It Feels Like Somebody Walks Behind and Pushes Me (Bessemer, AL)

we want to hear your side.
some of the stories are crazy.
talk of a dog levitating. ease
her fears, that’s the priority.

supposedly, there’s unmarked
graves around the property. 
look at this. we wanted to do
everything we could to save

the house. two daughters: 
Lula and Grace. and was mar-
ried to an Eliza. there is a small
granite slab. looks like it had

some etchings on it but noth-
ing legible now. they talk a lot
about a party in this room. 
previous owners reported

seeing an apparition of a male
banker in the study, and a
floating dog. it feels like some-
body walks behind me and

pushes me. four clocks over
the oven have fallen from
the wall and shattered. but 
i’m as persistent as the ghosts

are. we’ve had individuals
tell us a lady sits in our pan-
try. at that moment, i knew
i saw a ghost for the first

 
time. have the dogs shown
attention to anything you 
don’t see? one of the dogs
paced the master bedroom

for several minutes. help
us fill in the gaps: who is 
still here, what is the house
trying to tell us. they want

it to be a place where every-
body’s comfortable, we want
to help the family to the best
of our abilities. perfect. we

put cameras in every room. 
get the lights out and be
ready to investigate. night one.
hello. that was a voice. we

heard you. are you here with
us. people see a woman in this
room—could that be you? noth-
ing that you and i have ever

felt. but we’ve also always been
like: investigate your style, do it
your way. maybe try upstairs where
they had the funerals. there is

a female apparition seen up here,
down the hall. they had the fun-
erals up here on the landing. 
feel free to come into the room.

one for yes, two for no. are you
somebody with the history of the
building? when we get to the first
letter of your first name, you knock.

C. H.—is the name Cheryl? can i get
a last name? Cheryl L. do you have
a message for Michael? W. E. P. R.—
protect? we protect? next word. S. O.— 

Sophie. that’s the children’s names. 
Colin and Sophie—we protect Colin and 
Sophie. M. A.—man. D. O. N.—not. 
man who does not. man who does not

like pearl and allie. the two dogs that live 
in this house. i think that it’s the man 
who doesn’t like the dogs. we’re coming 
in there. we want to help you out. we

want to hear your side. OK, we hear you.
can you stop. we’ll play the alpha-
bet game again. first word. next 
word. T. O. O.—took? took. G. R.—

grave? what do we have. they took
grave? is it dirt? they took grave-
dirt? is that why you’re upset?
did he just walk away? i think

he just walked away. that’s
why he was pissed off! the dog
dug up the gravedirt! went
to the master bedroom because

there was someone in there. it’s
all stuff we can get if we link
up with an historian. we’re
bringing in a local ground-

penetrating radar tech-
nician. dual frequency 
antenna. going to pump
some waves into the soil,

see if there’s any anom-
aly responses. thank you
so much for meeting with
us today. he and his wife

had five children. he had 
a lot of misfortune. they
were only there a year. after
her death, sold the house.

a social center for the town. 
two daughters. he eventually
became the president of a bank.
people referred to him as the

honorary mayor. i’ve heard
from the owners that there
is a grave on the property—
but i don’t know anything

about that. how’s it look-
ing. did not see any anom-
alous features. thank you
for your time. we’re going

into tonight’s investigation
armed with the knowledge
that there are no bodies
buried on the premises.

the children are afraid to
be here. and also people,
when they come and visit,
they have things happening

to them. what was that? breath-
ing. listen. come here. was that
you we were hearing breath-
ing? we’re here to make sure

the people living in this
house will be safe. especially
the children. if there’s anybody here,
light it up for me. is there anybody

here from the Judson family? is
there anybody here from the Spencer
family? Lula, we know that you
died here and left your five kids:

are you here with us? Eliza Judson,
are you the woman people have seen
in the pantry? some of you have
had people visit you here when you

were dead. i heard you. you have
our undivided attention—anything
you can say, say it loud as you can. 
it sounds like a younger woman

is saying your name: Eliza, William’s
wife, are you here with us? give us
a sign so that we may know— and know 
we will not hurt you, and cannot.

Z.H. Gill lives in Hollywood, CA, with his cat Hans