Ghost Stories: Do You Haz?

[FrumperSeamstress]

I'm thoroughly convinced my bedroom is haunted. My tv changes channels by itself all the time, even if I'm looking at the remote. It's usually to the news or something, but it also goes to those church telecast things. Pretty creepy. I also hear things moving around at night, in my walls usually. 

Also, not mine, but my mom works with a child with Autism. The family lives in an old house, and its most likely haunted. The child has always called snowmen Jonas, and no one knew why. As it turns out, a man who used to live in the house (and died there, I believe) was named Jonas

[polecat]

I'm something of a skeptic when it comes to ghosts. But my husband and I had an experience that we were never really able to explain.

It was the first house we lived in after getting married. It was an old, small farmhouse -- there was even an old well on the property (which we didn't know about until I fell in it. Long story and way less dramatic than it sounds). The house was the only one on the block, and behind it was this huge empty lot that a local trucking company used for storage. On one side was a rural highway. On the other side, were a couple houses.  (picture: http://imgur.com/X9TsKOC) I'm sharing this so you can get a better picture of why we were SO confused by what happened. 

The house had one bedroom, a bathroom, an eat-in kitchen and the living room on the main floor, and then the upstairs was just one large room that we used as a bedroom. That room had a weird angled closet/storage room sort of thing -- dark and creepy. We didn't use it. There were three outside doors on the main floor (weird, I know) and another outside door on the upper level. This door led out to the roof of the porch, but there were no rails or anything, so it stayed locked and we never used it. Anyway -- at the time, husband was working nights and slept during the day. I'd get home late afternoon/early evening. There'd been a couple weird incidents before this one where things were moved around the house or the doors were left unlocked  ... but you kinda chalk those up to forgetfulness, you know? There was this little stuffed animal that kept turning up in strange places like it was walking around. I blamed the cat. Sometimes I'd come home to find lights on, TV on, etc., but I'd blame my husband. There were always completely legitimate reasons for the weird things happening.

This one night, I got home at dusk -- darkish but still light  enough to see pretty well. I unlocked and let myself in the front door, and as I did so, I heard footsteps POUNDING across the room upstairs. The upstairs door opened and slammed shut, and the house was silent. I was so startled because I thought my husband was ... I don't even know what. I went tearing up the stairs, and there he was sitting straight up in bed, white as a ghost (ha). He'd obviously just been awakened out of a sound sleep. It clearly hadn't been him, so I ran to the upstairs door, which was still locked. I turned the lock, yanked open the door and went out on the porch thinking it had been a thief or something. Keep in mind, this is a very small house. No one was visible anywhere, and because of the trucking company, the outside was always well-lit even when it was really dark -- which it wasn't yet. There weren't lots of houses or shrubs for someone to hide in. Not to mention, had someone hit the ground after jumping off the porch roof, they'd have probably been pretty winded, right? I tore downstairs and back outside, and I saw no one. The flowers I had planted as a border all around the patio were undisturbed. Again, if someone hit the ground running, wouldn't they or the grass show some signs of it? At this point, I'm completely creeped out. Husband is up and outside within minutes, and he's searching everywhere. Nothing. No one in the truck lot. The gravel would have given them away.

I finally went back in because I'm 99 percent sure it was a burglar at this point, and I wanted to see what he'd done or taken. And as with everything else, I found nothing. Not a darn thing. The doors were all still locked but for the upstairs one and the front door. My husband calls the police anyway. They basically blew us off since nothing was taken and no one was hurt. 

We moved shortly after that because the landlord refused to change our locks without actual evidence of a break-in (gee, thanks!), and I just didn't feel safe.

But ... ghost or burglar? I still don't know. Like I said, I don't believe in ghosts. But, someone was clearly in our house that night. And they left without leaving a trace. 

[MamaJunebug]

Well, y'all are such good storytellers that I totally forgot something was baking in the oven and there went my lunch!!!  No harm no foul, the JB pets will love it. 

I have less than zero sensitivity to the other side, for which I'm grateful. Siblings are very gifted and my role is to keep them calm and get them away from whatever's bothering them. I wouldn't change that for the world!

However, I do have a story I don't mind sharing. 

When my oldest Junior JB was about 3-1/2, we were quietly playing before dinner and out of nowhere, she said, "Grandpa Jones [my FIL] hurts in the head."  She went on playing. About an hour later, my BIL's wife called to say that our FIL was in the hospital with a stroke. 

A little after that, my current pregnancy seemed to be in jeopardy. I felt desperate enough to ask my JrJB if she knew how the new baby was doing.  She made an annoyed little face and said, "Don't ask me those things."  Turned out the baby was fine, but I never asked again. She says she might remember knowing about Grandpa Jones but that she might just be remembering hearing me tell the story again and again and *again*..... Which *is* my custom, with good stories. [sheepish grin]

[MarblesMom]

I think the littles are more "open" to receiving this sort of info.   Didn't the kids in Mary Poppins understand birds til they were older?  Or am I imagining things?

I once saw a mind-meld, in person, between a non verbal one year old and non verbal 93 year old.  They stared and stared and raised eyebrows at each other during their "conversation."  I have no doubt those two shared something, and the rest of us were too old/jaded/checked out to be a part of it.

Then the one year old stuck a finger in the 93 year old's nose, and they both cracked up.

Everyone else was in tears over the encounter.

 

 

[SpurgeonSquarepants]

My grandma was a seamstress, professionally and for personal enjoyment. She had a huge, elaborate sewing room in the basement, along with shelves and shelves of her books. She loved trashy romance novels.

She died of a sudden heart attack one week after receiving a clean bill of health from her cardiologist.

For a few weeks after her death my grandpa would wake up to the sound of heavy furniture being moved downstairs. No one there, nothing moved.

He also couldn't keep his book of stamps in the desk. This thing is some solid wood, with a fold down door,  quite heavy. He kept finding them on his kitchen table in the morning.

Also, I saw the basement lights on when grandpa was asleep. We live across the street and me and my mom stared at it from our window, knowing no one had gone down there since. We ignored them and after awhile checked - they were off.

A few years later my daughter was born. Her name is Norah. We were housesitting over there when she was a few weeks old, and I love to snoop though their old photos and momentos. I went down to the basement and right at the bottom of the stairs, on a table, and in a very neat stack - 8 books entitled "Nora(h)" or written by a Nora(h).

So, yeah. Grandma is/was paying attention.

Edited February 11, 2016 by SpurgeonSquarepants
riffles

[2manyKidzzz]

I wonder what all  of this means. It turns out a house we wanted to buy but lost out on was haunted I heard from someone who lived next door to it. Turns out the location was a civil war  hospital unit, or some medical post. So, I guess we were saved on that one. I would have been totally freaked out. 

So, what does it mean? What REALLY happens after death? But, no one has left a note explaining it. And I do not think that they will. I was on a forum awhile back with a discussion where people told of the same types of happenings. 

[Bajovane]

I have vague experiences that I cannot really be sure of, as I was either getting ready to sleep or just waking up.  Several times I felt something either sit on my bed or jump up, but no one else is there.  One time I felt someone shake my leg as if to wake me up - I remember feeling irritated as it was just before my alarm was to go off.  I looked over at my husband thinking it was him - but he was sound asleep.

My grandparents house was bought by a young couple just starting a family.  They set about to renovate the house as it needed updating.  During that time, they experienced things like lights turning on after they swore they turned them off (my grandparents always left their kitchen light on until they went to bed).  Things might get moved.  The lady swore she once saw my grandfather standing in what was his bedroom.

Later, after they had their first child, it seems they were visited by my grandmother.  One day the mom put her child down for a nap (in the bedroom used by my grandparents).  A while later, she heard the child babbling, like he was having a conversation with someone.  She goes in and sees him standing at the railing of his crib, reaching out to something and smiling.  Nobody was there.  Now prior to all this, they never could settle him down to read him a book - he wanted nothing to do with it.  After - he loved it.  My grandmother was once a teacher - she loved reading books to us kids and was good at it.  Perhaps she read him a story and he enjoyed it?

Not long after this, their experiences stopped.  It's possible my Grandmother came looking for Gramps and once found - they went back "home".

[Fundie Bunny]

I have just remembered a couple of good stories (and when i say i just remembered i mean that long enough time has happened and i am not scared that much anymore)

In october, my friends and i travelled to visit other friend that now lives in other city. We rented a shitty apartment where all 8 of us could barely fit. One night, we were mildly drunk, and one of my friends swore someone had grabbed her shoulder. We just said it was the beer talking. Everything went more or less normal until the last morning. We had left the apartament the night before, and in the morning, two of my friends went to see if we had left something. When they closed the door, they asked do you think we will ever come bach here? A feline voice awnsered "Don't ever come back". I guess ghosts don't like loud drunk teenagers.

And a few years ago we photographied a ghost. I had forgotten about this one. It was a girl with a teddy bear. A friend recently changed the setting of the picture, and she appeared to be wearing an old dress. That was super creepy.

And i still think i don't believe in ghosts. I don't know. I don't want to know, better said.

[Four is Enough]

Way back in the day, my parents sang a song with the refrain, "and the clock, stopped, never to run again, when the old man died.."

Apparently, this is a thing. Practice Husband's father owned an antique clock that he treasured. Several, in fact, but this one was his absolute fave. When he died, the clock stopped. Practice Husband thought it had just run down, wound it, and it ran again... and stopped at the time his father died. PH took the clock to a specialist in antique clocks, who took it apart and declared it in tip top shape. Started it again. Clock stopped at the time of death. PH never did get that clock to run again.

 

Coincidence? Nah.

[MarblesMom]

11 hours ago, Four is Enough said:

Practice Husband

Love this!!!  Mr MM calls me his "final and correct wife."

[SoybeanQueen]

I think young people may be a little more gifted with spirit or ghost sense since they're open-minded by nature. My oldest daughter was just a toddler when my husband's aunt died. She hadn't spent much time with her due to living in different cities. After the funeral my mother in law kept a large, framed portrait of her sister in her bedroom, leaning against the wall. Many times we found my daughter in that room, sitting in front of the portrait, having a one-sided conversation with her great aunt. She also called that aunt on her toy phone all the time. She had never really mentioned that aunt prior to her passing.

[adidas]

Note to self: if you wake in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep, then think to yourself 'I might hop online and read until I'm sleepy' ... this thread is not going to help you. At all.

[FundieFarmer]

Way back in the day, my parents sang a song with the refrain, "and the clock, stopped, never to run again, when the old man died.."

Apparently, this is a thing. Practice Husband's father owned an antique clock that he treasured. Several, in fact, but this one was his absolute fave. When he died, the clock stopped. Practice Husband thought it had just run down, wound it, and it ran again... and stopped at the time his father died. PH took the clock to a specialist in antique clocks, who took it apart and declared it in tip top shape. Started it again. Clock stopped at the time of death. PH never did get that clock to run again.

 

Coincidence? Nah.

That's actually a historical practice in some cultures. In your case...definitely inexplicable!!

[Four is Enough]

4 hours ago, FundieFarmer said:

That's actually a historical practice in some cultures. In your case...definitely inexplicable!!

I've heard of people stopping clocks, like some people cover mirrors, but not the clock stopping by itself.. 

[Loveday]

4 hours ago, adidas said:

Note to self: if you wake in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep, then think to yourself 'I might hop online and read until I'm sleepy' ... this thread is not going to help you. At all.

Especially if you're alone for the weekend!

[zebra #13]

Okay, one for Valentine's Day. . . .  The guy I loved and lived with died far away.  When I got his ashes back, and was planning for his Life Celebration Service, I pulled his Tibetan Singing Bowl off his altar, and had taken it to the sink to polish it to be used at the Celebration. 

The sink was empty except for the bowl, covered in brass polish, I rinsed my hands, and as I was leaving the kitchen, the bowl rang just as loud and clear as if someone had played it.

I paused at the door, turned, and said:  "Thank you, my love--I really did need that."

[chissprincess]

Not too many exciting ghost stories floating around in my life. I have two photographs somewhere back home (one from a trip to Ireland and one of my in front of the Codori house in Gettysburgh) that may or may not have ghosts in them. No way to prove it either way, but it's fun to think about.

I'm fairly convinced that my last apartment was haunted. The building was a house from the 1930s that had been converted into apartments. I kept seeing odd shadows and things like that, and couldn't find another explanation. Finally one day it got really annoying so I said out loud that I didn't care if there was a ghost or whatever, if it didn't hurt or scare me or anyone who visited me in the apartment I wouldn't try to make it leave. Things calmed down after that. Whether it was actually a ghost listening to me or just some part of my psyche needing me to stand up and be tough(ish) for once, I don't know, but I was pleased with the outcome either way.

The actually weird things that have happened to me have involved dreaming about real events as they happened. The first time that I remember, I was a teenager and I dreamed about a car accident at a crossroads my parents and I often drove past. The next day I found out that, right around the time I would have been dreaming about it, there was actually an accident at that crossroads and that an acquaintance of ours had been involved and was in bad shape. He lived, and I never mentioned the dream to anyone before now. The second time was only a couple of years ago, when my grandmother died. I dreamed about the room she was in and I saw her one more time, and somehow in the dream I knew she had died while I was "there." Again, when I woke up, I found out that she really had died, right around the time I was having the dream. Why I have only had dreams about two events, or why it was only those two events in particular, I have no idea. 

[TacoCat]

I've had several encounters with the paranormal. I'm what is called a "sensitive" meaning that I pick up on spirit energy easily. I'll do a good and bad.

As a teen, my dad and I moved in with my grandparents. My great grandmother (granddad's mom) died in the house. My dad was only 5 when she past, so I never met her. She was quite the character, apparently! She my dad was her favorite. Anyways, on two separate occasions I felt a kind female presence in the room. Both times were as I was laying down to fall asleep. Once my quilt which was pulled up over my shoulders and the other time I felt a hand stroking my hair. I told her I appreciate the love, but don't do it again please!

The second was when I was 15. My best friend used to live in the same neighborhood as my grandparents when she was a kid. The house had been on the market for years. She told me about paranormal experiences she had growing up. Cold spots, odd feelings, sounds, and a blue face that appeared in her window. We decided one day to walk over and check it out. For some reason the door was unlocked, so we went into the house. We walked around for a while and decided to go up stairs, which my friend said was always where she felt the most uncomfortable. When we went into her old bedroom I started feeling very sick. Shakey and nauseous. I got flashes of images of a barn with a noose hanging from the rafters. I felt intense grief for the loss of a child. It got to the point where I couldn't breathe and I said we gotta go. As we were going back down the stairs, I could feel something behind us. I didn't look back until we were back on the first level and when I did I saw a lady in 1900s? type clothing. She was all white and opaque. When I looked in her eyes, I felt the same overwhelming sadness I had felt upstairs. Suddenly, her faced changed and her eyes were black pits and she disappeared. I felt something press inside my chest. I'm sure she was trying to possess me. It's like someone grabbed my heart and twisted it. I've never felt anything like that. It was horrifying! After that, we ran out and I didn't meddle with the spirit world anymore. 

[MarblesMom]

Ok, @TacoCat that gave me chills......

[TacoCat]

It was hands down the most frightening moment of my life. I DO NOT fuck with that anymore. Nope nope nope.

[MarblesMom]

An update... today I was napping in our bedroom.  Marbles started growling .... I ignored her (could be snow mobiles, a slow moving vehicle, whatever.)  When I got up, I noticed the other bedroom door was shut.  We left it open on purpose, over the last week or so,  as it has been so cold... didn't want to completely freeze it out. 

I came downstairs and Mr MM commented that the TV was on a channel he never watches. 

I asked him if he closed the bedroom door and he said no, he had not been upstairs all day.   The last time I watched the TV Mr MM was in front of was last Friday.

What the heck is happening here?

[2manyKidzzz]

I live near Philly, and we went to a festival at Christmas season in Elfreth's Alley in Olde City which is the oldest continuously occupied street in the US. It would seem. Some of the homes, which are privately owned were open and you could tour the first floors. One young owner said they had recently moved in and his wife woke up one night and then went to check on their infant and found a woman in old fashioned clothing bending over the crib.  Some innocuous words were spoken, I can't remember exactly by his wife, but it was a gentle encounter. The woman then disappeared. The young man didn't say that anything else had occurred. Of course moving into such old housing, one might expect this sort of thing to occur. 

I wonder things like.....what about heaven what about hell? We were promised all of that stuff in Sunday school and beyond. Never heard any explanation, of course, we just don't know, I guess. 

[KylieJenner]

On 2/16/2016 at 10:35 PM, 2manyKidzzz said:

I wonder things like.....what about heaven what about hell? We were promised all of that stuff in Sunday school and beyond. Never heard any explanation, of course, we just don't know, I guess. 

I was always under the impression there was some type of purgatory you have to go through first and some move on faster than others.

[2manyKidzzz]

6 hours ago, KylieJenner said:

I was always under the impression there was some type of purgatory you have to go through first and some move on faster than others.

I don't know what the theological reference is for purgatory....that is a good call KJ. It just seems weird to be stuck here. or whatever it is. II mean, the Long  Island Medium seems to be able to call up all of these people....of course they are not seen as ghosts. And maybe some people  go for a reading with her and nobody shows. But she has called up at least a few times a long ago passed away grandparent. 

I have no idea. And I don't know who does, ha ha. 

[ksgranola1]

Quote

 

I've got a spirit in my house. First time I heard it, it yelled "HELP!" at the top of it's lungs. It was right behind my head. It was 3AM. I was so scared I couldn't even take a deep breath for several seconds. I began trying to be logical. I should go check hubby down the hall. Has a hear condition. Just then, he came down the hall w/a flashlight. He checked every room including the porch & the CHIMNEY & went back to bed. While he was in the hall, I was trying w/all my might to make a sound but nothing would come out. Funny thing was, he didn't check my room. Maybe he thought if I was asleep that he'd scare me. And the next morning he totally denied that he heard anything or searched the house. I was awake when I heard the "HELP" so I know I wasn't dreaming.  A few months later,  I got up to go to the br. about 3-4AM & when I came out, the light fell across my dresser. One of the drawers was pulled all the way out. I was thoroughly creeped out b/c it's a drawer I never open. It's full of things I want to save but have no use for; jewelry boxes you get for Christmas, stuff like that. So I left it open for my husband to see. I got up when it got light out and there on my chair, was one of the jewelry boxes. I kept buttons in it. I left it there for my skeptical husband to see. When I showed him, he was creeped out too, but he wouldn't tell me, I could see it in his face.

He went to church that morning & brought back some holy water. Later that day, I put the button box back in the drawer & closed it. But it was still bothering me. That evening, I opened the drawer one more time, just to look at that button box.

It was gone.

I looked everywhere. It's been a year now, and it has never turned up.  A few other things that were permanent fixtures have disappeared in the interim. But one more creepy thing happened. I keep my laptop computer on my chair at night. I got up, again about 3, and I felt something on the bottom of the bed. I don't know what made me think it was part of my computer, but I did. I turned on my flash light & sure enough, it what I learned was a power bar from the back of the computer. I didn't even know that came  off. I always store my computer upside down.(heat) it was right side up on the chair.

There's LOTS more, but that's enough for now. Glad to finally have someone to talk to about this. Won't even tell you about the slamming doors.

Edited February 22, 2016 by ksgranola1