Right Behind You
When ghosts got your back.
You know that unshakeable feeling we all get from time to time that someone is right behind us? So we turn around, only to see that no one is there… Well, I bet someone was there. Is there. Because we are never really alone.
We all have ghosts—those of our family, friends, maybe even strangers we picked up along the way who stick to our presently living soul, guiding and observing. They follow us, whispering in our ears, tapping our shoulders, giving us that sensation of “being watched” while influencing us in ways we may not always pick up on. And no one can convince me otherwise.
A while back, I felt a sudden and strong urge to deep-clean the bathroom before leaving for work that day. I had been busy and severely neglected this chore, knowing that no one but me used this bathroom so it was fine at the moment. But I caved to the urge, deep-cleaned, and later that day a family member reached out and asked to come use my shower because their hot water wasn’t working. And I get it—I don’t want to take a cold shower either, and I like to think one of my own ghostly companions influenced my spur-of-the-moment cleaning to prepare me for an unexpected guest.
To offer up another personal anecdote, one of my small nephews nearly took a tumble down a set of basement stairs some years back. At the moment before the fall, however, the basement door swiftly shut entirely on its own. Was this the result of a strong and coincidentally targeted draft? Or a protective ghost looking our for the little one? I know where I stand.
I could go on and on with such circumstances: feeling compelled to call out of work and learning that the evil district manner came by that day, or leaving the house late and narrowly missing a car crash. Moreover, if in need of further reassurance for the presumed ghostly interventions at hand, I can reflect upon the mere fact that humans have believed in such phenomena for thousands of years.
In Ancient Rome, ancestor spirits known as lares familiares were believed to reside alongside us as guardians. In the British Isles, a whole host of spirits—human and inhuman—were believed to be present in the home as well. In fact, such ghosts are present in nearly every culture across space and time, many of which require offerings of food, drink, and words of praise to ensure their continued assistance and protection against misfortune. It makes me wonder what more I should be doing for my own ghosts…
While some may be uncomfortable with the idea of a phantom entourage, I happily welcome it, and I hope everyone reading this does as well. Who knows what other mishaps or embarrassments I have dodged thanks to them. (Seriously, time to go tell mine thank you and offer up some treats!)
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I’m convinced that spirits are all around us, even the ones that we create by our belief in them. I’ll never forget being on a random residential case paranormal investigation and feeling something negative wrapping around my body during an Estes method before my late best friend said his name over the spirit box snapping me out of the trance I go into during the Estes Method.
Or the time I gave a ghost tour and noticed the light behind my guests on the tour flickered every time I said a particular spirits name and only when I said that name. I let it happen five times before I pointed it out and was met with everyone on the tour saying the lights behind me did it too. We think he was there listening and gave us approval.
Or even the time I got to sit in on an investigation with the Newkirks during a strange escape event that tour company was a part of and as we wrapped up for the night, the lights turned on just as Greg stood up saying that we were done. My boss walked that room the next day after I told him and the lights came on so he thought motion sensor. But when we both looked… nothing an no lights came on.