The Spirit In The Hallway And Other Events

(I'm 17 right now.) In Southeast Georgia, when I was 7, I saw a spirit in the hallway of my maternal grandparent's house.

I was spending the night, as I did often when I was young, it was night-time, and I'd been told to go brush my teeth. Well, I went to the hallway bathroom to brush my teeth like I was told. I didn't close the door, but it was sort of half-way between being closed and open. I remember being finished brushing my teeth, inspecting my newly cleaned teeth in the mirror, and then, as if I knew what was coming, I turned my head slightly to my left. There, passing by the door was a white gown. It was giving off a glow, not a really bright glow, though. I didn't see a head, because I only caught the figure as it was disappearing. I waited in the bathroom, just staring at the hallway and wondering whether that figure would pass back by.

It didn't. When I went out into the hallway, I looked up and down it but there was nothing. I made my way back to the living, where my grandparents - both already dressed for bed - were rocking in their recliners and watching TV. I asked my grandma, who was wearing a nightgown herself, if she had been the one who walked down the hallway. She said that she'd been sitting in the recliner since I'd left. So I told my grandparents what I saw and neither of them were shocked or expressed disbelief. In fact, my grandma said, "You must've seen your Granny Howard", like it was the most normal thing in the world to see glowing figures walking around a house. My Granny Howard she supposed I saw was her mother, who lived with them in her last years. The bedroom she stayed in was actually at the end of the hallway. Many strange things have happened in that house, actually.

When my grandpa had lung cancer the first time, he had a dream in his sleep (although it might not have been a dream) that his mother appeared before him and told him that she'd come to take him with her. He told her that he wasn't ready to go yet, and then she left.

My cousin, who now lives there, took a picture of herself in what is now her bedroom, but used to be my grandparents. In the picture, behind her, there is greenish looking smoke. Two heads that look like my grandparents can be seen in the smoke.

My brother, who spent a day alone in the house when he refused to go to school once, had been sitting in the living room when a pot in the kitchen that had been set far back on the counter fell on the floor. He stayed outside after that until my Aunt got home.

My aunt and cousins have a dog that will bark and bark at a spot in the kitchen where my grandfather always sat at the dining table that is no longer there. The dog will not go to the spot, but just bark at it. It was well known in the family that my grandparents weren't too taken with animals, especially if they were inside pets.

There will be times that my cousins will have the refrigerator door wide open and it will close on its own. I remember my grandpa always telling us to stop standing in front of it and shut the refrigerator door. My aunt and cousins were once watching TV when it suddenly turned off on its own. They were able to immediately turn it back on and nothing else had gone off when the TV did.

A recent experience was when my mother had a hysterectomy. She was lying in the hospital bed and I was sitting in a chair beside her when she suddenly pointed to a bird that landed on the building next to us. That bird looked directly at us, like it was watching us. It stayed for a long time before it flew away. My mom thought it might have been her mother. I don't know if spirits can take the form of birds or anything like that, but it was very odd to see a bird just stay in one spot for that long. My dad thought my mom was just being silly. He doesn't believe in seeing spirits or anything of the sort.

Today, my younger brother came running into the living room of our home to tell me he saw a figure in a black suit in the hallway. I don't know if this is an evil entity or what, so it sort of freaked me out.

There are also times where I've been afraid of sleeping in my room, because I get such a bad feeling from it. It feels like there's something in there every time I enter it. (There's no way my house could be haunted. I've lived in it since I was a year old and it was brand new at the time. And I've never had these feelings up until last year.) I've sometimes experienced sleep paralysis. My dad has this sometimes too. I know that people have differing opinions on what it is. I'm not so sure I want my spirit to be wandering as I sleep if that is what really happens to cause this. So, about the feeling, sometimes I'm so afraid of sleeping in my room that I'll sleep on the couch. But even then, I'm afraid of falling asleep at times. (I thing tonight might be another one of those nights.)

With all this, I'm starting to wonder... Is there something about my family and spirits? Is it just our dead family members who come back to visit from time to time? Or are these mean spirits who mean harm? Should we be worried?