A Working Ghost

It was requested of each member of SAPS to write about an experience that we have had involving the paranormal. I have many. Spirits seem to like to me. They always have. They probably always will.

I have a true story. If you choose to believe is completely up to you.

Since I graduated from college in 2005, I have worked in a laboratory setting. You wouldn't normally think of this as a spooky job or a spooky setting. In fact, it is the last place I expected to run into the paranormal.

My first job was in Jackson Mississippi in 2006. I had to come in every other weekend to run tests. It usually took about 30 minutes. The facility required a numerical password for each employee. To gain entry you had 20 seconds to shut the door and enter your code before the sirens would sound and the building would lock itself, with you inside. This was to prevent anyone from stealing the control cultures we had there, since they were of a moderate threat and this was only 4 years after 9/11 so people were picky about who could handle what.

For the first couple of weekends my supervisor came with me to train me on the alarm system. She always looked over her shoulder on the way in and I assumed it was because we were in a semi-dangerous part of the city. After a week or so, she told me just to ignore the sounds that I would hear soon when I was by myself. "It was the machines." I found this odd. Normally, the scientific community are pretty closed-mouthed about ghosts and the paranormal.

So I began coming in on weekends. By myself. The first two weeks were very quiet. No sounds. No bumps. Nothing. Shortly though the sounds began. As for the machines, they were all off. I checked them to be sure. My samples did not require that ANY machine be on during the entire process. But the building began to come alive with the sounds of machines clicking. Slowly at first. Then more and more as the weeks past.

My section of the lab had no windows (to protect against light or wind) and the work space counter required that I have my back to the only opening into the lab.On more than one occasion, I heard the sounds of someone pushing the carts we used to carry our supplies. I would hear it roll all the way down the hall and then stop right behind me. They had a very unique sound. The first time it happened, I thought another lab employee had come in. I wasn't even worried because it sounded so real. As I got ready to leave I saw that all of the rooms were dark, there was no one there. Just to be sure, the first time this happened, I checked with everyone the following Monday. No one had been in the lab. But they all told me that this happened to everyone there and it was like the building had its own energy, I am assuming residual. I seldom ever went in when it was quiet.

After a while I learned to expect the sounds of people working who were not actually there. I miss my weekend ghosts. It was so entertaining to hear them. It gave me the feeling that they were working away and I was in their time, not the other way around...

~ Poohshay ~