Haunted

I went to a BBQ yesterday, after dragging C out of bed along with her best friend, D. We took a cab to the house, and sat down with H and a bunch of her friends. We ate, and drank wine, and stretched in the sunshine. It was a lovely day.

Then someone mentioned that the house is haunted. Everyone who had been in the house by themselves agreed. C said that she had never liked the house. There is a cold spot in one corridor, someone said. Another spoke of a week house-sitting. They couldn't be in the house by themselves, or they would feel depressed and scared. A sister of one of the owners said that for years, she had not spoken of this uneasy feeling of depression that settled over her when she was alone in the house. After someone else mentioned it, she had told all, and people had come up with similar stories.

I was sitting with the sister, R, in the lounge waiting for a taxi. The party was largely outside in the sunshine, under a shadecloth and around an old wooded table that I wanted to steal. As I was sitting, facing away from the corridor, I could feel... something. Someone, actually. It was exactly as if someone had come into the house and was standing in the lounge, feeling angry or sad or afraid. It seemed almost as if I was being attacked, battered by something insubstantial. Laugh if you want, but I tried a shielding trick that my mother had taught me to ward off bad energy. It seemed to lessen, but I can't really be sure. It was as if something insubstantial was screeching into my ear.

I've never been one to see or hear things, but I do feel them. I can usually feel a negative or a positive energy in a place. This one was strong. For hours afterwards I felt a little shaken.

Still, the company was good, and I wasn't there by myself. I'm glad I was not.