I was in the kitchen having been sent to dry the dishes so Mum and Gran could sort out Gran’s affairs at Grandpa’s antique desk. It was a completely unremarkable day, in total contrast to the weeks prior.

Now, to explain this fully, I have to give a layout of their house. They rarely used the front door. They always came in through the breezeway that connected the house and the garage. From the breezeway, we all went into one door that led to two more doors – one to the basement and one to the kitchen.

On that particular day, all doors were closed. As I was standing by the sink, diagonally across from the kitchen door that led to the breezeway, I heard the door open. I paused, went over and shut the door. I returned to my drying up and the door opened again.  Once more, I went and shut the door and returned to the sink, keeping an eye one the door. For a third time the door opened. This time I spoke forcefully as I crossed the room, “Grandpa, you’re scaring me”. The door never opened again.

Grandpa had died suddenly, two weeks earlier, in their home, after returning late from a town council meeting. The night he died, he showed up at the home of his remaining childhood friend. He also phoned Mum but all she could hear was a garbled message. A week later, he turned up at our flat at the foot of Mum’s bed.

Now I wonder if he was coming back into his own house the first time only to leave the second time and was he returning the third time. Or, was he trying to enter each time; did I stop him from coming home. Was he still trying to get his message through to us? Or was it just a set of atmospheric conditions that kept causing the door to open until I applied enough pressure to shut it securely.

Image by Rusty Boxcars via Flickr

See also: http://socyberty.com/paranormal/the-lady-ghost-of-manotick-mill/

http://socyberty.com/folklore/on-the-trail-of-ghosts-goblins-and-things-that-go-bump-in-the-night/

http://authspot.com/short-stories/the-empty-room-next-door/