Just Slightly Inexplicable 10/31/2021

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

I don’t like being afraid.  I know it is the time of year for such things and many people seem to revel in it but no, I do not like being afraid.  Apparently there are people who pay a great deal of money to enjoy amazingly elaborate attractions at this time of year for the sole purpose of being scared out of their wits. I cannot say I get that. I don’t mind a bit of suspense but horror, especially when the gore is laid on thick, no, things of that nature are not remotely my cup of tea. But, since we are at the time of year in which a tale of the mysterious or even supernatural seems seasonally appropriate I thought I might expound upon a few occasions where I have been left scratching my head or in which my pulse elevated.  If this isn’t something you find of interest feel free to wait until next week. I shan’t hold it against you in the least.

I suppose I can start with the most recent occurrence for which, despite the best efforts of friends, family and myself, I cannot seem to give an adequate explanation. It starts with the fact that my home has a doorbell camera that usually tells me nothing more than when my husband is mowing the front lawn or the fact that I clearly have an online shopping fetish due to the frequency of deliveries left.  Well earlier this week the app on my phone that is connected to said camera notified me of motion at the front door. I didn’t think much of it, I figured it was my trusty friend the delivery man. For whatever reason, I felt inspired to look at the footage that was recorded from when said motion was detected.  What I saw was unexpected to say the very least.

Now, I do love a good ghost story. I will even admit to the guilty pleasure of watching ghost hunting television shows which are usually nothing more than a compilation of grainy photos that don’t show anything, garbled recordings that don’t sound like anything and terribly overdramatic acting.  I am not even entirely certain I can in fact explain to you why I like such shows but, I do.  Well, in looking at what was recorded on my porch I saw the strange things similar to those I have seen on many of those shows.  On the stone side wall of the alcove that is my front porch, shadows were, well, inexplicable. In the bright sun they formed into bent over human-like figures, then disintegrated into smoke only to reassemble into more figures. This went on for a while with what looks like several people made of smoke that would form and dissipate. Now there could not have been people making these shadows for several reasons. Reason one is that a person would have to be floating 4 to 5 feet off the ground to make such shadows. I do live in a rural area but as of yet I have not come across any flying neighbors. The second reason that people couldn’t make this shadows is that not only do I not know flying people in these parts, but I also do not know of any of the population that is made of wisps of cloud or smoke that take shape and then vaporize into nothingness. Those who have seen these shadows suggest perhaps it was simply the dance of wind-blown trees. This seemed feasible to me until I realized that once the strangeness was gone, it was just that, gone.  So unless these trees up and left their rooted location I cannot see how their shadows would suddenly just cease to be.  So there you have the mysterious shadows of my front porch. They have yet to be explained.  I appreciated their appearance at this time of year for ambience. Perhaps I should ask my black cat about them. He may be in the know.

The only other tale that comes to mind is a brief one, lucky for you as I have rambled a great deal already.  When in my beloved Great Smoky Mountains we stopped at an old cemetery.  I, of course am drawn to the oldest headstones. Over in a corner were smaller stones adorned with lambs; the children.  It was the memorial to someone’s daughter that I believe was born in 1876 and died in 1877 that drew my eye. Not because of the sad tale that was obviously there to be told but the fact that this grave was breathing.  Yes, I said breathing.  The earth beneath the darkened stone where burial would have taken place was slowly and slightly rising up and down.  I called over my family and they all saw it in case you doubted my sanity. Can I explain such a haunting sight? No. Is there an explanation that is logical? Perhaps there was a mole of some sort doing strange activities beneath the ground’s surface?  That is the best I can surmise that has any ring of rationale to it. I can assure you of this though, I shall not soon forget it.

So there we have my ridiculously minimal contribution to the spirit of the season. I know it wasn’t much and probably just barely by way chilling.  I suppose if I have pulled off a mildly eerie or a somewhat mysterious then I have accomplished the best I could hope for.  I hope you have enjoyed reading these as we rush to the end of this year and that your season is as spooky as you would like it to be whether that be not in the least or very much so with spider webs and blood strewn about. (Again, I really, really don’t get that but…to each their own.)  Now if you will excuse me, I am going to go enjoy probably my favorite bits of this holiday. I have a viable excuse for excessive chocolate consumption paired with black cat cuddles.  Nothing too disconcerting here, unless those porch shadows expect me to share.