Since I was born I've been around ghosts, or spirits, or whatever you want to call them. When I was little I used to think that I could see Jesus, who I thought was the man I'd always see in my grammy's home, turning just around the corner as I chased after him. Like me, my mom is also a firm believer in the supernatural or paranormal, and she complains that I have seen or felt more than her. I told her that you have to have an open and welcoming mind. When I go somewhere that is known to have hauntings I generally clear my mind and invite non-malicious spirits to make contact with me, maybe that's why so much has happened.

~

My sister and I don't visit my dad's parents often. The house they live in sits in the middle of a swamp just outside of a run-down, small town. It's a little charming, if you're into that type of stuff, but mostly creepy. My nana said the house was built on top of Native American burial grounds, my question is why would she stay there then? Especially since there is always the sensation that you're being watched, inside or outside. You're always on edge there, in or out of the house, which is a two-story, and even though heat rises and there is a tin roof, the upstairs is always cold and eerie. Even my uncle, who doesn't believe in anything at all, feels a little wary up there. When I visit I always sleep downstairs, and never go anywhere without my sister. The house has a history of continuous hauntings, from which my nana's determined there are a few ghosts: a middle-aged man, an old woman, an old man (supposedly a Native American chief), a baby, and a few kids.

Before I was born, there were already a few "happenings".

The old man apparently doesn't like women, I've heard many stories of my nana or my aunts being pushed down the stairs, their hair being pulled, or bruises randomly appearing on their body. He also liked to yell and scream at them in frightening fits. Thankfully, my nana called for a cleansing, and that old man hasn't been seen or heard from since.

There have also been many reports of things being lost, and then magically turning up in plain sight, things like: cameras, toys, little knickknacks, etc. Pictures have been knocked off walls no one is near, lights turn on and off, footsteps can be heard up and down the stairs. I've heard it at night, it's slow and scary, like someone is dragging their feet.

All of the grandchildren have been seen talking to and playing with no-one. This was when I was really little, so I don't remember that, but I can believe it.

My step-mom and step-cousin have both seen a little boy, once on the stairs and another on the edge of the woods. His clothes are torn and in tatters, and he has small cuts on his arms and legs that make it look like he'd been running through the woods. There might be another child, but no one's sure.

There's also an old woman that my nana says takes care of the children. She's normally in the kitchen. Once I was getting a lollipop from where my nana keeps them, and suddenly I felt lightheaded and like I was about to throw up. As soon as I moved away to sit down the feeling went away, but when I walked back over to the spot I was standing at I felt the feeling again. I kept walking back and forth from the spot until the feeling went away. My nana told me that when spirits touch us sometimes we get physically sick.

I was sitting at the table once coloring, and like in the back of my head I heard heavy boots thudding around in the front of the house, and a man talking far away. I got up to go look and see if my pa was home, but he wasn't, so it was only my nana, my sister, and I. I asked my nana if it was hunting season and she said no. I looked out the windows and no one was there.

Another time I was sitting on the couch across from my nana, who was in her recliner next to the lamp. Suddenly the light clicked off and she huffed a little, and said to turn the light back on. Immediately it came back on. This happens a lot.

Apparently someone else had taken a picture of a corner of a cell, and they could clear as day she an old man sitting there, sort of bent over.

We've gone on a few more tours but nothing notable has really happened. Whenever we do go though, I always draw spirits toward me, whether they have a faint presence or not. Maybe it's just my family, since one of my aunts on my dad's side can see and talk to spirits, and my nana is also very intuitive. I know that there is a middle aged man that is by my aunt's side almost all the time, but for some reason my nana doesn't like him and told him he is not allowed in her house. It sounds like something out of a book, something way too fake, but I don't know anymore. I just accept that I don't know anything about the afterlife. Sometimes if you ask questions or talk the lamp will react.

~

Those are little things, nothing ever big has happened to me. St. Augustine was mentioned before, and I can vouch that that place must be one of the most haunted in America.

My family has been visiting in St. Augustine for years, we love it so much. They have many ghost tours, I think we've been on almost all of them.

The famous St. Augustine lighthouse has quite a tale. One of the builders or workers or whatever had two daughters. They used to play with their friend in one of the mining carts they used to transport materials in. They'd slide along the tracks until it got closer to the sea where they'd stop it, but this time it didn't stop. All three of the girls tumbled into the water with the cart on top of them, only the friend survived. There is a park near the spot where they drowned, my great-grandmother used to take my mom there when she was little to play, and in one tree my great-grandmother would stop and tell my mom to wave to the little girl up there. Sometimes she would talk to her. One of these tours took us back there, and I was staring for a long time at the playset when a huge bright light, clear as day, flew past me. I was so freaked out I ran to my mom and started crying.

I don't know if it was the same tour or not, but we also went to the St. Augustine jail. It had just rained, so you could smell the urine soaked into the floor from hundreds of years ago, it was disgusting. We were looking into the cells, and a bench was squeezed in them for people to sit down. My uncle was with us and he started to tell me to sit down, then he suddenly pulled me up by my shirt and held me close. Thinking he was hugging me, I hugged him back, and he asked me what I was doing. Later I learned that he had felt something grab him from the back even though no one was behind him, and when he went home there was blood all over his hands, even though he found no cuts or scratches anywhere on him.