For those who may not remember my column last week, I shared the humorous story of my quirky (and spook-loving) friends who were all disappointed that my house is not haunted.
I may have spoken too soon.
Now, this very well could be high temps and weak Command Strips.
Or it could be a ghost. I’m honestly not sure at this point.
Now, I haven’t had any sort of spooky experiences in my house.Anything that could be remotely paranormal, there’s a pretty rational, if boring, explanation for it. (A lot of times, it’s me - I’m the one moving items and forgetting where I put them.) Even now, I’m still fairly certain that there is a normal reason for what’s happening. But my friends are having way too much fun running with the ghost narrative.
So… what is happening? I have a small bookshelf in my living room. It’s next tomyTV.Iusedheavy-duty Command Strips to attach it to the wall, as it’s not the most secure of shelves. Also, I rent and therefore try to avoid any sort of damage to the walls. For three years, the Command Strips held up.
Until now. Last Monday night, I had just gotten settled into bed, falling asleep to reruns of Dateline (yes… I’m one of those).As Keith Morrison’s voice was lulling me into sweet slumber, I heard a loud crash from the living room.
I shot up in bed, confused because surely no one was breaking into my house. The security alarm hadn’t gone off. My Maltese, Pippin, was next to me in bed, so he hadn’t done anything. I looked through my open door and saw Violet, one of my Pyrnees mixes, standing at alert. Poppy was nowhere in sight and was likely hiding under the bed.
In front of Violet was my bookshelf lying on top of a pile of books.
In my sleep haze, I was annoyed. Not nervous or scared. And definitely not thinking that this was anything creepy or spooky.
Huffing, I got out of bed. One of the girls (I’m not sure which one) sometimes likes to eat books, so I needed to get them all put up and out of the way, lest they become puppy chow. I set the bookshelf back up and filled my desk and kitchen cabinets with stacks of books. Noting to myself to go to Walmart to get more strips the next day.
And then I went to bed and didn’t think about it.
The next day, I sent photos in the group chat and brought it up, joking that perhaps the ghost in the house wasn’t pleased withmycolumnlastweek.I got more Strips, reinforced the bookshelf, and then put my books back. I thought perhaps it had fallen over because I overloaded it or put heavy books on the top shelf. This time, I was careful to put heavier books lower and keep the higher shelves light.
All was well until I woke up last Friday morning.
The alarm went off, and I dragged myself out of bed to get ready. And then stopped in my doorway.
The bookshelf had fallen over again. And now my precious Poppy (who is terrified of most things) is doubly terrified of the living room.
As I started hauling books to the spare bedroom to get them out of the way -- and once again not fully awake -- I started to wonder if perhaps I do have a ghost problem. That if, perhaps, put out with my column last week, the ghost had decided to make his or her presence known. I, as usual, got in the group chat and sent pictures to my friends. As expected, they are #TeamGhost. Heck, I may be Team Ghost. Still not sure.
The only thing I am sure about is that it’s probably time to ask my landlord if it’s okay to drill a hole in the wall to properly secure the bookshelf -- and definitely before I put anything on it again.
Oh, and it’s most certainly providing me with funny content for my columns.