Sheila

In the search for real people’s real (or perhaps, not real) ghost stories. I happened upon one rather close to home.  In fact, this story is ongoing and is occurring in the room next door to mine.   While the events of this story have been related to me over time as they have occurred, I sat down with Olivia, one of the participants in the following strange events one evening in her dorm.  Shortly after moving into her dorm room, one of my suitemate’s Hannah, starting experiencing a few strange occurrences.  They began simple.  Books fell of shelves more often than they should.  Random objects would fall over for no apparent reason.  Hannah’s corkboards on her walls, fell down at random times.  Once, she stated, one fell on top of her while she was sleeping.  Now most would see this as just the random acts of a few slippery books and some failing Command Strips, not the work of any ghost.  In fact the idea that some spirit was causing these events is almost laughable, and of course that is how this story begins, as a joke.

One day after what was claimed to be the “like fifth” occurrence of books falling in a few short weeks, Hannah’s roommate, Olivia, made an off handed comment, that went something like, “wow Hannah, looks like you have a poltergeist.”  The comment was laughed off and they went back about their lives.  Only a few days later, however, the story gets stranger.  One night as Hannah slept, Olivia was still awake.  As she laid in her bed she swears she heard a strange clapping noise above Hannah’s bed. She states that it was not a clapping like applause, but rather only one or two loud claps.  The next morning she told Hannah, who did not hear these noises, but was convinced it was just something she was doing in her sleep.  This clapping continued to occur occasionally, and Hannah continued to attribute it to something that either she was doing or perhaps the creaking of her bed, although she herself had never actually heard it.

Then, the weekend of Halloween, Hannah slept in a friend’s room because Olivia’s boyfriend was visiting form out of town.  That night both Olivia and her boyfriend heard the strange clapping noise.  It occurred as usual, over Hannah’s bed; however this time, no one sleeping there.  After this Hannah decided to nickname her poltergeist Sheila, and while she still has yet to hear the noise, in her own words she says, “I like to think that Sheila claps for me because she thinks I’m a star.”  While this is the only evidence that persists of Sheila, the idea of the poltergeist is now an integral part of their dorm, and in some ways our entire suite.  Olivia, who is rather skeptical about the existence of ghosts, is still rather confused by the clapping that she hears.  She jokes that it is Sheila, but she is not ready to admit that Sheila actually exists.  I, personally, have yet to witness or experience any Sheila occurrences, but I like to believe that anything is possible.  Maybe it is just a collection of random events, or perhaps it is the work of Hannah’s poltergeist, only time will tell.