How often do you see ghosts?

What's the difference between ghosts and angels?

With this being October - the month of ghosts, ghouls and goblins - I've found myself increasingly interested in spooky TV shows. Yep, that's as far as I go with that stuff... no haunted houses for me!

Sorry, Mom, but I gotta tell the story...

When I was 11, I was living in Madison Heights. The Oakland County child killer was running rampant in his Gremlin. Some friends of mine in school and I kept little booklets full of notes about the killings - we were gonna crack the case.

Anyhow, my mom decided to take me and my brothers to the Madison Heights Jaycees haunted house. Rather than go through all of the details, let me just say that this haunted house scared the bejesus outta us!

As I lay in bed that night, I found myself thinking about the haunted house and the child killer. I began getting a panic attack, and started hyperventilating.

Needless to say, I never plan to step into another haunted house again - or keep a notebook of child killer information!

Years later, I was living in Texas. During a visit home, I heard that some family members were seeing odd things around the house. Some of the sightings were disturbing, and I was glad I didn't live there!

However, I did spend the night one time... and I hardly slept a wink, fearing a ghostly sighting.

For what it's worth, after a while, the weird things stopped happening at the house.

So, ghosts or angels?

It took me 39 years, but I think I've definitely seen a ghost. Or an angel.

About a month ago, I hit an emotional rock bottom. I picked up Sheryl and we went for a drive. We ended up at a grotto to say some prayers and light some candles, and while looking for an available candle, I looked outside of the lighted grotto. There was a man wearing a brown suit and nice shoes, but because the light was in my eyes, I didn't really see his full body.

It was strange since the grotto is just off the road, and we didn't hear a car pull up, so I figured that perhaps this guy had just walked up.

I nodded to him, and kept looking for a candle.

Sheryl lit a candle and then kneeled down in prayer, so I stepped away from the grotto to let her have some peace. The man in the brown suit was nowhere to be seen.

It was only after we were walking back to the car did I begin to think that perhaps I didn't see a man after all. Being one of my truest moments of desperation, maybe I had seen an angel... or was it a ghost?

Or was it really a man walking about with noiseless shoes, enjoying a bit of night air?