The summer of 1974 when I was 8 years old, my family moved to a large home that was built before the Civil War. It was (and still is) in a small Missouri town that played a major role during the war. At school the kids and teachers would say how the house was haunted and ask how we could stand living in it.
My Mother was in the kitchen one day doing the dishes when a huge gush of wind came into the kitchen through (she thought) the open door. Instead of the wind passing through and going out the other open door, it swirled around her, blowing her dress and hair. After a few seconds of the swirling, mom said, "If you are trying to scare me, it's not working. Beat it!" As soon as she said that, the wind wooshed across the room and out the other open kitchen door, slamming it shut.
We would also hear the swishing of skirts, footsteps on the stairs, and the sound of humming. My mother said that she came into the kitchen one morning and caught a glimpse of a large black lady dressed in what an 1800s housekeeper might wear. She was cleaning the floor and humming what sounded like a Negro Spiritual.
My dad was told that there had been slaves on the property and had found the remnants of slave houses. We only lived there for a year (which was the longest anyone had ever rented it for), but my siblings and I still say how much we loved the house and how safe we felt living there.
In another incident, I had had a bicycle wreck and had a concussion. My mom was sitting up with me holding a washcloth on my forehead and praying with her eyes closed when she felt a large warm hand cover hers. She looked up and there was the slave lady she had seen before. She smiled at mom and made a motion to her that meant "shoo". For some reason, mom wasn't afraid and felt that I would be okay with her, so she went to bed. The next morning, I was sore and pretty blurry-eyed, but otherwise fine.
