By:    treeflowers@myworldmail.com
 

Sprucevale, Ohio. Beaver Creek State Park
There are of course several versions of this tale. Many blend the tale of Esther with the Legend of Gretchen's Lock because they took place within approximately 1/2 mile of each other.The tale of Esther Hale, also known as the Bride at the Bridge took place in a small canal community known as Sprucevale. All that is left of this area is an old Grist Mill (Hambleton's Mill), an old building and the remains of two locks on the Sandy and Beaver Canal.When the community was alive and busy Esther Hale was to be married. In the book "Spooky Ohio"
 (1995) and "Haunted Ohio II" (1992) Chris Woodyard describes the story, " On the morning of August 12, 1837, Esther Hale hummed happily  to herself as she put on her white dress and veil. It was her wedding day.  The table in the parlor was decorated with flowers and vines. The cake was in the kitchen, covered with cheesecloth to keep off the flies. The wedding was set for ten in the morning.But by half past ten the groom had not arrived and the guests and parson were beginning to fidget. At half past twelve, they climbed into their wagons and drove
away. The messenger Esther sent could find no trace of the bridegroom. His cabin was deserted, said the man, and the  ashes in the stove were cold.When Esther's friends tried to help her to bed, Esther shook her head, the tears running down her face.  Finally they left her alone in the dark by the window in the parlor. When they returned the next morning, the curtains were drawn, as if for a funeral. They were never again opened in Esther Hale's lifetime.All Summer Esther moved like a ghost through the house. In the kitchen,beetles tunneled through the cake. The wedding flowers withered under the spider's veils in the parlor. Esther's friends coaxed her to eat
and drink a little, but when they tried to get her to change her  dress or remove the wedding decorations, she flew at them with claw-like fingers. Finally they left her alone.Broken hearts kill slowly. Four months later neighbor noticed that the door to Esther's house was open,  banging back and forth in the December wind. He told the sheriff and the doctor who took a party of men to the dark house. Snow had drifted throughout the house like a white shroud.Esther was slumped over the parlor windowsill, her veil over her face. Someone held up a lantern.
The doctor drewback the shredded lace. Esther had been dead for several weeks. When they saw the horror beneath, they silently covered her over again. She was buried so, shrouded in her wedding clothes.
But burial did not put an end to Esther Hale. It is said by the locals that you can still see her, dressed in white, looking for her bridegroom on the bridge over Beaver Creek in Columbiana County. She waits there every year on August 12, a hideous figure in tattered  white satin and lace. And if she touches you she will become young and beautiful again----but you will die."

VICTORIAN GHOSTS

By: fhnv@mhtc.net
 

I HAVE BEEN INTERESTED IN GHOSTS FOR MANY YEARS NOW AND I HAVE HAD MANY EXPERIENCES WITH GHOSTS . THE FIRST STORY I WOULD LIKE
TO TELL YOU HAPPENED TO ME AND MY BEST FRIEND WHILE WE WERE IN HIGH. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ABOUT 15 YEARS. MY PARENTS
RENTED AN OLD VICTORIAN FARM HOUSE THAT WAS HAUNTED (WE DID NOT KNOW IT BEFORE WE MOVED IN).THE HAUNTING STARTED A FEW
MONTHS AFTER WE MOVED IN. THE FIRST THING I CAN RECALL WAS WHENMY GRANDMA CAME TO VISIT FOR A FEW DAYS SHE WAS NAPPING ON THE COUCH WHEN
A GHOST PULLED HER OFF THE COUCH  AND ON TO THE FLOOR AT FIRST SHE THOUGHT SHE FELL OFF THE COUCH WHEN SHE GOT BACK ON THE COUCH SHE FELT
SOME THING DRIPPING OTHER LIE WATER.SHE LOOKED TOWARD THE CEILING BUT NOTHING WAS WET!!!!!
AFTER A LITTLE WHILE THE DRIPPING STOPPED AND SHE FELL BACK TO SLEEP AGAIN SHE WAS THROWN TO THE FLOOR THIS TIME SHE TOLD THE
GHOST TO STOP IT AFTER THAT SHE WENT TO SLEEP . ON ANOTHER OCCASION THE SPIRIT WOULD PLAY THE PIANO.YOU ALSO HEAR FOOT STEPS RUNNING UP THE
SERVANTS STAIRS EVEN THOUGH THE STAIRS HAD MOST OF THE STEPS MISSING.MY MOM DECIDED TO CHECK
OUT THE HISTORY BEHIND THE HOUSE AND FOUND OUT THAT IT USED TO BE A WHOREHOUSE IN THE 1800'S I REMEMBER MOM TELLING ME THAT
THE WOMAN'S NAME WAS VIVIAN. SO OUR GHOST HAD NAME FROM THAT POINT ON WHEN EVER SOMETHING MOVED OR THE PIANO PLAYED WE KNEW VIVIAN WAS A
ROUND.THE GHOST EXPERIENCE I HAD  HAPPENED UPSTAIRS .I WAS THE  ONLY ONE WHO HAD A ROOM UPSTAIRS.THERE WERE 5 BED ROOMS UP THERE AND A
NONWORKING BATHROOM I REMEMBER THAT OUT OF ALL THE ROOMS UPSTAIRS THAT MY ROOM WAS THE ONLY ROOM TO BE WARM THE OTHER ROOMS WERE ALWAYS
COLD.ONE NIGHT MY FRIEND AND ME DECIDED TO SLEEP IN ONE OF THE OTHER ROOMS TO SEE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF WE SLEPT IN THERE
WE SET UP THE TV A LAMP AND WE SET A DOORKNOB ON TOP OF THE DOOR IN CASE THE DOOR WOULD OPEN WE WOULD HEAR IT. IT WAS ABOUT 12:00 MIDNIGHT
WHEN WE DECIDED TO GOTO SLEEP I SHUT THE TV OFF AND TURNED OUT THE LIGHT.AFTER ABOUT 15 MINUTES THE DOOR FLEW OPEN THE LIGHT TURNED ON AND
THE ROOM WAS ABOUT 10 DEGREES COOLER WERAN IN TO THE HALLWAY TO SEE IF WE COULD SEE IF ANY ONE WAS THERE NO BODY WAS THERE. WE WENT DOWN
STAIRS TO SEE IF ANY ONE WAS THERE NOONE WAS HOME. WE WENT BACK UP STAIRS TO TRY TO GO BACK TO SLEEP WE SET EVERY THING
UP AGAIN EXCEPT THIS TIME WE LEFT THE TV ON.WE HAD JUST FALLEN BACK TO SLEEP WHEN THE DOOR FLEW OPEN THE LIGHT CAME ON AND THE TV WENT OFF.
AND WE HEARD FOOT STEPS COMING FROM THE OLD SERVANTS STAIRS GOING UP AND DOWN THEN WE RAN FOR IT WE DID NOT STOP UNTIL WE GOT OUT SIDE TO
HIS CAR WE DECIDED TO SLEEP IN THE CAR THAT NIGHTONCE WE GOT TO THE CAR WE LOOKED TOWARD
THE WINDOW WERE THE OLD BATHROOM WAS AND SOME THING WAS WATCHING US I DO NOT KNOW IF IT WAS VIVIAN SOME OTHER GHOST
I DO KNOW IT WAS NONE OF MY FAMILY.  I STILL GO GHOST HUNTING
WITH MY UNCLE. I HAVE MANY STORYS TO TELL.

Hurtful Visitor

By: benshaw@webtv.net

Thank you for providing a forum to help me try and explain the
"unexplained".  It is events such as these that are so beyond reality
that you fear sharing it with others lest they label you insane.

My fiance and I moved into a condo unit in South Florida in Sept., 1999,
with our three children (his one and my two).  The unit owner from whom
we rent is from Haiti and is a very nice lady.   The day we moved in, we
found in the kitchen cabinet above the stove certain paraphenalia that
indicated she practiced Santaria (island voodoo).  The cabinet contained
black candles that had melted its wax onto the shelf (signs of burning
it in the cabinet) and cloves sprinkled all around.  We cleaned it all
up and threw away the paraphenalia.  Such practices are common place in
this area due to the number of transplanted Haitians.  We never gave it
much thought at the time.  And I have to be honest and tell you neither
one of us has ever experienced any paranormal events in our lives before
this; thus, we never had a reason to believe in such things.

In November, 1999, about a week before Thanksgiving, on a Saturday
morning at 11:00 a.m., I was in the kitchen washing the breakfast
dishes.  My fiance was sitting at our dining room table, which is
separated from the kitchen sink area only by an eating bar.  He was
maybe three feet away from me.  His chair was turned so he could face me
as we talked about nothing in particular.  As we were chatting, he said
out loud, "Wow!"  I asked what.  He said, "I just felt a very cold chill
go right through me.  It entered my back and came out of my chest.  It
felt like it got stuck coming out and had to pull itself free."  He said
he felt the sensation of something or someone approaching him from
behind right before he felt the chill.  I was a little stunned and just
stared at him.  I then went back to my chores.  A few minutes later, he
called my name.  I looked up. He had pulled his shirt sleeves up and on
both upper arms he had angry welts.  He said they were stinging (which
is why he pulled up his sleeves and looked).  I walked over to him for a
closer look.  The welts were beginning to subside and what was left were
definite scratch marks, three in a row on each forearm, undoubtedly made
my long fingernails.  My fiance's first reaction was to look at my hands
(even though I was not standing close enough to touch him at the time)
to remind himself that I did not have long nails.  We were both left
very unsettled by this and couldn't believe our eyes.  We phoned his
mother to come over and see it for herself, as if trying to verify our
own sanity.

Well, the day wore on and we sort of put it out of our minds as
something we couldn't explain.  We talked a little about our landlord's
practice and chalked it up as maybe some unexplained residual of
Santaria, though we know very little about it.

That night, we went to bed as usual.  I checked my fiance's arms before
retiring.  The scratches were still present and the swelling was gone.

At about 4:00 a.m., I was awakened from a very restful sleep by my
fiance shouting and literally scrambling to get out of the bed.  I sat
up, feeling very startled.  He turned on the bedroom light and lifted
the tee-shirt he was wearing while sleeping.  There, across his chest,
were two more rows of scratches, in a criss-cross pattern, swollen and
on the brink of bleeding.  The scratches were PERFECTLY patterned, as if
put there by an exacting knife, the same distance between each scratch,
and all were in perfect lines.  Needless to say, we got up for the rest
of the night, feeling very frightened.  We went into the kitchen and I
took photographs of his chest.  I had them developed the next day.  The
pictures didn't come out very clear, but you can see the scratches on
his chest.  He told me that at the time it happened, he thought he was
dreaming and felt a presence on top of him.  He felt the heaviness and
darkness of something or someone over him and then felt a burning
sensation on his chest.  That's when he "awoke" shouting.

The next day, we tried to rationalize these occurrences without much
success.  I was very frightened by it and was afraid to be left alone in
the house.  I retrieved from my jewelry box a cross pendant and hung it
on our dresser.  We prayed heavily that God would remove this presence
from our home, a presence intent on causing physical harm.  Nothing has
happened since that last occurrence, some five months ago.  To this day,
our children are unaware of what happened.  Nothing strange or
unexplained has occurred in our house since.  It took several weeks for
the scratch marks to disappear from my fiance's skin.  We are left with
the faith that God answered our prayers, and the cross will always hang
from our dresser.

I will always wonder what happened and why.  What was it?  Why did it
choose my fiance?  Why did it not bother me when I was only a few feet
away during the first occurrence, and laying right beside him during the
second?  For the first few months, we were afraid to talk about it, as
if pretending it didn't happen would prevent its recurrence.  As time
goes by without another occurrence, my psyche has healed enough to try
and think it through.  Unfortunately, I still don't have any answers,
and realize I never will.  I don't know what drew me to your site this
morning, after months of not really thinking about it.  And I'm sure
it's coincidental, but my fiance told me he thought about it again last
night after months of putting it out of his mind.

THE LADY OF THE HOUSE

By: Plippe@email.msn.com

  Now I would like to tell you about my own experiences while
living in the house.   I moved into the second floor apartment in 1979, in time I learned the second floor apartment was also where the Old Lady had lived. At the time I knew nothing about the history of the house.
My first night there I awoke to the feeling of someone standing besde my bed, starring down at me.  I felt no fear only the presents and after a few minutes fell back to sleep.  This occured three nights in a row and at some point I dont know why but I decided this person was a lady.  Over the next few weeks I noticed that the house would shake and vibrate a lot.  But I really did'nt think to much about this because I knew there was a railroad track just a block or so away.  The other thing I noticed in those first weeks was the cellar.  To begin  with the house was very old and it had one of those dark, damp, creepy, cellars with a dirt floor.  The kind of cellar you only go into if
 you really have to.  Unfortunately you had to go into this cellar alot because the lights were always going off, and the circuit breaker to  turn them back on was in the cellar.  Some days the lights would go out as many as four or five times, which could have been due to the age  of the house or bad wiring.  But that does not explain the problems that I had going into the cellar.As long as it was daylight everything  was fine, but any time after sundown that changed. By the way the circuit breaker was right at the bottom of the stairs, so I did'nt have
to go any distances into the cellar Thank God.  The few times that I actual did make it down the stairs a deep feeling of dread came over me, like a great danger awaited.  But even weired were the countless times that I could not or was not allowed to enter the cellar at night.  On all of these occasions one of two things would
 happen.  As I reached for the door knob static electricity would jump from the knob to my hand, while my hand was still 3 to 4 inches away from the knob.  You could actually see the electricity leave the door knob and go to my hand, several people witnessed this at different times.  In fact we even experimented with it, I would reach  out to touch the knob and there was the electricity, they would reach out and touch the knob and nothing ever happen. This was tried several times with different people, the results were always the same.  The second thing that would happen was the icy cold wind, not a strong wind but much more than a breeze. I would get the door open and start
 down the stairs, but as I reached the second or third step an ice cold wind would come up the stairs and blow into me as if trying to push me back.  I do'nt know why but I sensed this wind started in the center of the cellar, went round the cellar and then came up the stairs.  However it did all of this very fast.  Once again I always felt in great danger when either of these things happened.  And yet my fear still  was not towards the Old Lady.  For some reason I felt as if she were pritecting me from some other danger by not allowing me to enter the
 cellar after dark.  What other danger I'll never know (maybe I would have fallen down the stairs and broke my neck.) because needless to say I stopped trying to go into the cellar after dark.
For the first six years of living in the house I had never seen the Old Lady's darker side.  My four children and I felt no danger in her presents, in fact I still felt protected some how. The family on the first floor were not really strong believers in ghost and did not feel  her presents like myself and some others did.  However because of things they had and were about to witness they were fast becoming believers.  In the coming year we would all see the Old Lady's darker side.  It started with out renting out fo the third floor apartment.  This apartment was vacate most of the time because unlike the first and second floors it was four very small rooms. It was best suited for a single person which made it hard to rent out .  In six years it had only been rented out two other times, nether stayed longer than a few months, nether had any problems with the Old Lady that I know of.
But that year a woman in her mid-twenties ( who I'll call Ann ) moved in.  She was very nice and made friends easily with myself and the people on the first floor.  At the time she was in no serious relationships and was dating different men.  She worked days and came home late most nights as she went out after work.  Everyone seemed to find her a very easy going, pleasant person to be around.  But the Old
Lady did'nt seem to feel this way and started to show her darker side right away.  After living in the apartment for only a few days, Ann  told me she liked the apartment but felt very uncomfortable in it although she did'nt know why.  By the second week she said she felt like someone was always watching her, which caused her great fear.  At this point I asked her if she  had heard about the legend of the house , and she had'nt so I told her the story and about my own experiences.  I told her the Old Lady was really harmless and that she was just there, but never really bothered anyone.  But in the weeks to come the Old Lady would prove me wrong.
As the weeks went by Ann's feelings of fear turned to feeling of great danger.  She felt this way at all times when in the house, but the  feeling was stronger at night.  Since she came in late nights I was normally sleeping and did;nt witness the first five or six nights of the knocking. She stated that every night only minutes after getting home, she would hear a knocking at her back door.  She would go to the door but no one was ever there.  All of the back doors in the house had double doors. The inside door was a solid door and then there was a small hallway, then the actual outside door. Which had a window in it so you did'nt have to open the out side door only the one
before the hallway to see if someone was at the door.  When she went back into the house and closed the door the knocking would start again, this would happen two to three times before stopping. By the third week the knocking had increased in volume, it was now loud enough to wake me up out of a sleep.  At first I though it was someone playing a rooten joke on her, so for the next few nights when the knocking woke me up I would go up to her apartment the front way and we would go to the back door together. But we never found anyone
 there,and each night the knocking grew louder so that by this time it was now loud banging.  After talking with the first floor, we decided  to work together and came up with a plan to catch who ever was doing this.  The plan was simple, but would work. As soon as I was awaken by  the banging ( at this point the banging was not waking the people on the first floor yet although I do'nt know how it did'nt ) I would call down stairs and wake them. Then myself and the woman on the first floor would go up to Ann's the front way, while the woman's husband would
 go up the back way.  There by trapping anyone on the stairs or the porches.  We did this for two nights and although we checked every possible place a person could hide we never found any one or thing that could be causing the banging.  On the third night of our plan we  all realized this was no one playing a joke. That night everyone in the house awoke to a loud booming, that actually shook the whole house.
 I ran to Ann's apartment and was joined by the first floor only minutes later.  Ann was inside and guite hyterical, we could'nt get her to open the door to let us in.  The booming was deafing and continued for about another five minutes before stopping, during this time Ann was still refusing to let us in.  After about five minutes all went suddenly guite except for Ann who was crying hysterically on the other side  of the door. At some point Ann must have called the police, because as we were talking to her though the door trying to calm her down, two
 officers arrived.  After alot of talking they finally got her to open the door.  And when she did I was in no way prepared for the way she  looked. She was as I said before hysterical, with this wild look in her eyes, her hair was a mess, and in her hands was a butcher knife that she held out and front of her.  And all the officers could get out of her was that she opened the back door and there was an old lady,  with her face right up to the window looking in at her. At this point we told the police officers the whole story old lady included (which I'm sure made them think we were all nuts ) however they checked the whole apartment building and surrounding area and found nothing.
 By now I had taken Ann down to my apartment and calmed her down enough to get her parents phone number, who I called and they were coming  to pick her up.  Because her parents were coming to get her and she had finally put down the knife after talking with the officers, they  agreed to let her go home with her parents. Ann never returned to the house again, not even to get her things.   And the house?  It settled back down, and went back to it's old ways.  I lived there another four years after all this happened.  And  although I could still feel the Old Lady's presents, she remained quite.

Strange but True

By: adriantl@usa.net

These events happened when I was in college, which was around 15 years ago.  I
am not making any of this up and the experience was as real as my sitting here
typing this on my computer.  I was studying for a major in Psychology and I
always had a fascination for parapsychology.  One day at a bookstore I found a
tape called ‘Astral Projection’ that would make someone leave his body
temporarily.  Strange, I know but I was curious about either proving or
disproving that kind of thing for a research paper.  Anyway, one side of the
tape had the recording of a really corny voice telling to leave your body and
the other side was ‘subliminal’ that was masked by music.  I tried the tape a
few times with no success so I listened to the subliminal side quite a lot as
it had soft music and it helped me study even after finishing my research
paper on the topic. About six months later during the summer break I had gone
home to my parents house and lay down in my room to take a nap.  I turned off
my radio, turned the ceiling fan on high, lay down on my bed looking up at the
ceiling.  After a few minutes I felt that I was paralyzed.  I could not move.
I was pretty comfortable and felt no fear so I just lay there.  Then, all of a
sudden, my body seemed to shake violently and I head a loud crackling sound
like a radio station off tune.  I was able to move my head enough to look down
at my body and it was still and motionless yet I could ‘feel’ my whole body
vibrating and shaking.  Weird!  I was fully awake during this event.  I then
looked up to the ceiling and saw the ceiling fan spinning VERY slowly.  It
looked like it was on slow motion.  The shaking then became more violent and
the noise in my ears grew louder and then it became a hiss growing softer.
The shaking then changed into smoother vibrations.  I started to see the
ceiling getting larger and larger and felt a floating sensation.  Then I heard
my mom put the keys in the door and opened the front door of the house, I
heard footsteps and then the TV turning on.  It was the road runner going
‘beep beep’ and my mom said Be quiet and turn the TV off, I think your
brother is trying to take a nap.  Hearing these familiar sounds I struggled
to sit-up.  I could not move.  I tried again this time mustering every bit of
energy I could to sit up.  I let out a shout, pushed and up I came sitting
straight up in bed.  Nothing but silence filled the air.  I looked up at the
ceiling fan and it was spinning normally and I sat up, shaken, and then stood
up.  Then I heard my mom put the keys in the door and opened the front door of
the house, I heard footsteps and then the TV turning on.  It was the road
runner going ‘beep beep’ and my mom said Be quiet and turn the TV off, I
think your brother is trying to take a nap.  At this I panicked because I
thought I was loosing my mind because I had just heard those same sounds about
30 seconds before.  I ran out of my room into the front room and my mom said,
“Oh, I thought you were asleep.  I hugged her and was just happy to be back
to normal.  It wasn’t until a few weeks later that I realized that the tape I
had listened to may have helped create these experiences.  Little did I know
that this was just the beginning as I began to have them every-time I lay down
to try to sleep

(I have more I can write later if you are interested.  I encountered many
things through the years including a ‘black silhouette of a man’ that scared
me badly that sounds very much the same as your encounter that I would like to
write about).  I guess the closest category this would fall into is ‘ghosts
and hauntings.’

Noises in the Night

By: Basschick17@aol.com

well when my friend moved into her 2 family apartment the people who lived
down stair were on vacation   We were in Holbrook ma i went over her there to
stay over the night. We were chillen playing cards and talking to music it
was getting late but we were having fun. We were lessoning to the radio WBCN
and the the volume stared to go up and down we did nt think  much of it then
the radio would shut its self off for like 10 mins at a time and turn back on
at the start of a song . It was spooky but we still didnt think much of it.
So we went to bed.I walked out i had to pee i went into the bathroom when i
got out i shut the door and then as i was getting some thing out of my bag i
heard a growl like a dogs i went into her room and asked about it she said
there were no dogs in the apartment So she like i have to was my face so we
went back out and as i searched through my bag Jen looked at me and said
lession and you could hear whispers it sounded like little children playing
but it was 1:00 in the morning it was right out her door. We acted like it
was no big thing even though it was freaky. So we go and  to her room to get
some sleep i slept on the floor she was in her bed as we were getting to
sleep we heard running up and down the hall way little feet and down bellow
us. I sat up i loked at Jen and asked her if and she said ya so we went to
sleep and and then she had a poster across the room it flew off the wall and
across the room then little posters stared to fall off the walls and fly
across the room we were very scared and then as quickly as it stared it
stopped we stood there posters all around and there seemed to have some thing
lifted from the room. and we picked up the posters and put them into a pile
and we went to sleep nothing again happened like that night every one and a
while well hear feet down stairs but it might be the people and the radio
volume goes up and down  any questions e-mail me Basschick17@aol.com

Sleep Deprived

BY: Lublaneski@cs.com
 

Dear Dave, I will send to you the experience that I have had back in1991.  I
had moved to a new home in October of that year.  The house itself was not
actually, new, it had been built in the mid 50's.  I was alone with my small
dog in the house , and my fiance was planning to move in after we were
married.  I went to bed one night as usual, and was awakened by voices.
Terrified, I opened my eyes to see a figure standing over my bed with a dark
cloak and hood.  The eyes were suken as a skeletons eyes sockets would look.
I was able to see, because I had a nightlight on in the ajacent bathroom.
The terror I felt seemed to imobilize me.  I could feel my jaw drop in horror
and I could'nt speak.  There were more voices than just one.  I couldn't
understand what they were saying because the voices to me sounded as if
someone was talking in another room and I couldn't quite understand or make
out what was being said.  Strangely enough I remember hearing the last word.
It said "Smile".  I closed my eyes momentarily and opened them and it was
still there.  Again I did that and finally it was gone.  At the time I was
going through alot of grief and I wondered if this had something to do with
it.  I only know that I could'nt sleep much that night or very soundly for
about the next year.  I have wondered if anyone else has experienced anything
like this.  Somehow I got the feeling that this figure would not hurt me ,
but it's presence terrified me.

Paranormal Visitation, or just Sleep Paralysis?

By: Avenal [avenal@usa.com]

In order to come to terms with an occurrence I experienced as a teenager I have spent much time questioning what really happened:  was it paranormal, just a dream, or (more recently) Sleep Paralysis?  As such, I have begun to wonder exactly what the difference between a paranormal experience and Sleep Paralysis is . There seems to be a very fine line.  How do you determine if an experience was one or the other?  Or are they just two different ways to explain the same thing and the answer comes down to one of personal beliefs?  Does a "normal"
 scientific explanation always win out over a paranormal one, even if they seem as two sides of the same mirror?  Anyway, this was my experience...I was 14 years old.  I awoke suddenly and could not move.  My eyes were open and I could see, though it was somewhat indistinct - like tunnel vision.  Nothing in my room seemed out of place or different, although I could not turn my head to look around.  There was a palpable  presence that carried with it an unmistakable feeling of malevolence.  I did not see this presence, merely felt it looming over me.  The
air seemed heavy and stifling.  I do not recall a temperature change at the time, but I was numb, and I recall being cold after the experience ended.  I could hear a loud noise that sounded like something metallic scraping back and forth across the metal window screen repeatedly.  I also felt an indistinct "lump" inside of my water bed mattress moving quickly back and forth across the small of my back, again, repeatedly.  I was aware of conscious thought - my mind was working even though my body was not.  I tried to move and tried to scream
 and simply could not.  I finally managed to pray and force out the words "God help me," which subsequently ended the actual experience.  I literally leaped from my bed.  I looked at the clock and noted that it was exactly 3:00 am.  I could still feel this malevolent presence in  my room so I decided to try sleeping on the living room couch.  My sleep was plagued with nightmares so I tried to sleep in the chair.  Again I was awakened by nightmares.  The presence remained in my bedroom and was especially strong as I passed the door en route to my
parents' room, where I finally fell asleep on the floor.  At around 6:00 am I had to enter my room to get ready for school.  The feeling was  still there, but had diminished in strength.  By the time I returned home from school it was gone.  I have never again experienced anything  like that since, even though I frequently feel as if I'm being watched (no bad feelings from it, just the general feeling of another presence).  I still get chills when I think about it or talk about it.

As a side note (and perhaps a precipitating factor), at that period I was heavily involved in the study of the occult and demonology.  That very afternoon I had been doing pendulum scrying and was "talking" to a self proclaimed evil spirit that would not leave me alone.  I don't  remember exactly what I said but it was to the extent of "back off" - not a very nice way to end a "conversation."  Food for thought...

Papa's Ghost

By: katerrell@buckman.com
 
 

I just discovered Shadowlands, and it's nice to know that I'm not the only
one with a lifetime of experiencing strange phenomenon. It seems that
"entities" of one sort or another are attracted to me.

It started when I was just 4 years old. My family lived across the street
from my great-grandparents in a rural area. I was watching my favorite TV
show at the time (the Bugaloos!), when my great-grandmother came charging
in, quite distressed, shouting that my mother had to come help her. My
mother instructed me to "stay put!", and ran back across the street with my
great-grandmother.

Shortly thereafter, the screen door opened, and my great-grandfather
shuffled in. He sat down on his favorite corner of the couch, and told me to
come sit on his lap. "I have something very important to tell you," he said.
I adored my great-grandfather, and got on his lap with no hesitation. My
only concern was that the show would come back on and I'd miss it.

He told me that the grown-ups around here would be crying and acting really
sad and strange for a little while, but that I shouldn't be afraid, and that
I shouldn't be sad. This made no sense to me, of course, so I just nodded as
if I understood. He told me he loved me, and that he'd see me later. He
gently put me off his lap, and I ran back to my spot in front of the TV. I
heard the screen door open and shut as he shuffled out.

A little while later, my mother came back inside, tears streaming down her
face. She cried as she tried to explain that my beloved "Papa" had been very
sick, and had passed away, and that I wouldn't be seeing him anymore. Very
matter-of-factly, I told my mother she was wrong, that Papa was just there.
I told her what he'd said about the grownups acting strange and sad, and I
was a bit irritated that he was right.

My mother was right, too, though. Apparently, he had died at about the same
time he shuffled into house. To me, he had been as solid and as real as any
other human being. He felt normal, and he had that special grandfatherly
"old man" smell of cigars and old-fashioned aftershave that he always had.

Fifteen years later, my great-grandmother also passed away (she had been
significantly younger than her husband). At the funeral, just after the
casket had been lowered and the family was leaving the small country church
cemetery, I saw someone I didn't know standing by the fence watching me. He
had short, red hair, in an army-style buzz cut, wearing an old-fashioned
suit. He was also wearing a hat. He saw me looking, tipped his hat, smiled
at me, and winked. I smiled back, thinking that even if I didn't know this
particular relative, he had a sense of humor that my late great-grandmother
would have sincerely appreciated.

I assumed that he was one of the many distant country family members that I
hadn't seen since childhood, so I turned to my father to ask who that was.
When I turned to point the man out, he was gone. There were other details to
attend, so I dropped the subject altogether.

A few years later, sharing coffee with my mother, I told her about the
unfamiliar relative I'd seen at my great-grandmother's funeral. When I
described the short red hair and the hat, her face grew pale. She motioned
me to follow her upstairs. Once in her bedroom, she opened the steamer trunk
at the foot of the bed that contained her most treasured mementos. She dug
almost to the bottom of the huge chest, finally bringing out a very
familiar, dusty man's hat.

My great-grandfather had been a very old man when I was very young, so I'd
never known him when his hair was bright orange-red. My mother told me that
he always wore that hat when he went out, especially to a church. There was
no question that this dusty relic was the very same hat that he had jauntily
tipped toward me that afternoon.

I have no doubt that my great-grandfather attended my great-grandmother's
funeral. She was never good with directions. I feel sure he came to show her
the way home.

By:  anonymous

I grew up in an upper middle class suburb of Chicago, Illinois and I am a
divorced woman 42 years old. During my youth and in to my teens things have
"happened" to me and certain members of my family. First of all, let me say
that in looks, temperament (and evidently psychic gift) I take after my
maternal Grandmother, not my mother.  Grandma was a former nun (left convent
due to ill health) who remained devoutly religious and believed in the
supernatural (she didn't have a choice, really).  Gosh, where to begin? Ok,
when her brother, Wally, lay in a hospital dying she had a dream that he came
to her and said "Don't worry, I won't go yet, you're too upset". Doctors
removed a 27 pound tumor from his stomach and he survived.  Two years
later:The second tumor was wrapped all around everything inside him and he
said to Grandma in a dream "I didn't go last time but now I have to go.
Everything will be ok".
She was sleeping on the couch waiting for news from the hospital when this
dream occurred and she woke up to the overpowering smell of roses. She got up
and looked at the clock.  Not half an hour later her sister-in-law called to
tell her that he had died and the time of death was exactly the time she woke
to the smell of roses.  That following Christmas we weren't going to put up a
tree, being in mourning at Uncle Wally's loss and neither was his widowed
wife.  We lived right across the street from Uncle Wally and his family. My
Grandma was walking out the door with my Aunt Celia (their sister). It was
cold, crisp night and the sky was clear.  As they stepped off our front porch
they both heard a kind of booming noise and smelled an overpowering sulfur
smell and they both heard a voice that seemed to come from above them say
"deck the house". Now they were both in their 60's at the time and this
frightened them both badly. I remember when they both flew back in the door
and told us what had happend.  They called my Aunt Stefanie (Wally's widow)
and told her what had happened. We did put up the tree after all.
Now we come to my experiences. When I was 6 yrs. old my Uncle Stanley (Aunt
Celia's husband) died.  I have gentle, fond memories of him. One of the most
distinctive was his cigar smoking.  The cigars had a certain aroma that I
always identified with him as a young child. I was heartbroken when he died.
After he passed on I would often smell his cigar smoke on my hands or just
around me like a cloud. Now no one in our house smoked cigars or anything
smelling remotely like his brand but whenever I experienced this I would go
to my Gram or my mother or aunt and say "smell my hand" or "do you smell it?"
and THEY ALWAYS DID! Even my Aunt Celia did and yet we all thought it was so
nice but never were freaked out or afraid of it. My Grandma said he was
watching over me.  This happened for many years. Looking back now I think it
was pretty freaky for sure! When my Grandma died she came to me as I lay in
bed one night crying for her (she raised me) and she touched my foot and said
it was going to be ok. I felt her touch. It wasn't ok right away actually, I
went through the most horrendous time of my life that year due to other
things as well but through it all I know she was trying to protect me. I felt
her presence and felt her touch on my shoulder.  I also seem to have
developed a psychic bond with my mother's youngest sister, my Aunt Liz. She
and I are only a few years apart and grew up more like sisters and happily we
are now also friends. We know what eachother are thinking and one of us will
turn to the other and answer a question that's never been asked and we're
always thinking the same thing.  At times it's almost spooky.  Anyway, thanks
for listening.
 
 

By: Danielle63@webtv.net
 

  This may not seem to scary but if your a 10 year old girl home alone
it is bitterly scary. It was just a moment before that I'd seen the ight
on and I knew I left my drawers open and no one had close them. I
decided to have ceareal and then while I pouring milk I noticed the
light was turned off and I had heard the noise of the drawers cosing!
Sure enogh the lihts were off and the drawers were closed. It was a
"ghostly" experiance I'll never ever forget!!
 
 

By: JAKRGA@aol.com
 

Back in 1987 I was in a bad somewhat abusive marriage and considering leaving
my then husband.  One night while asleep I awoke to see a large man dressed
in a long black cape with a hood.  I could not see his face and I distinctly
remember him holding black roses.  He was standing in my doorway which, by
the way, where french doors.  Both doors where open and he seemed to take up
the whole doorway.  He was very large.  Well, of course I screamed and threw
the covers over my head until I finally got up the nerve to run from my
bedroom to the bathroom and flicked on a light.   As usual my husband was not
home when this happen (around 2 am in the morning).  The next morning I
realized what I saw was the Grim Reaper (at least this is what I believe he
was).  Shortly after that I did indeed separate from my husband and moved
back to my parents home.

Once back at my parents home, I proceeded with the divorce.  I did stupidly
consider at times to go back to my soon to be ex-husband.  But I believe I
was sent warnings not to go back.  One night after going to bed I awoke
screaming and crying and my face flooded in tears.  My Mom came running
frantically into my room to see what was wrong.  The minute she touched me I
seemed to "snap" out of it.  Because I seemed so terrified, she wanted to
know if I wanted her to sleep with me.  Of course I said no (after all I WAS
24 at the time), and I was not freaked out at all and had no idea what
frightened me in my sleep.  Looking back it is amazing that I seemed so brave
because actually I'm a scardy cat by nature!  This did happen one more time
exactly the same way and again my Mom offered to sleep with me and again I
said no.  The last time this happened really did scare the heck out of me
when I found out the next morning what happened leading up to another one of
my "episodes".  My brother, who was about 16 years old at the time, was up
late one night around 1 am in the morning.  He did this quite often.  At one
point he needed to go to the bathroom.  When he opened up his door and
proceeded to step into the hallway something caught his attention on my door.
 He stopped to look at this image, which he said was near the bottom of my
closed bedroom door - it was an upside down cross with something underneath
it which he could not make out what it was.  As he was studying this, I
started to scream just as before.  This TOTALLY scared him to death and he
ran into his room.  Again my Mom ran in to comfort me just as before and
again whatever it was that scared me had left my senses.  The next morning at
the breakfast table my brother was questioning me as to what took place the
night before.  I absolutely had no idea.  He then went on to tell me what he
witnessed on my door.  At this moment I really got scared.  I asked him
repeatedly if my door was really closed.  You see I NEVER sleep with a closed
door - NEVER!  To this day I wonder what was in my room with me!  Of course I
went through with my divorce and nothing like that has ever happened again.
Because I was having second thoughts about going through with my divorce, I
think I was being sent a warning to get out of that marriage.  I interpret
the Grim Reaper with the death of the marriage and whatever it was that
followed me home was the enforcer telling me to go through with it.  Has
anyone else ever had experiences like this and / or what is your opinion?

By the way, I am happily remarried to a wonderful man and have 2 beautiful
children and a wonderful stepdaughter!  Thanks for listening.

My Haunted Apartment

By: crumsey1@hotmail.com

Just to let you know from the start I am a firm believer in the paranormal.
Anytime anyone tells me their "stories" I listen intently with out
judgement, each individuals experiences vary from person to person and time
to time.  I also believe that I am very sensitive to "our friends" on the
other side, however I don't open up enough to receive the full experience.

My husband and I (newlyweds then) moved to the Jacksonville FL area around 3
1/2 years ago.  We lived about 2 miles from the Mayport Naval Station (my
husband was a USN sailor).  We rented a small 1-bedroom apartment.  My
husband was always gone on short, 3 day to a 1 week, periodic deployments.
So when I was alone in the apartment I thought it was my mind playing tricks
on me.  I would feel like someone was in the shower (like showering with
me), I would not look at the bathroom mirror any longer than I had to (it
was way creepy, like someone was looking back at me).  This was just the
beginning.  At first I did not tell my husband about these "feelings", but
when I would ask where misplaced items were or who ate missing candy, he
would say "oh the ghost did it or ate it".  This was our little (or so I
thought) joke and I did not think anything of it.

My husband was getting ready for a 2 week deployment when he finally told me
that he thought there was more than the 2 of us "living" there.  He went on
to tell me that things would be moved from the place he last sat them; like
his day runner, TV remote, or keys...things that were personal items.  He
said at first he thought it was me, then realized that I would either be
asleep or not at home when these "occurrences" were happening.  I was
relived to hear I wasn't the only one.  I then confessed about my "feelings"
he said he didn't think I was crazy or a wacko!  However that's when things
started getting extremely spooky.

I started noticing the same things, personal items missing or
misplaced…especially my car keys.  It got to the point that each time I
would have an appointment or deadline my keys would come up missing.  I
would find them in the oddest places...under my bed, under my couch, in the
refrigerator, or in a drawer.  It felt like whoever it was did not want me
to leave.  At first I thought it might be my great-grandfather I always felt
like he was my guardian angel, but then it was too annoying and constant to
be a protective measure.

We got a puppy; she would not go into the bathroom, if her toys bounced into
the bathroom she would lay at the bathroom door and cry.  Our pictures on
the walls started looking like other people (with that comment I mean they
did not look like familiar faces, they were distorted), and like they were
watching me.  There was also an almost perfect round spot on the carpet in
front of the fireplace, it was there when we moved in, I thought it might be
a burn from the fireplace.  The spot seamed to get darker, at first I
thought it was just wear and dirt but even after vacuuming an steam cleaning
it would not get any lighter or go away.  The dog did not like that spot.
She would avoid it at all costs.

Up until this point it was just weird feeling and missing items however it
soon started to be much moore.  One day my husband was going to take the dog
for a walk and I was asleep under a comforter (on the bed), he came into the
room and gave me a kiss and told me he would be back later.  I was
half-asleep and barely acknowledged him.  For what seemed a very long time I
felt (what I thought was my husbands hands) a strong warmth on my back, like
someone was holding their hands on my back on top of the comforter.  I woke
suddenly saying "your making me hot!" and noticed there was no one in the
room or in the apartment for that matter.  This shook me pretty bad, but
when I was finally fed up with this was a week later.  My husband had left
for 2 weeks and I was working the graveyard shift, so I slept in the middle
of the day.  I was had just gotten into a light sleep when I started feeling
like I was levitating about 2 feet off the bed.  I woke with a start, the
apartment was silent (a deafening silence) for this to be 3pm in the summer,
it was way too quiet, I could not even hear the refrigerators hum.  The air
conditioner wasn't even on and remember this is Florida in summer.  I was
drenched in sweat.  To this day I can't tell you for sure if this was a
dream or real, but either way it scared the hell out of me.

My husband was gone so much that I felt alone and these strange things were
so personal.  I finally told a trusted friend.  She asked had I spoke to
this entity, I said "hell no it might talk back".  I got to think about what
she said, "talk to it".  The next day I had a doctors appointment with a
specialist (with military insurance this is a rare occurrence).   My keys
and my purse were missing, as usual, I was searching for 20 minuets, when I
was fed up I started yelling and cursing about my keys and how important
that this appointment was and I stood in the center of the room looked
around one last time and on the arm of the couch were my keys and purse
(where I had left them).  It was then that I realized the power of speech.

The next day that I decided to come out and tell the spirit that I did not
want it there and wanted it banished from my home.  I was standing in my
kitchen (the bathroom was where it was strongest but I was too freaked out
by it), on the counter was one of the wine glasses from our wedding day
(this was one of the only things I had from our wedding day... we did not
have a "wedding" we were married at the court house).  I told the spirit "I
want you to leave this is my home now and you need to go" I felt a lot of
pressure and stress like I was in a crowded elevator.  Then I got a little
more bold and angry saying curses and shouting, (I wanted "it" to see how
angry I was).  Well I must have made "it" angry because my precious
wineglass slid across the counter and was slammed onto the floor.  I say
slammed because I had dropped many glass items and they would sometimes not
break or if they did it was only into 2 maybe 3 pieces, however this wine
glass was shattered beyond recognition.  This scared me.  It seamed the
spirit was capable of violence.  I left with my dog and went to my friends
house for the next 2 nights.

My friend and I talked about the occurrences, she suggest some old Italian
wives tale, I figured I had nothing to loose.  So I went and bought two
boxes of salt, a broom, white candles and a loaf of bread.  We went into the
apartment and said a poem that we had made up...something about we want you
to leave and go to the otherside... I don't remember exactly its been almost
3 years ago. We said our poem over and over while throwing salt on every
last inch of the apartment (according to the wives tale the salt would
banish the spirit, that the spirit could not stay where the salt was…because
the salt was pure).  Then we took the old broom out and brought in the new
one along with the bread (the broom and the bread symbolizing the new living
tenants of the dwelling) and candles.  We lit the candles and said our poem
and prayed to God and the Virgin to bless my home and protect me from evil
spirits.  Then I asked my priest to come and bless my apartment.

After this my pictures looked like the regular old pictures that I always
new. I no longer had freaky dreams.  We even caught the dog occasionally
sleeping in the bathroom, I felt comfortably alone in the bathroom and in
the shower, but the weirdest thing was that the circle spot in the carpet
completely disappeared.

If you would like to e-mail me with comments or questions I would love to
hear from you crumsey1@hotmail.com
 

By: elworthy@telusplanet.net
 It started about two years ago.  I had just gone to bed.  I was just lying
there with my dog when the back porch lite went on.  At first I didn't
think much about it so I got up and turned the switch of.  When I got back
into bed my dog started to get restless and scared, He was shaking like a
leaf when the light went on again.  when that happened I started to get
this feeling that I was not alone.  I got out of bed and saw that the
switch had been turned on, which should have been impossible because I was
home alone.  This happened six times that night.
 The next time My fiance and I had just goten home from a trip.  I headed
straight for bed and he stayed up to watch t.v.  Once again I had my dog
with me.  Not long after I went to bed my dog started to freak out again
only this time he bolted from the room.  I just laughed at him and layed
back down.  Thats when I felt it.  Someone was crawling up my bed and I was
the only one in the room.  I physicaly felt the bed go down as if someone
was leaning into it.  I froze.  The room turned chilly and I could feel
someone on top of me.  Thinking maby it was my fiance I opened my eyes and
saw him, him as in the ghost.  All I could see was his head.  He was a
white shimmer but I could clearly see his face.  That was when I realized
who he was.  My father.
 My father died five years ago.  I never met him, but I knew what he looked
like.  Two weeks after I saw his face I saw his whole body once again
flooting over top of me.  After that I have had things thrown of my shelf,
I can hear him walking around at night.  The other night I saw him standing
over me touching my feet.

 I don't have a long history of a hauntings, nor is my story very scary,
but for me it is real and I just wanted to share it.

My Life with Them...

By: PINKYBEANS@gateway.net
 

My first experience was probably the worst. i believe it was b/c i was
unaware of the fear. i believe the fear can keep them away. i use my fear and
prayer and the wonderful invention called the lightbulb. the light always
helped me- sometimes. the first time i was 12 years old(im now 21) i was
alone in my deceased great g mothers house my mother had bought. my mother
was at my nana's one house down. something made me look down the hallway and
there stood a fairly large man. in a floating way coming towards me. he was
transparent. he had no evil aura. he went into the kitchen and i ran to the
door i heard dishes clack and i ran down to my nana' s house. i had to live
in our house in fear every night. i felt something strange but never saw
anything again. i say please do not show me a ghost lord! He knows i cant
handle it. But still i feel them.
    About 3 yrs ago my nana handed me a note book of sightings my
greatgrandmother had kept. They waited until i was old enough to face reality
that what i had seen and felt at many different times was real. the person i
saw i think was my Great g father. My Great grandmothers old house we loved
and lived in burned down my senior yr in high school.
    We now live in a brand new house and i still feel ghosts around me. After
someone i know dies, i feel a strong presence that they need to talk to me.
But i wont dare let them  come to me. i think now (this i really strange)
that it has "gotten around" inthe spririt world that i have a connection. i
think that b/c i woke up one night with my covers off of me and no socks. it
was freezing outside and i never do that. i know it was something i can't
xplain. i need answers . i need to learn how to deal with this. i get tired
of sleeping countless nights with my lights on.

By: calistasewell@trilogytours.com

I guess I don't know where to start so I'll just let it all go.
My mother in law used to live in a very old house-1800's or so in
St.Paul,MN,we all knew her house was haunted,but those stories are
unrelated to what I'm about to tell you except for the fact that her
ghost(s)followed her.She moved to a fairly new house1980's or so in
Woodbury,MN.It all started about 2yrs ago with my mother in law.She was
laying in bed late at night having trouble sleeping,she said she was
dozing off,you know the sleep where anything can wake you up,when she
felt someone get into bed with her,she said she felt the impressions on
her bed like hand,knee,hand,knee then she said someone pulled the covers
back and get comfortable in her bed like she wasn't even there,well
needless to say she was terrified,to scared to move so she laid in bed
for over an hour she said.When she finally got the courage to look over
her shoulder she said noone was there and her bed was still perfectly
made.She swears no matter how many people pass it off as being tired,she
was wide awake.
The next incident happened with my mother in laws sister,she was
spending the night at my mother in laws and they had stayed up until
after midnight talking and what not finally my mother in law had to go
to bed,well her sister had rented movies and put one on.She watched the
whole movie and when it was over it was probably 2:30 in the morning or
so she got up and used the bathroom,got something to drink and got on
the couch to go to sleep.She said as soon as her head hit the pillow
someone standing in the hallway said clear as day"HI",she said she sat
up saying what are you doing up,when she looked behind her noone was
there,she got up and ran to her sisters room and she was in her bed
sound asleep.She ended up turning on all teh lights and staying up more
than half the night.
Now here's what happened to me.My mother in law was on vacation and we
were staying at her house,my daughter and I were sleeping in her bed and
my fiancee was sleeping in the spare bedroom.It was 2:30 in the morning
when I woke up out of a dead sleep,I looked around the room and toward
the end of the bed I saw a black haze,I could see through it to the wall
so I passed it off as having just woke up when something reached out and
knocked the blanket off me,I physically saw the blanket move.I'm a grown
woman and let me just tell you I was so scared that I pulled the covers
over my head,and after about a minute or so I looked out and nothing was
there,so I ran to teh spare bedroom where my man was.I woke him up and
told him what happened,all he said was so it visited you to.!!!
I can't stand going over there,not even in broad daylight.I always feel
scared.Here's somethings that also happened that they wouldn't tell me
about,my daughter has an imaginary grandma,she calls it her Nana grandma
I thought it was just something that 4 year olds did,but my sister in
law told me it all started back about 1-1/2 yrs ago when my daughter
opened the closet door in the front hall,sat down on the floor and
started talking to someone,well after a long time my mother in law said
"alexus who are you talking to?"And my baby replied "my old nana grandma
lives in the closet".
Also before I knew anything about the ghost I would be sitting upstairs
in the living room and I would haer a sound like someone was walking up
the stairs,I just passed it off as house noises until one day I was
sitting with my mother in law and for some reason I told her about
it.She then told me she heard it all the time like someone would walk up
the first 5-6 stairs and then it would stop,she said she and my daughter
wrwe sitting in the living room one day and she heard it,she tried to
ignore it and my baby who was 3 at the time ran to the top of the stairs
yelling out "who's here?" anyways those are my stories if any one has
any input please let me know,

By: MrStrange121@aol.com
 

    I have quite a few weird experiences already in my life despite he fact
the fact I am only 13, but by far the scariest for me is ghosts.  I have had
3 encounters, in 3 years.
    My first encounter was when I was 9, I was sitting in my room doing some
homework.  First thing that happened was that the door locked, I know it
wasn't me because I never lock a door (except for the obvious times).  Next
thing that happened was that something started making these weird beeping and
clicking noises all over my room, and as abruptly as it started, it stopped.
    My second encounter may not have been a ghost, but it was something.  It
occured when I was 11, I was looking outside at the stars from my room.  When
suddenly I saw a figure glowing in a bright pinkish or orangish color.  It
walked like a human.  I think it may the ghost of a native american because
behind my house there are quite a few piles of rocks that look like graves
and I have some strange formations in rocks and branches.  After observing
for about 30-45 seconds it walked out of view.
    My most recent encounter happened just recently.  I was watching TV being
alone in my house, when I suddenly heard this person (presumably a man)
calling out in thrill or needing help.  It seemed to be calling for a
"Martha".  I am sure I was not imagining this because my dogs also heard.  It
was not a TV or radio because none were on except the one infront of me and
it was muted.
 

By: yancandjen@webtv.net

I began to feel a man's presence in my home shortly after a friend of
mine moved in. She saw him on several occasions in her bedroom during
the middle of the night. I could feel him more and more strongly as time
went on. Then I began to feel threatened by him. I called my mother (
who has taken classes on pyschic abilities ) to help me get rid of this
unwanted spirit in my home. While on the phone with her, I could feel
the spirit trying to wrap around me as if he wanted to suffocate me. I
told my mom what was happening. She instructed me to put on my cross
necklace. But when I tryed to do so, the rope chain necklace fell apart.
(It was almost brand new) As I tryed to put my cross on another chain, I
could feel the spirit trying to push into my body. After I finally got
my cross necklace on, I felt a little less threatened. My mom came over
a few hours later to exorcise the spirit out of my house. We used a book
by Sylvia Browne to do the exorcism. Needless to say, it worked, but
took a couple of weeks. That all happened a couple of months ago. Now, I
can still feel him from time to time, but there is no threat. Thank you
mom and Sylvia Browne!!

By: HAJD [HAJD@xtra.co.nz]

I cant remember my story very much but my mother has filled in the gaps for me,
when i was younger and my grandmother was alive my mother took me to an old house down in the farm below her house to get bricks from the walls so she could make a path,we had been there for about half an hour and my mother started getting bricks  off her chosen wall.We both started feeling very uneasy.Then my mother reported hearing a baby crying .I cant remember hearing this sound . My mother ecame vry concious of my safety and made me go to my grannys .I know something else happened but mum denys it .One day I asked my granddad about the history of the house.He told me that a group of maori shearers and their familys used to live in that home.Their baby was abused and one day it went too far , if you know what I mean.
All I remember from the incident is a VERY uneasy feeling and feeling as though I was being watched.
This may sound silly but when I walk on the path today I hear the faint sound of a baby wailing.

"(LIVING IMPAIRED)"

By: SHADOWLADY148@webtv.net

I am a mother . I am also a grandmother.
I just want to say that , my husband and myself have been living with
the spirit  of a child for almost 6 years. Now it seems that a little
girl is here also.
   In March of 1995, my husband, my daughter JENNY and myself; moved
into a  house in a little town called Sandy Springs,  SC. Where we could
all 3 be closer to our jobs. Any way the house we moved into is a former
Daycare Center."(KIDDIE KOLLEGE)"
  Upon moving in ; Jenny noticed that any thing  she hung on her walls
in the bedroom would automatically wind up in the floor. At the same
time in the living room  I'm trying to set up our bookshelves. But it seemed
everytime  that I got one shelf finished, and started on another one
the first row would land at my feet. It made me mad!
  My husband ; BOO , his nickname, could take a nap and he could feel
the pressure on his chest and stomach  like a small chld wanting to
snuggle up.None of this is  spooky or scary. Just a fact.
   Jenny is the only one of us that has seen him. She says  he is
alittle boy maybe  7or 8  with blonde hair cut like somebody put a bowl
on his head.
     I do know that in the past , if I am upset  or mad
about something that when I am in the kitchen, I can somtimes feel a tug
at the bottom of my shirt, or a hand on my shoulder with a slight forward
push.
It's just "(Willy) trying to tell me everything  will be ok.
  My Granddaughter  Jessica  sleeps with him .
He is a member of the family. NOW Home  would not be home with out him.

My Psychic Feelings

By: XXLimpKrumpet1Xx@aol.com
 

well first of all i love this site and its been making me wonder about some
things that have happened to me. Ive had experiences and my mother has also,
but i love the rush i get from it and some wierd things that i have been
doing have been kinda freaking me out. I spent the night at my friends house
once and this person popped in my head and i described this person to her and
asked her if she knew who it was and she was like "yeah thats my aunt she
died a couple or years ago."  I did this through almost the whole night. Ive
been able to tell people what they are thinking and when im in an area that
is haunted i get either an uneasy feeling or pains. When one of my friends
say they experience sightings and so forth i will investigate and i will tell
them my thoughts. I will give them a gender and a name and my feelings for my
thoughts are so deep as if i know the spirit. There is this one spirit that
seems to follow me and i dont know it its my guardian angel or what but i
have the feeling its a male and his name is David. I've always felt different
from everyone else because of my experiences and when im having these
experiences, sure i get freaked out but i also feel at peace and content in a
way. I dunno im only 16 but since i was 4 ive been having so many wierd
sightings, experiences, and feelings and they have never stopped.
 
 

By: AnTrec@cs.com
 

I was raised in a house that was haunted. things happened  frequently and
they were simply discussed and laughed about. The house burned 21 years ago
and jokes were made about the ghosts moving into the new house too. That did
not happen . Our ghosts made me feel strange and different. I think my
personality was affected by their presence in our home.

Ghost in the Corner

By: Schhaven66@aol.com
 

 I am not very good at typing. so bear along with me. The story
I'am going to tell you happened 24-yrs ago. And I have only told a few people
about it. I don't even know if it really happened. My brother in law which at
the time of his death was only 22 yrs old. He got run over by a car while
walking along the road. But the story begins after the fact. We all went to
the viewing a few days later. My wife, step son, and myself. It was a long
drawn out affair, which lasted hours. And my step son being only 10 at the
time was greatly affected by this. Upone  returning home I told my wife it
would be a good idea for the small child to sleep with us. I really don't
know what amount of time went by. But Ii was waken out of a sound sleep by the
young child yelling Joie, Joie. When I looked over I saw Joe in corner of the
room. Only from the neck up. When I said to Brian[step son]. what is going
on? He said he saw Joie coming towards him. When I yelled out Joie moved
into the conner of the room. Only from the neck up and float upwards. Which
is just what I seen. Joie from the neck up. and float out of sight. The next
day I asked the child what he saw, and he said the same thing again. I was
worried this would be upsetting to him. and I told him there is no such
things as ghosts. could you shed some light on this for me. what did we
really see. To this day Brian does not remember it. He seems to have blocked
it out of his mind.
            ps, did we really see me brother in law, and what did he want.
one thing I let out. he had a hat on. which he always wore. the child said
about this the next day.
 
 

By: Carolny2000@aol.com
 

Well it all started one night when I was waching cartoons.My mom was in the
laundry room,my dad was working ,and my sister was in her room.The next thing
i noticed was  that the room got very cold then a old lady all dressed in
black holding a rose crossed my living room towards me paresnt bed room.This
was on a friday about 8:00, A week later the same thing happend but in my
room.When i thought it went all away  a month later my mom's favorite uncle
died.I felt like i knew someone was going to die.I hope u relize i was 10 at
the time.I'm 11 now

A Friend for Life
By: natalya_007agent@hotmail.com
 

My home is not a place where unusual things happen often, as a matter  of
fact, I have never encountered anything strange or ghostly, but my mom on
the other hand has.
About a year ago, my mom's best friend, Judy Demers, died of cancer.  My
mom, with help from some close friends and family members, organized the
funeral of this very special woman.  She was everyones friend, outgoing,
smart, pretty, and just full of life.  Even while she battled cancer, not
once did she stop being outgoing.  She continued to make people smile and be
happy.
During the times when Mrs. Demers was confined to her bed, she wrote her
eulogy which she wanted my mother to read if she didn't win her fight with
the fiend that threatened her body.
There were two parts to her eulogy, one which she wanted read at her
funeral, and one that was meant only for her family.  This my mother did not
know, until Mrs. Demers told her in a very strange way.
It was very late one night, around 3 am.  My mom was going over Mrs. Demers'
eulogy, editing it and trying to decide what to do.  My mom could tell that
one part of the eulogy seemed...a little personal for everyone to hear at
the funeral, yet my mom was still uncertain.  She had asked the family
members if they knew anything about what parts were to be read and which
were not to be read; they were no help.  It was up to my mom to figure it
out.  The stress of losing such a close and cherished friend was too much,
and with the added task of trying to figure out what her best friend wanted
but could no longer tell her, was just unbearable. My mom just broke down in
tears, sobbing over a beautiful friendship that could no longer bring her
warmth.  She didn't know what to do.
Suddenly the lamp, which was my mother's only source of light while she had
been editing the eulogy, began to flicker intensely.  At first my mother had
just thought that the bulb was going out or that there was something wrong
with the elctricity, but the lamp never went out, it just kept on
flickering.
My mother felt a little foolish for what she was about to do, uncertain of
what was truly happening, but she went with what her heart so wanted to be
true.  She called out her friend's name, "Judy, is that you?"  The light
stopped flickering at that moment.  My mom could not believe what had just
happened. Her friend had come back.  She stopped sobbing and smiled.  My mom
began to talk to Mrs. Demers.  She closed her eyes and just began to say
what was in her heart, knowing that her friend was listening.  After
speaking from her heart, she opened her eyes and looked down at the eulogy,
remembering the dilemma she was in.  "Judy, I don't know what to do.  There
are two parts to this eulogy, but i don't know if one is for everyone or if
they both are, I....I just don't know."  The light began to flicker again
and my mom picked up the part of the eulogy she thought to be personal and
asked, "Do you want this part to be given only to your family?"  The light
began to flicker faster as if nodding yes.  My mom was finally relieved of
not only the burden in her heart but the dilemma at hand as well.  She knew
which one she would give to the grieving family and which one she would read
with all the love she felt for Judy.  Once again she closed her eyes and
told her friend how much she loved her, as she said those words the lamp
slowly stopped flickering and the lamp was as it had been.
This experience has given my mom a new hope.  She is a practicing Catholic
and always knew she would be with her loved ones in heaven when she left the
mortal plane, but now, she knows a very special person is waiting for her at
heaven's gates and will be watching her and smiling down until they are at
last reunited.
But the friendship still lives on, for my mom is visited every so often in
her sleep by Mrs. Demers.  My mom is told not to be sad, but to be happy for
her, happy in the knowledge that she has been reborn into a complete
paradise where she no longer suffers from mortal illnesses.  It's odd, but
each time she is visted by Judy, it is in the same house.  Yet my mom has
never seen the house, but it always looks the same.
Friendship is such a beautiful thing.  It never dies, even in death.
 
 

I thought you may be interested in what happened to husband last autumn in
Gettysburg P.A.  I grew up in the U.K. and have always seen things, my
husband being a sceptical american has been unmerciful in making fun of me.
We decided to spend a week in Gettysburg exploring the battlefield and unique
history.   I was very uncomfortable,  as anyone who has ever been there
knows, being so completely surrounded by spirits can become rather oppressive
over time.
On what turned out to be our final day there my husband awoke around 6am and
went to get a drink of water.  The next thing I remember is being woken by
him yelling that I should be more careful.  Apparently while he was at the
sink someone ran into him at full tilt almost knocking him over, which is no
mean feat considering that he is over 6 feet tall and heavily built.
My husband finding me still in bed immediately began throwing everything back
into our suitcase and we checked out early.
He no longer makes fun of me and needless to say everytime we return to
Gettysburg we stay outside of town.
 
 

By:  cherryicekreme@yahoo.com
 

I have been living in this house with my family for about 3 years and have had kind of strange expiriences in it that have lead me to believe that it is haunted. Especially my own room. my bed used to be on the wall that my door was on, facing forwards so I so see whenever someone came in. I would have the strangest sensations, and sometimes I thought I could hear my door open and close in the middle of the night. This did not scare me too much, because often my father would have to leave for the airport in the early morning and he would come kiss me on the cheek before he left. One morning I saw the door open, and close. I sat up telling my father that I was awake- but was really surprised to hear the car's engine and it take off out of our driveway! No one was in the hallway when I checked. These kind of things would just kind of scare me- so I moved my bed, so that I could see my whole room when I was in bed. Nothing really happened for a while until the beginning of my freshman year in highschool. I was vere saying! that night I cranked up  the radio and turned on the light!! This story
seems mellow, but it sure scared me when it happened!! thank you!

Animal Spirits

By:  wiseoldyoda@hotmail.com

I once had a dog that got very ill. We could not aford a vet. On morning I woke up and my I saw and felt my dog sleeping under my arm nussled against me and I slowly drifted back to sleep. I woke up to my brother crying that my dog had died. Aperently they had been watching my dog since early in the morning and swore he never got up. I believe that it is the animals love and your love in reture that makes a bond stronger than death. It's way of saying goodbye.

Apartment Ghost

By:  Cmhonigford@aol.com
 

I'd never actually seen a ghost before but I'd felt presences (especially in
my aunt and uncle's old house) - that is until I moved into my current
apartment.
I live in an old apartment building. The landlord told me it was built around
1920, but the houses near here were built more along the lines of the 1880s.
>From what I hear they were mostly low rent housing for the servants who
worked at the mansions just up the road. Needless to say, many many people
have lived in these rooms since then.
A couple of months after moving into my apartment I started having nightmares
that someone was in my apartment - in my bedroom. They progressed to the
point that I would wake up terrified and felt like someone was trying to
choke me and I was being held down on the bed. This happened several times.
One night I woke up feeling like someone was choking me again, but this time
I couldn't move. I know I was awake, but my body was paralyzed. I glanced at
my bedroom door, which was open, and saw a man standing there. He was a young
man and didn't look particularly menacing. He had blond hair and was wearing
a sweater vest. He looked 20th century, maybe 1930s or 40s. I wasn't afraid
of him. He started walking towards me and then disappeared. I haven't had
that nightmare since and I haven't seen "him" since. I have the feeling that
the young man I saw wasn't the one trying to hurt me and that maybe he was
trying to keep that "bad" spirit away from me. It worked because I haven't
had that dream since.
After that experience I got a cat. Not long after I got her I woke up in the
middle of the night to find her sitting beside my head, not facing the window
behind my bed like I expected, but the bedroom door on the opposite side of
the room. Her head was moving back and forth very steadily as if she were
watching something. She didn't seem upset, just curious. It seemed like
something was intentionally trying to keep her attention. I looked (very
reluctantly) and saw nothing. She proceeded to watch whatever it was until I
kicked her out of my room and shut the door. That upset me more than seeing
the young man in my doorway. It was like a confirmation that something was
actually there and it was active even though I couldn't see it.
It doesn't really frighten me anymore. I seems like it's looking out for me,
watching over me... and entertaining my cat. And having the cat has made me
feel more at ease. I figure if something bad was here with us, she wouldn't
be as lazy and relaxed as she is.
That's it. Nothing has happened for quite awhile, and I ignore the cat when
she comes into my room at night - I need my sleep!

I recently submitted an account to the Shadowlands which I titled "Farmhand".  It was a brief narrative of the haunting which is going on in my central Indiana farmhouse.  I will not recap that narrative but would like to share an account of increased activity in the house.
Over Memorial day weekend of this year my wife's sister and her 3 year old son were visiting us from Michigan.  My sister in law has a much higher sensitivity level to spirits than most people and she does not particularly welcome the ability. She once made the mistake of openly welcoming any spirits who wanted to visit her into her home and had a very hard time  ridding herself of one particular entity.  Since that episode she is reluctant to even discuss spirits. On the first night of her visit she and her son were sleeping in the living room of our farm house.  She woke up at approximately 0300 feeling as if she were being watched.  She looked into the hall way leading to the kitchen and saw a man standing in the hall watching her and her son.  She indicated that she felt no fear but was uncomfortable with his presence.  She eventually closed her eyes and refused to look any longer and eventually fell back to sleep.  This is the same hall way that makes people scoot through a little fast...not scary...you just feel an urge to hurry down it.  The next day she was filling us in on the encounter of the previous night and I was noting the similarities to the  apparition that I had seen in the house a couple of years earlier.  One difference is that my encounter had been with a younger version of the apparition....and she had seen a full body...my lone experience had been of the apparition from the waist up only.  The physical description was very similar..my version had red hair...hers had white hair.  One thing that was identical was the bright blue eyes we both described seeing.
 While discussing this encounter I took note that the only activity seemed to take place in the original part of the house built in the 1840's.  I jokingly mentioned that perhaps the spirit does not venture into the additions to the house.  Big mistake!  The second night of her visit around 0100 I awoke to the sensation one can experience when a cat walks on you while you are  laying in bed...I felt the sensation go down the right side of my leg then a heavy force was felt on my feet.  Not unusual  except that there are no cats in the house  This bothered me very much.  I was extremely uncomfortable with physical contact with this entity.
 I left the bedroom and went out to the porch to spend the rest of the night.  I had no sooner settled into a chair when I heard the sound of someone coming out to the porch.  I was greatly relieved that it was my sister in law.  She asked if anything was wrong and I told her only that I'd had a bad experience.  She asked if I had felt anything touch my feet!  When I responded affirmative she said that something had come into the living room and stood beside her for awhile then began touching her leg then proceeded to sit on her feet.  She was worried about her young son so we returned to the living room where I sat in a recliner to try to get some sleep.
While sitting in the chair I was struck sharply in the foot once...then something began to scurry around the ceiling of the living room...a noticeable sound of movement...very rapid in pace.   My sister in law felt as if this was a second presence...she did not receive the same feeling from the night before.  She indicated that it did not give any feelings of malevolence...only wanting to be noticed.  In the past week the touching  has reduced in frequency...but have changed.  I will occasionally feel a small charge of static electricity on my arm or hand and have been visited once more at night with the "cat" sensation.  I can only hope that my sister in law is correct  in her assessment that this is simply the spirits way of saying "Hello...I'm here"  Still I am very uncomfortable with this and do not welcome it at all.
 

By: JimNwi@aol.com
 

This is a true story that happened to me in Feb of 93.  A very good friend of
mine was going to a birthday party in a small town about 40 miles south of
Milwaukee.  We both got off of work at about 9:00pm, it was a saturday night.
 Although we both left within a few minutes of each other we ran into each
other at a gas station right before the freeway.  I was on my way to visit
friends in Northern Illinois.  I told him to becareful and he said you
becareful, I said am not the one who falls asleep while driving.  We both
laughed and drove off.  About 3:45 in the morning (a time I will never
forget) I was awaken by my friend who asked me why I had spit on them. And I
said I didn't spit on you, but all down the left side of my body felt very
warm and wet. Well we turned on the light and it turned out that his cat who
was very small and tame and never came in to the bedroom had puked up what
seemed like a gallon of red puke. I would like to add that there was no food
or water out for the cat, I looked. And all of it was on me.   I was not very
happy about this. I had to take a shower (thats how much there was) and
change the sheets. One thing I didn't mention was that my friend who I worked
with loved all animals especially cats, he had 2 himself.  Well about 5am the
phone started ringing. since we were tired we didn't answer it. finally about
8am we answered, it was my roomate from Milwaukee saying to come home and was
very upset.  I know it wasn't good. But believe it or not I was still reeling
from the cat puke. I drove what seemed like forever, but made it home in 45
minutes which is a feat in itself.  When I got in, I found out that Shawn had
fallen asleep while driving over one of our elevated freeways downtown and
had flipped over a bridge and landed on the street below upside down. The
time of the accident was 3:45am.
 
 

By: Leia833@aol.com

My experiences are not very exciting, but i think maybe some people might
care to read them.
    Dudleyville is located in Cornwall, ct.  I had first learned about
Dudleyville through an aquaintance. He told me that he heard of this guy who
had been driving back from a gig really late at night. he was on the
highway(in a part of dudleyville)and was so tired he had to pull over and
sleep. This person had such horrible nightmares that night, so bad that he
had to see a psychologist for months afterward.  I was also told by the same
person that dudleyville was a town where they kept all the mentally ill
people, and that if you touch the foundations of the houses their spirits can
possess you and you go crazy.  Other people have said it was just a town that
died out of smallpox, and others said it was because of some curse.  This is
my experience: Almost exactly a year ago, 1999, i went to Dudleyville with 2
other friends, Dave and Greg.  I had snuck out of my house to go and..it must
have been around 2:30 or 3am when we finally got there. The last part of the
drive included 15 mintues through unlit woods.  Pretty but also creepy.  We
had parked there illegally because the sign explicitly said "daylight hiking
only" and i think thats a little weird in itself. Dave, my best friend at the
time could sense presences and such, so he told us where to take pictures.
We had brought 2 cameras, a polaroid and a regualar camera. The other guy we
were with, Greg, had been there before. He said they had parked at the other
end of it and had to walk for a real long time before they ran  into any
foundations.  He also said that the trails are easy to get lost in and that
they had marked their trail to get out, with a soda bottle or something i
guess. When they were leaving they recognized their trail, but noticed that
their soda bottle had been moved. So we were walking in and we noticed the
legendary eerie quiet that everyone notices.  I mean there is NOTHING, no
birdies, no bats, no crickets, no peepers, no noises that should be heard in
the deep woods on a hot summer night.  Before we were really deep into the
woods, we were breaking out the cameras, and Greg thought some trees were
cool and had a us take pics of them, we took one w/ the polaroid and one with
my camera.  Before long Dave was telling us to take pics here and there..only
a couple though i took not more than 4 the whole time i was there.  I was
clinging to Daves arm the entire time, being the wuss i am, so we left after
a while as we were also running out of battery power. When we got back to the
car and it started, i was quite relieved because some people return to their
cars being messed with while they were gone. About the pictures, the
polaroids take a few minutes to develop but i refused to look at them untill
we were in the car on the way home, but i remember dave looking at them while
we were there saying something along the lines of: "they died out of smallpox
all right, just look at them" well all the polariods didnt come out so i dont
know why he said "look" at them, maybe he could feel it somehow. (There is
some question as to how the town died out.) But the thing about the polaroids
was, the picture of Greg's pretty trees came out fine, but the pics w/ the
"auras" that dave sensed came out ok around the edges w/ blackness like it
never developed in the centers, not like black "things" mind you, just like
the picture did not develop properly. My pictues were different. again Greg's
tree pics were fine, one other picture was normal but the last one one had
the white misty ectoplasm in it.  Swirly w/ one blob that was compared to a
toddler's head by Dave's mother, and an upside down  lowercase letter e.
This might not matter but smallpox would have taken out the children first,
so it might be a spirit of a baby, as the mist really does resemble his head.
 Weird now that i think of it i allways refer to it as a boy.  Now i whish i
had taken more pictures. Anyway that was the Dudleyville experience.  I must
also add that the pictures i took were in the middle of the roll of 200 speed
film. And one last thing.  While we were driving home, we drove out of the
woods and onto the main roads there were a couple feilds and there was a
mountain(more like a hill) nearby. and Dave said he felt like there was
something there, in the feilds and on top of the mountain. He said that back
in the day they used to bury the dead on tops of mountains because its closer
to God or something like that.
    Green Lady cemetary was pathetic. I was there a couple times a year and a
half ago. There are 1.5 graves there, the rest have been destroyed.  There is
an old tree where the green lady was supposedly hung from and you are
supposed to see the rope marks from the branch, i never saw any. Dave never
said anything to it being haunted, and i conclude that the mist comes from
the nearby swamp.  As to the mist being green, the cyannobacteria that hangs
out in swamps can be green or blue so that could account for the green mist.
    I went to Europe on a school trip in February 2000.  We visited the
cemetary in Paris that Jim Morrisons grave is located in, i cant spell it
because its french but its Pere Lachaise or something. Anyways i had a few
pictures taken of myself next to his grave, and 2 were of me placing flowers
by it. both of then have that wonderfull ectoplasmn in them.  Also i might
add we went into catacombs in Paris, they are these underground tunnels
filled with bones from when Paris was being rennovated back in the day. I
guess they dug up all the cemetarys to make room. There were wall to wall
bones. I could have taken a skull and put it in my purse had i wanted too,
but being the nice person i am i didn't.  I took a lot of pics there but none
came up with anything unusual, although the bones are freaky enough
themselves.  I must also add that the other students i was with took pictures
all over the cemetary and in the catacombs and no one got anything unusual.
    I am sorry about the length of this but i have been meaning to share it
with the rest of the world for a while now.  I am trying to get my pictures
scanned, so if anyone really needs to see them or share their Dudleyville
experiences with me i can be reached at Leia833@aol.com.
 
 

whats up, I'm an average teenager I recently moved out a house that had a ghost.
It scared me when I first found out about it. About 190 years ago a man named
Edward hung himself in the stairwell of our house. he hung himself because he
couldnt pay the house bills taxes or something like that.The house was his sisters,
he built it for her.when I first arrived at the house(knowing that there was a ghost)
I was SCARED. He would bang on walls, move furniture, yell, holler,scream, moan,
and run,pound if you will on the stairs he hung himself above.What really creeped me out
 was when he would mess with my mom in her room, which was RIGHT by the stairs.
over time he wouldn't mess with us(me and my family)anymore.then when he would
me or one of the family members would yell or just simply say to stop it and leave us
alone.one night ,me and my family were talking at our new house(about the ghost)
and stuff on our refrigerater came off and I wasnt sure if it was coincedence or him.
is that possible???? Well there is my story about Edward the ghost...I hope you got all
these facts down sorry about the mis-orginization of my story.

Emergency Room Ghosts

By: vweir@advertisnet.com
 

I work in a hospital in Emergency Room admissions. We have a huge waiting area with a "Meditation Room" off of the main waiting area. It is a small, windowless room, maybe 8X8, with four chairs, a table and a phone, the door has a long, narrow window just big enough for you to peek in and see if the room is occupied. This is the room that physicians use to break the  news to families that their loved ones have passed on...When I started working there I was informed by my co-workers that this room was "haunted" and that I would see lights flickering on and off at all times, day and night and that sometimes you  would feel the hair on the back of your neck rise and know that someone was watching you. I won't say I was a non-believer,  I try to be open minded but I wasn't going to put much stock in these warnings without experiencing these happenings first hand. Well, it didn't take long for the me to see the lights flashing on and off, the maintenance department had electricians  in all the time but nothing was ever found wrong, and I can't count the times that I would look up to see if someone was watching me! The clincher happened at about 2 a.m. in the morning though, I was at my desk and felt someone watching me, I
looked up and saw a small child about 8 or 9 watching me from the window, she had her nose and mouth pressed up against it,  I got up from my desk , thinking she had wandered from the floor and gotten lost, by the time I turned the corner to go around the desk, I looked back and she was gone...the hall way to the patients rooms is very long and if she would have left I would have seen her walking down the hallway, she had simply disappeared. I saw her so clearly I could not believe  she had been and apparition but she very simply had "disappeared". The next morning, I related my experience to the morning  admissions clerk , she went over to the room and called me to join her, she had opened the door to the meditation room and  on the bottom of the window was a foggy impression of a small nose and mouth....about a week earlier we had a 9 year old girl brought in that had been electrocuted....she didn't make it....she was not from our town, she was just visiting and it  was going to take her mom several hours to arrive, by the time she got there, the coroner was taking the child away. I have since wondered if that was the spirit of the little girl "waiting and watching" for her mom.