I've been sick the past few days, so have been sleeping more than normal. I think my brain must be getting bored, because last night, I had two vivid dreams--this is the first.
I dreamt that Erika, Peter and I moved into a house that was peculiar only for its' location--it was on sort of a land "island", where streets came together at weird angles. It was an "antique" house--built in the 19th century. It was warm and cozy, and seemed to fit a family comprised of a single mom and her adolescent daughter and young son.
We got all moved in, and the first night, the ghosts appeared. The mom and her three children (teenage son, adolescent daughter, young son, toddler daughter) were not menacing--they were curious. After the initial shock wore off ("Fuck! Ghosts!"), we got to know them. In Dreamland, ghosts talk, and the mom told us how they came to be. They were the original family for the house. As it was being built, a brick wall went up first (I guess for the fireplace? I'm not "Little House on the Prairie"-worthy). This brick wall fell on the four of them, killing them all instantly. Evidently, her husband, not wanting to waste the material, finished the house and lived in it for the rest of his life. I think the ghost mom was a little perturbed by that, but I don't think they haunted him or appeared to him in any way--her way of punishing him, I guess. I don't know if they had appeared to other occupants of the house, but they seemed quite comfortable with the living. They only appeared at night, and I found it comforting to have another adult in the house to talk to (and the kids felt the same way--they liked to hang out and play with their counterparts). Typical of teenagers, we never saw the ghost teenager much, but I think he was busy keeping a watchful eye on the house and the environs.
Which brings me to another bonus of the ghost family--we could sleep peacefully, safe in the knowledge that something better than an alarm system was in our house at night.
We didn't talk about the ghost family to others, and if people visited our house, the ghosts might or might not appear. As Erika got older, she began to bring friends to the house, and they were sometimes pleasantly surprised by the appearance of the family, who helped us with the chores and the running of the household. No big deal; just one big family.
When I woke up, I tried to place exactly where this house was in West Lafayette. Best I could figure, it was at the non-existent triangle at Robinson and Lincoln Streets--which would have been a part of the original New Chauncey settlement.....
[Cue spooky music]....
We got all moved in, and the first night, the ghosts appeared. The mom and her three children (teenage son, adolescent daughter, young son, toddler daughter) were not menacing--they were curious. After the initial shock wore off ("Fuck! Ghosts!"), we got to know them. In Dreamland, ghosts talk, and the mom told us how they came to be. They were the original family for the house. As it was being built, a brick wall went up first (I guess for the fireplace? I'm not "Little House on the Prairie"-worthy). This brick wall fell on the four of them, killing them all instantly. Evidently, her husband, not wanting to waste the material, finished the house and lived in it for the rest of his life. I think the ghost mom was a little perturbed by that, but I don't think they haunted him or appeared to him in any way--her way of punishing him, I guess. I don't know if they had appeared to other occupants of the house, but they seemed quite comfortable with the living. They only appeared at night, and I found it comforting to have another adult in the house to talk to (and the kids felt the same way--they liked to hang out and play with their counterparts). Typical of teenagers, we never saw the ghost teenager much, but I think he was busy keeping a watchful eye on the house and the environs.
Which brings me to another bonus of the ghost family--we could sleep peacefully, safe in the knowledge that something better than an alarm system was in our house at night.
We didn't talk about the ghost family to others, and if people visited our house, the ghosts might or might not appear. As Erika got older, she began to bring friends to the house, and they were sometimes pleasantly surprised by the appearance of the family, who helped us with the chores and the running of the household. No big deal; just one big family.
When I woke up, I tried to place exactly where this house was in West Lafayette. Best I could figure, it was at the non-existent triangle at Robinson and Lincoln Streets--which would have been a part of the original New Chauncey settlement.....
[Cue spooky music]....
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