Kind Old Lady

In late summer of '05, me and my husband moved into a house with our then-friend, "Joe." It was an old, fairly large house that belonged to Joe's family. Brad and I both are able to sense ghosts, and most of our experiences have been somewhat creepy. Not in this house though.

Brad and I shared the largest bedroom, and at night I would feel a presence walking through the bedroom. The presence would sometimes stop near the wardrobe and just sort of hang out. Brad worked nights at that time, so I thought maybe I was just imagining things, being alone in bed.

After awhile, the presence started coming closer to me, and although I never once saw her, I got the distinct impression of an old lady. She always projected the sweetest emotion, and seemed like she liked being near us. Sometimes, it felt as if someone was patting me on the shoulder in an affectionate way. She would also tuck me in at night.

During the winter, I got a nasty sinus infection. I was lying in bed one morning, wide awake but too miserable to get up. I could hear the guys playing video games in the living room. I rolled onto my stomach trying to find a comfortable position. I was looking to the left, and saw the mattress sag near my shoulder like someone was sitting on the edge of the bed. I decided it was my fever, and just watched that dip in the mattress waiting for it to go away. It didn't. After a moment, someone started to rub my shoulder, as if trying to comfort me. This seemed to go on for a few minutes, before she left.

About a month later, Brad got the flu. He had a horrible fever, and was in bad shape. I spent what time I wasn't at work fretting over him. When I went to work, Joe would look in on Brad to be sure he was ok and text me. We were very worried about him. Brad spent the better part of a week in bed.

Sometime after moving out in June I asked Brad if he had ever met the old lady who stayed in our bedroom. He asked me what I was talking about. I explained how she would tuck me in and pat my shoulder, and how she had sat with me while I was sick. He looked surprised, and explained that yes, while he had the flu someone had been sitting with him, patting him, and fussing over him, but he'd assumed that he was either dreaming or hallucinating from the fever. We were sure it hadn't been Joe tucking Brad in and sitting on the bed. Doing anything other than peeking in the door and saying "Dude, you ok?" went against Joe's over-developed sense of masculine propriety.

We never found out anything about the old lady. All we knew about the house's history was that Joe's family had bought it and moved it to that location several years before we moved in. Whoever she was, she was kind. She seemed to treat Brad and myself like her children. I can honestly say I miss her.