I promised to write a guest blog about my most intense ghost story for A Book Lover's Library today, but due to an error (mine), we posted my first ghost story instead. Please accept my apologies. Here's the story I promised to tell today: Supernatural phenomena play a prominent role in my latest novel, Secondhand Sight, and it occurs to me that some readers may believe it’s silly for adults to believe in ghosts. Earlier on this blog tour, I recounted my first ghost encounter, one of many I experienced at my friend’s truly haunted house. As I explained in part I of Why I believe in ghosts, if I had only one or two similar experiences, my rational mind would most likely have found a way to explain them away. But one particular experience could not have been a figment of my imagination. I know what I saw. More importantly, I know what I felt… Jim and I were playing chess, each of us sitting hard backed chairs with a short table between us holding the board. The room was barren of furniture except for a rocking chair, positioned where a spectator would have had a perfect side view of the game, except that chair was empty. The room was well lit, obviously, so we could see to play the game. I don’t recall the time of year--probably fall, given it was comfortable enough for us to play chess in an attic room. It was Jim’s move. The sense of movement distracted my attention from the game. I glanced over to notice that the rocking chair had begun moving in a distinct rhythm, just as one might expect if someone was sitting in the chair, enjoying the relaxation of … [Read more...]