the entity

photo by Sebastien Dechamps

For the last few years, strange things have been happening in our house.

My twenty year old daughter Jamie, has felt that there are either one, or two, entities that live downstairs with her.

She says that the first time something freaky happened was late one night when she got out of bed to use the bathroom down the hall. Someone, or something, put their hand in the small of her back and gave her a shove.

Other times, she feels as though someone is cuddling up to her in the evenings - laying their head on her shoulder, resting their hand on her arm as though they're spooning her from behind. She says she always gets the feeling that this cuddly entity is female, and lonely or sad.

Now Jamie can be a bit of a drama queen, and I have always believed her, but with a little skepticism. However, when things started happening upstairs, I started paying closer attention.

There's no reason to think that our ten year old house is haunted - as far as I know, no one has died here. There's no burial ground nearby (although this was certainly a farmer's field before this and in the middle of the Prairies, where anything could have happened.)

We're not a psychic family, although I am pure Haida by birth and my husband says that since my female ancestors were Shamans, perhaps some of that came down the bloodline. It's possible I suppose, but for the most part I've always thought that any connection to the dead was brought about by Dale's death and my penchant for talking to him. Apparently when you talk to the dead, you're supposed to "surround yourself with white light", but to be honest I don't really know what that means.

What I do know, is that my dog refuses to step one inch past the corner of the kitchen cabinets, even if there's a piece of steak on the floor. It's like she hears someone saying noooo and she backs up. Just recently, I was in the bathroom doorway applying mascara when the dog hightailed it out of Em's room. I thought the kitty chased her out, but just a few seconds later she came up the stairs and together, they sat outside Em's room and watched something going on in there.

Twice in the past, I have had the water in the shower turned all the way to HOT.

The first time it happened, I thought Bill was teasing me, but he wasn't here. The second time it happened, he was still asleep, and when I asked him about it he said he'd never adjust the water temperature.

There is no way that our shower tap is loose enough to turn either way on it's own. It's too stiff.

Since Bill is Catholic, he said a few prayers around the house and I asked whatever it was to play somewhere else.

Other than something chasing Lola around, things have been quiet for a few weeks until last night.

I had taken the kids for chinese food while Bill was working. When we got home, Bill was in the shower, so I dropped my bags and went in, and stood talking to him while he washed his face and hair. Then I turned and went back into the bedroom to put some stuff away.

Later on, he told me that the water had been fine while he was washing his hair, but when he turned to rinse it out it went freezing cold. He looked down and noticed that the taps had been turned completely to the right, so he moved it to the farther left and turned around. The water went cold again, he looked down and saw the taps on the right, thought Kate? He even yanked back the shower curtain, but the bathroom was empty. He said a quick prayer, rinsed his hair and got out of there.

Until this point, all these spooky incidents have happened to others, but now that it has happened to him, I doubt he can deny it any longer. I'm pretty much open to any and all advice!