His Name Is Vic

Where to start? The beginning of course is always the best place. That being so, unfortunately, you'll have to bear with me to find out how I eventually came to know that his name is Vic. And yes, Vic is a ghost.

As I have never kept a journal, I can only give approximate dates regarding my experiences with this harmless but persistent soul.

I first became aware of Vic during the latter half of 2004. I'm pretty sure about that time period as I had two kittens at the time, a black female (Dixie) and a white male with ginger markings (Toby). Sadly, Dixie is no longer with us but Toby is still doing well, despite his age.

The two cats used to lie on my bed when I retired for the night and watched the TV in my bedroom. One night, it would have been at approximately 21:00, Dixie jumped off the bed and hid behind the oval standing mirror in the corner of my room. I could see her eyes, large as saucers, following something to my husband's closet. Toby stayed on the bed but stared in that direction as well. I don't know whether it was Dixie's reaction which gave me chills but nevertheless I did have a rather uncomfortable feeling. It only lasted a minute or so and Dixie jumped back on the bed. This behavior repeated itself a few times but not every night.

As time progressed, I started hearing noises in my husband's closet; the distinct sound of somebody scratching around looking for something. I was always made aware of this by the jangling of belt buckles. My husband has a rail attached to the inside of one of the doors where he keeps his belts. This usually happened round about 02:00 to 03:30 - yes I know, don't say it. In fact my body clock is set that way. I am always awake at approximately that time. I go to bed early, remember? So no, Vic seldom woke me up, I was already awake. My husband never, ever heard him.

Eventually Vic became too noisy for my liking and I told him to tone things down a bit. I also asked him what he was looking for but of course, no reply.

Here I am going to fast forward a few years. Things carried on in the same manner. Vic did keep things reasonably quiet most of the time but whenever the belts jangled too loudly I would remonstrate with him. I must say he was pretty obedient.

Before I forget, I have to mention that when Vic paid his visits I used to see orbs at my bathroom window. The bathroom is just to the right of the bed and you can clearly see the window. The orbs were a pale orange colour and moved from right to left and back, intermingling with each other and then separating. This was not caused by street lights as my bathroom window faces the courtyard and no light whatsoever shines in there. If these were not in fact orbs, I don't have another explanation for this phenomenon. Perhaps one of the readers will have an alternative explanation. Strangely enough, the orbs eventually stopped appearing after two or three years.

Moving forward. At one time my husband used to do a fair amount of travelling for business reasons and would often spend a night, or longer, away from home, depending on where he had to travel to. I specifically remember that this was a Tuesday night. Strange that I remember the day but have no idea of the date. I also know that on this occasion I was not awake but woke up when I thought my husband was coming to bed. He was following his usual routine of removing his shirt next to the bed. I said "hi", being half asleep, until it hit me OMG Brian isn't at home tonight! First thought to cross my mind? I'm being burgled, again, and I'm all alone. I actually saw this person removing a T-shirt, copycat version of my husband. Except of course that my husband doesn't wear T-shirts during the week when he has clients to see.

I was terrified virtually out of my mind. I decided to simply lie still and see what happened. After all there was nothing I could do, except to hope that this burglar would do the same as the last one, i.e. Tie me up, steal us blind and disappear. But why did he remove his shirt?

The "burglar" then moved to my husband's cupboard, started rummaging around, belts jangling. The relief I felt is indescribable. THIS WAS MY GHOST! I was angry and relieved at the same time. He came out from behind the cupboard door and started to walk towards the bedroom door to take his leave. I wasn't having any of it. I said to him: "Who are you and what do you want?" His reaction was totally unexpected. I'll try to explain it to the best of my ability. He turned and faced me in total shock. I don't think he realized that I was aware of his presence. Before this he had not been paying any attention to me at all. He opened his mouth and pointed at it with his finger, then waved his hand in front of his mouth. In other words, he was either telling me not to talk to him or that he could not talk to me. I hope I have explained that adequately. I then told him that he had given me the fright of my life and that I'd thought he was a burglar. I also said: "Don't ever let me see you again. If you insist on coming here please be quiet and remain invisible." He then turned to leave but before leaving he bent down as if to tie a shoe lace. As soon as he was gone I sat up in bed and I saw my cat Toby sitting exactly where Vic had bent down. It would seem that he was petting the cat and said cat was not at all unhappy about it.

Vic was as solid as any human being I have ever seen. He was tall and slim, very dark hair, dark eyes. I would estimate his age at early to mid-forties. A good looking guy!

I have a species of Asparagus Fern growing in my garden. It grows like a weed, it's all over. A few mornings after my showdown with Vic, when I went back to my bedroom to wake my husband up I noticed a small branch of this fern on my bedside table. I asked my husband whether he had for some reason put it there and naturally he denied it. Of course I believed him. Why on earth would he go out in the garden during the night simply to put that on my bedside table? His opinion was even more ridiculous - he suggested it might be the cat. I think it was there courtesy of Vic as a peace offering.

Time went by. Vic became noisy again and I chastised him. One morning my reading glasses were nowhere to be found. I leave them in one of two places - my study desk or my dressing table. Fortunately, I still had my old ones so I used them but that was highly unsatisfactory. I turned the house upside down looking for my glasses. My husband helped me move the bed, take the mattress off, remove all bedding, the works. They were nowhere to be found. I begged Vic to replace them. Of course I didn't know his name but he knew I was talking to him. I asked him on a number of occasions. I eventually decided that I would simply have to get a new pair when lo and behold, while making my bed one morning there were the missing spectacles, neatly folded under my bedside table. Believe me they were not there before, it would have been impossible to miss them. Besides I do vacuum my house regularly and you can see under the table very clearly without even bending down. Anyway, I thanked Vic and asked him not to do it again. He obeyed.

This is where either Vic deviated from his normal routine or there was another presence in the house. Sometimes after Vic had come and gone from the bedroom I would hear what sounded like the TV or a radio on in the lounge. It often sounded like someone reading the news, at other times it sounded like a quiz show. I also heard muffled voices coming from that area of the house. I'm not 100% sure that Vic was responsible.

On a few occasions I would feel what I thought was my husband getting into bed. He moves around quite a lot to get comfortable, so when I felt no further movement I would open my eyes and look at his side of the bed and there would be nobody there. Vic? He mimicked my husband before.

One night I was particularly spooked. I was lying in bed on my left side, on the left side of the bed, which is where I always sleep. I was awake and I felt what I thought was my husband getting into bed. What was strange was that I could hear the TV on in the lounge and the house seemed very light. I asked Brian whether the TV was still on. I got the reply: "Yes it is." So I replied "well go and turn it off". No movement. Extremely annoyed I jumped out of bed to go and do it myself when I noticed that there was nobody in bed with me. Husband still in lounge, watching TV. I lost it again: "My bed is off limits to you. Do you understand? Don't ever again come anywhere near my bed." Vic? I can only assume so. Needless to say the only time I ever again felt anybody getting into the bed it was indeed my husband.

Also this is the first time a spirit, or ghost, has ever spoken to me aloud. I have heard my name called on numerous occasions but have never received an audible reply to any question I have asked them.

I only saw Vic once again. It was around 18:30 and I decided to have a bath. As luck would have it my bathroom light had blown so I kept the bathroom door open and my bedroom light on, which gave me plenty of light to see by. I didn't need that much light anyway. I was out of the bath and standing on the mat drying myself with a towel when Vic strolled past the bathroom on his way from the closet. He didn't even notice me.

So this is where I reach the end of life with Vic. There was in fact another incident but that can be told separately. I'm not sure that the culprit was Vic on that occasion.

The last time I had any interaction with Vic was approximately three months ago. His visits had gradually become fewer. On this particular early morning, yes again the dreaded 02:00 to 03:00 time period, when I was again awake and not awoken by him, I heard him doing his usual thing in the closet. This time I spoke to him telepathically. I once again told him that there was nothing in my husband's closet for him to find. I told him that he had loved ones waiting for him and he was wasting precious time hanging around here. I then said to him "look you've known me for years now, you know my name, I think it's time you told me yours". Imagine my surprise when a very distinct voice came into my mind. "My name is Vic."

I was elated! I said "Vic we both know it's time for you to go where you belong."

My husband's closet is now eerily silent. After 13 years that takes quite some getting used to!

I know that this account is incredibly long but I have tried to keep it as short as possible. If I have been vague on any aspect, please feel free to pose your questions.

Melda