The heavy steel doors are almost always bolted shut.

Well, it happened again, and I said that I’d keep you posted. Barely a month after my other two ghostly encounters—which I wrote about earlier this month—I experienced yet another one. And in a church parking lot, no less!

THE CREAKING DOOR

Last week, on my usual morning walk, I climbed the steep Driveway from Hell (no longer a challenge), which deposited me into the overflow parking lot of the Mariners Church. In this lot, along its perimeter, is a large concrete & steel structure that holds the church’s trash and recycling dumpsters. The heavy steel doors are almost always bolted shut, as they are in the photo. I’ve only seen them open on the days that Waste Management comes to empty them.

Okay, so I’m about a hundred feet from the structure when I hear this Inner Sanctum-like creaking, like an old castle door that is in need of some 3-in-1 oil. I pause, look up, and one of the steel doors is swinging open, almost in slow motion, and creaking the whole way. Holy crap!

When it finally stops, I forge ahead, quite reluctantly. In my head I mull over the possibilities of who or what might be in there: one of the church’s maintenance guys. A homeless person. An animal. (The enclosure butts up against an ecological reserve.) But when I reach the structure and look inside, I see that it was none of the above. Last option: a strong gust of wind blew the heavy door open.

Perhaps they’re in need of a good Exorcist.

Only one problem: there was no wind that morning.

If you recall, one of the earlier two incidents also occurred in the Mariners Church parking lot. Perhaps they’re in need of a good Exorcist.

Check out my other post, “Ghostly Sightings—Or Ghastly Aging?”