Walking through your house in the
middle of the night while everyone is
asleep is a surreal experience. There is
a faint whisper of children laughing,
but as you go on to check on your family,
they are fast asleep. Ms. Budge and
her husband are forced to experience
these happenings in their home on the
regular.
Ms. Budge has recently taught psychology,
but has taken on the new role
as librarian of West’s library. She is a
firm believer of ghosts, saying “I do
believe that there are ghosts. I believe
that there is one in my house. I’ve
heard convincing stories and have my
own experiences.”
When questioned for her personal
occurences with the supernatural, Ms.
Budge obliged.
“At my home one night, I was painting
a room and it was midnight. Everyone
else was asleep except for my husband;
he was reading. All of a sudden, I heard
a music box playing.” She proceeded
to explain that it was not a phone or
any electronic device. “It was kind of a
creepy sound and it was coming out of
my vents. I heard it a couple of times
and my husband is a witness. He heard
it as well.” She went to check on her
children, but they were asleep.
Another spooky occurrence happened
to her husband. “He was walking down
our hallway.” There was a mirror at the
end of it. “As he’s walking by the mirror
he can see somebody walk past it.”
Once more, all her kids were sleeping,
but Ms. Budge was awake.
“I was up in the office working on
something and he thought it was me,
but then he continued down the hall
and saw me in the room. He said to me,
I thought you just walked past me. He
went and looked and there was nobody
but he’d seen a woman walk past him.”
Though this was a very frightening
situation, they have grown used to
the ghost, saying that she is nice, and
that they have never felt afraid of her
presence.
Now, she has not heard any stories here
at West but she would like to believe
that West is haunted. She recommended
asking the custodial staff since they
stay at West late at night. With that, I
asked if her or anyone else had experienced
anything paranormal outside
of her house and she said some of her
in-laws have some weird stories.
At a dinner party, they were telling
their guests how they had ghosts at
their house. “Reluctantly, they didn’t
believe it. They were surprised when
all the doors started to open and close
and no one was doing it.”
Ms. Budge still holds many accounts of
the paranormal; if you are looking for
more terrifying stories, then head over
to the library and have a spooky time
sharing and hearing your tales of the
unknown.