The Bouncing Apparition

MORNING OF NOVEMBER 14, 2009

I was with friends and we were going through some sort of "haunted house" attraction. It was more low-tech than a ride at a major amusement park would be, but was more high tech than your typical amateur haunted house that you might find during the Halloween season.

My only clear memory is walking through a large, single-level building that looked more or less like an empty department store or something. At every turn, different characters would come out and attempt to scare you.

It was mostly all just funny, but there was one "creature" that was actually a bit unsettling. It was a flaming green aura of a ghost with a terrifying screaming face. The ghost's aura was somehow attached to crossed sticks like a scarecrow, and it would come bouncing along on the sticks, chasing you and screaming endlessly. It seemed way, way too realistic compared to the other things in the attraction. I didn't see how it could be faked.

Finally, I remember leaving the building and walking with my friends (and the other patrons of the event) down a gravel road through the woods. We were supposed to be on our way back to our cars now, the events of the day over. I was talking to Lisa specifically and suddenly we heard the screaming, and that bounding apparition appeared again! It was legitimately scary.

Later, I vaguely remember a different dream I had in which I stopped in a grocery store late at night to pick up a few items. The dream was pretty mundane, as I was literally just walking through a grocery store. The one "remarkable" part is that, though it was a fictional store I've never been in, I very vividly remember different aisles and they way the were laid out, and what food items were on them, etc. I remember the produce section had an individual kiosk for every individual type of fruit or vegetable. For example, there was a corn kiosk that had everything from fresh-picked corn, to canned corn, to frozen corn, all in one location. It was sort of like the dream grocery store for anyone with OCD.