Strange Happenings On Holiday

We had a busy holiday this year. Well, I did. But it did not come without incidents. It started with my old Jack-in-the-box. It is old, circa 1978 (even though I wasn't born until 1981), but in good condition. It used to be a toy that my mom kept at my grandparents' house to play with whenever we would visit, so she wouldn't have to drag toys around with us everywhere. I have it now that my Pap Pap passed away and my grandmother lives with my aunt.

The first incident, in a series of incidents that my mother, aunt, cousin and I believe to be Pap Pap, started around the week before Christmas, and involved the Jack in the box. (Coincidentally, Pap Pap's name is Jack). I had the toy sitting on my dresser, and a wooden box of miniature rubber bands on top of it. This wooden box is small, but not very light.

That night I heard shuffling on my dresser, and ignored it and went to sleep. When I woke up, I was startled to see the Jack in the box, out of the box! Its clown face smiled blankly at me giving me a good spook! The first thing that came to mind was Pap Pap and what a prankster he was. What really made me think it was him was when I found the box of rubber bands sitting next to me on the night stand. Not only that, how did it come out of the box without music or waking me? Granted if it popped on its own I could probably sleep through that, but the box of rubber bands... I really think it was him.

The next incident was when I was putting up my Christmas tree; the set of lights I used started blinking. The strands of lights were in perfect working order, and DID NOT have the blinker light in place to make them blink. But for some reason they just started blinking. Then we got to my aunt's house, and she said Pap Pap popped in for a visit. And we asked what happened. She told us that her lights did the same thing; they just started to blink for no apparent reason. Grandma said that the blinking lights were Pap's favorite. So we really think he was popping in to wish us Merry Christmas.

The spookiest holiday haunt happened whilst driving the three and a half hours back from my aunt's house on the night before Christmas Eve.

We got a call from my Dad on his cell phone asking if we had heard from my brother Eric because he hadn't seen or heard from him all day. (And it was around 10pm by this point. Also my Dad has the tendency to forget when we would tell him where we were going.) But we hadn't heard from Eric and knowing Eric is a pretty responsible kid, especially when it comes to letting people know where he is, we begin freaking a little and repeatedly calling Eric's cell phone. No answer. Mom calls Eric's friend David. He hadn't heard from him. We call my brother in law AJ; he had no idea, and was just leaving work.

So I tell mom to blow up Eric's phone with phone calls, so he knows it is urgent. On about the fifth call, this robotic voice answers, "Hello?" Mom asks "Eric?" because the voice sounded so weird. And she says the voice said "He isn't answering a**hole!" And the line went dead.

My mom and I talk about it for about twenty minutes, about how weird it was, and maybe Eric was in real trouble somewhere and someone stole his phone. Just when we are at the peak of our awful thoughts of what terrible things might have happened; Eric called from his girlfriend's phone. He went to the movie and dad forgot. He was fine, and get this; he left his phone on his bed at home! Nobody was there to answer his phone!

There has always been a somewhat sinister feeling in that room in the house. Nothing harmful, just like maybe a grumpy person. Maybe the ghost got tired of the constant ringing?

There were a few more encounters during the holiday season, but those tales will come at another time. It is late!

Happy hauntings to you all!