I‘m going down to Ocala tomorrow with an assortment of Mama’s granddaughters to do a final great day of cleaning on her house. In the process of nailing our plans with daddy, I casually asked about his ghostly “shadder.” He has never been too worried about it, and told me that since it seemed to originate in Mama’s old bedroom at the end of the hall, he’d simply moved his bedroom there, if for no other reason than he was tired of being haunted. In consequence, the ghostly “shadder” has ceased its nightly appearances.
I can only conclude from this turn of events that the ghost was lonely, and wanted him to return to his bedroom of origin and quit sleeping way away in the front bedroom. I have also learned that when dealing with ghosts, don’t run away in terror, but befriend them. They don’t mean to terrorize, but like all of us, just want a sympathetic ear, or bed partner. They just want to be seen – and who can blame them?
My Uncle Lincoln in the oval frame: another family ghost.
About Janis
Janis Owens is a novelist, memoirist, folklorist and storyteller. She is a native of Old West Florida, born in Marianna in 1960. She attended public school, and the University of Florida, where she was a student of Harry Crews’ Creative Writing Workshop and earned a degree in English with a minor in Southern history.
She is the mother of three grown daughters, three son-in-laws, one grandaughter, with another grandbaby on the way. She is active in Florida conservation, oral history, historic preservation and dedicated to the celebration and preservaton of small town American life. She is by trade a writer, and the award-winning author of MY BROTHER MICHAEL, winner of the Chautauqua South Fiction Award for Best Novel, MYRA SIMS, THE SCHOOLING OF CLAYBIRD CATTS, and THE CRACKER KITCHEN. Her most recent novel, AMERICAN GHOST, won the Silver in fiction at the Florida Book Awards.
After 52 years as a proud Floridian, she now resides in the Old Dominion of southwest Virginia due to her husband's job transfer. She is working on her next novel.
On two occasions, I have no doubt that my boyfriend’s brother’s ghost whispered in my ear WHILE I WAS IN BED. It was scary. Well, he didn’t whisper. He just blew. Still.
Your comment about ghost needing a bed partner caught my eye. I’m a single parent. My daughter and I moved into the home we currently live in last September. One night, not long after our move, I was asleep in my bedroom and had the sensation of someone sliding into bed with me. I awoke to find no one in my bed or in the room with me.
I thought it best to say nothing of my experience to my daughter. I did not want her to frighten her.
A few days later, I was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. My daughter walked into the kitchen and told me that someone slipped into her bed with her during the night. She said she wasn’t afraid, but they were gone when she woke-up.
We’ve lived at what we like to call “Poet’s Cottage” for nearly a year now and, so far, have had no further visitations.