Friday, February 1, 2013

Charlie-The Barn Ghost


I don't remember having an imaginary friend. According to my parents I went one better and created an imaginary family who lived across the street. Apparently the biggest difference between the two families was that in the home across the street I was an only child.

Hmm ...

Still, considering I was a shy child who loved reading, and who constantly created fantasy worlds and wild scenarios that kept me entertained for weeks on end, you'd think I'd have had at least one really good quality imaginary friend when I was little.

Everything changed my nineteenth summer. That's when a few people, people who have known me nearly my entire life, accused me of imaginary friendship.

I was falsely accused. I have witnesses.

I lived in an apartment tucked into the back of a working barn owned by some very dear friends. I enjoyed the situation, but ... well weird things were happening, mostly my stereo turning itself on and off whenever it wanted. Mildly freaked out, I reported this to the barn owners. They came to the conclusion that I was either A) letting my admittedly overactive imagination get the better of me, or b) my stereo had an electrical short. 

A few weeks later L.A. and Leontien moved in, and all sorts of weirdness started.

We lost a few things, well, many things actually: books we were reading, jeans, videos we needed to return, an entire jar of coins, polo wraps, barn equipment, blankets, important documents. Leontien, the most level headed of the three, swore she saw a set of keys bounce from one peg to another, and one night she and I both swore we heard doors opening and closing. This was more than things getting misplaced. Sometimes we'd have the item set it down for a second turn around, and ... Poof! Some of the items turned up again, though in strange places or in places we'd looked about a hundred times. Some are still missing. It was aggravating.

It didn't take us long to decide we were living with a ghost. A friend dubbed him Charlie and the name stuck.

Through it all, the barn owners swore there was no such thing as ghosts, though watching them come up with a reasonable explanation for some of the incidents was interesting.

Summer passed, the three of us went our separate ways (though we remained close) and Charlie's antics died down though they didn't go away entirely.

Barn Ghost Charlie is, for the most part, benign. He got mad at L.A. once when she came to visit and threw my remote at her, I figure everyone, even ghosts, are entitled to an occasional temper tantrum. We've come to the conclusion he lives in the he lives in the hayloft. His kleptomaniac tendencies haven't changed, I keep waiting to stumble across his stash of goodies while I de-cobwebbing the barn. He's also moved onto pranks which I can only assume amuse him. Playing with light switches, turning hoses on, destroying a few coffee pots, causing a couple of computer crashes, and moving buckets and pitchforks. He still likes music and seems to get a kick out of scrolling through and listening to the music stored on my cell phone.The barn owners have half-heartedly started to accept the presence of Charlie after he spent an entire winter filling their coat pockets with grain (sometimes a logical explanation can't be reached, though she gave it a darn good try).

Leontien, Magic, and me-Spring 2012
Although  a bit irritating, Charlie is a lot like some the critters around this place. The ones who are special and who will live here their entire lives (and maybe longer). Full of personality, exasperatingly quirky, and a member of a weird family.

And by the way, L.A., Leontien, and I remained close and often discussed Charlie. None of us have ever had anything odd happen to us when we weren't at the barn. Well ... at least not inexplicably odd. :)

Posted as part of the Imaginary Friends blog hop. It seemed like an appropriate time to talk about Charlie.

22 comments:

  1. I'm not sure I could handle living with Charlie! Thanks for taking part :-)

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  2. Fabulous post! I agree with Annalisa, living with Charlie must have been hard!

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    1. Interesting, amusing, and occasionally exasperating. Thanks for stopping by :)

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  3. I would rather have an imaginary friend living with me than a real ghost. :)

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    1. There's pros and cons to both :) Over the years, I've grown quite fond of Charlie.

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  4. this is an awesome post! I have lived with a ghost that wasn't benign. I'd way rather have a Charlie. Honestly, my family has the problem of inexplicably putting something down, searching for it a million times, and then finding it somewhere totally obvious--like lying in the middle of a bed or table. I once lost my credit card for two weeks, finally called and cancelled it and, within a minute of making the call, stuck my hand in my jacket pocket (the same jacket i'd worn every day for two weeks) and, lo and behold, there was my credit card. I can't decide if it's fairies or a ghost...but it's something. haha

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    1. I've had similar issues. Sadly, I can't blame all of my missing items on Charlie. Some things I've lost on my own. It's when they show up in places I know I've looked a 100 times when I know I had a little ghost pick pocket.

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  5. Well I'm glad you seem to get on well together now! I'm bad enough at losing stuff without a ghost. :)

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    1. In all fairness, some of the missing items have been my own fault :)

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  6. I can't believe you guys kept on staying there. I would probably have run screaming after the first few incidents. Thank you so much for visiting my blog.

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    1. We're farm kids and made of tough stuff, a few ghostly escapades aren't going to scare us. Spiders now ... that's a totally different story. Thanks for stopping by.

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  7. What a fascinating experience. One of my cats visited once as a ghost, but otherwise I haven't encountered any.

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    1. I'm so glad you got to visit with your cat one last time.

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  8. He never did give me back my polo wrap...

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  9. He never did give me back my polo wrap...

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  11. He never did give me back my polo wrap...

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    1. I know, and that was one of the weirdest ways something has disappeared. I can't figure out how he managed to sneak it out of the cart without you noticing. I estimate he's squirreled away about 25% of the items he's "borrowed". Someday I will find his stash. =)

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  12. I lived in an old house where my stereo and tv would turn off and on too. We named our ghost 'Eric'. I figure any spectre obsessed with the telly and sterio controls must be a bloke.

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  13. I lived in an old house where my stereo and tv would turn off and on too. We named our ghost 'Eric'. I figure any spectre obsessed with the telly and sterio controls must be a bloke.

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