“So, um about two years ago I would say I decided to have a sleepover at my friend Jenny’s house.  Jenny had always told me her house was haunted but I never believed her cause I am not the kind of person who believes in ghosts.  Wait, I guess not her whole house just the living room.  So to test the theory we decided to sleep in the living room that night instead of her bedroom. So we went to bed and there was a cello in the room.  Her little brother played the cello.  And so we went to bed and woke up at about 2am I would say, to the music of a cello and we freaked out obviously, but we figured it must just be in our minds so we went back to bed.  About two hours later we woke up to the sound of the cello again, same sound, same rhythm.  That time we freaked out even more and literally stayed up the rest of the night because we were so scared. It had to have been a ghost.  The whole entire next day weird stuff was happening.  Doors were opening and closing, even sliding doors, which like wind, cannot affect.  Adding to that, the sound of the cello was in the back of my mind the whole day.  When Jenny’s dad got home from work that night we told him our whole story and he didn’t really believe us but he did tell us what happened to the previous owners of the house.  I guess the dad to a family of five who used to live in the house-committed suicide in the living room.  I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or what, but I do know that the sound of a cello will always haunt me.”   

My roommate Mahsaw told me this story about her friend Jenny’s house in Cleveland, Ohio.  When I first asked Mahsaw if she knew of any good ghosts stories or personal experiences I honestly did not expect her to have one.  Mahsaw is a biology and chemistry double major and is very much so into explaining the world through science.  Ghosts on the other hand are phenomena that are somewhat unexplainable.  Although this experience happened two years ago, when Mahsaw was a high school senior, she still believes that it was a spirit who was playing the cello.  It is interesting that even after reflecting on the situation a scientist chooses to explain her experience with a ghostly encounter rather than a more rational justification.

The haunting may have been heightened by the fact that the girls believed they were sleeping in a haunted room and therefore searching for any unexplained activity to validate their theory.  However, some common reasons for ghosts are unresolved business or dissatisfaction with things that happened while living.  When someone commits suicide, like the previous owner of Jenny’s house, it is because they are unhappy with the life he or she is living.  For this reason, the deceased person may return as a ghost in order to resolve issues before being able to rest.  Also, it is common for ghosts to remain in the homes they lived in because this is where they spent a majority of their time and there are strong emotions associated with a home.  I believe that the haunting was real for these reasons.  It makes sense for a father who committed suicide to stay around in order to fulfill his duties of watching his house and trying to get peace before passing on to the other side.