One of my mom’s artworks that has always creeped me out is the pictured figure. It is a macrame representation of an ancient Egyptian priest. The artist gave him a name, but that name has been lost with time. Reverend Noname is suspended by a single thread that allows him to twist in the wind sort-of-speak. He hangs out at the end of the upstairs hallway and sometimes turns to look out the nearby window, where he can gaze upon his ghostly reflection. Anne does not find him as spooky as I do, but then she has not had to sleep alone for a week, in the bedroom where both my parents died.

The house participates in this haunting. On a sunny day, it heats up and then at night it creaks and groans as it settles in for the night. Occasionally, there is a rodent sound too. It sporadically can be heard gnawing. Looking out the Egyptian’s window the ground just outside the window is littered with rodent burrows. To make matters worse, we lost power early this morning. The chirp of smoke detectors announced this fact. This being California, the fire protection system for this house is way more robust than what we have at home. There is even a sprinkler system that was tested once and caused a huge mess.

Rev. Noname being an ancient Egyptian got me thinking. Pawing around YouTube I came upon a woman archeologist who has a channel that I like. Most of her videos are short, but her longest and one of her most recent videos deals with the Epic of Gilgamesh. This 4,000-year-old Sumerian tale purports to be the first written story. The Mesopotamian writing system cuneiform was originally developed for bookkeeping, but with this epic poem its use was broadened. This story is about Gilgamesh and his buddy, Enkidu. This pair were questing to find fame and immortality. Along the way, they encountered otherworldly individuals and completed several impressive feats that eventually angered the gods. Part of this divine anger takes the form off a flood. Gilgamesh’s and the story of Noah’s Ark both feature flood narratives with significant similarities, including the construction of a boat to save humanity from destruction, the release of birds to test for receding waters, and the eventual landing of the boat on a mountain.