When we returned home that evening, the Halloween party at our next-Door neighbors had already started; it looked animated. At home, we had dinner at an appropriately decorated table. After watching a scary movie and eating a lot of candy, we went to sleep. I woke up around 3:15 AM to some terrifying screaming followed by one loud banging from the neighbor’s door. Eight seconds later, another bang followed. I jumped out of bed; my heart was racing.

We slowly walked to the front door and cautiously opened it. Outside, it was the perfect Halloween Night. It was cold and somewhat foggy. Sparse clouds floated in the very dark sky while a cirrus cloud covered the moon like a thin veil. There wasn’t anyone out; it was eerily quiet. We noticed two empty lounge chairs left by our neighbors under their window. Somehow, it started to feel spooky. We closed the door without answers or explanations. Maybe we would find out the next day. Indeed, we did get one answer.

Our neighbors said that during their party, they drank beer and vodka and smoked cigarettes and weed. After their last guest left, the three of them decided to go for one last drink outside. Suddenly, the neighbor from the building across the garden turned his lights on and opened the blinds. He started running from one side of his living room to the other; he would occasionally jump on the couch. He repeatedly turned his lights on and off. He went to the kitchen and seemed to be pushing his fridge. The next-door neighbors concluded with their collective fuzzy thinking that the neighbor across the garden was under attack – but buy who?

One of them stated: it can only be… a ghost! That’s when two of them screamed and ran inside banging the door. The third one thought that was absurd until the night got hold of his imagination and he too ran inside causing the second bang. Still, what had caused the other neighbor to act so frantically? Well, a squirrel had invaded his apartment through the open vent in the kitchen. For three consecutive nights, that neighbor heard noises but could never find what caused them. On Halloween night, he said he had had enough. After identifying the intruder, the next morning, he left his door open while having breakfast and out the door the ghost, I mean, squirrel went. Along with Halloween, October is Squirrel Awareness Month…