The many hauntings of Greta Mae Peterson.

The death grip summer has on our weather patterns is no match for the passage of time—October is here and it’s made its arrival, however uncomfortably. Read: Reluctantly in shorts and beaded with sweat, not unlike my own arrival into false autumn. Nevertheless, it’s here and I couldn’t be more relieved. As a heat-intolerant girl with a love of the morbid, I deeply appreciate this time of year; what with its crisp winds, quiet transformations, and a greater public acceptance of all things supernatural.

Don’t get me wrong, I could talk about spiritual encounters, death, and horror constantly. I’m talking all year long. It’s just easier to bring these topics up when people are sharing their favorite (and seasonally-appropriate) scary movies than attempting to weave them into conversation while drifting around on pool floaties.

It should come to the surprise of no one that spirits and paganism have been a hyperfixation of mine since I was a kid in elementary school. I’d sandwich books on witchcraft and ghosts between dog breed encyclopedias at the library in hopes they’d go unnoticed and I’d be free of elder librarian judgement.

Like some kids, I cast playful spells over makeshift cauldrons filled with pine needles and chives from the neighbor’s garden. Like most kids, had a fear of the dark. Unlike most kids, I had a propensity for draping towels over the mirrors in my bedroom before falling asleep. And I didn’t understand it then, but I—or rather, my body—also had a propensity for sleep paralysis.

Whether I was predestined for a lifetime of peculiarity or my fascination with it all lifted a veil I didn’t know I was wearing, paranormal activity and the supernatural have been and always will be a part of life for me. Shadows and ghosts, lucid dreams and astral projections. I’ve seen and felt it all. My first experience with an apparition was around eleven years old and it has yet to let up.

So, throughout the month, I’m going to be sharing these experiences here.

Mimics are up first.

Stay tuned. Stay spooky.