w w w . c a s t l e o f s p i r i t s . c o m
SHADOW LOVER
All of my life, at least for as long as I can
remember, I have felt the presence of spirits,
heard unidentified voices speak to me, and have
seen shadows move when there is no explanation
for the movement. Only my sister, a few very
close friends, my husband and a hospice nurse
know my secret. People think this sort of thing
is crazy and I probably would too.
Almost always
I would be alone when these unexplainable
incidents occurred. Therefore, I have no proof.
But this ability is a fact of my life.
As a
little girl, I was sometimes afraid. As an
adult, I have grown to accept these experiences
as a gift. Usually.
Five years ago, my husband and I, then newlyweds,
moved into beautiful mediterranean townhouse. It
was new to us, but approximately 15 years old at
the time. My husband is an airline pilot who
travels fifteen to seventeen days a month.
Consequentially, I spend a lot of time home
alone.
In my new home, I immediately began to feel a
presence. Often, I would see the shadow of a man
floating up the stairs from my living room to the
bedrooms. Occasionally, he would linger on the
landing and peer down to the sofa where I would
be sitting. Remaining completely still, I could
watch him out of the corner of my eye. If I
turned too quickly, he would rush away while
dissipating into a vapor. I named him "Ted".
As the months went by, Ted became bolder. He
showed up more often and began to whisper in my
ear as I drifted off to sleep. He grew even
bolder when he began to come around when my
husband was at home. Teasing me, he followed me
from room to room always making sure to stay
clear of my husband. I had told my husband about
a few of my past experiences and he seemed amused
and at the same time slightly dismissive. It
never hurts my feelings when people doubt or joke
about the supernatural. I know what I know.
I told my husband about Ted. Pilots have an old
joke that goes like this:
Q. "What does an
airline pilot's wife do right before making love?
A. She drops him off at the airport".
We had a
long standing joke that I had a secret lover and
my husband would call while on his way home from
the airport to give him time to leave. My
husband laughed about Ted and said maybe Ted
wanted me all to himself! And how happy he would
be to share me with Ted if Ted could only pay
half the mortgage!!
The morning after our conversation, I found four
rows of neatly stacked pennies, nickels, dimes
and quarters on my kitchen counter top. All
together, I counted 6 quarters, 3 dimes, 4
nickels and 13 pennies. All of them face up and
all perfectly lined up. I asked my husband to
pick up his change and he said it was not his. I
asked him again and he took the change saying he
was glad to accept it, but that it was not his.
Time wore on and I found frequently found small
stacks of coins throughout the house, always in
perfect stacks and perfect rows. I insisted my
husband take the coins. He thought I was pulling
his chain when I told him it was from Ted. I
knew I did not find and stack the coins and my
husband swore he did not either.
So there you
have it. Obviously (at least to me) it was
payment to my husband for sharing me.
Two and a half years went by like this. Then it
got weird.
Of course, relatively speaking.
Things just escalated. Ted became more vocal.
His whispers were louder and urgent. I could
never make out what he was saying but it was
tinged with angst and longing. He followed me
EVERYWHERE. I started thinking maybe he needed
help, but I did not know what to do. Mercifully,
right about that time I met a hospice nurse at a
friends house. In the course of several meetings
and conversations it came out that she also saw
spirits. In her line of work she had come into
contact with many ghosts. I was so relieved to
talk with someone who believed my story and now
my predicament.
I couldn't shower without Ted
watching. I couldn't poop, eat, or sleep in
privacy. He stood over my shoulder as I worked
on my laptop. I felt stalked. The nurse told me
that I was going to have to tell Ted to go away.
Apparently, I had led him on and he was indeed
obsessed. It seemed unreal. I never doubted
that there were ghosts, but I never thought that
they would try to be involved in the living world
so, well, unrealistically.
I began to ignore Ted and started putting the stacks
of coins in old Mason jar in the laundry room
instead giving them to my husband. I told Ted to go
away whenever he stayed too long and refused to
look his way as he stared at me as I watched T.V.
or read a book. Finally, it felt like things
were cooling off. Ted was slowly but surely
coming around less and less. I thought he was
close to leaving altogether.
Wrong. On Friday, May 24th, 2004 Ted went too
far. I went to bed around midnight. My husband
was home from a long trip and we had made love
just before I drifted off to sleep. Because my
husband keeps odd hours and has to sleep at
different times of the day depending on his
flight schedule, I had installed black out shades
in our bedroom. The room is pitch black except
for two strips of moonlight that creeps under
the bedroom door to the hallway and under the
door to the master bath. There are skylights on
the other side of the doors that let just a
sliver a blue moonlight in each night as we
sleep. I woke up just abut an hour into my sleep
and saw the outline of my husband's legs walking
past the first doorway strip of blue moonlight
heading towards to bathroom door. The wall
between the two doors diminishes the moonlight
and I could not see him at all for a moment.
Then his legs appeared in front of the bathroom
doorway. He just stood there. Then he walked
back to the other doorway. And back and forth he
went again. I watched in a sleepy daze and just
as I thought I would ask why he was pacing I felt
the bed shift. Something in my brain clicked, I
reached behind me and felt a soft shoulder.
Livid, I sat up and started screaming for Ted to
leave me alone. Screaming, I turned on my bedstand light. Horrified, I rolled over to an
empty bed as my husband stood by the bathroom
doorway looking like he had just seen a ghost.
Submitted From: Pamela, Florida, USA