A Haunted New Year

My in-laws live in a two hundred year old brick farm house on thirteen acres in rural Ohio.  It is a fascinating structure that includes a summer kitchen that sits catty-cornered from the back door as well as a large deteriorating barn connected to it by a brick path.  The side of the house opposite the barn nestles into a forested area that my son and I have thoroughly explored over his twelve years of life.

I won't lie.  It can be creepy at times with its low door frames that I have to duck my head to walk under or the old slatted wood floors that creak as well as brick walls with odd holes and crevices.  I've oftentimes wondered about its history or gotten shivers when ascending the steep attic stairs or descending the equally steep basement ones.  So that is the set up for my experience yesterday during a New Year's Day visit.

The extended family was all down in the living room sharing memories and laughing at stories I'd heard multiple times before when I pealed off to go to the bathroom.  I chose to use the one upstairs for privacy and made my way up those steep creaky steps.  The bathroom was down a hallway to the right, but straight ahead farther down the hall was Jennifer's old room.  The door to that room was slightly ajar and when I turned to head towards the bathroom my brain registered that a large life-like doll was sitting there in a small rocking chair with a baby in its arms, a shawl drooped around her shoulders.

As soon as I stepped off towards the bathroom a step or two the peculiarity of such a possibility struck me and the glimpsed image in my mind suddenly became an unnerving one.  I stopped in my tracks and felt a chill run down my spine.  I walked back to where the hallway turned and approached Jennifer's old room.  When I reached the door the "doll" raised her head to look at me and I realized it was Anya who had stolen away from the group and come up here to sit in a kid-sized rocking chair to rock her swaddled baby reindeer (Sven from "Frozen") that she'd just gotten for Christmas.  The shawl had come from an old trunk in the room.

I later laughed about it with Anya and Elias because it mimicked the scenario from a Goose Bumps episode about "Lilly D", a life-sized doll that comes to life and terrorizes a family.  I had Anya pose for the photograph to picture what I'd glimpsed while rounding that corner to visit the bathroom on New Year's Day.

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