Tell Me It's Just Casper?!

So I know I'm not crazy (although a few of you might disagree) but seriously, do ghosts and spirits really exist? Well, if you asked me that question last night, around say, 4:30am, the answer would have to be a definite, YES, YES, YES!

So here is the story:

I was sound asleep when I casually heard some noise coming from the hallway outside our bedroom. I was dreary, and attributed the noise to our flatmate, Marcella, walking around the hallway. But after a short while, I was fully conscious and asked myself, what is Marcella doing? The noise that I heard was this popping sound, like those fireworks that you throw on the ground, or like electric sparks, and they were moving up and down the hallway getting louder as they came closer to our door and softer as they went down the hallway towards the living room. Well, I didn't think to much of them, but they then woke Keith up after a few moments and dashed out of the bed opening the bedroom door into the hallway, looking to see what the popping noise was. Well, there was nothing in the hallway, and Marcella had not been awake. So quickly, Keith went into the bathroom, that's connected to our room, and as soon as he closed the bathroom door, I heard the popping noise right outside our bedroom window, on the stairs that lead down to our garden flat. The Sound Had Moved! (Can I just tell you that as I remember the night, I have goosebumps and my heart is racing) The popping noise slowly migrated up the stairs outside out bedroom window and I heard the noise start to make its way down the street. Loud at first, then slowly, the noise would gradually get softer, as if "it" was walking away from the flat. Keith was in bed by now, and looked to be sound asleep, not noticing the sound moving away from the flat. I, on the otherhand, was stone cold scared. Something wasn't right, This sound was literally moving, it was in OUR flat and then went up our stairs and then down the street. I lied in bed not moving a muscle, thinking that if I moved the noise would come back. And sure enough, I heard the popping sounds start to get louder, like they were coming towards the flat. They weren't in any kind of rhythm, they were random, sometimes 2 pops, sometimes a group of 5 or 6 pops, but they were getting closer. For what seemed like a lifetime, the popping noise moved up and down the street, and at one point they were right outside the flat again, until they finally got distant and then went away. The entire, say 30minutes this look place, I was saying to myself, 'that's a freaking ghost' 'go away' ' please go away' 'I hope it can't read my thoughts' 'can it hurt me' 'were is the sun, ghost don't come out in the daylight' 'I need garlic' ...a million things raced through my mind.

No, I didn't go back to bed (would you?) I wasn't certain if the noise was gone for good, and WAY too frightened to sleep. Keith woke up to me wide awake, and as soon a he opened his eyes, I told him my ghost theory for what had happened last night. He didn't seem surprised, and said he too heard the noise moving up and down the street (see people, not crazy) but he just thought it was some kids...I said, HELLO, kids would be laughing, and HELLO, kids were not in our hallway. Then Keith said it was probably some animal, again, HELLO, no animal in our hallway...he went to work, leaving me doing research on the Internet about spirits and ghosts.

I found nothing regarding ghosts and spirits making popping noises, but I did email a 'paranormal expert' asking him about the noise that I heard. My theory: I think that it was some kind of electrical current that the spirit produced that made the popping noise..I don't think that is that far fetched?...um, were talking about the 'undead people!'

Also, I'm just going to throw this in...I have crazy good hearing and know what I heard. My mother has told me for years that I can literally hear a pin drop. Also, my most fear, ever since I was a child, is being visited by a ghost. I used to imagine ghosts in my room at night and lying in my bed for hours sweating, scared, not moving because I thought a ghost was visiting me, and when I got the courage, I would go into my parents room and sleep on the floor, feeling protected..but sometimes that didn't even work. And finally, no, this isn't the first 'ghost' run-in that I've had (remember, I'm not crazy)

About 5 years ago, I was living by myself in an apartment in Chicago, when I was woken up by a loud banging on my frond door (I lived on the third floor) Elsa, always one to greet a visitor, sat, un-normally, on the end of my bed and growled. I got out of bed, thinking it was some drunk neighbor or something, peered out of the peep hole to see nothing. As I walked back to the bedroom, there in the hallway, was a picture and the frame I had of Elsa lying on the floor. Ok, so it wasn't just lying there, it had been taken apart and lined up in a row...back of the frame, picture of Elsa, glass, then frame..all perfectly lined up in a row (ok, I'm getting goose bumbs again) and what made things any weirder (like they could be) was that the picture was suppose to be two rooms away, in the living room...so "magically" it appeared to have floated into the hallway, and taken apart and lined up?!?!?! I FREAKED!!!!

I turned all lights on and got Elsa and got in my car and drove to my parents house, at like 4am.

After a few days, and some Internet research, I learned it was a 'poltergeist' aka, Polish for a loud ghost, someone who likes the living to know they are present, and likes to play games (not fun games to the living world, if you ask me) So I got some garlic, a cross and went home and told the ghost in a loud and firm voice, while holding the garlic, that "I understand you want to be here, and i know you won't hurt me, but you can't live here, and I banish you from my home."(that's what the web site told me to do, I didn't come up with that on my own) Dude, THEN THE LIGHTS FLICKERED!!! NO JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I took that as the ghost left, and for a few nights I didn't sleep, but never heard from my 'friendly' Casper again.

"They" say ghost don't follow you, so I don't think I have a ghost stalker. But given that I am living in a really, really old city, the likely hood of a ghost is probably very high.

Maybe it was my grandmother checking in on me and taking a stroll through the city, or maybe it was the King of Pop (get it pop, popping noise...ok, really bad joke) or maybe I am crazy?! I kind of hope I am crazy, and this never happens again.

Pictures of where I heard the 'popping'

1.Our flat, you walk down the steps to get into our flat. This is our buliding and street.

2. Our bedroom. Outside those windows are the stairs to get up and down to the front door.

3.The long hallway going into the living/kitchen/patio area. First door on the right is our bedroom. Im taking the picture from our front door.

4. The stairs going down to our flat. Thats our bedroom window and throught that gate is the front door.