A ghost story
(Sent by María Rosa Tosi, a student from Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Believe it or not, this is a true ghost story. It was a very shocking experience I will never forget though I was not really frightened when it happened, but surprised because there was no apparent reason for me to face an inexplicable fact like that. I had not drunk a single drop of alcohol before going to bed.

On a Winter night, some years ago, I was sleeping soundly when suddenly I woke up and my attention was drawn towards the window of my bedroom as if something had made me look in that direction. At the foot of my bed, but on the side where my husband slept, I saw the odd figure. It looked like a woman, all wrapped up in a dark grey shawl which covered it completely except for her face. It was a singularly beautiful face, encircled by a perfect oval where two big eyes glared at me as if burning with a strange light. Her mouth was delicate and her lips showed a curious smile which I could not define whether it was affectionate or ironical.

I did not attempt to do anything. I just kept looking at the apparition while I tried to realise if I was really awake or if the ghost was part of a strange dream. But no doubt I was completely conscious of what was going on.

I do not know how long the vision lasted, perhaps a few seconds till it vanished, leaving me astounded. After a while, I tried to coax sleep but had great difficulties in doing so.

Next day, I commented on this episode to my husband and the rest of my family and they looked at me incredulously. Fortunately, they are all open minded and nobody dared to suggest that I was off my head. Besides, they all knew I had had visions before, even in the daytime, though none of them had been so impressive as this one. My mother and my son said I had seen an angel. My husband and my daughter thought it might be a bad omen. Their suspicion turned out to be correct because my husband fell terribly ill some days afterwards and we had to call the emergency unit.

Many things have no explanation and this incident remained unexplained. I remembered Hamlet's question on seeing his father's ghost: "What may this mean, making night hideous and we fools of nature so horridly to shake our disposition with thought beyond the reachness of our souls."