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, )'kit it -

tlir ~
uridiritxill id'*
oiM~M' m1hvm.tn.
llft 1 l'Olll)lr of ranv old
~=~DUl the lltlC' .net 1n
or
.. ji LCE l'lited a lot Of tMl
..... .... . .!
.... 1111 pul II th1t Q). My
~ 1 _... wben IJo'C tiouPt
t - - l'M> )Ql'S lfO tNI a
tllllt misf\I come 11.hcn we
.allld haVe ui nlCt a ICtlaltt We
ntvcr pCMtd 1h11 doin& i<'
...,.., require lhc USt of ttnlu
rill-old prtytn. and a labtntl
.n111di111 of holy 1'1ltct.
Yea, what I am ll')1ng 10
~""' la)'lll& Ii thit some J>>P1t
- a. of !hem ~1\1 m) ~
- t aroew lhal our i - is. or
wu,llauntcd.
-rm the midcnt sl\!pllC I'm
not IUrC 14 hat lO bdt~c,
Yuu c:an !Nkr up )ot1r ov.n
mind. after )(lu l'K'ar tl'K' ,!().
f) ' .
Two yc"I" AIU m) v.1fc ancJ I
bo&h 1 a 60-) car-<lld hnck du
plcx The hou.-c ca.mt v. Ith I
tcn1n1, a )Ouna prof~~1on11I
woman named Genn). \o\hll had
betn lt\lOJ an the houfC' lor 11
couple of )e:Jr\ 11.11h htr <latt&h
In', "-1anta (jrnn) i\ , I hehC'\l',
a utble pcnon
Sa for the m~1 pan, ts my
wife. Kai
Someone eb~ v.111 "'" c to
\oudt Joi me
In an) f\l'nl , bi:t.11
\lot' had
h\ 1111 10 the houic for abou1 a
month v.hen Cll!'lln) ~pproacht'd
Kai "'1lh an o<ld qucJ.tlun tlaJ
our f'lC'I call b..-i:n .~'1101 ~trangt'-
1)'!
wz11AU1llili
c~n) , .,,,.-f * a *
down K.t't ..,._, kll .W Ai ...
mcn1ioned it. but she hid b11a
1ttin1 ~mc'thin& childti~ pall
ina into lbc li'UW room - ia
our lbtt.
For the rt$l of tbt )al'. thi
end of 1990. Kai and I pn:ay
mu h ianored the po11ibi
that v.t hid motf llRIMI
.C knew about and lhlt
thcrn but
on ~nt Wt
C.C:::l awac _.....
lot al.ft Ii
do 1n our new IMJlnc Cfl iii
the m1dd)c of a remo-"li.......
o.t that included 1ean111 ofil
bedrooms out of the .air..
l.nd from the umc dw Iii
~-alls came down, if~ ~ lili1ve
Genny and Kat, this old hot
St.In~ gtllln& v.cardt'r. Gc2wty
and Kat lqatl 10 Stt an anlri-
uon 1n the boucment - 1 ._.,,_
srt, b1g~houldc~ shadow t.,11
Olwa)$ seem~ lO mo\lt Oft tM
pcnphcl) of their vwon. Not
the far comer of lhttr \lili O..
mind )OU, but perhapi 45 ct.
grtCS 10 one ' 1<k - Just <lllt
10 blur the dt"llll
Tlu~ liJurc. Gcnn)' and Kii
~) . II"" 1ncrcas1n&ly mmlci
\1 first. the~ saw him pewi
through an adJactnt room _...
1h~ 1.1.ert J oin laundry or, in
"'81 's ~. V.'Orllng at a b s sc
mcn1 won.bench Bui then he
"'ould "'Omt' ' loser, liOmC'\1mea
1.1nd1n JUSI inches IV.'l)'

Haunted/Unwilling spirits finally seem to slip out of sight
They could feel him. they say,
more than they could see him.
They felt drained of energy and
they felt. for some reason. sad.
For a time. the shadow staytd in
the basement. But then they began
to sec him. or it. or whatever. in the
back haUway and in the bedrooms.
Mil would infiltrate your
dreams." Genny says. MYoud wake
up and know he was 111 the room.
sun. it was in the basement that
the thing finally went too far. Gen-
ny was doing laundry one day
when she felt the shadow's pres-
ence. She turned to look at it and.
instead of d1sappeanng as it usually
did, it moved toward her. She felt it
move through her like a cold, damp
wtnd.
Enough was enough. It wos time
to call in the spiritual Orkin man.
Genny asked a family fnend, a
Catholic priest, to come in and
bless the house.
Father Dan came in. listened to
the story. eyed my wife's Afncan
death mask and my poster from the
movie "Psycho" with something re-
sembling suspicion. and talked
about hauntings. One common
symptom. Father Dan said, was
that household projects go unfin-
ished. Usuig this as a cntcrion, I
now r-cah~ that every house I've
ever lived in has been haunted.
But this house. apparently. was
worse than most. Father Dan want
cd to ~o ballistic. Father Dan.
which 1s not his real name. was
willing to conduct an exorcism ritu-
al without formal approval from
thechurdl.
Genny was agreeable and Kat
was more than wtlhng to go along.
She'd lost enough sleep. Besides.
she's an astute businesswoman. She
knew that. because the house was a
duplex. half of any fee would be tax
deductible.
So Father Dan went room to
room. spnnkling holy water and
saying 4th-century prayers, ridding
the house of all unwanted creatures
except for a handful of spiders and
some supernaturally large centi-
pedes.
Afterward, Kat and 9cnny say,
the whole atmosphere of the house
changed. It felt hghtcr, f'ncndhcr.
But it didn't last.
Within two weeks, the shadow
reappeared.
Ml wasn't waiting." Genny says.
Father Dan came back and. for the
second time, prayed his way
through the house.
And from that time on, Genny
and Kat soy, things have been more
or less normal.
Except once.
About a month after the second
spiritual housecleaning. Genny was
standing in her lutchen and turned
toward the dining room door.
Standmg there looking at her was
the chlldhke figure that had pecked
into the ltving room. Neuhcr Gen-
ny nor Kat had seen the little guy
since the day the shadow staned
bilging them in the basement.
It stayed put, this time, long
enough for Genny to look at 1t
dircctly - a small, thin figure with
long brown hair, big eyes and
dothcs that seemed to be from
some other era. Then it di5ap-
pearcd into. the shadows and hasn't
been seen since.
Mil was hke he was saying good-
by," Genny says... .
Herc Is a reasonable question:
Do I believe the story I've just
written'!
Herc is a reasonable answer. I
don't know. I wasn't there for most
of it. I was in the Mideast, covenna
the Persian Gulf War. And I'm
I
I
willing to bet l'C31 money that. of all
the men and women m the Mide4st
whose families had 10 face crises
back home. I was the onl~ otic
whose family had to call 1n an
exorc!SI.
,
The truth is I kind of rcgJCI thoL
It seems to me hke a shoot-firit
ask.questions-later appl'OOlch. :
But then I, pcrsonnlly, only h~d
one odd expenencc. I had Just fin
ished lighting a fire nnd was stniid
ing beside the fireplace when one'Of
our cats brushed up against my IOg.
begging for attention. :
I confess: I spoil our cats. I
immediately reached dt<WD to pick
her up. ,
But there was nothing there.