The Swinging Child I Couldn't See

On the afternoon of October 13, 2007, I made, what I thought at the time, was a crucial traffic mistake. Where I'm from we have "Swap Days" aka Trader Days. For those of you who aren't familiar with this, Swap Days is an event that can tie traffic up for hours in all directions. And I mean HOURS! So I try to avoid it at all costs.

In order to get myself out of sitting in traffic FOREVER, I decided to cut through a part of "town" that I didn't normally go through. Not that there is any reason to avoid it, it's just a residential area and I didn't know anyone who lived there; therefore, no reason for me to be there.

As I was headed down the street, I noticed a single swing on a swing set moving. My initial thought was a child had jumped out of the swing, so I slowed down. As I got closer to that yard, I realized the swing was still swinging at the same pace, but no one was in the swing.

Although I didn't notice any wind, I thought maybe a breeze was blowing it, but the other swing and the teeter totter weren't moving at all. I still thought maybe there had been a child in the swing who had jumped out and I just couldn't find them. So I stopped before I got to the yard and looked both ways, searching for a child. I couldn't find any children outside at all. When I glanced back in the yard, I realized that the swing wasn't slowing, or moving in that jerky way that would indicate someone had just jumped out. The swing was still moving steady and smooth and wasn't slowing at all.

Then something caught my eye. I saw two little girls, about my little boy's age (6 at this time), looking out the living room window watching this swing. You might think there is nothing unusual about two little girls looking out a window watching some other child swinging. I would agree with you EXCEPT both these little girls' eyes were as big as they could be and their mouths were wide open in a "0" shape, which made me believe that they were seeing what I wasn't. That they could see the child swinging, when all I could see was the swing moving. There was absolutely nothing else out in their yard or anywhere else. It was pretty desolate. Not even an animal outside. Just me and that swinging swing.

When the oldest little girl saw me looking at them, she looked at me, looked at the swing, looked back at me. I just smiled and nodded. She then looked back at the swing. Her face never changed expression. She still had that surprised look on her face. She wasn't scared, just like "WOW, there's someone swinging in our swing!" I don't even know if these little girls realized what they truly saw. But I think from the expression on their faces, they might have had an idea!

Anyway, as I turned the corner to the right the house was on my right. I slowed almost to a stop and looked. The swing was still moving exactly the same: still smoothly and it hadn't slowed at all. I wish I'd had my camera with me so I could have recorded it. It was a totally unbelievable and one of the most amazing things I've been privileged to experience. I really wish I'd been blessed enough to have seen the child swinging so peacefully in that swing.

I thought that I would be able to prove that this is a residual haunting. Unfortunately the family who lived there moved, taking the swing set with them. If there is family currently living in that house, there are no signs of children. Maybe one day another family will live there who has children and will put a swing set up. I drive by periodically now. Just to see.

If I hadn't forgotten that was Swap Days weekend, I never would have taken that detour and I'd have missed out on that wonderful experience.