for a nap or for night time, I would be cradling her just over her crib before I set her down. When facing her crib, there was be a bathroom behind you. There was always a crack under the door where the light could come through. Almost every time, there would be an unmistakable shadow that crossed the light to block it for a second as though someone was coming in. It was so clear, that I would regularly turn and expect to see my husband. But he was never there.
My husband does not believe in ghosts and he thinks I'm insane when I speak of such things. One night when he was on baby duty, he came quickly down the hall to the master bedroom and asked me "what do you need? what were you saying?" I had been in the bed and not been to his wing of the house at all that night.
"Nothing," I told him. I have not moved. He swore he heard voices, hellos, questions.
He probably did.
Finally one night we got a baby sitter and went on a date night. I drank as many glasses of wine as I could and savored my temporary freedom. After a little buzz kicked in, I decided I would break my silence.
"I know you will not believe me, but I'm telling you, we have a ghost in that house."
Silence.....
And then, husband said, "I know."
It turned out, he had been hearing the voices, the footsteps, seeing the shadow behind him when he put the baby in her crib.
I know I am missing other crucial parts of this story. I was so happy to move out of that house. We bought a smaller home only a few blocks away. The energy was pure and clean and the home we are in now is very open, airy, and light (total opposite of the ghosty house). I made sure to tell the ghost when we were leaving that we understood it was "it's" home and we had no intention to take it from "him/her".
To this day when my dog, baby and I walk by the old house, I feel like it is looking at me. I often avoid walking by the house, for that probably irrational fear, that the thing will follow me back to my new home.
Believe it or not.
I had a ghost in my bed.
Monkeys, have you had any ghosty encounters?
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