Pseudotherapy

Do you believe in ghosts? If you don’t, what do you think of people who swear they’ve seen one?

My office is separated from the rest of our office building by a large, secure file room. You can’t get to my office without threading your way through the file room, unless you go outside the building and come around back to my exterior door. You can’t get into the file room unless you are a keyholder, and besides myself there are only four other keyholders. The file room door is kept locked ? even when you unlock it, it reverts back to locked status as soon as the key is removed ? and the lock is a noisy one. Plus, the file room lights are?always off unless?myself or someone else is in there looking for a file, and as soon as that door is opened, light from the hallway pours into the room. My desk faces a window into the file room. It’s impossible for anyone to enter that room without me noticing, unless I am not in my office. Even if I’m not paying attention, the change in lighting alerts me. This is all intentional, by the way.

A couple of weeks ago, I began to see a shape in the file room when no one is in there. Not all the time, just now and then. I would catch movement out of the corner of my eye, glance up and briefly see a dark shape hovering at the end of a row about six feet away from my window. As soon as I looked directly at it, it would slide quickly out of sight behind that row of file shelves. I’d jump up and run in there to see if there was a unauthorized intruder, but the file room was always empty. I admit to being a bit freaked out at first.

After a few days, I noticed it seemed attacted to the lavender pseudocandle I recently placed on the study table in the file room. It’s one of those scented wax pillars with a flickering light bulb in the middle of it. I put it there for two purposes: to eliminate the musty smell exuded by 5,000 folders full of old papers, and because, framed as it is by my bamboo plant, it creates a visual zen moment for me whenever I look toward my window (the study table is right on the other side of my window). The light it gives off is negligible ? even with all the lights off, it doesn’t cast shadows. The mysterious shape has only manifested since I purchased the pseudocandle, and always appears in the same vicinity, even when the fake candle light is turned off. Perhaps it’s drawn to the scent.

Last Friday, I decided to say something. I went into the dark file room and said, “Hello, Hidden One. You are welcome here. Thank you for allowing us to use this space for our precious files. I hope you’re enjoying the candle.” The next time I noticed the shape hovering and looked directly at it, it stayed in place long enough for me to get a clear look at it. Dark grey and somewhat transparent, it’s roughly shaped like a small oval sitting atop a large oval ? which explains why the first several times I saw it, I thought someone was standing there. No features at all, just a gray shadow.

By now, we’ve become accustomed to each other. I speak to the entity (which I believe it to be) when I pass through the file room. It has ceased sliding away as soon as I look directly at it, and often stays visible for several minutes (it is right now). I’ve asked it to turn off the pseudocandle (as evidence of its existence) and to somehow convey its name to me, but neither has occurred. However, it did rattle my door Friday. The last thing I do before leaving every day is to close and lock the door between the file room and my office, then exit my office through the back door into the rear parking lot. Friday evening, I shut the locked door as usual, then gathered my belongings to leave. There was a thump on the door and the door handle rattled. I assumed one of the other keyholders was trying to intercept me before?I left, so I unlocked the door and opened it. There was no one there. I walked through the file room to the door into the hallway. No one. I said goodnight, and left. Was the shadow simply saying goodnight, or perhaps protesting?my turning off the lavender pseudocandle?

To me, the most mysterious thing about this manifestation is, who or what is was it? This is not an old building. No one has died here. The file room was the president’s office for the business which previously occupied?this building?(my office was his library, and that’s why I have my own restroom and exterior door). He’s not dead, just retired with his millions. The only explanation I can come up with is the entity is somehow tied to the location, not the building. Perhaps it lived in a building that once stood here, or maybe its connection is to the land itself. Hauntings by the spirits of long-dead Native Americans are not uncommon in this area. I once worked with a woman who had to have the angry spirit of a prehistoric native exorcised from her new townhouse because?he was pulling her daughter’s hair. I’m thankful my?shadowy companion?is congenial.

Tonight, I’m leaving a pencil and paper on the study desk.

Tags: ghost, haunted, spirit

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 1:40 pm and is filed under Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.