In the spirit of the Halloween season, I’d like to make a confession, I have never seen a ghost. But, I visited a ghost town, met a ghost writer, and been ghosted by a few so-called friends. Though I’ve never seen a ghost, I interviewed some people for a newspaper article I wrote who claimed they had.
The ghost sightings occurred at an old high school in the middle of the little town of Glenns Ferry, Idaho.
I interviewed Jesse, a city councilwoman at the time, and Roy, a postman, both of whom said they saw the ghost of a woman named Ruth Winslow.
During WWII in the early 1940’s, Ruth was a janitress at the high school. She’d been working late one evening cleaning the upper floors of the three-floor building. A group of women had gathered together in the high school to roll bandages for the war effort. Someone heard a scream and found Ruth lying dead at the bottom of one of the steep stairwells. An investigation determined Ruth had tripped on the stairs and fell to her death.
“Well, I know what I saw! I may wear glasses, but I’m not blind!” Jesse, the city councilwoman snapped at me when I questioned her ghost sighting.
A small electronics firm had taken up space in the basement of the old high school, but the upper floors were abandoned. Jesse had gone to visit the owners of the firm on city business. She said she turned onto the first floor landing, and saw Ruth. She said Ruth’s hair was pulled back in a grandma bun, and she wore an old-fashioned, flowered dress. The ghost didn’t say or do anything, just stared at Jesse.
Roy, the postman, laughed and said, “I know it’s spooky, isn’t it? But I saw her too. They say they can’t keep that second-floor window at the high school closed. The city comes by occasionally and shuts it, and then in the morning, the window’s open again.”
After my experience talking with a couple of sane, professionals about such an insane topic, I actually considered whether ghosts might exist.
Like a lot of people I’ve had “imaginings”—but nothing close to a true sighting. A few years ago I found myself singing with my community choir at a singing competition. One of the emcees was a drag queen. She came off the stage into the green room where I was waiting with my fellow choristers to perform. She asked a tenor if he would mind unzipping her long, evening gown. I got a glimpse of the drag queen’s broad, beefy back. There were moles here and there, and wisps of hair running along her shoulders. Her back looked just like my dad’s. Dad's been dead almost forty years, but in that moment, I felt my father’s presence.
If we talk about dreams, I’ve seen ghosts in my dreams. In fact, I saw a ghost in a dream just a few days ago. My dreams are often disjointed, shifting from one scene to the next without any predictable pattern. In this dream I was in a room when suddenly, my brother Matt appeared standing in a doorway not ten feet from me. He looked like he did several years ago, smooth-skinned, clear-eyed, and full of health.
I stepped back from him, frightened. I knew he was a ghost, and that ghosts haunted people.
But Matt’s eyes twinkled. His smile was friendly. Then he walked the distance between us and pulled me into his arms for a big hug. I relaxed and hugged him back. His warm, solid body felt so good. I missed him.
That morning I was thinking about my dream, when I realized what date it was. It hadn’t crossed my mind before, at least not consciously, but my dear brother Matt passed away a year ago this week.
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