If you grew up like I did, enjoying old movies like "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken," then you understand the feeling of wanting to be locked in that old creepy house like Don Knotts’ character was in the movie. Who knows? Maybe that’s why I do what I do today.

The Winter Place, located minutes from downtown Montgomery at 454 South Goldwaite Street, is one of those places that captured my imagination and interest ever since I first saw the house. My whole life I've heard stories about the place being haunted. When I would ride by and look at it and when I gave my friends my local ghost tour, I would get the feeling that we were being stared back at by some ghostly presence.

During this time of year, so many of us drift back to childhood memories. It's a season of giving. It's also a season of remembering.

On December 17, 1981, I was seven years old. My grandfather had been in the hospital for a while, and we just received word that he should be going home soon. It was around 8 p.m. and I remember just as if it was yesterday, because my view on life and death was forever changed.

There was a cot in the hospital room, which I was sitting on. My grandmother and mother walked downstairs with some other family members, and I was alone with my grandfather. While sitting there, the most dramatic moment of my life unfolded before my eyes.

As he lay in the bed watching tv, the feeling in the room changed. I felt overwhelmed by the sensation that we weren't alone. It's not a feeling I can describe clearly, even now as an adult.