The Haunted Trash Can!

Okay...some of you know how I feel about the supernatural ... I am one of those people that hope for signs of life after death, but get all creeped out if something strange occurs. I know, I'm weird that way!

The other night I was awakened by a noise in the hallway... a garbled sound and then the words, "Let's get wet!" -- Wait, wait, let's go back a bit.

Some history about my house. My husband's grandfather worked for a local brick manufacturer, and he had the opportunity to have this house built here with the bricks his company made. So he and Keith's Mamaw were the first owners. He past away on December 31, 1970, the New Year's Eve before Keith was born in June. He never met him, but somehow inherited so many traits, like wanting to run a lawnmower repair shop in the back yard. Anyway.... fast forward quite some time. My mother-in-law claims that her mom used to see her husband in this kitchen from time to time, and that she always told him to go away because she wasn't ready to join him yet. Supposedly around Christmas of 1998, Keith's Mamaw told my mother-in-law that the next time she saw Paul, she would go with him. Well, she passed away in her sleep on December 31st of 1998 at around 2:45 a.m. -- yes, the exact same date as her husband had passed back in 1970! Her room was the room that the kids are in now. For a while, David would wake up crying on consecutive nights around 2:45 a.m. each time. I am not trying to say that is related...but there is something curious about it.

Now what I was leading up to is this.... my mom was just visiting here for two weeks. She didn't mind sleeping on the couch, but one night she did sleep with David in his bed. Most of the reason she only did that for one night was because, if you have ever seen the kids' room, you know it is impossible to walk in there because of all the Little People and the millions of little cars and junk that litters the floor! It's impossible! But she did say that while she was in there, different toys would just be making noise at different times during the night with no provocation. Now, I believe a lot of times these things occur because of battery issues, but sometimes you have to wonder why else toys go off in the middle of the night for no reason, right? (At least I do! ha ha)

So, no big deal, I am hearing, "Let's get wet! Let's get wet!" and I want to roll over and ignore it, (Keith was at work, by the way, so it was just me and the kids) but I knew if I let it continue it would wake up the kids because it was so loud! I figured out that it was Bathtime Betsy that was making all that noise. She is kind of creepy to begin with. She has matted up hair and Samantha wrote on her hands and feet with a black pen that will not come off. When you push her belly button she sings, "Bathtime Betsy loves to splash, in a pool or in a bath. It's the most fun you can get. Splash with me and get all wet," followed by a maniacal laugh/cackle. (There may be a picture of her in the Eavesdropping on the Damned post) She is naked in the hallway with her leg missing. Not only did Sammie rip her leg off, but she chewed on the socket, so I could not fix it. She had duct tape for a while, but that morning Sammie took her in the tub and the duct tape fell off. I figured she was making noise because she was in the water. Even though she is meant to go in the water, it seems water still affected her voice mechanism. Well, clearly this doll needs to go in the trash now. I picked her up with her leg and, since I really wasn't dressed right to go out to the trash can, I just threw her outside on the porch the way she was. (This was Thursday morning, by the way.) I figured all this noise was because she was recently submersed in water and things were drying out now.

In the morning I was supposed to go out and dispose of her before Samantha saw her, but I forgot, and as we left the house -- me with all my equipment for a depo in Baltimore, and the kids with their juice cups, Samantha sees a pile of Betsy on the porch! CRAAAAAAP!!!

Sammie: "Hey! Why's my naked baby out here??!!!" She exclaims in a disapproving and confused tone.

Me: "Just pick her up and put her inside! Hurry up before we are late!"

So Bathtime Betsy got a reprieve for a while, and has been behaving herself for the most part.... until about 20 minutes ago.

The kids are at the York Fair with my in-laws. Keith is at work. I'm at the kitchen table with the laptop trying to finish a six-hour depo....what do I hear??? "(Splash splash)Let's get wet!" Okay....Where are you??? There she is in the front room! So I scoop her up and look at her sad condition. "Sorry, Betsy, it's time for you to go out." For some dumb reason, I put her in the kitchen trash can. Sat back down and tried working again.

"Splash! Splash! Let's get wet!" -- Even though I knew the sound, it was like my brain forgot about it, so I was phsyically startled when it went off again only five feet away from where I was sitting! My heart was racing! I found a grocery bag and put Betsy with her detached leg inside...took her out to the trash can just outside my back door and said good-bye.

So I'm sitting here now... and as I type all I can hear is, "Let's get wet! Let's get wet! Let's get wet!" I would think she would be totally dried out by now that she wouldn't still be making all this noise...and this is the only phrase she is saying, not her usual creepy song. All that is in that can is her, some of my mom's cigarette butts, and a couple of tomatoes that some insect chewed on while on the plant. She just keeps saying it over and over and over...sometimes three times in a row!!!! I'm half tempted to walk out there and take her across the street to the dry cleaner's dumpster...

Stuff like this never happens when Keith is home or the kids are awake! He thinks I'm crazy! Everyone thinks I'm crazy! I just think some relatives know how weirded out I get and like to mess with me when I'm alone in the house!

"Dear Production Manager: I am late giving you these four files from my six-hour deposition session because my trash can is haunted and I needed to blog about it. Please tell the attorneys I am sorry. Best regards, Rachel Hilker...aka... Madame Scaredy Pants. P.S. - Enclosed please find one posessed Bathtime Betsy and her detached leg, which I have marked as Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2 for the record."