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Varla Ventura

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The Haunted Nursery

Posted: 12/07/11 10:47 AM ET

One dark and early morning of late, when the fog horns signaled low in the distance and the view of shrouded Victorian rooftops outside my kitchen window seemed particularly haunting, the ghost again made its presence known. This may sound like the opening to a short story but it is another installment in the real life saga of The Haunted Nursery. I was preparing something very pure and pureed for the Baby Ventura, who was gleefully playing in his little activity center near me in the kitchen when I heard the sound of one of his toys being jingled. My first thought was casual--I had grown used to hearing the baby shake toys and rattles while I was dashing into the kitchen to check the progress of the Sugar Skulls or pumpkin stew. And in the seconds that followed I realized that the baby was next to me, and that nothing at his chubby little fingertips was able to make that sound. As I was looking over at him to see if he'd snuck a little rattle in with him, I heard it again. This time it was unmistakable. It was the sound of a toy being rattled, it was coming from the other room, and there was no one else in our little attic apartment. There were no windows open, no drafts, no laundry whirring, no water dripping. It was just me, the little one, and something playing with a toy. I froze, looking at the baby (can babies detect ghosts the way dogs and cats do?) and felt some major chills rippling down my spine. I carefully looked into the living room where nothing seemed out of place. I stared down the hall, where some toys were strewn about. Could it have been the now infamous Woman in the Hallway? The one who seems to peek in on us, a shadow against the white walls as she flashes by?

And before you think my imagination is running away with me after watching Paranormal Activity 3
I should mention that this is not the first time I have had an incident in this flat. There have been knockings and whispers and The Haunted Toothbrush.
Maybe I should call this group of super hot Moms-Who-Hunt-Ghosts? This L.A. based troupe are near and dear to my new-mom/old-freak heart. All female, totally cute "real housewives" of the paranormal persuasion.

What I'd really like to do is sit down with some professionals and have a séance, a proper high-collared corseted Victorian parlor room séance. I recently stumbled upon this pamphlet
from the early 1900s about a series of séances in San Francisco around 1900 that the author (who wrote it anonymously) claimed involved many prominent citizens of the day, the least of whom was William Randolph Hearst, the mayor of San Francisco, and the chief of police. I wouldn't be able to convince such contemporaries -- Mr. Mayor and Mr. Trump? -- of theirs to come to my humble abode for a little psychic sleuthing of their own, but I've got some pretty freaky friends that just might join in. In the meantime it will be just me and the Baby Ventura, playing peek-a-boo with those that go bump-in-the-night.


 
One dark and early morning of late, when the fog horns signaled low in the distance and the view of shrouded Victorian rooftops outside my kitchen window seemed particularly haunting, the ghost again ...
One dark and early morning of late, when the fog horns signaled low in the distance and the view of shrouded Victorian rooftops outside my kitchen window seemed particularly haunting, the ghost again ...
 
 
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05:53 PM on 12/19/2011
Hey all you parents with kids who see ghosts, and grown-ups who saw ghosts as kids, or grown ups who see ghosts of kids, or when your kids are around, send me your stories! I am thinking about putting a collection together of this specific topic, in light of recent events at The Haunted Nursery.
You can email me at varlaventura@gmail.com and I can give you more details.
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blackwind
Relax, nothing is under control
06:05 PM on 12/10/2011
The best thing like that I've ever seen was once when I was sitting reading in a small apartment and the curtains six or seven feet away started to move. Over a 15-20 second period, the movement increased until the curtains were blowing almost to the horizontal. These were stiff, heavy curtains and it would take some serious wind to make them move at all. But there was no wind inside or outside. Nor was there any drafts around the windows or missing panes. Nor were there any black threads leading to giggling pranksters in the attic. And then, the motion died down at about the same rate that it increased until it stopped.
And I knew as soon as the motion stopped, that I would never have a clue as to what the hell just happened. And I never got one.
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Jennifer Zirn
Agree to disagree.
03:02 PM on 12/09/2011
Ghosts around the house isn't a big deal as long as they don't try to harm the people in the home. I grew up in a house that things moved or see transparent spirits and in the summer we hear music and laughter.
02:41 PM on 12/09/2011
Toys that make noise while no one is around are pretty creepy. My daughter had a talking Barbie. I think it was called giggles and swing Barbie? Our bedroom was next door to the playroom and one night about 3 am that Barbie just started giggling and saying wheeee. I knew it wasn't my daughter because she was sleeping in our room. I made my husband take it out to the garage. It still gives me the willies just thinking about it.
01:38 PM on 12/09/2011
Time to call TAPS.
collectsrocks
It's good to be good & nice to be nice
12:37 PM on 12/09/2011
When my son was 3 we moved into an apartment in an old victorian home. We were the only tenants aside from an elderly man. Our apartment had no closet in my son's bedroom. My landlord put one in. Shortly afterward my son was playing and I heard him talking. I asked him about it and he told me he was playing with his new friends and described a boy and girl "dressed funny" a few years older than him who were brother and sister. I believed he had imaginary friends til one day he ran to me telling me the kids weren't being nice to him and fearfully told me they were trying to force my son to go with them through the new closet where they lived and leave me. That got my mom ire riled up, so I took my son to his bedroom to confront his "imaginary friends." Two panes of a window had frosty, icey looking areas on them in the dead of summer. Yikes! I asked my son to point out where the kids were as he could only see them. He pointed them out and I firmly told them to leave and never come back since they were frightening my son and he no longer wanted them as playmates. I asked my son what happened next. He said they said "ok" and left thru the closet back to wherever they'd come from. The children never returned.
01:18 PM on 12/09/2011
Wow, I had chills running down me in waves reading your story. That's freaky!!
12:01 PM on 12/09/2011
I'm a ghost
02:04 PM on 12/09/2011
No...we all just wish you were a ghost. Oh, and clean up all that ectoplasm on your way out.
06:06 PM on 12/09/2011
Silly live humans
10:53 AM on 12/09/2011
In all the houses I have lived in, only four of them weren't haunted. If you want them to stop, announce that you know they are there, they are welcome to stay, and you aren't concerned. As soon as your recognize them as being there, it should decrease... at least it always did for us.
10:44 AM on 12/09/2011
My ranch style home isn't haunted, but ..... I had one "far out" experience in 1992. My father had recently passed and I had placed his ashes atop my tall dresser in my bedroom. On top of the dresser and next to the ashes there was a Corning Ware cup and saucer. As I was lying on my bed talking on the telephone, I heard a LOUD C-R-A-C-K and saw a piece of that cup being ejected out into the center of my bedroom landing on the floor. As I lay there in shock, yet another LOUD C-R-A-C-K occurred and the saucer beneath the cup broke into three pieces!! I am a firm believer that there are other levels of life that exist alongside our own. Absolutely! To think otherwise is naive.
10:39 AM on 12/09/2011
coooool!
10:17 AM on 12/09/2011
It is very possible you have paranormal activity. I would place video cameras and audio recorders around the place and see what you get. If you capture some activity then call in someone who can help.
09:19 AM on 12/09/2011
DO NOT do a seance! You have no control of who (or what) you may contact. You could be inviting something in alot more dangerous than you already have haunting your home. Contact professionals to help you discover what is going on (haven't you ever seen 'Ghost Hunters' or other shows like it?) and get rid of it if necessary. There are paranormal groups in just about every state.
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obamich44
10:52 AM on 12/09/2011
I agree. You do have to check references though and make sure you don't get ripped off.
psandysdad
The older you get, the more excuses you have.
09:19 AM on 12/09/2011
I used to 'spook' my kids about the household spook. Of course it wasn't real. The loud crash in the basement, which was some wood boards stored up in the rafters, simply rattled loose from us walking across the floor above.

I was teasing my daughter about it once and the electric can opener went off by itself for 30 seconds. Her eyes got big as saucers and she wouldn't go into the kitchen. I still haven't figured out THAT one, but I doubt it was a 'spirit'.
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excaderesdesire
I have spread my dreams beneath your feet...
09:17 AM on 12/09/2011
Why is it that everyone thinks someone who has experienced something unexplainable thats out of the ordinary is wrong about their experience?

My parents owned a house that had ALOT of unexplained occurances some a bit hair raising that could not be explained away. In fact I had friends that came over who were not aware of these occurances. Who out of the blue looked at me and said... This house is hanted or...there is a presence here. When I asked them what they were talking about they said... There is something not human lurking in this house!

Explain that one away~~~ I said how do you know that there is something not human here? They said I felt it when I came inside. One friend nicknamed the unexplainable entity, ghost, spirit whatever you call them. Lights turned off and on, doors closing and opening, my mother walking down the stairway swore someone pushed her down the stairs and NO ONE was behind her! Radios playing with no electricity, Another family member (Child) swore they saw a woman dressed in black standing on the same stair way. Footsteps running upstairs when no one was there. Blame that on mice if you like but mice do leave trails there was never any trail of mice rats etc...
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kitkatmom1
Life is too short, make the most of it.
08:51 AM on 12/09/2011
Vibration from traffic will cause foundations to shake, causing noises and things to move in your buildings like houses, apartments, condos, etc. Toys that run by batteries or wind up will make
noises because sometimes they aren't finished winding down. Animals and insects will cause
noises too. As for hearing whispers if you live in an attached buildings the walls aren't sound proof
and you are hearing either your neighbors or people outside walking nearby. As for seeing shadows
on your walls if it's daytime you got birds flying past your windows, or at night time you got insects flying around your light bulbs. There's always an explanation for everything other than hauntings.
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gloriaswanson43
Ask and you will get more info.
10:28 AM on 12/19/2011
All very true. Sometimes it's fun to pretend, though. Don't knock their experiences too much. Getting chills reading ghostly tales is all the superstition I have left. I'm too skeptical and stubborn, I suppose, for any ghost to come haunt me.
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09:36 PM on 12/20/2011
Actually, there are often explanations, not always. That's the difference.