The house that I live in has been my home since just before my fifth birthday.
By Rebecca Nidey
Everything I Need To Know I Learned In A Haunted House
Anyone who has read my columns or knows me well understands that music has always had messages for me. As I am writing this column it is a short time before Christmas and then New Year’s Eve. Both are defined by music and the combination of the holidays. The music always send me on a trip down memory lane.
The house that I live in has been my home since just before my fifth birthday. At the time a person normally leaves their parents’ home, I found myself lingering because of my mother’s ill health. Time marched on and I continued to stay to take care of her and, upon her death, stayed to care for my father. My father left this house to me when he passed. As I am now sixty one, think of all the memories crowded into every nook and cranny of this home; as well as the neighborhood, town, county and state surrounding it.
As I walked through the house today doing my regular weekend chores a song came to mind that spoke (or in this case….sang) to me. Since the first time I heard Miranda Lambert sing “The House That Built Me” I fell in love with it. This pensive, wistful song by Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin tells the story of a young woman who passes by her childhood home and stops to ask the current owners if she can walk around once again promising that “if I could just come in I swear I’ll leave……won’t take nothing but a memory.” You may leave your home but you always pack those memories along with your other more tangible possessions.
Just like the young singer, as I passed through each room in my house today I found memories tucked away waiting to be lovingly taken out of that special place in my heart. The office that I am writing this column in was once my parent’s bedroom. In my mind, I can still see the large bed and matching bureau that had been my mom’s pride and joy because it was a wedding gift from her parents. Two rooms that I use for storage now were the bedrooms of my three younger brothers. Each scratch in the paneling tells a story of their youth, most of which they would not appreciate me sharing. Anyone who is a younger sibling, or has one or more, will appreciate that!
In the living room there are only a few things left from my childhood. The large, almost wall-sized mirror that was a gift to my parents from their best friends hangs on the North wall. Sometimes I glance at it in passing and think I see a reflection of the events of the past instead of the quiet times now mirrored there. My father loved clocks and a small alcove shelters the grandfather’s clock that was a gift as well. On a smaller shelf in the corner is the anniversary clock that he faithfully took down to wind weekly. There are actually clocks all over the house that Dad had collected through the years and loved to tinker with. These are everyday reminders of my past.
As paranormal investigators, have you ever entered a private home and wondered about the memories housed there? What were the hopes and dreams of the inhabitants? Did events in their lives leave behind the spiritual DNA that becomes a haunting? Even places that are our “home away from home” can hold those memories also. The places where we worship are our church families. When we relax, the bars and social/service organizations we frequent become our families of the heart. Where we attended school and worked are also stomping grounds of the heart (sorry, I am a country girl at heart).
My home is located directly across the street from the grade school I attended from kindergarten through sixth grade. Although I had several jobs before my current one, I have worked in the same hospital and department for over forty years. In order to continue to provide better technology and service, both the school and the workplace continue to grow and expand but the memories are still right there tucked into the nooks and crannies. In fact, there was an older brick school standing beside the present school across the road when we moved into this house. My father had attended school there. When that building was torn down, the bricks were given away and my Dad took several loads and created our driveway from them. I often wonder what those bricks could tell and teach us every time I pass over them.
In my December column, I spoke of memories of the living and those in spirit. Planning for the future and living in the present are both important aspects of our lives. However, our memories are what give us insight into our present and future. Not all memories are of the good and loving kind but they, too, can be reminders of our strength. Albert Einstein was credited with the quote that said something about insanity being defined by doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result each time. Memories (whether ours or someone else’s) can give us lessons in what not to do.
I know from experience that many places (including my own home and workplace) are saturated by memories and hauntings. Even quiet everyday memories can create hauntings (residual or intelligent) simply because they are the ones that suffuse the area. They create those little grooves in the atmosphere of a place that are like a spot worn by the touch of many hands or feet. These grooves are often not felt till we stop long enough to experience them. The bad memories may leave a scar in the atmosphere rather than a groove and so they are more noticeable.
As 2016 begins I will remind you to stop long enough to reminisce. Take those memories out of their little space in your heart and look at them like snapshots from the past. Throughout the coming year and those to come, remember the wisdom and love created by those memories and remember that we are already working on new memories.
This column is dedicated to those who are gone but for our memories, those we are creating memories with, and those who have their memories slipping away.
About the Author:
Through her work on the investigative team for the Crawford County Illinois Ghost Hunters, Rebecca Nidey has an understanding of the paranormal, spiritual, and metaphysical worlds and how they work together.
Rebecca has trained in the Healing Touch technique (a form of energy healing). She is a certified Psychic Medium trained by Belle Salisbury, and she is a certified Paranormal Researcher.
Rebecca is the associate editor for Bellesprit Magazine and also writes a column titled Everything I Need To Know I Learned In A Haunted House. She has been a co-host of several radio programs for the Haunted Voices Radio Network and HeyZ Radio Network highlighting the Paranormal, metaphysical and literary fields.
To learn more about Rebecca or to schedule a reading you can contact her at https://www.facebook.com/rebecca.nidey.
