A moment that changed me: I was told my home was haunted – and it made me a tidier, happier person
I thought it must be my upstairs neighbours, perhaps working a night shift, but after I introduced myself to them to ask about the noise, they assured me they wouldn't be awake at that hour. I asked the man who looks after our 70s-built apartment block if there were problems with the pipes. He said no. At one point, I started putting my dresser in front of the door, because I was so scared. I couldn't shake the idea that somebody was getting into my apartment, even though there was no evidence of it. I didn't tell anyone for ages – because if I had, I would have had to recognise how crazy I sounded.
Finally, I mentioned it to a close friend. I thought she would laugh at me, but she became very serious – it was, she said, a ghost. Worse – it was probably a demon. 'Two knocks is a ghost, three knocks is a demon,' she told me, adding that I shouldn't speak to it or acknowledge its presence because 'it will just get bolder'. I didn't believe in any of it, so I confided in another friend, hoping for a different reaction. She decided to buy me a session with a ghost hunter who claimed to 'clear' such presences.
I thought the ghost hunter would come to my apartment, or at least arrange a phone or video call, but she just sent me an email saying she'd done whatever she needed to do, remotely. She had encouraged some spirits to leave, she said, but there were others – five, she thought – who wouldn't go until they'd held what she called a 'court of atonement'. They would be on trial in my home.
The ghostbuster said the trial was being held in my living room. When I moved into the apartment in 2019, my interior designer friend styled this room for me. I wanted a space I felt really great about, and it was beautiful, but I ended up feeling that it was too nice for me to spend time in. Other than the few times I had people over, I barely stepped into my living room, so it didn't surprise me when she said the trial was happening in there, because it never really felt like mine.
I have always been an extreme people pleaser, and although I still didn't genuinely believe five ghosts would be holding a trial in my apartment, I started to feel uncomfortable about them being there and judging me. They were, I assumed, old or from a different era, and it felt almost disrespectful to keep living as I was. So I started keeping my apartment cleaner and tidier, and stopped leaving drink cans around. I'd had a painful relationship breakup not long before, and had been having lots of hook-ups, but that stopped once I was aware of the ghost trial – or I stopped hosting them, at least. I stopped ordering fast food in the middle of the night and started eating better. I took up meditation, making my bed, and not hitting the snooze button. I wasn't dressing for the formality of a courtroom, but I did start to take more care of my appearance. I didn't believe that the ghosts were real – but if they were, I didn't want to live badly in front of them.
Soon, I noticed I was happier and more confident. The feelings of anxiety and guilt that I'd carried around all my life were becoming easier to manage. It was a ridiculous situation, but dealing with a ghost trial somehow made me feel as if I could deal with anything. I had grown up in a religious family, and embraced science and reason as an adult, but the experience made me more open-minded about things that couldn't be explained.
I don't know if the trial reached a verdict – it might still be happening – but, last spring, it finally felt as if the spirits left for good. The changes I made to my life, however, have largely remained, and I feel more content than ever. Buying the apartment had felt like an achievement – I had been saving for it for more than a decade – but also like something I didn't really deserve. I'm a catastrophiser and it always seemed as if everything could just be taken away at any moment. Now, I feel weirdly bonded to my home, like we went through this together. Slowly, I've become more optimistic; I've realised it's not a sin to enjoy something. And, thankfully, the knocking has stopped.
Bryan Safi: Are You Mad At Me?? is at Underbelly, Bristo Square: Friesian, Edinburgh, 30 July-25 August
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
FACT FOCUS: No, Oprah Winfrey didn't block access to a private road amid tsunami warning evacuations
Even as the threat of a tsunami swamping Hawaii had passed on Wednesday, social media posts were still circulating claims that Oprah Winfrey had refused immediate access to a private road that would allow residents a shorter evacuation route. The warnings followed one of the century's most powerful earthquakes, an 8.8 magnitude quake that struck off a Russian peninsula and generated tsunami warnings and advisories for a wide swath of the Pacific. Posts on X and TikTok contended Winfrey refused to open her private road, or was slow to do so during the evacuation. But the roadway does not actually belong to Winfrey, and efforts to open the road to the public started soon after the tsunami warning was issued. Here's a closer look at the facts. CLAIM: Winfrey owns the private road and refused to allow public access for residents trying to reach higher ground, only relenting following public pressure. FACT: This is false. Despite being commonly known as 'Oprah's road,' the portion of Kealakapu Road is privately owned — but not by Winfrey. It belongs to Haleakala Ranch, which also owns the land surrounding the road, its president Scott Meidell told The Associated Press. Winfrey has an easement agreement with the ranch, which allows her to use and make certain improvements to the road, her representative told the AP in a statement. Winfrey has paved the road as part of the agreement, Meidell said. The decision to open the road to the public is principally up to the landowner, Winfrey's representative noted. Meidell said Haleakala Ranch 'had conversations with Ms. Winfrey's land management staff during this process. So, they're consulted to be sure.' Haleakala Ranch contacted the local fire department and the Maui Emergency Management Agency just after 3 p.m. local time, shortly after the tsunami warning went into effect, Meidell said. The road was made accessible shortly after 5 p.m., he said, and ranch personnel assisted in the evacuation of around 150 to 200 vehicles until the final group of cars were escorted up the road at 7 p.m. Maui County officials said in a press release shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday that 'Oprah's road' was accessible to the public, an advisory repeated in a 9:30 p.m. update. But Meidell said further evacuations weren't necessary after 7 p.m. because police had confirmed 'at that point the highway was completely empty of traffic.' Maui police and the Maui Emergency Management Agency did not immediately return the AP's requests for comment. 'As soon as we heard the tsunami warnings, we contacted local law enforcement and FEMA to ensure the road was opened. Any reports otherwise are false,' a representative for Winfrey wrote in a statement first disseminated to news outlets Tuesday night. The decision to open the road was made quickly 'when the warning was issued to evacuate, working with local officials and Oprah's Ranch,' the representative added in a statement Wednesday. Cars were escorted in separate caravans that each 'had a lead vehicle and a sweep vehicle to make sure that there weren't any incidents on the mountain road,' Meidell said. Haleakala Ranch encompasses nearly 30,000 acres of open space from the southern shoreline to Upcountry Maui, according to its website, and has been family-owned and operated since the late 1800s. The private road connects a public roadway with a highway on the island's oceanside. Some Hawaii residents have long expressed frustration with the large swaths of land that wealthy public figures like Winfrey own on Maui and have advocated against short-term rentals that dot the region and worsen the already low housing supply. The islands have faced a chronic housing shortage only exacerbated in 2023 when a deadly wildfire destroyed most of Lahaina, a town on Maui and the historic former capital of the Hawaiian kingdom. The wildfire was the deadliest in U.S. history in a century that left more than 100 people dead. Users claimed with no evidence then that Winfrey had hired private firefighters to protect her land before the fires started, and hired security to keep others of her land during the evacuations. Some X users also spread false claims linking Winfrey to the cause of the blaze. Winfrey teamed up with Dwayne Johnson to launch the People's Fund for Maui and committed $10 million to help residents who lost their homes in the wildfires. The fund raised almost $60 million as of April 2024. In 2019, Winfrey confirmed on X, then Twitter, that county officials were given permission to use the private road immediately after a brush fire started on Maui's southern area. The road ultimately was not used, Maui County spokesperson Chris Sugidono told the AP at the time. ___ Associated Press National Writer Hillel Italie contributed reporting. ___
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Last conversation between Army helicopter pilot and instructor revealed before fatal American Airlines crash
New details have been disclosed about the final moments before an Army helicopter collided in mid-air with an American Airlines passenger jet in January over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Thousands of pages of records have been released publicly as part of the government's ongoing investigation into the crash, which resulted in 67 deaths. The information raises further questions about whether the crew of the Black Hawk helicopter was aware of its actual altitude and whether it was on a collision course with the Bombardier CRJ700 jet. Included in the newly released records are the final words spoken by two members of the Army helicopter crew, Capt. Rebecca Lobach and her instructor, Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Eaves. The National Transportation Safety Board started a three-day hearing on Wednesday (July 30) about the January 29 crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. There were emotional moments as family members of the victims broke down upon hearing some of the details. All 64 people on American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, were killed along with the three crew members on the military aircraft. Culpability for the accident remains unclear, with questions about whether the collision was due to a mistake by the helicopter crew or if other factors contributed to the incident. Air traffic controllers have also come under scrutiny for their decisions amid reports of staffing issues at Reagan National Airport that day. Helicopters have long flown near the airport, which is known for its notorious congestion. An 11-minute presentation and animation by the NTSB illustrated the circumstances that led to the crash and confirmed details already released by the authorities. The American Airlines pilots were instructed to switch runways approximately five minutes before landing, which they did. Reagan has three runways, the longest (the busiest in the nation) runs parallel to the river, with two shorter runways intersecting it at angles. The pilots were instructed to realign with the northern of the two shorter strips. Meanwhile, the helicopter was flying back to Fort Belvoir in Virginia as part of a night evaluation of Capt. Lobach under the instruction of Eaves. Staff Sgt. Ryan O'Hara was also on board. According to the NTSB presentation, the route down the river on which the helicopter was flying has a maximum altitude of 200 feet near the airport. However, the aircraft continued to fly above that level, reaching heights of more than 300 feet. Officials stated that the crew appeared to believe they were much lower than that, at times claiming they were about 100 feet below their actual altitude. One reason could be because of an error with their altimeter. About three minutes before the crash, Eaves told Lobach to 'come down for me' and fly at 200 feet because they were at 300 feet, the presentation revealed. Two minutes before the crash, an air traffic controller warned them about the approaching passenger plane. Another warning followed 90 seconds later. Both times, the helicopter crew confirmed they could see the plane. They requested 'visual separation,' allowing them to navigate around the incoming flight. The second time, the controller instructed the helicopter to pass behind the passenger plane, but the helicopter crew had keyed its microphone — pushed the button to talk — at the same time as the controller and never heard the instruction, according to the flight recorder. Twenty seconds before the crash, Eaves told Lobach: 'Alright, kinda come left for me ma'am, I think that's why he's asking.' She replied: 'Sure.' Eaves said: 'We're kinda out towards the middle.' Lobach responded: 'Okay fine.' The Black Hawk was at 270 feet above the river, and the American Airlines plane continued its landing approach, passing through 320 feet in altitude. They collided at 8:48 p.m. in a fiery explosion, shown in newly released security camera footage. Investigators stated in the hearing that the helicopter crew had no prior knowledge of the impending crash. In the cockpit of the American Airlines jet, the pilots used expletives and tried to pull the plane up in the seconds before. Part of the investigation focused on testing the helicopter altimeter, a report on which indicated potential discrepancies between the barometric altitude and the radio altitude. A test flight over the Potomac revealed that the barometric altitude was consistently about 100 feet lower than the radio and geometric altitudes over the water. Additionally, the barometric altimeter was obscured during the helicopter flight. To address this, Senator Ted Cruz has introduced legislation called 'The Rotor Act,' which requires all aircraft to transmit their location to other aircraft and air traffic controllers — a system known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B). This is currently only required on aircraft that fly above 18,000 feet, though some aircraft, including those operated by the military, are exempt from ADS-B for security reasons. The NTSB recommended that the FAA require ADS-B on all aircraft as long ago as 2008. 'The mistake was that this was not unforeseen. We had 84 near misses in the three years before in the D.C. airspace, and no one did anything,' Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters. 'Someone was asleep at the wheel. Someone should have seen that.' The three-day hearing will also include an examination of FAA oversight of Washington airspace.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Adorable disabled twin brothers aged just four both die trapped in horrific house blaze
Two adorable disabled twin brothers have been tragically killed after becoming trapped inside a horrific house fire in Tennessee. Four-year-old Lathan and Langston McDaniel died on July 28 when flames tore through their Nashville home. The fire started on an outdoor patio before spreading rapidly to the rest of the house, according to the Nashville Fire Department. There were intense flames and smoke already reaching the roof when firefighters arrived. The mother, Jessica McDaniel, and her three children were inside when the fire broke out. She managed to escape the home with her youngest daughter, Lexi Rose, but was unable to reach her sons who were still upstairs. It's unclear at this time what caused the fire. The fire department is conducting an investigation that could take weeks. A GoFundMe has been created by a family friend to support the mother and her surviving child. 'I am trying to assist this family in renewing all that they have lost that is possible to replace.' 'We will never be able to get back their beautiful miracle twins, but maybe we can try to help replace all that has been lost.' She said the young victims were 'micro-preemie survivors and had a lot of health challenges' but were 'absolutely the lights of our world.' 'Words cannot express the grief and despair this whole family (and the village it has taken to love and support them well) are currently experiencing.' The campaign has raised just over $12,000 of its $30,000 goal so far. A neighbor, Tiffany Dalton, told WSMV that the community is 'just sad and heartbroken.' 'Me being a mom, I can't imagine what she's going through.' A friend of the family, Lacey Corbitt, told The Tennessean that the boy's mother has been 'broken' ever since the fire. 'They are physically ok,' she told the outlet, referring to the mother and her daughter but 'mentally, she's not ok.' 'It just leaves a huge hole in our hearts that they're gone. But it's amazing to see that the community is willing to help support and help them,'
