Ghosts, spirits, the other side... I don't know about you, but I absolutely love watching shows about paranormal investigations. I've heard so many stories of paranormal encounters, and even though I was taught not to believe in such things, I always have.
I have always been able to sense energy other people couldn't. As a young child this used to frighten me. However, now that my brother is gone, I am grateful for this gift and find it comforting.
In middle school, my roommate and I were up late one night and I started telling her about orbs, or little balls of light caused by a concentration of energy that is sometimes linked with the paranormal. She was so scared that she pushed her bed right up against mine. The house parent came in, flipped on the light, and insisted she move to another room immediately, for good. That wasn't the outcome I was hoping for, I was only having fun; but, hey, I got a room to myself, so I guess that's a win.
These days, I watch Ghost Hunters with my mom, and even though I know it's played up for TV, I love to see them investigate new and unusual places. Now that my brother has passed away, this interest has a deeper meaning. Immediately after his death, I expected to begin having paranormal experiences, and my brother did not disappoint.
If you knew my brother Jonathan in the slightest, you know that he was fascinated with the paranormal. In fact, the weekend before he died, he was talking about dying, and he said (as he often did) that he wanted to haunt people after he died. When he was alive, such topics only served the purpose of upsetting me. I didn't like him talking about such things, especially in front of his five year old daughter. I didn't want to imagine losing him... And then, he was gone.
So what kinds of things have I experienced since my brother passed away? I've had dreams about him, where he was trying to communicate, but I couldn't understand him. I have also experienced some weirdness with electronics, such as TVs turning themselves on and off and lamps doing the same. Sometimes, I will feel his presence sitting in the other recliner when I'm in the living room, only to look over and find he isn't there. Occasionally, things will move on their own in unexpected ways, such as a cereal bowl vibrating in the sink for an unusually long amount of time when that would not usually happen. The scariest thing that happened to me, and the only thing I would consider being "haunted" is when I was home alone, sitting in the recliner he used to sit in. Suddenly, the smoke alarm started going off upstairs. I did not immediately react, so it stopped going off, only to start up again a few moments later. This pattern continued for a few minutes, until finally my panic over the potential for a fire overrode my logical brain, and I left the house. I wasn't aware my grandfather was picking up pinecones in the yard, so I happened to run into him. I explained what was happening, and he went in and checked everything out. Everything was fine, and this did not happen again. Lastly, my mom had a few items moved or go missing. An entire pillow completely disappeared from her bed and was never found; she also had a worry stone that was given to her at Jonathan's funeral. It somehow made its way from the railing in her room to the middle of the floor in the foyer.
As I update this entry on March 26, 2026 to correct its many inaccuracies, I can add that my mom, sister, and I all developed an interest in paranormal investigations after this point, even getting equipment for ourselves, having the house investigated, and attempting to get a reading from a supposed medium. To this day, I still have a connection with my brother, and when anything out of the ordinary happens, I lovingly put the blame on him. I have channeled him a few times, and shared messages from him with family members. Unlike the original post, written to protect the more religious members of my family, maintaining a connection with him all these years later brings me great comfort.