Specters I have seen … and one I have not

I’ve only seen one thing I consider a ghost.

It was the night of Jan. 28, 1986.

If that day doesn’t ring a bell, don’t worry, I had to look it up too: It was the day the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up.

I was living in West Virginia then in a big ol’ 19th century ramshackle house that had been converted into apartments.

Anyway, I was slipping into bed, when something white on the ceiling caught my eye.

It was a hand.

Once I turned my attention to it, it slowly fell down and in moments passed through the wooden floor.

“Hmmph,” I said.

What else could I say?

I don’t know how long I sat on the side of the bed before I got under the covers.

Before I fell off to sleep I reasoned that the Challenger disaster had sent a shockwave through millions of people on that day and the “upsetness” had an effect on what I call “the aether,” where spirits and such reside.

The “upsetness” cut things loose, including the hand that I saw.

Not long after that I may have been chased by Bigfoot and a couple of his pals.

I shall tell the tale.

I believe this happened because I had a friend back east, who shall remain unnamed, who believed one day he would be attacked by Bigfoot. I had no idea why.

So one night on the way home through the mountain forest I looked in my driver’s side mirror and saw a figure I can only describe as Bigfoot chasing my car.

Bigfoot was huge, hairy and making grabs at my taillights.

I closed my eyes for a moment and looked again.

Yep, still there, along with a cougar and a bear loping along with Bigfoot.

I couldn’t believe I was seeing this.

So I slammed on my brakes, and got out of my car.

There was nothing but the sounds of cicadas in the dark trees and my engine running.

While I saw what I saw I am fully aware it possibly could have been my imagination.

There’s a radio station here in Clovis that supposedly has or had a ghost.

For a while there were sightings of a nattily dressed man in black suit and bow tie.

I never saw the dude.

One male co-worker said he saw a shadow, but not the well-dressed man.

Our boss never saw the guy, nor did his son-in-law or any other guys.

It seems he showed up when young women worked alone.

“I’m telling you I saw this guy. He was just walking down the hall and disappeared into a wall,” said one co-worker one day when I came into work.

“You didn’t talk to him?” I asked.

“I’m by myself and here’s this guy in the building. I am not thinking of a casual conversation with him,” she sternly said.

“I would. I’d say, ‘Dude, it’s time to go. Head for the light. You’ve got no purpose here anymore,” I said.

“And you think ghosts will heed your advice?” she said.

“It’s worth a shot. You know, he just might sit down on his ghost butt and say, ‘You know, that dude is right,’” I said.

One young woman staffer quit after she encountered the specter one night while she ran the control board for a Clovis Wildcats football game.

The son-in-law believed it was the ghost of Norman Petty, famous Clovis music producer, who once owned the station.

Grant McGee writes for The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him:

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