weird ghost stuff

[CJFusco]

I don't want to start a debate about the existence or non-existence of ghosts/hauntings here, but something happened to my ex-girlfriend tonight that definitely makes you think

For about a year now, her sister has insisted that her bedroom is haunted. The sister claims that she woke up one night and saw an old man standing in the doorway to her room, watching her. When she turned on the light, the man was gone. A few weeks later, standing outside, the sister saw someone moving around in her room. Upon going inside, nobody else was home.

Nobody completely believed the sister, but weird stuff continues to happen. For example, one night the sister was sleeping over a friend's house; at about 3AM, my ex was awakened by the sister's stereo that just decided to turn itself on full-volume. And, no, the stereo doesn't have an alarm/delay on it. The sister will leave her lights on, go to the bathroom, and come back to find her lights off. Things will disappear and reappear somewhere else, the phone in the sister's room will ring but the rest of the phones in the house will stay silent, etc...

Well, the backstory to the house is that it was built for an old man who died before its completion. The sister has insisted for awhile that her disturbances MUST be the ghost of the old man. Silly, right?

Well, about 3 nights ago, my ex and I were talking on the phone (we are still friendly). For whatever reason, she had to use the phone in her sister's room that night. Somewhere along the line in the conversation, the "Pina Colada Song" got brought up as a joke in the conversation.

Tonight, my ex was reading in her living room, when she heard faint music coming from her father's office. Going in to investigate, she heard that it was the "Pina Colada Song," coming in staticy, like through a bad radio. It didn't take long to figure out that the music was coming from the speaker on her father's phone. Checking the phone, sure enough, the phone was on intercom, with the source coming from the sister's bedroom. Assuming that the sister was playing some sort of joke, my ex began walking toward the foyer and the stairs to the second floor... when the sister walked in through the front door. My ex had been home alone the whole time.

Upstairs, there was no sign that the phone in the sister's room had been used, and the stereo was powered off.

How strange.

[LeeH]

My mom had a severe cerebral hemmorage when I was in the Navy (1984). By the time I got to Atlanta from Orlando she was on life support. The family agreed to let her go.

My dad couldn't bring himself to stay in the house that night so he stayed at my brother's house. I needed some time to sort things out, so I decided to stay at the house alone.

I got there late after visiting with some friends. It was sad and strange seeing all my mom's stuff, just as she'd left it before dad took her to the hospital. My room was just as I'd left if two years before. I climbed into bed contemplating how my life would change going forward. Draped on the corner of my dresser mirror was a paper hat from a restaurant I had visited with friends in my senior year of high school. It had been in that spot for 2-3 years. As I lay in bed marveling at how unchanged my room was my eyes came to rest on that red paper hat. And at that very moment, it dropped off the edge of the mirror and fell to the dresser.

Still give me chills just thinking about it. I can't say that I'm a believer in the paranormal, but let's just say I was a bit freaked out by this at the time.

[KevinP73]

I'm with you as for not wanting to start a debate but I also have a "ghost" story.
I had a two story apt many years ago. One day I was sitting in the living room, on the sofa, reading a book. I was home all by myself and felt three very distinctive "taps" on my shoulder kinda as if someone behind me was trying to get my attention. Knowing I was alone it kind of spooked me. I decided it was just a muscle twitch and shrugged it off. A short time later while I was at worked a friend of mine was at the apt alone. When I got home that evening she told that something very strange had happened to her. She proceeded to tell me how while she was sitting on the couch reading something/someone "tapped" her on the shoulder. Three times!! I had not told her about my experience earlier, untill then. With out a doubt spooky. Some time had passed and I had married. I had told my wife that we thought the apt was haunted. I had a "feeling" that my spirit friend was a young girl. Nothing ever occured like moving objects or other "paranormal" events. Just the occasional feeling of this young girls spirit passing through. One day my wifes parents were visiting. We were sitting around the living room when a cold feeling passed through each one of us, sort of like a child running past us only she went through us. My mother in law was very uneasy with the experience. The topic of my little spirit friend had never been discussed with the inlaws. Even my mother in law said she felt like a little girl had just run through her. A couple years has gone by and my wife and I have seperated. I was having an alarm system installed in the apt. I had to crawl up into the attic in order to run some wires for the system. I found up there an old cast. The type I've seen on children where both legs are immobilized. I also found an old news paper page that had a story of a little girl (I forget how old she was in the article) who had been struck by a car. I tried to locate the street name in the Thomas guide but couldn't find anything local. And the article didn't say anything about anyone being killed in the accident. Maybe it was just a coincedence, but spooky none the less. I've allways been tempted to visit the current occupants to see if they have had any similar experiences.
Some things just can't be explained. But it's allways been a fun and true story to share with those who want to listen with an open mind.

[7of911]

17 years ago, my Mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer - I was 21 at the time. We knew her time with us was drawing to a close.

When she finally did pass, both my Father and older Sister noticed this whispy 'thing' - like when you are filling your car with gas, there's sometimes a vapourous distortion - this whispy distortion left her head and traveled up the hospital wall and dissappeared above! I didn't notice it as I was focused on a single tear that was falling down her cheek.

That afternoon, the family was discussing the events and my Sister brought up the whispy thing and asked if anyone had seen it. My Dad immediately described it to her. I could tell that they had both seen the same thing.

Makes me think of the "21 grams" theory - oh, and a good movie too.


Creeped out.

[djmcmath]

Maybe not quite so exciting as phone and stereo games, but periodically stuff in my apartment moves on it's own. One that stands out: my room-mate and I had just finished watching a movie. He applied the remote to power down all the home entertainment gear, and we sat there in silence for a moment, thinking "Wow, great movie." Then the doorstop vibrated. You know, the little springy doorstop doodads, made out of a single steel spring? The kind that if you tap with your finger, will make a buzzing noise as they vibrate? We had no pets at the time, and both of us were 10 feet away when it happened. There were no objects nearby, and no reasonable explanation inside the realm of normal physics. Wierd.

Oh, and my other story -- this one is just strange, but no physical consequences. I woke up one morning at perhaps 2am with the definite sensation that I wasn't alone in the room. I lived alone at the time, so that was a bit of a shocker to me. Worse, it wasn't just a "there's someone in the room" feeling, but the sensation that it was someone really huge, and dark, and hairy, with big teeth and red eyes. No, I'm not making this up. Before I could really come up with a reasonable response, I felt like someone was on top of me -- not physically touching me, but like doing a pushup position over me, just holding position inches from my face. I could practically smell its breath. I was overwhelmed by a feeling of abject terror; I have never been so afraid in my life. The feeling eventually passed, but I didn't sleep again until sometime after the sun came up.

Does that count?


Dan

[LeeH]

I've also experienced the spirit "passing through" feeling. I was holding my dad's hand when he passed away. I was surprised by the sensation of energy running from his hand through my body right after his heart stopped. It was sort of like a mild electric shock... but just the energy and not the jolting sensation. If someone had told me this before I experienced it I would have thought they were crazy.

[tabs]

While vacationing in Vermont, I stayed at the Montpelier Inn Bed & Breakfast. They would keep the unoccupied rooms open to show potential visitors what the rooms looked like. After viewing the rooms the clerk and I went back downs stairs. I said, "this place is perfect but is missing one thing a ghost. She said,"Oh we have one." I said do you mind if I see the rooms where it's at." Te clerk said, "Well it in one of the two rooms in the front." So I climbed the stairs I noticed room number one was on the left so I thought that is a good place to start. As I started into the room being very observant and slow the door slammed in front of me and I thought I heard foot steps going down the hall. Needless to say that scared the **** outa me. So the next day I went back to the door and tried to see if there was anyway I could recreat the door slamming on me. I moved the door jam this way and that, tried jumping up and down near the door to see if my weight could cause it. Either that door stayed open no matter what I did or you couldn't keep it open (it wouldn't have been open as I climbed the stairs). So you can take it anyway you like.

The story is that a previous owner was an elderly lady who they say was a bit touched. She died in the house around 1920. After that her presence was noted by the smell of Lilacs.

Now a friend of mine swears that as his Mom lay dieing, he saw a figure in the wall at the top of her bed. Kind of a black on black thing, where you can sense movement. That the figure was being very patient and waiting for his Mom to let go.

[pohsche]

Dan,
What you experienced has happened to me, but years ago. It is reffered to as a " choking ghost" or Sucubus. Although the details were a little different, I can attest to how scared one can be when this happens. From what I have read, it is a phenomonom that has occurred around the world and is not that uncommon. You might be interested in doing a search on the subject and comparing your experience.
We presently have a "friendly guest" in our house. Although there have not been instances in the last 5 months we have all experienced some sort of prankish behavior. Our lights in our bedroom will turn on in the middle of the night, the back door has opened and shut numerous times, I have been awoke from sleeping by someone touching me twice(and no it wasn't my wife, we have been married too long for that to happen!) and the cats just will stop in their tracts and stare at the same blank space. We call her Thelma as we feel it was the former owner who passed away. Lot more wierd stuff, but I am always uneasy about too much info because I am one step away from the looney bin as it is. Great thread though. It beats arguing about crap that we have no control over either.

Alan Poh
'77 Carrera 3.0

[CJFusco]

"I felt like someone was on top of me -- not physically touching me, but like doing a pushup position over me, just holding position inches from my face. I could practically smell its breath. I was overwhelmed by a feeling of abject terror; I have never been so afraid in my life. The feeling eventually passed, but I didn't sleep again until sometime after the sun came up. "

That is a VERY common form of haunting... the "choking ghost," from which the succubus legend comes. Nobody has reportedly died from it, but what usually happens is that someone feels a great pressure on top of them, and either cannot breathe or begin to feel crushed. There was a college in New Hampshire that closed about 3 years ago... supposedly the most haunted campus in America. A kid I knew went there and had this happen to him.

[djmcmath]

Mine wasn't technically a "choking ghost," because I could breathe fine. There wasn't a 30 second time limit, either, but I could be a bit biased because I was probably dribbling adrenaline onto the bed. My room-mate thought it as a "night terror." This is really scary, actually -- a roomate once admitted to having night terrors that were so believable he'd wake up and be convinced that the dream was real. In fact, he had been known to throw items across the room in an attempt to slow down an "attacking" dream character. The scary part is that he slept with a .50 caliber Desert Eagle under his pillow with a chambered round. (shudder) I'll take "choking ghosts" any day.

Dan

[tabs]

Sorry DJ I didn't know that was you!

[CJFusco]

night terrors sound pretty terrifying!

[concentric]

Originally posted by djmcmath
Mine wasn't technically a "choking ghost," because I could breathe fine. There wasn't a 30 second time limit, either, but I could be a bit biased because I was probably dribbling adrenaline onto the bed. My room-mate thought it as a "night terror." This is really scary, actually -- a roomate once admitted to having night terrors that were so believable he'd wake up and be convinced that the dream was real. In fact, he had been known to throw items across the room in an attempt to slow down an "attacking" dream character. The scary part is that he slept with a .50 caliber Desert Eagle under his pillow with a chambered round. (shudder) I'll take "choking ghosts" any day.

Dan

I've seen the same sort of things, skulking around. It's giving me chills to think about it. Chalk one time up to a trick of the eye, but it's been over multiple states and multiple years that the shape with the red eyes comes around.

I've had two ghosts in two apartments now, one little girl in Boston that lived with us (I saw her once and sensed her many times) and the ghost of a man that was brutally murdered in my current apartment. Strangely enough, my experiences with the latter have stopped since my wife and I began living together there. Perhaps he found peace with happiness coming to where he died.

JCM

[Icemaster]

I can still to this very day remember night terrors I had as a kid. Those are some of the memories that never fade...blankets crawling up the wall inchworm stryle, shoelaces crawling like snakes and wrapping theselves around my throat, pants and shirts coming alive and crawling out of my closet and marching around the room a la Sorcerers Apprentice. Yes, also walls melting and the bed turning into a pool of hot lava...

It was the most commonplace and mundane things that seemed to turn against you and conspire to tap into the darkest fears deep down in the psyche. It was quite a while before I thought Monsters Inc. was actually funny


When my grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer back in 1991, he was given about 6 weeks. We all knew what was coming, but he was still a monument of a man to all of us, it was hard to deal with. He died around 4:30 in the morning, I woke up and definitely did NOT hear, more like sensed him say exactly "Goodbye Peter, I'll always love you..." complete with the native Rhode Island accent (you know, as in "pahk the cah"). I'm as certain of that as I am the color of the shirt I'm wearing. I was awake the rest of the morning.

When my mom called later to tell me, without thinking about it I beat her to the punch. All I said was "I know, about 4:30 this morning. When's our flight?"

Of the total seven grandchildren, 5 of us had the same experience, 2 wouldn't talk about it. We were spread out across the continent.

I think he just wanted to say goodbye one last time. Whatever strings got pulled to let that happen, I'm forever grateful.


OK, pass the flashlight, I'm gonna make some s'mores now.

[pohsche]

Our first house in Phoenix was sold to us by a widower who's husband passed away in the house. We were young and got a good deal on the house and thought absolutley nothing about that fact. Whether this matters or not, they were also survivors of Auchwitz as per their brandings I noticed on the old womans arm. Anyway, for the 15 years we owned the house, I was awakened constantly by the sound of someone pacing up and down the hallway. At first, I would always get up to find nothing. Now mind you I worked for a construction company at the time and knew the difference in the sound of the house settling. I never talked to my wife about it because I didn't want to bother her. To make a long story short, when we sold the house, she related to me how happy she was to get away from there. She told me that at least once a month on the average, she would wake to the feeling of someone standing over her. When she woke up she saw the dark form of an older man watching her from what she judged was about 5 feet away. I always wandered why when I left for business, she would prop chairs against the door handles to prevent anyone coming in. The only other thing with that house was that when our son was about 4, we were awakened in the middle of the night by talking coming from his bedroom. We rushed in to find him sitting totally erect in bed, talking loudly in "tounges". That to this day still tightens the old sphincter.

Alan Poh
'77 Carrera 3,0

[tabs]

DJ I made a BAD JOKE and I want to apologize to you for it. I also wish to apologize to everyone else on this Board for my lack of sensativity regarding this subject.

This is a subject I don't fool around with. However this time I could not resist the temptation.

Ted aka Tabs

[CJFusco]

wow, is tabs's soft spot the paranormal?

Mulder? MULDER?!?

[KevinP73]

Originally posted by tabs
I also wish to apologize to everyone else on this Board for my lack of sensativity regarding this subject.
This is a subject I don't fool around with. However this time I could not resist the temptation.

Ted aka Tabs

I can't talk for anyone else who's posted here but as for myself, I wouldn't have shared my story if I weren't willing to hear an unbelieving chuckle from the audience. Some people have experienced noteable trauma from things they can't explain or understand. My experience was minor and is well deserving of some well intentioned levity.
None the less it takes a good man to stand up to his errors.

[djmcmath]

Tabs -- you're golden, I thought it was pretty funny, when I got around to reading your post. People have made fun of me for far more serious things than this. Heck, I have a hard time taking this even halfway seriously...

FWIW, I'm still not convinced that mine was a night terror. It wasn't distinctly dreamlike. I'm actually relatively familiar with the symptoms of those -- I've had several room-mates who had similar sleep problems. This was different, in ways that are hard to describe. It was more like a person than that. There was hatred on this thing's foul breath. (No tabs, it wasn't your breath, I'd recognize your coffee-breath anywhere!) Several other times in that apartment, and a few times in two other places I lived, I had similar experiences. No crawling shoelaces, no dancing pants, just this big dark hairy thing with the hatred and fear. Sometimes he'd lurk nearby, sometimes he'd sit at my desk, leisurely in his surroundings. The my hyper-religious spiritual warfare friends immediately jumped on the "It's a demon" routine, and explained the exorcism routines. I ignored them for quite some time, then finally broke down because I needed some sleep. Whether my psyche finally gave up on it, or decided that praying out loud through my apartment before bed each night was somehow worthwhile, or because there really was a collection of angels standing around fending off evil, my little exorcism actually worked.

(shrug) But no physical consequences, either way. Has anybody heard any halfway reasonable explanations for these things? Mine can be written off as a trick of the mind. My friends' night terrors can be written off as a sleep problem. But hearing distinct voices at coincidental times, seeing objects move, multiple people hearing the same sounds from a phone -- those aren't just tricks of the mind. Any thoughts?


Dan

[emcon5]

I think my first apartment had a poltergeist. Never saw anything, or felt anything strange, but things would get moved, and every so often a random kitchen cabinet door would be open.

Two events that stick in my mind:

I got home from work, came inside, closed and locked the door, then went into my room and changed out of my uniform (Navy), then walked back into the living room to find the front door (that I had closed and locked 2 minutes prior) wide open.

My roommate and I got home from work at about the same time, and started dinner (the staple of bachelors everywhere, Kraft mac & cheese). He filled a pot with water, and put it on the stove on "high" to boil the water. I saw him do this, I saw the electric stove element getting red. We both grabbed a beer and went to watch TV and wait for the water to boil. Five minutes later, my roommate got up to check the water, and then called me in to the kitchen. The stove had been turned off. We were the only people there, and we both saw the stove on.

Originally posted by William Shakespeare
There are more things in heaven and earth... than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Tom