Bringing Back Sligo

Since we’re still in limbo waiting for orders to move to Singapore I thought I would write about something else that is in limbo and answer a question I get asked from time-to-time: Is Sligo haunted and have we had any “experiences?” The easy answer is “yes and no.” As far as I know, Marcus hasn’t had any experiences but keep in mind he’s an engineer and Dutch which makes him doubly pragmatic and logical. Both of our daughters claim to have experienced what they thought was the cat walking in their room only to turn and see nothing. The youngest also claims that things move in her room and there’s a ghost boy named “Gary or Larry or Peter” (now I really don’t believe her). She’s also the one most likely to crawl into bed with us in the middle of the night but whether it’s an 8-year-old imagination or something really going on, I don’t know. What I can say is that her room is the same room a previous resident slept in and had many experiences though I have never told her that (I’m all about being open and honest with the kids but the last thing I need is a child in my bed every night).

What I can tell you are my own experiences, some of which are more compelling than others. So, let’s get started. One of the first events that happened was the skeleton key to our front door went missing for a month or so. I found it eventually stuck in a mint julep cup on the mantle and while I or the children or even Marcus could have done it and forgot I’m not convinced it wasn’t the spirits. Also, please note, we don’t use our front door so missing the key for a while was not critical. In this same room where the key was eventually found is also the same room where electronics go off (always in the middle of the night which really gets the heart rate going). Now, the logical part of me thinks that this is bound to happen because the majority of the electronics are stored and charged in that room. The less logical side of me thinks “ghosts!”

For the most part, I rarely experience anything but for a period of time in the fall I was constantly seeing shadows or movement from the corner of my eye. One particularly startling moment was seeing a full body shadow just outside of the youngest’s bedroom. I have also had the same experience as the girls thinking the cat was in the room but finding nothing. Also, sitting on the couch in the living room I have a viewpoint of the small hallway outside of the half-bath. From the couch I would constantly see movement and even at times the feeling that someone was walking from the kitchen into the hallway. I feel as if my youngest daughter’s room and the area just outside of the half-bath have more energy than other spaces in the house.

One of the most compelling things to happen though involved the dog. As I was calling her to go out one night I was standing near the hallway to the half-bath. From the corner of my eye I saw a shadow fly across the space and at that exact moment, the dog came trotting through and looked directly at the spot where I had seen the shadow. For me, that exact moment solidified all I had thought I had been seeing and experiencing. There was also a strange moment when the cat was hissing towards the top of the stairs and behaving as if the dog had materialized and was about to pounce even though the dog was not there. She could have been on high-alert because she and the dog did not get along but it was weird nonetheless.

A few friends with more of a sixth sense have walked through the house and determined that the energy is calm. When we had C & C Paranormal come through (which you can read about here, here, and here) they spent time in the basement releasing the energy and now, when people stay down there, they claim to have had the best sleep of their lives. Whether that is all associated or not, I don’t know? There is a lot of “I don’t knows” when it comes to the question of whether the house is haunted or not. I do think there is an energy here but I do not think it is haunted in the way we typically think of such. We don’t have “broke-neck ladies” or vengeful spirits doing harm but given the age of the property and it’s experiences (i.e. as a small-pox hospital, a slave owned property, and the Civil War) it’s foolish to think there is nothing lingering.