Now, I’ve written in previous columns that I’m still on the fence with the whole ghost thing. Mostly because a lot of ghostly encountersI’veheardabout have a logical, reasonable explanation. However, it’s fun to do paranormal things. I’ve been ghost hunting a couple of times, and while I didn’t have the same experience as my friends in those situations, I enjoyed myself.
This is definitely not me saying the encounter I’m about to tell you about is ghostly.
Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. (Mostly like not, but creepy all the same.)
I had been working at the paper for a few months, and we were about to have our first freeze of the year. The editor at the time had left the office before me, tossing out a reminder to leave the taps dripping before I closed up for the weekend.
I, of course, forgot about this until roughly 8 p.m. that night. Which meant I had to haul myself out of the house in the dark in my pajamas. At first, I wasn’t that concerned. The office is on Main Street, and the lighting isn’t that bad.
I walked in and flipped on the lights, making my way back to the break area where we have a sink. I turned it on and was about to leave when I noticed the door that leads to the back room and loading dock was slightly ajar. There’s a glass window in it, though I couldn’t really see anything except for the reflection caused by the lights that are always left on in the break area.
Thinking nothing of it, I started back to the door, intending to close and lock it.
About halfway down the short but dark hallway, I stopped.
Because I remembered that I had checked that door before I left for the day.And it was closed.
And locked. I think. My entire body froze. It was probably only a few seconds, but it felt like I stood there forever, going back and forth on what to do. I was alone. I hadn’t even brought my phone with me.All I had were my keys in my hand.
Finally, I made a decision.
I didn’t need to re-close and lock the door. If there was someone or something back there, the last thing I needed to do was alert them even more to my presence. Besides, what had likely happened is that the door popped open, even though it had been locked. It’s an old building. Old buildings do weird things. That door had popped open despite being locked before.
Slowly, I turned around and somehow managed to keep my pace casual as I walked back to the front. Everything was screaming in me to run, but my brain rejected that option, terrified that if there was something or someone in the back room, it/they would give chase the second I took off.
So, heart-pounding and hands sweating, I hummed as I walked through the main office. I kept my eyes off the back hallway when I flipped off the lights and pulled the lobby door shut behind me. Yet again, I somehow managed to keep from looking back into the darkened hallway when I locked the front door.
It wasn’t until I was in my car, driving back to my house, that I took a full, deep breath and swore that I would do everything I could to keep from having to come back to the office at night again.
I’m pretty sure there was nothing in the back room. No ghosts or actual human beings who had somehow snuck in. Nothing was missing when we returned to work that Monday. And most importantly, the pipes hadn’t burst.
But very much not an experience I would like to repeat.