This blog brings us to the end of our series on ghost stories, but not necessarily the end of the hauntings.  At the end of last week, I told you that I thought Rose had perhaps decided to hop into my suitcase and travel back to Colorado with me.  I am not sure if it was my unwillingness to accept her presence or that she really was wanting something from me, but after I returned from Ohio things started happening in Colorado.  Maybe it was the fact that I had let my guard down or that I really had convinced myself that it wasn’t me, but my parents’ house that was haunted, but when I first felt that cool sensation flow through me I knew.

I can still remember walking through my living room toward the front door when I felt the sensation that I had just walked through a freezer.  It stopped me in my tracks and then I slowly walked backward to see if there was a draft.  Nothing.  I walked back to the kitchen for good measure and then resumed what I was doing.  As I walked toward the living room  again I felt a coolness sweep over me and it sent chills through my entire body.  I brushed it off and went to the coat closet.  Before I could open the door there was an unmistakable scent of a man’s cologne.  It was so strong that I literally felt as if a man had just walked into the room.  Now I was frightened.  I thought someone was in my home.  I searched the house from top to bottom looking for anything that could have caused this scent to appear.  Again, I found nothing.  Slowly, I walked back toward the living room and that spot near the coat closet.

It was gone.

As I began to ponder the idea that Rose had traveled back with me I wondered if perhaps I did have some kind of 6th sense that allowed me to brush up against this “other realm.”  I know it sounds crazy, but I couldn’t explain away everything that had happened over the years.  I was beginning to open up to the possibility that even if I couldn’t “see” spirits that maybe I was sensing them.

Over the next few months I continued to smell the same scent of cologne at different times.  I tried to get other people to see if they could smell it, but they just laughed and denied there was anything there.  My theory is that Rose was trying to get west to find her long lost love.  She needed me to help her get here and the cologne?  That was her lost love coming to join her.

While I have never had the scent of cologne present itself again I have had enough other things happen to keep me believing in things we cannot see or explain. Some are annoying, like the drawers in my closet that are continuously open and no, they aren’t unbalanced. I close them and sometimes they stay that way for 24 hours.  Other times they are open in 30 seconds.  There are always lights on that I have just turned off and one of our most recent was while I wasn’t even home.  Three of the four of us who are currently living here walked in to find the house very warm.  We asked our youngest why it was so hot and because she had just been laying on the sofa watching TV she hadn’t really noticed.  She said she hadn’t even touched the thermostat. The air conditioning had been running for months and upon inspection of the thermostat the furnace was running and our house was now 78 degrees!  That one spooked everyone a little, but I guess our “houseguests” were a little chilly.  I still have the occasional cold front that moves across my body while I am sitting still and it always makes me take notice and I wonder if this will be the time that I “see” something.

My hubby just shakes his head after all these years and insists that it’s me.  Last year, while driving his car to Vail all of the safety features like, lane departure and drive assist just stopped working.  Lights began flashing and no matter what I did I couldn’t get it to work again.  I pulled off the road, stopped the engine, restarted everything with no luck. I visited with some friends for a few hours who happened to have the same car.  They kept insisting that I get it checked out before driving the 3 hours back home, but I just had a feeling that it was fine and drove home later that day.  Upon entering the driveway, all of the safety features miraculously began working again.  I told my husband what had happened and he just shook his head.  In the three years that he has owned the car he has never had that happen to him.

Last week, we were test-driving a new car and while I was driving the inside dash lights went dark.  It freaked me out and my hubby was instantly frustrated with me.  He was yelling at me that I must have touched something!  I had not moved my hands from the steering wheel I can assure you.  I was just trying to get a feel for the car, I certainly wasn’t playing with any of the knobs!  We pulled over and began looking for the problem.  Then my hubby reaches over and turns the dial on the light dimmer.  We had light.  He then accused me of “accidentally” dimming the lights with my hand.  Seriously?  It’s like a good 12 inches from the steering wheel and I was driving!  An argument ensued and then he just said, “it’s probably just that electrical charge that you have running through you that messes with everything you get near.”

TRANSLATION:  I am probably getting a new bike instead of a new car with fancy electronics!

While all of these things are crazy and maybe some could be explained I do have one thing that happens on a fairly regular basis that always warms my soul. At least a couple of times a year I can smell the unmistakable scent of a tobacco pipe in my house.  The first time I encountered it, I immediately ran outside to see where it was coming from.  Certainly one of my neighbors was outside smoking a pipe.  Nothing.  It was just inside my house.  I can remember sitting there inhaling the scent as if someone was sitting beside me smoking.  I was young when my grandfather smoked a pipe, but I can still remember it vividly.  I like to think that when I come across that scent he is visiting with me.  Now, instead of running scared I sit down and smile and enjoy the presence while it lasts.

So, in the end I like to think that whatever 6th sense I may have it has led to Rose reuniting with her long lost love and the other spirits?  Maybe they just like hanging out with me and as a courtesy they let me know they are there with a little honk, knock, light, smell, cool breeze or electrical malfunction!