February 2, 2011
Matthew's Returning Spirit
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Rich - Grand Prairie, Texas - 2000
I decided to write a story about what happened at my former roommate David's
house. All the names of the people found in this story have been changed to
protect their real identities. Before I tell you about my three encounters
with the ghost, I need to give you some background information.
In 1992 David, my former roommate, had a roommate named Matthew who died at
his house. Matthew just collapsed in the hallway leading to David's bedroom.
David thinks that Matthew had been trying to get to him for help. When David
heard him fall, he ran to see what had happened. David called 911, but it
was too late. A few days after Matthew died, David was sleeping and felt
something touching him on the top of his head as if to try and wake him up.
When David opened his eyes, he was startled to see Matthew slowly walking
out of the bedroom. David jumped out of bed and ran into the hall to look
for him, but Matthew was gone. David hasn't seen him again.
I moved in with David in 1998. David never mentioned Matthew or what
happened in the house. About two years later I adopted a puppy. One night
shortly thereafter David woke me up in the middle of the night saying that
Buffy, my puppy, was crying and wanted out of her kennel. As this all
happened long before I got my ear implant, of course, I couldn't hear her,
but she was keeping David awake. I went into the room where the dog kennels
were, David also had two dogs, and Buffy calmed down. Because I wanted Buffy
to get used to sleeping in her kennel, I decided that instead of letting her
out that I would just sleep on the floor next to her. So, I turned on the
ceiling fan light, and got my pillow and blanket and laid down next to the
kennel. As I was petting Buffy, I noticed her turning to look up at the
light. Before I could turn to look up, the light went out! This surprised me
a little, but even though Buffy continued to look at the light, I decided
not to think about it. I closed my eyes and stayed there with her until I
fell asleep. When I woke up in the morning, I checked the light and it
worked fine then. Later that day I told David what had happened. He was kind
of surprised about this, and told me about Matthew, how he had died in the
house, about him waking him up, and that he used to complain about the
electronic bills and would go around the house turning off the lights. I
realized then that Matthew was still in the house!
About two years after I first encountered Matthew, David had gone to visit
some friends in Houston and I invited my friend Bobby over for dinner and
movie. I hadn't told Bobby about Matthew because I didn't want him to think
I was crazy or making it up. While we were watching the movie Bobby jumped
and asked if there was somebody else in the house. I said no, that David was
in Houston. Bobby looked worried and said that he just heard a door slam and
pointed in the direction of the staircase. I thought that maybe someone had
gotten into the garage. I didn't immediately think of Matthew it had been
two years since I had encountered him, and because I hadn't told him about
my first encounter. I opened the door, turned the light on and didn't see
anything out of the order. Bobby then said the sound didn't come from the
garage it came the hallway behind the stairs. This is the hallway to David's
bedroom where Matthew died. The next day I got an email from David, he told
me that the night before he got hit by a car while crossing the street.
David had to go to the hospital, but was okay, except for a really deep
bruise. Later that week David, Bobby, and I were talking about the accident,
and Bobby asked David what time his accident was. David said that it was at
10:30. Bobby said that was the time that he heard the door slam. We think
that was Matthew trying to tell us to warn David.
Matthew's third appearance happened again when David was on vacation. I had
dropped David at the airport and then went back home, ate dinner, and went
to bed. The next morning as I was walking around the house, I notice one of
the shutters was opened! This was extremely odd as David
always kept
the shutters closed, and I hadn't opened it. I assumed that one of the dogs
had either been chewing on it or had seen a cat and was trying to get at the
cat. So I walked over to look at the shutter and inspect the damage. When I
looked closely at the shutter, I couldn't see any teeth marks. I checked it
again and still couldn't find any damage. So I closed the shutter and
realized that it had a very stiff snap lock and that it would have been
impossible for one of the dogs to have opened it without leaving teeth
marks.
While writing all this down, I remembered Matthew's fourth and thus far
final appearance. One afternoon some while after the shutter episode, I was
sitting in the den watching TV, and all of the sudden all four of the dogs
(David's two and my two) perked up and watched "something" that I couldn't
see very slowly move from right to left across the room. This startled me as
the dogs were very intent about watching whatever it was, and because they
were looking up like they were looking at someone. Unlike David, I never
actually saw Matthew as a ghostly form or shape, but I did see and
experience evidence of him being in the house, and Bobby is adamant that he
heard the door slam. David hasn't mentioned anything about Matthew since I
moved to Allen, Texas. I think Matthew may have moved on, or only visits
David's house from time-to-time.