Friday, June 26, 2009

Spooked Outta My Skin!

Hey Y'all!
I hope you're all doing fan-tabulous today! Robbie woke up during the night/morning at 3:15 AM begging for medicine again, but he's doing great now. He/we slept until 9:30 and he's just in the best mood since surgery! I'm so thankful. His Dr. said that Wednesday, Thursday and Friday would be the worst days, but I think we're almost out of the woods. I hate to jinx anything, so I'll say "almost!"
Now...the following is a TRUE story that happened to me about a month or so ago. Let me give you a little background information first so that you'll understand things a bit better.
My great-great grandfather lost his wife and his oldest son (age 16) in the early 1900s to typhoid fever. They say this fever swept through the south at an alarming rate. She (his wife) died about six months after giving birth to my great grandfater. As you can imagine, he was stricken with grief and still had four or five children to raise all alone.
He began "courting" a young lady. She had a sister named Rosie, but Rosie was the ugliest of the two. The pretty sister wanted absolutley nothing to do with my great-great grandfather, so in desperation for a little help around the farm and house, he "settled" for the ugly sister. I have a copy of the actual letter he wrote to Rosie telling her that he apologized for not trying to court her first. So, they married and she bore him like ten children and they ended up living in a small house, raising a family, living on love and faith, and doing the best they could. I have a distant cousin who is our family's historian, so thanks to him, I know all of this.
Their old homeplace is still standing, barely, right down the road from me. Our farm is between their place and the place of my great-great grandparents on the other side. I sometimes like to think I'm living on a place maybe where my great grandparents shared a Sunday walk, a little quiet time alone, or something very romantic like it.
So.....
That old homeplace is covered in vines and it's hard to get inside of the house. I love going down there---well I used to. We had our family reunions there as a child. My grandpaw owned the land until his death and we all enjoyed getting together for reunions there. There is an old spring that's down in the woods. As kids we would go every year, about this time, and clear the spring out. We made sure to take our little cups with us so that after all the leaves and limbs were gone, we could get us a good drink of cold spring water! It was the best!
Anyway---got side-tracked again...sorry! There's just so many memories...
So about a month or two ago, one afternoon after school and picking up Robbie from daycare, I thought I'd drive down the dirt road to the old homeplace and see if there were any daffodils. To my amazement, the house was covered in mounds and mounds of beautiful wysteria!
Here's some pictures of how gorgeous it was:
Breathtaking, wouldn't you say?
So, I decided to pull up in the yard and get a few pictures closer:
The smell was absolutely amazing! This scent is probably my most favorite of spring! It always brings back many memories of riding the four wheelers all through the woods as this wysteria grows wild all over the homeplace and in the woods around it.
So...
Awhile back, while it was winter, me and my sister thought we'd walk through the old house. We climbed through a window on the back, because the vines are so thick and tough that's the only way in. We spotted two old mantles. I have dibbs on one and she has dibbs on the other. We both have thought we'd put these in our homes when we build.
Now, I'm not so sure!
As I leaned in the window of the "front room" I snapped a picture of the old mantle that I've laid claim to. Just then the door to that room flew open and slammed shut. I was like..."What in the world?!!" Now..there was NO BREEZE, the air was still. I got chills all over me and was freaked with a capital F! I was a little stunned, because nothing like this has ever happened. There was an old vine climbing it's way over the mantle and I thought I'd get a picture of it. Here it is:
Just as I snapped the second picture, that door did the same thing! That was it! I said out loud, "Ok now...I'm gone!"
I couldn't get to the minivan fast enough. I was scared plum outta my skin!
A few days later as my family was here eating supper, I told the story. My daddy, who has witnesed several things that would scare you to death said, "Well. You should have told him that you were just there to take some pictures; that you weren't going to hurt anything. If you do some work around there, he'll leave you alone."
Whatchew talkin' bout Willis?! "Him? Who's HIM?" He told me that he thinks it was my great-great grandfather. Yowsa!
As for me, I won't be going around there for awhile. It still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up! I was not at peace there. I didn't have a sweet, "this is my family's history and I love and embrace it" kind of feeling---at ALL! It was more like I was scared to death and couldn't get home quick enough.
Have y'all ever had anything happen like that? If so, please comment and tell me.
Have a great, spook-free day!
Be Blessed!

1 comment:

Cheryl said...

Ain't got no scary story, but that story spooked me and I was not even there. And for sure I'm not going there...hehehe