Laugh not Mine

My name is Amanda, and I'm 14. I've never considered myself a particularly extraordinary person, but I seem to be living in an extraordinary house. I've been living in the same place in Richmond for as long as I can remember, and things have been happening for as long as I can remember. On one occasion, the blinds in my bedroom window were a little out of position, as though someone had messed with them. It's very rare for me to even go near that window, and I never adjust the blinds. I'm simply not in my bedroom enough. I set them the right way and went to bed. The next morning, they were messed with again.

There are creaking noises in the middle of the night when everyone else is asleep and occasionally doors will open (just a little, not a whole lot) when there's nobody there. My mom has had stranger experiences than I have. She's heard whispers trying to get here attention, using her name, has been tapped on the shoulder, and has even seen a figure of some sort in the hallway. My cat was a witness, although I saw nothing.

These odd happenings are probably nothing you haven't heard before. However, there is one instance that sticks out in my mind.

I was 12 years old when it happened. It had been a perfectly ordinary day at school and nothing strange had happened. Then, after a normal evening, I started up the stairwell to get to my bedroom. When I got about halfway there, I found myself starting to laugh. There was nothing funny. No one had told a joke. I was just laughing for no apparent reason.

I happened to glance aside at my mother in her room across the hall (the same upstairs hallway where she saw a figure), standing next to her bed and staring at me like I had gone insane. I remember her asking me, "Are you all right?" I couldn't answer, though, because I was still laughing. Also, my cat Poki was staring at me as though he had seen a ghost, if you will pardon the pun.

I got the distinct sense that it was not me that was laughing. I was trying so hard to stop, but nothing seemed to work. Finally, I ambled across to the bathroom, still giggling, and started to brush my teeth. I said something to the effect of, "Why am I still laughing? Brushing your teeth isn't funny..." Just then, it stopped. I felt basically like a regular, somewhat-unnerved 12-year-old girl after that.

My mom told me that she felt someone sit down on the bed a few seconds later, but that she hadn't seen anything. Since we were both completely freaked out, we had to talk about it for a minute to get it out of our systems. She told me that the laugh had sounded strange, that it didn't sound like my laugh. She had also noticed Poki's reaction to the whole scenario. We both know that cats have better eyesight than humans. Although neither of us saw anything, it's possible that he might have.

You don't have to believe in my stories or believe in ghosts just because I've had a weird experience. I just want to say that I don't mind if there's a ghost or spirit of some sort in the house because I have never once felt threatened. I just figured that I should share my little place in the history of hauntings.

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