Not all haunted houses have spirits who rattle doors and utter ghostly moans at night. Jane, our friend in Cleveland, Ohio, lives in a nicely haunted house. It’s a warm, cozy home, complete with an occasionally friendly cat, and we’re quite comfortable when we stay on the third floor whenever we visit her.
Jane, a former event planner, has lived in the house for about 12 years. Within one year of moving into the place, she began noticing strange goings-on. Cooking sounds coming from the kitchen at 2 a.m. Lights that turned on or off by themselves. Even Sweetie, her pet Russian Blue, perceived things: Jane would notice the cat perched at the bottom of the stairway to the second floor, staring up the hallway and moving her head as if she was watching something.
I met Jane through my husband, Benjamin, who knew her when he had lived in Cleveland. About five years ago, during a telephone conversation with her, he mentioned that we were thinking of visiting family and friends in the area. Jane invited us to stay with her.
“But I think there’s a ghost in my house,” she warned. I smiled – how can you resist an invitation like that?
We arrived on a crisp, autumn day, and while Benjamin was carrying our luggage up three flights of stairs, I sat with Jane in her front room and listened to stories about the spectral inhabitant.
“I came home from work one day feeling really tired from the flu, and just fell asleep on the couch,” she said. “Suddenly, I woke up, and there was this woman bending over me with a concerned look on her face. She was wearing a long gingham dress, like from the 1900’s. I blinked, and when I opened my eyes again, she was gone.”
Another time, Jane continued, she’d been struggling to carry a heavy vacuum cleaner down the stairs. A couple times, she almost dropped the bulky device. Finally, she reached the bottom landing, and heard someone sigh behind her. “Like the voice was glad I didn’t have an accident on the stairs. Do you think it was the ghost?”
I concentrated on the house for a moment, and did get the impression of a presence. But it wasn’t a strong, vibrant presence – this was a spirit who was content to stay hidden in the recesses of the corner of a room.
“I’m not picking up a lot, but I’m getting an ‘M’ name,” I said. “Something like ‘Maud’?”
The rest of our visit went fine, and after a week we hugged Jane au revoir and headed back to Toronto. A few weeks later, Jane sent us an email. During a conversation with her next-door neighbour, whose family had lived on the street for decades, Jane asked if anyone had died in her house. After a moment’s thought, the woman said she thought that when she was a child, one of a pair of sisters who’d lived in the place had passed away. The sister named Maud.
Over the next several years of visiting Jane, I’ve occasionally felt Maud’s presence, and there were times when we were watching The Voice, America’s Got Talent or Impractical Jokers, we’d hear footsteps upstairs, or notice Sweetie prick her ears up. But Maud never intruded; I believe she was happy that her home was being tended to by a caring person.
Flash forward to last month, and once again we were Jane’s guest. As we settled into our stay, Jane excitedly showed us two pictures taken by the security cameras outside her home. One, which was snapped in broad daylight, shows an orb following Jane to her door. The other, taken at night, shows a crackle of light energy at the door. Interestingly, the energy had tripped the sensor, which had then taken the photo.
(Both these photos can be seen on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CarolynMolnarTorontoPsychicMedium
“You think this is Maud?” Jane asked, pointing to the orb.
“Perhaps,” I said. “Maybe she wants to make sure you get in safely.”
When we returned to Toronto, I told a few friends about Maud and they all seemed to think the spirit should be exorcised from the house. My feeling is Jane doesn’t seem bothered by Maud’s presence, so I let Maud be. After all, it was her house first. And sometimes it’s nice to know there’s a guardian angel hanging around who takes joy in our well being.
If you have any questions or comments on this subject or on any other spiritual matter, feel free to write me at mail @ carolynmolnar.com. And please visit me again!