The sounds I heard resembled the noise that is made when a piece of heavy furniture is dragged across a wooden floor. All the floors in the house were carpeted, so I was unsure if this was all in my imagination or not. The noises were coming from the living room and once they would begin, they didn't last longer than about 30 seconds, or so. I was concerned that it might be a loose water pipe, or some animal in the crawl space beneath the floor. Anything was possible. I never would have suspected in my wildest dreams that a ghost would be the cause of the noise.

I was not too anxious to crawl under the house with a flashlight. The possibility of getting bit by a spider or snake, frightened me more than anything else I could imagine. Each night the same loud noise would begin, and after a few seconds end. Somehow I got the idea that if I left a small lamp turned on in the living room, before going to bed, this might cause the noise to stop. Perhaps I was more concerned about just having the comfort of a light, a small excuse for not admitting to being a bit scared. At the time it made sense for me.

That night, at the usual time, I was awakened by the noise. While lying in bed my eyes were wide opened as I stared into the darkness. The dim light coming from the living room was reassuring as the noise got louder and louder. I must have been awake for about ten minutes before something caught the corner of my eye. From the bottom of the door, the narrow slit of space between the door and floor, I could see that something was moving about the living room, because I was able to clearly see the shadow that is

created when someone walks in front of a light. Someone was in my house, prowling about in my living room!

I tried to be as silent as possible, as I got out of bed. I put my ear to the door and tried to hear anything. I didn't hear a thing, so I grabbed the knob and quickly opened it. There in the room was the shadowy figure of a man seated on my sofa! I stood frozen in place, filled with terror. Sweat was beginning to drip down my face, and I was in shock! There was no doubt that this thing I was staring at was a ghost. The ghost's image was surrounded in a foggy amber color light, that appeared to outline the ghostly man's image. Although I could not make out the details of his face, I did see that he was holding on to a doll! My stomach was in knots. I watched as the seated ghost slowly leaned towards me and clearly spoke the words, "Thank you."

The last thing I remember is grabbing the side of the bedroom door with both hands, sliding to the floor and fainting. Some minutes later when I awoke, I remember crawling to the kitchen and pulling myself up to the sink. After I threw water on my face, I walked to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. I was a mess. I looked at the small clock on the shelf, the time was 4:10 am. It wouldn't be long before the sun would rise. I decided to get dressed, go outside and take a walk. I knew had been visited by the ghost of the guy who I tried to help several months before, and I wanted to get out of the house quickly!

During my walk, in my mind I began to think over and over about what I had experienced. Suddenly the words