Saturday, March 17, 2012

Ghosts, Drugs or Insanity?

That title pretty much sums up this post. I’m searching for answers, explanations for some rather odd, recurring events I’ve experienced –correction: I keep experiencing. Got a minute? Grab a beverage, pull up a chair and help me figure this out.
I’ve heard the best way to figure something out is to look at the facts. Study the data and your answer will make itself known. Fine. Let’s begin with the “odd” events.
Over the past six months to a year, I’ve “seen” people where and when there shouldn’t be any people. One of the more memorable times happened late one night. Well, now that I think about it, they ALL happen late at night. I’m not sure what time it was and it really doesn’t matter. Lying on my left side (as I always do), I woke with a start and looked up into the out-of-focus forms of a man and a woman standing beside my bed looking down at me while I slept.
The woman had dark, shoulder length hair, seemed to be a larger-sized woman and was wearing a boxy shapeless dress that went down as far as I could see. The man was squat, bald and heavy, shorter than the woman. Although both their forms were murky and gray as though they consisted of a heavy mist, the woman seemed to have a contented look on her face and while the man’s eyes were large darker spots in his round face, he’d angled his head over against one shoulder as though trying to get a better look at my face.
I blinked –hard, and blinked again. They were still there. My mouth went dry and I froze just like I used to do when I was a little girl terrified of the monster under my bed. I blinked slower this time and squinted to try to bring their faces better into focus. Instead –they dissipated into the shadows. I took a deep breath and told myself that I must’ve eaten something really weird to create that hallucination. But then Jasper walked stiff-legged to the edge of the bed and rumbled a low warning growl while staring intently at the spot where the pair had just disappeared.
There’ve been several other similar instances, all with different “people”. People I don’t know. Like the thin woman wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top, her long hair piled on top of her head, standing in front of our television with her arms folded. It was well past midnight and my husband had fallen asleep in his recliner in the living room. I crawled out of bed to go shut off the t.v. and throw a blanket over his snoring body. She didn’t turn when I walked into the living room. She was intently watching whatever was on the t.v. I stood still and did my now standard routine of stare-blink-breathe-blink again. Yep. You guessed it. She seemed to see me out of the corner of her eye because her head turned slightly in my direction as she disappeared.
And now the rest of the facts:
No one else has seen these whatever-they-are’s but me –and apparently, Jasper. He doesn’t bark but he stares at them too and usually rumbles out a growl that says, “Yes, Maeve. I see it too.”
I’ve not been ill but I do take a medication at night to prevent killer migraines. It’s not a sleeping pill or pain medication but it is a medication sometimes prescribed for seizures. Debilitating migraines are a strong curse for many in my family but thankfully, there’s medication now that prevents them –or at least it’s helped prevent mine. Since, I’ve been taking this medication; my visitors are appearing more frequently and in much clearer focus.
All my life I’ve been accused of being different. I’ve always “seen” things in the shadows but never as clearly as my visitors of late. As a child, I was often scolded for being afraid of the dark and telling lies about what couldn’t possibly be there. I’ve given my husband the heebie jeebies several times when I’ve correctly “predicted” or “mused” how a given situation is going to play out. Unfortunately, I can’t do this with any accuracy and it just sort of “comes” to me.
So…what do you think? Is it ghosts, drugs or insanity? An overly sensitive child with an active imagination was my past self. Could I be reverting to my childhood ways? And if, as some would say, it's all in my head then why is it happening to Jasper too?