Crowded House

This was originally going to be my first post, but I decided do post my first experience last week (In The Beginning). Here's what's going on with me most recently...

A quick description of my dwelling... Built in the early 1970's in the southwest Portland suburbs as an apartment, it became condominiums a few years after that. It's basically a three bedroom apartment with the smallest bedroom being barely large enough to hold a single bed and nightstand. I purchased my unit about nine years ago and found that I had some unknown guests when I moved in. These 'guests' seem to be phased differently, not knowing each other exist.

Guest #1: The Little Girl: Shortly after I moved in, I would say maybe two months after the unpacking was done, my wife was relaxing on our couch watching the TV. From the bedroom hallway you can look directly at the couch. I was passing down the hallway from one bedroom to another when out of the corner of my eye, I saw my wife there with a little girl sitting next to her. I turned to look the little girl full on and made a mental picture of her before moving on to the bedroom. She even glanced over towards me for a second before turning back to the television. Maybe 8 years old or so, long, dark hair pulled back in a loose pony-tail, wearing a floral sundress popular in the '80s. For some reason I didn't even think twice about it until about 20 seconds later. I stuck my head back around the corner to see my wife sitting watching TV alone. I asked her who the little girl was, but my wife just looked at me strange, which didn't surprise me. That's the only time I've actually seen her.

She does seem to be the prankster of the house; hiding keys, moving mail, etc. She'll listen, though. When I couldn't find my keys one day I said aloud, "I don't have time for this. My keys had better be back on the table when I get back from the bathroom..." Sure enough, there they were when I came back. She seems to stay in the living room. I can still feel her around once in awhile, but mostly seems to prefer hanging out with my wife when she's watching television. The living room is also the only place all three of my cats can be found on their backs, like someone unseen is scratching their bellies.

Guest #2: The Homemaker: Not much to say about this one. A woman who mostly moves between the tiny kitchen and dining area. Maybe late 30's to early 40's. She hasn't caused any problems that I'm aware of. I'll just catch a glimpse of her out of the corner of my eye once in awhile. Sometimes I'll hear her say something barely audible, but I can never seem to make it out. It's not a plea or anything, more like along the lines of, "What would you like for dinner?" or something like that. I believe the Homemaker is more of a residual event, not an actual spirit. The walls are just replaying the event from time to time.

Guest #3: Dad: Not really MY dad, but he's a lot like mine was. He hangs around me most of the time and loves electronics. I'll feel him the strongest when I'm installing new software on my computer or tinkering with the sound system to my TV, looking over my shoulder as I do the work. No troubles with this guy either. I swear that when I'm installing software, though, I can hear him in my head saying, "This is just amazing! This little box you have holds more information than the entire floor of my office building used to. And it doesn't have to be climate controlled!"

Guest #4: The Cranky Old Man: This is the trouble-maker... Or was, at least. This is probably the scariest part I had to take care of. The smallest bedroom we use as storage. It's pretty full of stuff that we don't use anymore.

About three years ago, my step-daughter moved back into the area after living in Vegas for a few years. She had never lived with us in this condo before so she wasn't 'in tune' with what we have going on with the 'guests'. My wife and I cleared out that room and set it up as a small place of refuge for my step-daughter until she could find her own place.

Her first night in the room she came running out at about one in the morning saying that someone was pushing her out of the bed we had set up, and then had pushed her out of the room altogether. I immediately could feel the anger - almost betrayal - coming off whatever was in that room, like WE had invaded HIS domain. I guess we kind of did.

I feel bad about what I did after that, but felt it necessary: I banished the entity. I burned incense and recited a (poorly written) banishing of my own device which I had from decades ago (too long a story to mention in this post.) Once I had finished, could almost feel the room itself relax, like the very walls were able to breathe again after having to deal with such a demanding entity.

My step-daughter stayed with us for another six months and never had a problem after that. Believe it or not, but the room seems bigger now.

So now, in our small, apartment sized three bedroom home, the five of us - my wife, myself and three guests - have learned to cohabitate.

The little girl still likes to hide my keys, though.

Thanks again for listening.