The Messengers

A few days ago Kenny and I saw the movie ‘The Messengers’.   I wanted to see it back in 2007, but I was pregnant with Kareena at the time.  When I was pregnant I didn’t want to see any horror movies that had to do with spirits or ghosts.  There’s this old wives tale that when one is pregnant they are more likely to see ghosts - or the chances of being able to see one is higher.  I don’t know if I believe that, but I’d rather not find out. 

The movie reminds me of an incident that happened when I was younger.  If you get spooked easily, you should stop reading.  I was 12 and home alone, waiting for one of my dad’s employees to pick me up and take me to his video store.  I was watching tv on the couch in the living room and I started to hear a whizzing sound coming from the kitchen behind me.  I turned around to see what it was and I saw my younger brother’s remote control car coming towards the couch from inside the kitchen.  It stopped right next to the couch I was sitting on.  I knew the remote control for that car was on the coffee table and I was completely freaked out.  I instantly felt goosebumps all over my body and ran out of the house.  I waited for my ride out on the street.  Even though I didn’t see a ghost, I certainly felt something was there.  I was terrrified.  I told my parents about it when I got to the store.  They tried to calm me down by explaining to me how sometimes small electronics or radio frequencies would go bizerk and do funny things. 

When we got home that night, the car was still next to the couch.  We checked the car and the remote control and found out there weren’t any batteries in either of them.  I had goosebumps all over my body again.  My parents didn’t say anything and we all left it at that.  A few months went by and nothing of that sort happened again.  Then one day when I was talking to a neighbor, I found out something about our house.  Apparently, a few years back a little boy had died at the house.  His parents had gone on vacation and left him with a babysitter.  The babysitter robbed the house and took off, leaving the boy in the house by himself.  Then somehow his body was found in the pool.  I told my parents what the neighbor had told me.  Again, they didn’t say anything and told me to stop thinking about it.  A few months later we moved out.  I was so relieved.  I forgot to mention that during that time (late 80’s), “touch” lamps were cool.  We had one of those where it turns on when you tap it and the level of brightness goes higher as you tap it more.  Well, that lamp would turn on and get brighter all on its own without us tapping on it. 

After we moved out, my mom revealed what she saw.  She said she didn’t tell me because she didn’t want to frighten me even more.  Before my incident and before I found out about the boy’s death, she had seen his ghost.  She was woken up one night by noises and went to check on us.  Our door was open and from the hallway she saw the figure of a child holding onto the rail of the bunkbed that my sister and I slept in.  She called out for my dad and it disappeared.

I never found out if the boy was murdered or if it was an accidental death.  Either way, he was back.  I do believe in ghosts and I believe that they come back for unfinished business.  Maybe they just want us to know what happened to them.  I’m just thankful that our experience wasn’t a violent one.