Strange things in an old Victorian house do not usually get to me. Being an electronic engineer with deep expertise in computers and networking, I am not prone to believe in anything supernatural. My whole career is built on logic, facts, circuits, and solving problems with a nice clean root cause. But every once in a while life likes to remind me that logic might need a coffee refill before catching up.
Yesterday was one of those days.
It started like any normal morning. I woke up, wandered downstairs, grabbed my cup of coffee, and headed to my computer to start the job hunt on LinkedIn just like I do every single morning. Then the dryer kicked on all by itself. Keep in mind this is not a normal dryer. This is a leftover industrial coin operated machine from back when the house was a fraternity. We keep it because it is built like a brick wall and refuses to die. It is not the first time it has randomly started. I keep telling myself the moisture sensor is going bad, but it still makes you stop and stare into the hallway like you are waiting for a ghost to appear with exact change.
Later, when I went downstairs to make breakfast, I heard scratching under the cabinets. Naturally I assumed mouse. Normally that sound would set our four chihuahuas into a barking rage that could be heard from space, but this time they did nothing. Not even an ear twitch. That alone might be the most suspicious part of the entire day.
Then late that night I came downstairs to find the living room lights turned on and dimmed. These are Hue smart lights, voice operated and tied into the system. Considering I had been upstairs on the computer most of the day, I would have heard someone messing with them. So I chalked it up to a random glitch. Smart home life has trained me well.
Then came the guest room. I walked past it like I had done all day and noticed the light was on. No one had been in that room. All day. I opened the door, checked the room, and turned the light off. The switch is manual, not automated. I stood there for a minute thinking about how many times I had walked by that room without the light on. Small strange events, nothing huge, but enough that they hang around in the back of your mind like someone whispering “Hey, you sure about your reality today?”
This morning finally pushed it over the top.
I grabbed my coffee, sat at my computer, logged in like always, and was immediately greeted with “Monastic Gregorian Chant for Holy Stillness.” This is not something I have ever listened to. Not even by accident. And I live in a 200 year old Queen Anne Victorian house. The walls creak, the doors sigh, and every hallway looks like it is hiding a story.
Look, I am not saying the house is haunted. I am just saying that if something is trying to get my attention, I hope it is trying to tell me that my long search for a job is about to pay off and not that I am about to experience an Abraham from the Bible level event.
If a glowing figure shows up, I am going to need it to open with “Relax, I have good news.”
