Ghosts and Cocktails

In my opinion, the best ghost stories always come out at gatherings.  The lights are dim and everyone has had a few cocktails.  Tongues are loosened and people suddenly feel much closer.   They admit to things in these intimate settings that they would never admit to in the brighter light of day.  Secrets slip out and skeptics say things like, "I don't believe in ghosts but I had this experience once......."

I have been to a lot of gatherings like this over the last week, but only during one of them did ghosts come out.  The first story told around our glasses of  white wine was a haunted house story.   One of my lady friends talked about her father's house.  She said it had been haunted for years and everyone seemed to accept this, but she described the strange nights of dread she had spent in this old farm house  The house was built around 1920 and old ghosts sleep in the shadows there.  She described one night in which her son and she were sleeping in the bed together.  Her son was in front of her asleep and she went to sleep quickly.  When she awoke, she felt someone moving behind her.   In her dream state, she thought it was her son.  She felt him against her back, but as she became fully awake she realized her son was in front of her.  She sat up in bed in a panic and the light flicked on by itself.   Although she felt no hostility from the spirit,  she was still terrified and unnerved.

Another lady confessed that spirits often come to her.   She has had many experiences throughout her life with the supernatural and she doesn't talk about them because she thinks most people will think she is crazy or strange.  She prefers keeping them to herself.   She told two stories.  The first story was in a new house.  She says that she was alone in the house when she heard a loud repetitive banging in the attic.  The noise became louder and louder.  It was late at night and she was alone, so she became afraid it might be a burglar.  She called the police.  They searched the attic and found nothing.  The house was empty and there was no explanation for the noise.  She told another story in which she awoke and saw a spirit standing at the foot of her bed.  She asked the spirit, "What do you want?"  and it answered her, "I mean you no harm."

The party ended and  the stories were forgotten.  We won't mention them again, but cocktail ghost stories are always my favorite, because they are the secret ones that will never be known publicly.  They are the ones that people keep to themselves to avoid being called weird.  I love ghost stories and cocktails.