Newnan has a ghost problem.
Depending on how long you’ve lived here, you’ve experienced anywhere from 1 to 230 ghosts. Your experiences range from adorable to horrifying. Your out-of-state friends range from doubtful to fearing for your safety. Your interest in hunting them ranges from having already caught a ghost to having a dozen ghost roommates, and y’all are pals about it.
But all ghosts and their stories are NOT apparated equal.
There are thousands of stories about ghosts in Newnan, Senoia, Turin (I think Turin is exclusively ghosts), and our nearby neighbors. In this new blog series, we will grade the most bonkers, believable, and sp-sp-spooky ghosts and their tales.
Last week, I was home alone one evening at around 7:30. The sun was setting, and I was sitting on the couch in the living room facing the kitchen. I had the back door open with the glass door shut because my mom was about to come home. Our kitchen has a bay window that allows a view of the backyard, and our door is located on the right side of the window. If you go out the door and turn right, you will see the gate we use to exit the backyard. Our backyard is small and fenced in with a privacy fence, and the gates are locked. The gate on the left of the windows is padlocked.
I could see the doors and windows from the couch, and I had the blinds open for natural sunlight. I was watching my puppies play on the other end of the couch when my older dog suddenly stopped playing and looked at the door. I looked up, thinking my mom was arriving, and saw a figure pass by the door heading towards the gate. My dog also saw it and started barking, which was unusual because he rarely barks at our new house.
At first, I thought it might be my imagination, but my dog was barking, so I got up to look out the back door. I was surprised by my sudden courage because I’m usually the first to hide from anything! However, when I looked outside, there was no one there. They wouldn’t have had time to leave through the gate because the handle is difficult to operate, and it drags on the concrete walkway. After that, I locked the door and closed the blinds. I’m still not sure what I saw, but it looked like a shadow in the shape of a person. The fact that my dog also saw it creeps me out. I would normally blame this on my imagination, but it’s hard to convince a dog to imagine things!
One more thing I forgot to mention is that my house faces west. When the sun sets, the part of our backyard surrounded by the fence gets dark first, so there wouldn’t have been any shadows being cast directly into the backyard.
When it comes to eerie apparitions and spectral visitors, a compelling backstory is the source of our deepest fears—the who and why. While this tale has some intriguing elements, it’s missing the crucial answers to WHO and WHY, essential for a truly captivating narrative.
Is it about a gardener? Is it about a lawn care technician? Is it a kid who came into this yard to find his lost ball? The experience doesn’t provide any possible details about who is sneakin’ and spookin’! And I’m not saying they should have specifics, but they should have theories, and “Ghost in the Backyard” isn’t a theory; it’s the title of what would be the best new anime in Western culture history.
But this experience does have the best possible detective: a puppy. A puppy does not “see what it wants to see,” as it is of pure mind, body, and sound. A puppy is heaven personified. And unless it turns out this article was written by a puppy (“the rules don’t say a puppy CAN’T be a ghost hunter blogger!”—Air Bud 4), then I will believe with all my heart that this backyard has some funny business involved.
Does that mean it’s a ghost trapped in this dude’s backyard? Doubtful. But someone needs to sit down with the dog and have a ghost offer it a spoonful of peanut butter. Does the dog accept it? Then they’ve met before, as there is no way a dog accepts peanut butter from a stranger.
D –
VERDICT: The story shared here is a reasonable tale of being spooked, thanks to the inclusion of the house facing west, dogs barking, and the shadow moving multiple times. But the more likely answer is that something just caused a shadow, as often happens when you’re outdoors, and the dog barked because it’s a dog, as often happens when you’re a dog.
Grading System
The letter indicates how convinced I am
The + / – indicates how believable the storyteller is
F – FAKE!
D – Doubtful
C – Casper (probably a ghost, but not in the typical sense of the word)
B – BOO! (Scared me!)
A – All of my life is now questionable. I shall go forward as a ghost hunter and abandon all other responsibilities. If I die on this hunt, give my belongings to Clothes Less Traveled. Tell my child I love her and that I shall return one day to haunt her (not in a scary way–I’m a great shadow dad).
Newnan Time with Harold 