Friday Flotsam

By Bev Weidner on October 28, 2016 in Friday Flotsam

Frooo hoooo hoo hoo ha ha ha HA AH AHAH AAAA HA HA HAAAAiday.

Let’s tell ghost stories!

Oh don’t give me that look. You know your late Aunt Freda’s been snoopin’ around the foot of your bed at 3am again and you’re itching to tell someone.

With Halloween a few days away (<–said like a scary old corpse lady with a flashlight under her face), I feel like huddling up and sharing our scariest spoooooky taaaaales. So come on, bring it in. Get closer. Come on. Don’t be shy.

Yes, I’ve asked you before, but you weren’t ready just yet. I get it. It was still hot and muggy. Who wants to tell ghost stories when you’re applying sunscreen and topping off a spritzer?

TODAY IS THE DAY.

I’ll start.

And this is a true story. Pure factual happenings. Nothing made up, nothing exaggerated, nothing fabricated. You can even ask Aaron if you doubt me. I’m holding THE TRUTH SPEAR RIGHT NOW. (in my mind.)

(cue scary death music) …When we first moved into this Prairie Village ranch house over nine years ago, there was a string of chilling occurrences within the first few weeks of our residing. (read: I cried and vomited a lot.)

One night I woke up in the dead middle of the night, hearing voices. But not like, scary voices. They were NPR voices. The soothing rise and fall in the muddled, distant voices sounded just like NPR was left on, but not in our actual room. It was more like, in the walls. Aaron was completely asleep, so I got up and walked around, trying to locate what radio we left on. The further away I got from our bedroom, the fainter the voices became. The closer to our bedroom I got, the louder the voices grew. But they were never even loud. Just barely audible. Obviously I was completely wigged out, but somehow forced myself to go back to sleep like an idiot.

THEN….

Maybe a week or two later, I woke up again to the same voices. This time, Aaron was already awake and sitting up with his bedside lamp on. He was looking around the room with his back straight as a board, “Do you hear that?”

Me, “THE VOICES? YES. I’ve heard them before and wanted to wake you up but I didn’t and I’m going to faint right now.”

Then Aaron says, “They’ve actually woken me up before, and I’ve gotten up and walked around trying to figure out where they’re coming from.”

By this time there’s a pile of vomit in my lap.

Because at the exact same time we say, “They sound like NPR voices.”

Aaaaand my blood turned to ice water.

I’m basically losing my mind, completely weak in my bones, freaking my ish. “Is this house haunted? Are we being hunted by ghosts right now? Should I have left cookies out for them? I don’t know ghost etiquette! Also, we’re moving.”

We never figured out what the voices are, or where they come from. And it’s been a reaaaaally long time since I’ve heard them. Aaron claims he heard them not long ago, which totally grosses me out. He has a theory of maybe radio waves from another house? I have no idea. I’m convinced the future ghosts of Renee Montagne and Steve Inskeep are out to get me.

THE END.

Bonus story: When my mom was in her teens living in a small south Arkansas paper mill town, she and her friends saw a floating light over an old railroad track! Listen, no really. They were walking along the train tracks, and this floating, flickering light appeared out of no where, sort of hovering back and forth over the tracks. They walked closer to it, it disappeared, they turned around, and the light was between them and their car. Huuuuuuurl.

They never knew what it was. Maybe gases? The late railroad worker looking for his decapitated head? Too much Moonshine? Hmmm mmmm.

Another bonus story: This summer I was chopping vegetables by the sink, and something pushed against my waist. Not hard, just a brush, but enough to make me sort of lean into the sink. And it happened AGAIN 10 minutes later. Two times. And no, I was not drinking wine at the time, thankyouverymuch.

Okay, I’m passing the ghost story flashlight. You have the floor. Give me the goods. You know something off or weird or spooky has happened to you. I need you to FREAK.ME.OUT.

Can we talk about pajamas? Can we have pajama talk? I swear I won’t throw a pillow in your face.

Where do you fall in the pajama camp? Because one of my besties, Sarah keeps trying to convince me of the old school Ricky and Lucy-style PANT SUIT pajamas. And I’m like, come again?

She loves them. Swears by them. Do you know what I’m talking about? Basically these.

Or like, these.

Or these.

Just kidding! (maybe.)

You guys, for pajamas, I sleep in the shirt I was wearing that day, and yoga pants. I suck. I desperately need to up my pj game. What do you wear at night? Are you a pant-suit peep, a giant onesie weirdo, a gown gal, or a boyfriend tee and slouchy-shorts soul? (…or your birthday suit? GAH I’M SORRY.)

Ooooo maybe I could find some black and white striped pajamas to feed my stripes addiction!

You want to punch me so hard.

If you’ve not yet seen on my IG page, I’m hosting a giant Target giveaway. Woo hoo! Dudes – six winners, $250 gift card. For six people. So like, $250 for each person. For six. Never mind.

I’m closing it out at 4pm CST today and emailing the winners their cards pronto, so go enter!

Weekend plans? I’m taking the kids to their very…..first…..thrift store todaaaay! (you’re like, “that was some unneeded buildup, Bev.”) I need two more things to complete their Halloween costumes, so off we go on a super fun (annoying) wild goose chase.

Tomorrow we’re picking out our carving pumpkins, taking a long bike ride and having a fall picnic in the park, carving our pumps next to our outdoor FAHR, and I’m cooking pasta with cream, peas and prosciutto. Deeelarsh.

And wondering if I’ll ever hear the NPR voices again. Watch, they’ll totally get me tonight. I’m positive of it.

I want my mommy.

Save

ghost stories, pajama talk, Target Instagram giveaway

Prosciutto and Gruyere-Stuffed Pork with Roasted Brown Sugar Carrots

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31 Responses to Friday Flotsam

Rebekah Sacran October 28, 2016 at 9:15 am #

Next time you hear them, you should turn on NPR and see if it's the same words. If so, you're just hearing someone's radio. If the words and voices are different, it's been nice knowing ya.
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- Lauren October 28, 2016 at 4:26 pm #
  
  Okay so I live in a house with two other girls. I remember being the only one in the house and my roommates were both coming home late. I went to bed at 9 like a good twenty something. Now, I'm a very heavy sleeper. Play a freaking trambone in front of my face and I probably won't even move. For whatever reason that night I woke up and thought I heard my roommate come home. I looked at my phone and it was sometime around 1am. My roommate always sets her purse and keys (pretty loudly) down on this antique bar cart we have. I swear I heard keys hit the bar cart. I head down the stairs about ready to kill someone or my brains out. I stood on the landing of our stairs and saw the back of someone's head towards the banister of the stairs. I almost yelled out to my roommate thinking it was her, but I didn't want to wake anyone. They told me the next day that they both were home way before 1am and didn't hear anything. Scared the freaking crap right out of me.
  Reply
Erin H October 28, 2016 at 10:15 am #

Not a scary ghost story, but I was at my parent's house years ago and I'm standing about a foot away from the Christmas tree. I was joking about there being a ghost in the house and seconds later an ornament came off the tree and hit me. No one else was even standing in the room or near the tree. I've refused to be alone in their house ever since.
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- Bev Weidner October 28, 2016 at 3:22 pm #
  
  Um yeah, I would have left forever. :)
  Reply
Kathy October 28, 2016 at 10:41 am #

I don't have a ghost story but I can comment on pajamas. I used to try and wear stuff my hubs liked and bought for me - lingerie type things - but they would always end up either, you know, off in six seconds or too lacy-scratchy to spend the night in. So I started wearing a cotton knit camisole with a tiny bit of soft lace (I found some nice ones at our local Calvin Klein outlet) and soft knit bike-short style shorts. Everything is modest but not, like, a total turn-off. Believe it or not, I still have those lingerie things - I just couldn't pitch them. They still fit after 25 years (yes, I'm an elderly 54, ugh) but, well, I keep thinking I should just keep them for...something...nostalgia? Anyway - I've been wanting to comment forever - I SO enjoy your blog and pics and recipes. Keep up the great work!
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Kayla October 28, 2016 at 10:43 am #

So it's not exactly a ghost story? A little backstory...my grandmother passed away in '82, 5 years before I was born..I've never seen video of her and seen only a few pictures of her (because she missed social media and moms are always behind the camera)..there are 7 of us grandkids and I'm the oldest..my mom says that when I was a little girl (toddlerish), I would talk about things that I couldn't have known about and say "Remember when I was your momma and you were my little girl and we would............" then she said one day it stopped and I never talked about that kind of stuff again..I have no memory of this..fast forward to two more grandkids later, a male cousin of mine would announce when our grandmother was in the room, physically describing what she looked like despite having ever seen her (he was about 2-3 at the time). Fast forward some more years and I'm a camp counselor at about 14 years old..my cabin mother stopped me and asked who my grandmother is and I tell her and she says "I knew it! You are your grandmother made over! Your voice, the way you talk with your hands, EVERYTHING!" ..............so that's my "ghost story"
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- Bev Weidner October 28, 2016 at 3:22 pm #
  
  Whoaaaaaa. That's amazing! (and terrifying. ;))
  Reply
Kristin October 28, 2016 at 10:46 am #

#1. From my parents: In the early 1980's, my parents and older sister (4 at the time) moved into the home they still live in today. The house was a farm house built in 1918. Our older next door neighbor had always mentioned that it was an old folk's home in the 70's and a few people died there. Rumors, I tell myself. Anyway, my dad always said he felt something in the basement during those early months in the new home. A tingling down the spine, hair standing up on the back of his next. My sister would not go into the basement. One night my parents woke up to what sounded like someone breaking in. Dad grabbed his baseball bat and ran to the stairs. Before he got to the bottom, he heard a storm window in the front slam shut. It was the dead of winter in NW Ohio. There's absolutely no way they would've left the windows open. After the closing of the window, the feeling left the basement. My sister went down there without a care. #2. From my older sister at my parent's house: Two summers ago, my sister saw a man in the doorway of the garage in broad daylight. He was about 6'-0", white guy, wearing an orange and white striped shirt. He was just standing there, looking out. She looked throughout the garage but found no man. At that time, we we were into this ghost communication app on her husband's computer that uses "white noise." We were asking questions about the house and "talking" to people, not long after my sister saw the man. #3. Me: When I was fifteen I visited Lizzy Borden's bed and breakfast in MA with my friend and her mom. My friend and I slept in a giant bed in a room where NO murder took place. I am a horribly light sleeper – I wake up to anything. During that night, I woke up to a feeling. It was a buzzy, warm heat that started at my toes and gradually moved up my body to my head, where an explosion of voices burst. It was terrifying and probably didn't last more than a minute. I grabbed the rosary under my pillow and prayed. #4. From my older sister: She lived in Fayetteville, NC for a few years as her husband was in the military. While he was on tour, she had some visits from a "man." One night while laying in bed with the door closed, not asleep yet, the knob shook. Hard. She yelled, "Leave me alone." It stopped. After that, she noticed on numerous occasions, a shadowy man with a hat, pacing the bedroom hallway. This man showed up one time while she was up in NW OH and had a friend house sitting. He noticed the shadowy figure and ended up not being able to house sit anymore. #5: Me: After my grandma died, one night while reading in bed, I smelled a potent whiff of my grandma's perfume. It lasted no more than a minute, but as it happened it immediately made me think of her and I cried.
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- Bev Weidner October 28, 2016 at 3:21 pm #
  
  O.M.G. to all of it. ALL OF IT. You've officially freaked me out. :)
  Reply
Bethany October 28, 2016 at 11:03 am #

When I was about 10, I was sleeping and woke up (and I did WAKE UP. I was NOT SLEEPING. Sorry to yell. Touchy subject.) to a pecking(?) sound above me. My room in my parents house was right under the attic so I just assumed it was a mouse or something. It started out just a quiet little tapping but would move from the center of my room to the wall and back again. Just back and forth, back and forth. But after a few times, the tapping got louder. It was more like knocking. Back and forth, back and forth. Then it was like footsteps. Back and forth, back and forth. It was finally so LOUD it was like there was a baby calf or something up there! Banging on the floor and going back and forth over and over. I screamed and my dad came running, but there was nothing. It stopped as soon as I screamed. To this day, no one believes me.
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- Bev Weidner October 28, 2016 at 3:20 pm #
  
  I would have lost my MIND. Thanks for the story!
  Reply
Julie October 28, 2016 at 11:06 am #

As for pj's, it's underwear only! My husband gives off heat like a furnace and I'm always roasting with one foot out of the covers.
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Jo October 28, 2016 at 11:29 am #

Don't be scared. Obviously if they are ghosts, which I think they are, they are nice. They like having soft, quiet conversations and they like being in the kitchen with you. Those are pluses. Just try talking to them. When you hear them at night, say very nicely, "I know you are there because I can hear you talking. I'm trying to sleep so could you please not talk." and maybe they will stop. I wouldn't be scared at all if I had nice ghosts. Be sure to post lots of pics of the little nippers in their costumes (or as my 3 yr old grandson calls them, costatumes). I can't wait to see them.
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Amy October 28, 2016 at 1:07 pm #

Love this post and all the comments! My dad lived in an old church-turned-into-a-house back when I was in middle school. None of the windows opened - I think they were the original church windows and some of them were HUGE circles. Super beautiful. Anyway, one day when I was sitting on the couch one of the plants started moving ... like someone walked by & brushed into them. There were no fans, and since the windows didn't open it definitely wasn't a breeze. He no longer lives there and I am so thankful. It really freaked me out. As for the pajamas, I sleep in the exact same thing you do - the shirt I wore that day and sweats or yoga pants. Don't plan on changing that up anytime soon because it's so comfy! It also saves so much time since I put the sweats on right when I walk in the door after work. Okay, and last night I wore socks. It was FREEZING.
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- Bev Weidner October 28, 2016 at 3:20 pm #
  
  Uhhh I would have fainted. Thank you for sharing!
  Reply
Kindy October 28, 2016 at 1:19 pm #

Not a ghost story...but now I'm having pasta with cream, peas, and prosciutto for dinner! Yuuuumm.
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Jane October 28, 2016 at 1:39 pm #

I have to put my two cents in about the pjs... I have worn them for almost 40 years! I was always cold, and nightgowns just didn't cut it for me. Back then, I actually used to buy men's pjs, but now they make cute women's pjs that are soft and some even have a warm lining. Love the ghost stories!!
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Jess October 28, 2016 at 1:56 pm #

My husband and I moved into a rental house right after we got married. Randomly, the garage door would open and close itself, the bedroom door would lock on its own, we'd hear "intruders" that weren't there, and one night something pressed hard on my legs in bed. My mom, a total skeptic and the deepest sleeper ever, would often be woken up in the middle of the night by loud thuds that she couldn't identify. The owner had left lots of small things around the house that are usually used to ward off negative spirits and we eventually found out the cliche info that no one ever stayed in that house for long. What worked for us was standing in the "active zone" and announcing calmly and firmly that this was our house that we loved and that no one and nothing else was welcome there. We'd have to repeat it every six months or so when the "energy" started to change (I know), but we had four happy years there otherwise.
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- Bev Weidner October 28, 2016 at 3:19 pm #
  
  No WAY. That's super freaky!! I have chills. Omg.
  Reply
  - Lizzie October 29, 2016 at 1:59 am #
    
    Seriously - this comment thread is the most convincing thing I've ever read. I'm now a believer in ghosts and finally going to burn the artisanal sage I bought ?
    Reply
Tracy October 28, 2016 at 2:33 pm #

When my husband and I moved into our first house, the lady that we bought it from told us at the house talked to you at night. We thought she meant that it was just an old house that would creak at night from settling. We would smell freshly lit cigarettes from time to time, the cat would sit on the bed and stare at the wall and meow at it, our bed would shake softly back and forth when we were sleeping at night and we would check to see if there was an earthquake the next morning but there never was, when my sister stayed with us for a little while she said that she would hear a music box playing in her room even though there wasn't one in there, and one night my husband said he heard footsteps down the hallway. The clincher for us that made us sure that the house was haunted was when I woke up one night and I saw a face in the corner of my bedroom staring at me. At the same time, my husband was awake behind me in bed sitting up looking over my shoulder. I asked him what he was looking at and he said there was a red light shining on my face and he was trying to figure out where it came from. He said there was no brake lights from cars shining in the window and he couldn't figure it out. The fact that we both saw something at the same time that night made us sure that the house was indeed haunted.
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- Bev Weidner October 28, 2016 at 3:17 pm #
  
  OKAY, I am officially freaked out. I have major chills! Thank you for sharing. :)
  Reply
Cassie October 28, 2016 at 5:23 pm #

My favorite pj's are Simply Vera Wang pajamas at Kohls. LOVE THEM!
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Kayley Anderson October 28, 2016 at 8:33 pm #

So, my paternal grandma haunts my parents house. She passed away in '08 and ever since we have heard footsteps and doors opening and closing. I've never seen anything but I don't walk around without lights on. Activity always increases around my dad's birthday. I look forward to the day we move into our own house but all of her living room furniture minus the couch is mine so I might be just as haunted there. ??
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another sue October 28, 2016 at 9:08 pm #

I live with friendly ghosts. The family home - I grew up in a 3 generation home, and then I moved back as an adult and re-created a different 3 generations setting. My granddad lets me know when he is around as I can smell his pipe tobacco. My dad plays with the light switches - but never did when my daughter was young, as it would have totally freaked her out. This is the one that mystifies me - my ex, who did not die here, is sometimes present with his after shave, and cigarette smoke. My grandmother - whom I did not know - does not appear to be around, and neither is my mother. The only time when I was truly freaked was one night as I lay in bed and I felt the mattress "dip" as it does when another person sits down on it. I did not care for that experience, and thankfully it has never been repeated. Recently my niece and my daughter, along with their daughters were here for a visit. A storm door kept opening and shutting, but in my "hostess" mode I didn't think much about it. Later my daughter said that she was pretty sure that we were not alone that day. Also, knit pull on shorts and a t-shirt, until it gets really chilly, and then maybe sweats or flannel pull on lounge-style pants and a t. I enjoy your writing - hopefully reading these stories on a darker than dark night won't interrupt my sleep!
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Becky K. October 29, 2016 at 12:47 pm #

In March of last year my father-in-law, Pat suffered a massive stroke. We live in Florida, but he and the rest of my husband's family are in Michigan. The same day of the stroke my husband got a flight up and his father passed away a few days later. That's when a string of unexplainable events started to happen. The first phenomenon was the decorative wall clock that is in my brother and sister-in-laws home. The thing never worked from the moment they brought it home despite changing the batteries. Instead of returning it, they just kept it hanging on the wall. My sister-in-law noticed the night before Pat's passing that the second hand was moving on the clock, which it had never done before. The next night when he passed away they came home from the hospital and the clock read his time of death to the minute. It has not worked since then. Next, the night my husband returned back home we noticed a cardinal hanging out on our patio umbrella. I snapped a picture and posted it to Facebook not thinking it meant anything. Several of my friends knowing I had just lost my father-in-law responded telling me it was a sign from him. I had never heard of cardinals being a symbol of someone who has passed until one of them sent me a link to a website all about the cardinal effect. That same cardinal showed up in the same location every night until we made the trip back up for the funeral the following week. We have not seen it since. Lastly, the day of the funeral the whole family got together at my brother and sister-in-law's house. My husband's aunt had a red rental car parked outside the house and the car alarm sounded when nobody was around the keys. She turned the alarm off from the house and a few minutes later it went off again. We could see the car from the window and nobody was around it and again nobody was holding the keys. Someone jokingly said, "Ok, Pat if that's you make it go off again." As soon as the words were spoken it went off again. Fast forward a couple of weeks later, my brother and sister-in-law saw a psychic/medium. She kept bringing up a red car and they couldn't understand why as nobody they know of has a red car. Suddenly they remembered the rental. The medium told them that Pat was telling her that it was him with the red car. Nothing has happened since then, but it gives us comfort to know he was with us at least in the days and weeks following his death.
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- Bev Weidner October 31, 2016 at 7:24 am #
  
  That. Is. Crazy!!! I love it, actually. Thank you for sharing!
  Reply
Jenna November 1, 2016 at 5:19 am #

My ghost story: I was sleeping on a mattress in the living room of my sisters house when I woke up and saw a woman with long dark hair leaning over me, staring at me. I locked eyes with her for a few moments then bolted for the door, turned on the lights - nobody there. I told my sister the next morning, assumed/ hoped that I probably just dreamt it/ was still half asleep. Several months later my sister met some people that used to live in the house before her, and they got to talking about the "ghost" who lived in the house - and described the woman with long dark hair to her. Apparently a woman had commited suicide in the house many years before (but who knows)! It freaked my sister out but I'm pretty sure she never saw the woman herself. Now I'm terrified and wondering why I read these stories just before bed... Haha
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- Bev Weidner November 1, 2016 at 11:25 am #
  
  You are KIDDING me. That's insane. I'm not sleeping tonight. :)
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Bev November 3, 2016 at 5:07 pm #

I was glad to read your "ghost story". If only to make me feel better about my own experience. I have heard similar NPR sounding noises in my house but was too ashamed to admit it. Ha ha. It is usually in our bedroom and walk in closet. Not always at night, so not always scary. I too had actually convinced myself of the radio wave theory so I don't let it bother me much anymore. I kind of find it mystical. In a strangely satisfying way. Yes, I am misunderstood. Ha ha. One time I walked to the lower level of the house thinking the kids left the TV on. I swear it sounded like it was on. You guessed it. Nothing was on. So, I am happy with subscribing to the radio frequency idea. Keeps the fear out of it. Oh, and we built our house ourselves, so we can't blame it on previous ghosts, unless it was built on some kind of burial ground.....okay, not going there. I live in Central Ohio. Coincidentally, my name is also Bev. Really. The end.....
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Jason Adams January 29, 2022 at 8:38 am #

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