Skeptical Specter Spectacle

One of my favorite television moments growing up was watching a show called Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction hosted primarily by Jonathan Frakes. As the show started the announcer would proclaim, “Tonight your challenge is to separate what is true from what is false. Five stories, some real, some fake. Can you judge which are fact and which are fiction? To find out, you must enter a world of both truth and deception, a world that is beyond belief.”

I loved that this world was bigger than the straightforward of what we see and that magic and nightmares could really exist. It sparked my creative joy and started me on a path of writing. It was especially wondrous since… I grew up in a haunted house.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a skeptic at heart, but there are things that we just don’t yet have any scientific explanation for. Maybe ghosts… can be real?

So, I present to you my own version of Beyond Belief. I’m going to provide three stories from my childhood and you have the opportunity to decide: Was it real? Or can it be debunked?

You’ll need to read to find out, as Jonathan Frakes would say, “What happened next…”

Story #1 – The Things in the Closet

One night my family was having movie night, but I was pouty about not wanting to watch the movie that was chosen. I chose to watch cartoons on the bunny-eared black and white television in my parents’ bedroom instead.

My parents had a large closet with 4 swinging mirrored doors. Inside it was all connected and I would often get inside and play like I was in a Narnia-type situation.

As I sat and watched television, out of the blue, all four closet doors started to swing open and slam shut. Open, slam, open, slam. I could feel the gusts of cool air with each open and slam.

Each door opened and slammed a dozen times within about 30 seconds before it stopped.

Story #2 – The Voice in the Darkness

As an older teenager I moved into the basement bedroom directly below my parents. I was the only child left at home at this point, no siblings, so I had my choice of prime rooms and this one had its own phone line!

The only issue with the room was that the window happened to be in a well below the backyard deck. The well was often open to let in light, but my father liked to go out and close it up at night.

I want you to try something: 1) close your eyes, 2) place a hand in front of your eyes, 3) wave your other hand in front of your face. Did you see anything? That’s how dark it was in this room. Pitch black.

One night I woke up to a light sneaking in from under the bedroom door. Thinking I left the bathroom light on I stood up to go out and turn the light off. I barely took one step before I heard a scratching at the door.

I stopped dead still. More scratches… must be mice in the walls. I got to the door and put my hand on the knob.

“Hellooooooo,” came a childlike singsong voice as a shadow of a very small foot blocked out a portion of the light and the door let out a large scratch.

Story #3 – The Demon in the Laundry Chute

I had a Fischer Price people playset and I loved to create a little village in the hallway to my bedroom. One night when my siblings were all out of the house and it was myself and my parents, I was playing a little before bed.

“Amos,” called my parents from down the hallway.

I went to their room and asked what they wanted.

“What do you mean?” They asked.

“You called my name.”

“No, we didn’t. Go back to playing.”

I continued to play and within minutes heard, “Amos!”

Frustrated by my parents teasing I returned to their room and asked, “What do you want?”

“Amos, we aren’t calling for you. Go back and play or go to bed.”

I walked back down the hallway to continue playing and noticed that our laundry chute, usually behind a cabinet door, had the light on. I walked to the laundry chute and opened the cupboard as the light shut off.

A deep, inhuman, voice uttered from the laundry room below, “AMOS!”

The Reveals

Reveal #1 – The Things in the Closet

Once the doors stopped slamming I sat in complete frozen terror. I rolled my stiff as a board body off my parents classic 1980’s waterbed and crawled from the room, bolted down the stairs, and finished the movie with my parents.

I’ve wondered if there could have been a small earthquake, but nothing else in the house shook. Air conditioning? You can ask, but we did not central air. My family and my dog were all watching the movie. I cannot find a scientific reason this event occurred.

I can tell you that the man I had been dreaming about, the one with the bowler hat who would walk back and forth from my closet to my parents, stopped after that night.

REAL?

Reveal #2 – The Voice in the Darkness

After gaining my composure from the fear, having just woken up in the middle of the night and not having my bearings to my surroundings, I calmly opened the door to find my dad’s amazon parrot, Alf, sitting on the ground.

He had flown off his cage, down the stairs, and was scratching at my door. I had left the bathroom light on and he made his way through unfamiliar territory to find me.

“Hello,” he said again, “pretty bird!”

I took the poor guy back up to his cage, told him he was a pretty bird, and went quietly back to bed.

DEBUNKED!

Story #3 – The Demon in the Laundry Chute

Trust me when I tell you that this voice was absolutely inhuman and taunting. Wasn’t a parrot this time. No siblings at home. My parents were tucked into bed watching tv. I didn’t even clean up my toys, I went directly to bed as terrified as a kid could be.

This story is genuinely the scariest thing that ever happened to me. The creeps it provided for years haunts me and I cannot even begin to think of what options I have of debunking this story.

REAL?

I grew up and I grew to love horror stories as much as I love the magic of the real world. I avoided fear for so long until I realized that terror, in a controlled environment, is what made me feel alive!

I hope you enjoyed these little moments in my life and I look forward to the comments.

Thank you for reading!