By Tim Binnall
Actress Octavia Spencer claims that her home is haunted by the ghost of a Western movie star and that she has grown to love the spirit that shares the residence with her. The odd revelation came about during an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show wherein the Hidden Figures star discussed how her home had previously been owned by "a guy who did Westerns" and that his spirit apparently remained in the location after his passing. Having grown up watching such films, Spencer surmised that "I must have been a fan of his" and, in turn, the actor's ghost took a liking to her. "I think he is my protector," she marveled, "I love him."
Spencer went on to explain that the actor's spirit serves as something of a guard against "the bad people that shouldn't be there." When a potentially unsavory character visits her home, she mused, "he runs them out. If they stay at my place, they don't wanna come back. And that's how I know that they don't belong here." Delving deeper into the topic of her proverbial 'supernatural housemate,' Spencer observed that paranormal activity in the residence seems to increase when she returns to the home if she hasn't been there for a while. "When I leave for a long time, he's a little shady," she said, "the doors close, the lights go off when I turn them on."
Despite those slightly spooky moments, Spencer assured the audience that she is quite fond of the spirit, but also cautioned that "I just don't want you bringing your ghost to my house. I don't want anybody's ghost thinking they can be friends with my ghost." To that end, the actress specified that "my ghost can haunt me, but he doesn't haunt me. We have boundaries," which, as one might imagine, drew laughs from Ellen and the audience. Spencer is not the first star to share a story of living alongside spirits during an appearance on the show as, back in November, actress Salma Hayek revealed to Ellen that she enlisted a medium to cleanse her house of ghosts after her staffed complained of eerie paranormal activity in the residence.