Halloween: Spectres & Spirits

Especially for those who may have experienced something beyond belief

For many, Halloween is an exciting time of year. The time when the barrier between the living and the dead is at its thinnest. The normal and abnormal collided, making it hard to tell the difference between one and the other. A time of many spooky or scary stories most of while purely fictional, some, however, not quite. While the events I'm writing about didn't occur around Halloween, I thought what better time to tell these stories than now.

The Figure in the Window

My Nan was the first to encounter the supernatural. She was a handywoman always doing odd jobs and whatever needed to be done. One day she had to clean the gutters. She tipped away clearing out the dirt and leaves without any surprises or anything out of the norm. She was just about to finish up when on top of the ladder she looked through the upstairs window and saw her own Nan inside, sitting on the bed, giving a friendly, loving way. 

My Nan, who had always admired her Nan, smiled and waved back continuing to climb down the ladder, and only when she had stepped back on the firm ground realised what had just happened, getting quite a land. That was impossible, her Nan had passed away long beforehand, she lived alone, and there was no one in the house, what had she seen?

The Silhouette

When A member of my family was a child they used to often stay at their Nans house. One time they were there like any other time, nothing out of the ordinary. That night as they were settling in bed they began to doze off but after a while turned toward the end of the bed where they saw they weren't alone. There standing at the end of the bed was a silhouette of a man, a very distinctive one but unrecognisable all the same. The next thing they knew, with one look away, he had gone.

The next morning they told their nan about the person they saw and after a quick summary of what he had looked like they were in for a future shock. for not only had he also sounded familiar to their nan but was actually an old relative of hers who used to be close to her. However, the man had died years prior, so not only could there not have been anyone else in the house, but this particular individual could not possibly have been there.

An Old Friend

Back in 2014 or so, another member of my family would yet again experience seeing a figure at the end of the bed only this time not so recognisable, familiar, but not enough to identify. Eventually, this figure would appear more regular becoming more unsettling the more it would appear.

After so long of this happening they realised who the man reminded her of. "Is that Pa?" My uncle Patrick passed away in 1996 so I never met him myself as I wasn't born until 2000. This family member however would have been born by then, they would have been too young to remember him, but he would have remembered them. Once recognised, he stopped appearing.

Conclusion

What can we conclude from these events? Could these be tales with meaning or just a trick of the mind? Who knows. But whatever the case, you can't deny that there are certainly some things we simply can not explain, and maybe that's not so bad. 

Don't fear the unknown, for with so many unknowns be it with what is or what will be, there is a sense of beauty for all three of these narratives as they did not focus on worry or danger, but on realisation, unity, and guidance. Everything happens for a reason, will we necessarily know why? Not always. But it's what makes life that bit more exciting. Don't fear, you have friends in high places, wherever they may be. The truth is we will never know everything or be able to explain everything, that's the beauty of life sometimes.

Happy Halloween Everyone, Stay Safe!

- Trev