Ghosts Ahoy!

I have an unnatural fear of ghosts.

If I'm alone in my house and I hear a crack or a pop I automatically assume it's a ghost. Why is this unnatural? My house is old and was poorly built, it's just the house settling, but oh no! I think it's a ghost.

I've never had an experience with a ghost or really even known someone who has passed on the fear to me, but I can't shake the feeling that they like follow me or something.

That being said, I love Ghost Hunters and A Haunting. I'm so masochistic. I can't help myself. It intrigues me.

When I was a kid my best friend Taylor was all about ghosts. We used to read these books called Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

They scared the crap out of me, but I wanted to know. What's even worse about these books is they're written for children. CHILDREN! And they still terrified me. Somehow I always felt safer and braver when I was with Taylor. We did stupid things just to scare ourselves silly.

There was a house next door to hers that was vacant for what seemed like years, in hindsight it was probably only a few months, but when you're 8 time goes by more slowly.

She used to tell me stories about how she had seen people going in but not coming out, and how some days the house was filled with furniture and the next day everything would be gone, but no one would have moved in and how the pool was filled with green slime. (The last one was actually true because no one had been there for awhile to chlorinate the pool.)

We used to "sneak" up to the house and peer in the windows, make believe we had seen someone floating down the stairs and run like hell back to her house.

I would be scared to death, but exhilarated at the same time. I wish I still had that devil-may-care philosophy on life, but alas, time and life have hardened and logicified me.

Sometimes I think about Taylor and our scary stories and smile to myself, then I hear the laminate floor upstairs pop and whip around to ensure that I am not being haunted.