The Sallie House Haunting: A True Story Read Online Free PDF Page A

chair and chatted for a few minutes, not knowing how to bring up my question. I finally just came right out and said, “Hey Jeanie, I’ve got a really odd question for you.”
    “Yeah?”
    “When you were here at the house tonight, did you notice anything weird in the nursery?”
    “No, everything seemed to be in perfect order,” she said. “Why’d you ask about something weird in the nursery?”
    Before explaining the situation, I decided to rephrase my original question. I wanted to be sure that the answer she gave was in no way influenced by what I would tell her. “You didn’t by any chance move any of the stuffed animals to the floor in the nursery, did you?”
    Calmly, but sounding a little concerned, she said, “No, I didn’t touch a thing. Why? Is something wrong?”
    I gave her the short version about finding the toys on the floor, but did not say how methodically placed they were. Sounding quite shocked and distressed, she said, “Oh my God,” and then called out to her husband.
    “I wasn’t going to say anything,” she started, calling urgently again to her husband. She explained that she had felt really odd while in the house. She had felt that something was very wrong when she had come in. She said that when she’d gone up the stairs, she’d felt a strange cold sensation, and that she’d felt very strongly that something wasn’t quite right. When she went into the nursery, she’d felt an overwhelming unease that wouldn’t let go of her. She left the room, hurried down the stairs and out the front door. “It was just really strange; I can’t explain it,” she said.
    At that point, she’d intended to stop by to talk with us at Tony’s parents’ house, but with all that was going on, she didn’t feel the timing was right and let it go. Instead, she profoundly apologized for what she felt was an unannounced intrusion into our house. My heart raced as I relayed Jeanie’s words to Karen and Tony.
    If Jeanie hadn’t moved the toys, there were only two explanations. Either someone other than Jeanie had been in our house between the time Jeanie left it and the time we got back from my in-laws (about thirty minutes),or the second possibility was one that none of us really wanted to acknowledge. Before any of us spoke the words, Jeanie asked, “Do you think you have a ghost?” She had said the words aloud, and they brought all our stray thoughts to an abrupt halt.
    Although I can’t remember how I answered her, we soon ended the call. I was left with a disturbing thought, one that up to this point I had been able to push away: perhaps we did have a ghost. I wasn’t quite sure how to handle it. Part of me continued to think of the possibilities that having a ghost in the house would bring. The other part clung to the thought that this only happened to other people.
    Although the three of us stood in the nursery pondering what seemed to be the last alternate explanation, we returned to the possibility that someone else had gotten into the house while we were gone and set the stage for our return. Tony and his brother George were always playing pranks on each other, so rather than entertain the thought of a ghost any longer, we concluded that it must have been a practical joke. We put the stuffed animals back in their places and Tony turned out the light. We stood for a moment in the hallway, looking back into the room, trying for one last time to assure ourselves that everything was fine.
    We descended the stairs. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, Karen glanced back up. When her eyes reached the top of the stairs she noted in a loud, monotone voice, “The light in the nursery is back on.” She turned quickly to Tony who had just passed the threshold of the living room and asked, “I thought you turned out the light?”
    “I did,” he replied. His head tilted quizzically to one side and his eyes were wide.
    Seconds later, we were all standing at the bottom of the stairs again,