My Date Told Me She Can See Ghosts

Have you ever been out on a first date with someone you’re very attracted to? It can be hard to figure out whether to order a steak or a salad, let alone drum up a witty or interesting question to ask them.

I found myself in this exact scenario on my birthday, February 26, 2020, out to dinner with a quirky mid-twenties brunette I had recently met while shopping for wireless headphones at Marshall's

When I first saw her, I saw that she clearly put effort into her appearance that evening. Everything from her silky brown hair to her wafting perfume to her trendy leather jacket was totally on point.

Flash forward 30 minutes, and I’m just staring at this girl, wracking my brain of just what to say. I’m drawing a total blank; I can’t just stall forever until our waiter returns with our Michelob Ultra’s (Don’t judge me; I’ve improved since then).

My mind can only come up with one thing, so I go with it “Do you have any hidden talents?”

I don’t think it’s possible to ever truly be “expecting” a certain answer to that question, especially on a first date. I mean, it’s a HIDDEN talent. What the hell would I know?

But what she answered left me at first intrigued, then dumbstruck, then horrified
“Oh my god, you’re going to think this is crazy but, I can see and sometimes talk to ghosts”

WHAT!!?!?!?!

I’m utterly speechless at that point. I let out a nervous laugh, half hoping she’s going to hit me with a “Gotchaaa” but that gotcha never came. Her eyes just got more and more serious as she nodded her head.

Where is the damn waiter, I need this Michelob Ultra now more than ever.

So anyways, she starts on this story about how she was at her childhood best friends’ house up in Michigan, and she saw the ghost of a little girl playing in the back yard, and apparently the house was super old and dated back to the early 1900s. To top it off, she said when I first bumped into her at Marshall's, she felt she “knew me” already because I had apparently appeared in one of her visions into the future.

I’m not sure what my facial expression was at this point, but inside my head, I was losing it. I’ve never been too well-versed in the paranormal other than the occasional scary movie, and that one time at a Halloween party where I dressed up as the ghost of Mr. Peanut (RIP, a legend gone too soon), but this was definitely one step too far into the paranormal realm for young Alex, and I was ready to tuck, roll, and jump out of this runaway train as fast as humanly possible.

The date finished and as I was walking her to her car she hugged me goodbye. I was half-expecting her car to be a hearse, but it was in fact a Toyota Prius, which calmed my nerves. Not because it wasn't an omen of black death, but because its the perfect combination of gas mileage and safety ratings.

I never saw that girl again (part of this was my doing by my steering clear of that Marshall’s, no matter how ridiculously-low priced their workout shorts are) but one thing is for sure, that was a Birthday I won’t soon forget.

Moral of the story? When asking a girl if she has any hidden talents, be prepared for an answer that may surprise you.