Can children really see ghosts? This question has perturbed me ever since I came across a mother’s tale. Kids seeing ghosts is common in many places. The real horror skulks in the fact that even though your child can point a ghost in your room, you literally have no idea how to react to that. You stay there bewildered wondering what to make out of it.
Read one of those accounts of kids seeings ghosts below:
Kids Seeing Ghosts: Dead Men at the Door
A similar scenario of kids seeing ghosts had one of my aunts scared beyond limit. Her child was only 3 years old back then. They were travelling to our village, which is nothing but this unending sojourn into the darkness if you choose to visit at night. My uncle was with them too. All three of them were on their way when suddenly the clouds decided to let go. It began to rain profusely.
Back in those days, roads that led to our village weren’t properly built. Had they decided to continue their journey they would have got drenched beyond limit, and probably found themselves stuck in a swamp or something. So, they decided to play safe, and continue the rest of the journey in the morning.
There is this huge bridge that overlooks a ferocious river. Touching the bridge, numerous shops and little mud houses are lined up, and their stretch is enormous. It is a semi-village of sorts where people from nearby villages often come to shop. People there are really friendly and help you out whenever in need.
My uncle being one of those known regulars, had plenty of friends around. So, he struck a deal with one of his fellow acquaintances to stay the night, with hopes to continue the rest of the journey the next day.
The Ramshackle Hut
The hut he was directed to was kind of rickety. But since they had no choice, he thanked his friend with whatever little he could manage, then winked at his furious wife and kid beseeching them to adjust. It was only a matter of one night after all.
My aunt turned around to have a good look at the room. Where there was supposed to be a door, a curtain hung loosely. The window had bars but that was it. Luckily there was a tin roof with eaves that drained out the water away from the entrance and the window. So, the water couldn’t get in. There was no electricity there. A lantern lit poorly in the room. Apart from its futile effort to enlighten the mood of its visitors, an occasional lightning would flash up the sky, flaring the outside darkness for split seconds.
The kid jumped in the middle snuggling up to find comfort. While his parents took both sides. Soon the father began to snore. But the mother was having trouble sleeping. You couldn’t just blame the pitter-pattering of the rain that felt like bludgeons on her head, the whole place made her sick.
Soon, it seemed to grow awfully quiet around her, and she dozed off too in a matter of seconds.
Awakened
The clouds kept pouring their hearts out. The lightning carried out its usual chores. All of a sudden, my aunt felt in a distant dream, a child cry. She woke up almost immediately to find it was her own. She found him in a sitting position, shaking her asking:
“Who is that? Who is standing there?”
His hand was pointed towards the door. My aunt checked but there was nothing there. Terrified, she coaxed him to go to sleep. But he couldn’t be cajoled. He pointed his finger next towards the window.
“Who is that, mommy? There are two of them now.”
My aunt reassured once again, nothing there. She tried wheedling him again:
“There’s nobody there, go to sleep!”
But the lad kept crying, sometimes gawking at the door. It might have showed him figurines in those flashes.
The Soothing Drug
Amid all this my uncle snored, unperturbed by the usual wailings. He was used to hearing his child cry. You could only poke him in the belly so that he would stop snoring, and that was it.
It all came down to my poor aunt. She picked up the lantern in order to calm him down, and with unsure steps moved towards the door saying:
“See there’s no one here.”
With doubt in her eyes, she reached at the entrance and looked past the curtain. She lifted the lantern confirming as far as her eyes could see. Then she peaked towards the window. No one was there to her relief. She turned around to face her kid, adding once again.
“See, told you!”
Just then, the child pointed towards the window once again sobbing:
“There he is again!”
Terrified she turned around to check, found nothing, then in a matter of split seconds rushed towards the bed, slapping the child, forcing him to sleep.
The kid didn’t stop crying with the slap, of course, but whenever he tried to glance at the door again, she would forcibly put his head against her arms, hoping that the nightmare would get over.
She had lost the rest of her sleep. She waited patiently for the day to come, as those sobs became quiet around.
The Verdict
On asking the child what he was talking about the other day, it was discovered that he didn’t have the slightest clue. Also, since he was just a child, you couldn’t get much out of him without him losing his concentration to a game.
While there are tons of other instances where children talk to imaginary friends, the aforementioned ‘kids seeing ghosts’ story had piqued my interest quite a lot. While it could very well be that he was simply having hallucinations, or it could be a result of watching too many horror movies. It’s hard to put a finger on it.
If you have some “kids seeing ghosts” stories with you, I would love to hear them in the comments.