The Dead Guy

Ghosts come in all shapes and sizes. Some emit positive energy others more negative. I am drawn to stories about darker energies. This might be because these stories are not as common.

Dr. Rita Louise in her book entitled, Dark Angels talks about various, angels, entities, and ghosts she has encountered in her life.

One such encounter happened while she was still a child. Her family of 10, including seven siblings, lived in an old Victorian house built in 1898.

This drafty house had four floors, including a basement. This basement was the one space in the home that Louise was always uncomfortable in.

The family all agreed that a ghost resided in the basement. They dubbed this dark energy the “dead guy.” But other than naming it, they never talked about it.

Louise frightened, avoided going down into the basement. 

But the family’s extra refrigerator and freezer were kept in this dark, dusty room so if she happened to be in the kitchen when her mother was preparing a family meal, she often was the one volunteered by her older siblings to go down and fetch a needed item.

The author recounts her mad dashes to turn on lights and rush around corners to retrieve the needed item. 

She then would race back upstairs to get through the basement door before it slammed shut.

Unfortunately, this door often mysteriously locked behind her, leaving her in the basement for extra minutes, as she pounded on it to escape to the safety of the kitchen.

Then there was the dreaded evil laugh she would hear behind her as she tried to pry the door open. 

This scary scenario played over and over each time she was sent to the basement.

Her mother was the only one in the family that the dead guy never seemed to faze. 

She would spend hours in the basement doing laundry. Louise would see the dead guy standing near where her mother hung the clothes to dry—but her mother appeared to be able to ignore his presence.

Years later, at a family reunion, the siblings finally openly talked about their own encounters with this ghost. They all agreed he lurked near where their mother always hung the clothes. 

Their descriptions of what he looked like always matched.