Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Do You Believe?

I've always believed there are unexplainable things in the world, in the universe. Things we don't understand. Maybe it figures into why I love to read paranormal stuff but it fascinates me to think of other worlds and mysterious peoples who can do extraordinary things.

Over the years, I've become addicted to shows like A Haunting and Ghosthunters. There are others out there and I'll watch them too, if I stumble across them while channel surfing. Odd that I don't really care for horror stories or movies but I can't stop watching this stuff and thinking...what if? Stories about the hieroglyphyics on Egyptian pyramids, the faery fields of Ireland keep me spellbound but I've never actually HAD a paranormal experience.

My daughter and I took at trip to Lubbock, Texas this weekend to see my son who has a house there with two other guys. His roommates were off visiting family and he entertained us with a fun few days of Olympics-watching, catching up and dining out. Since the other guys were gone, we split up the bedrooms and everything was cool in the sleeping department. My daughter slept in one of the guys' vacated rooms. The next morning we were hanging out, drinking coffee and my son and I noticed she was really quiet. I asked her how she slept and she looked down then up and very seriously said. "Not very well." She shook her head a little and said. "I heard laughing. I heard a girl laughing." She was serious, deadly serious and went on to say..."I bumped my elbow on the wall and I heard her." My daughter said she sounded very young and then she heard the laugher again some time later. My son's eyes went round and he said, I can't believe it. I just can't believe it. He went on to tell us that his roommate said his room was haunted and he often hears a young girl giggling. The other guys always laughed it off, thinking it was just his imagination but now he believes. My daughter is a very serious natured girl and wouldn't make something like this up. Needless to say, we didn't sleep very well the following night although I believe this spirit is young, playful, and means no harm. Still, it was pretty creepy.

Do you have a ghost story to tell? A real life experience that some might find unbelievable? I'd be interested to hear it.

35 comments:

Phoenix said...

fascinating topic. I love all things paranormal. It seems the more we experience the more questions we have about it.

Desirée Lee said...

My life is paranormal. I shudder to think of what it would be like if it was normal.

I posted a huge blog on this topic a few weeks ago for my weekly feature, the Weekly Write.

It's long so I won't burden this blog with it *LOL* but you can find it here http://www.myspace.com/authordesireelee and scroll down to the blog post entitled The Paranormal is Normal.

Though if you'd rather me post it in here, I will. It's a lot of stuff for a blog comment though!

Carpe Noctem,
Des

Desirée Lee
Putting the Romance Back in Necromancy
http://www.desireelee.com
des@desireelee.com

Regina Carlysle said...

It's strange. I've really always just KNOWN there was such a thing but I've never experienced it personally. Des, I read your blog post and WOW. You guys have to read this. It's fascinating. Didn't you just have the SWEETEST lady in your home??? I wonder what happened to her when the house was later torn down?

Desirée Lee said...

Oh we did! Sometimes when I am visiting back there (my sister lives in the same city so I go back every so often) I think about stopping by the business that is in the place where our home used to be and asking them if she still lurks around. I'm afraid they'd think I was crazy!

Carpe Noctem,
Des

Desirée Lee
Putting the Romance Back in Necromancy
http://www.desireelee.com
des@desireelee.com

Anne Rainey said...

that gave me chills, Regina. I can totally relate to how she felt.

Here's what happened to me once. Or I should say my daughter. We were sitting in the kitched at my mom's drinking coffee and chatting, my daughter was playing on the floor with some toys (this was years ago), when I notice her looking at the corner of the room. She's staring and she had that shy look she used to get when she met someone new. I asked her what she was looking at and she pointed and said, 'that little girl'. Mom and I went still. I asked, 'what little girl?' She very seriously looked at me and said, 'mommy, she's right there'. You know how kids are when they think your being too stupid to live. LOL I really wanted to see this little girl, but then again I didn't. It freaked me out. So my mom says, 'what does she look like'. And my daughter described her, right down to the socks she was wearing. Oy!

She never saw or mentioned the little blond girl again. Just that one time. We've never understood who she could have been. The house my parents live in, they built. It had no other occupants. All that was on that property before they bought it was some woods. So, who was that little blond girl?

Regina Carlysle said...

Oh...you should SOOOO do that, Des. It would be interesting to hear what they have to say about it. I hope they are kind to her.

Regina Carlysle said...

Mmm. Anne, that is so spooky. I watched a program the other day that said children are easily reached by the spirit world because their minds are open and innocent. They haven't learned to be skeptical yet. Maybe this little girl loved to play in those woods long ago and returned there except now the HOUSE it there. Hmmm. Fascinating.

Teri Thackston said...

I love hearing about paranormal incidents. This one was lovely and the fact that your daughter's experience backed up the guy's is fantastic.
Like Desiree, I blogged on the topic a couple of months back if you want to check out my own "ghostly adventures" at www.terithackston.blogspot.com.

Regina Carlysle said...

Something else. The house my son lives in is also new. Maybe only six-eight yrs old. There must be a connection to the property.

Regina Carlysle said...

Yeah, Teri, it was weird because she and I knew nothing about it at ALL. My son's eyes just POPPED OPEN when she said that and there was a strange stillness about my daughter when she spoke of it. She was a little creeped so calm. Going to check your blog.

Molly Daniels said...

Every once in a while, the kids see their deceased grandfather. K summed up his attitude very nicely: "I don't mind seeing Grandpa, but I wish he'd keep his feet on the floor! That creeps me out until I realize it's him!"

Also, once in a while we will actually smell cigar or cigarette smoke, and know it's either my FIL, my grandmother, or my great-grandfather paying us a visit, as no one in the family smokes anymore.

Regina Carlysle said...

Teri, I just went to your blog and I got chills. Funny though, it's bringing back memories. Things I'd forgotten but recall now.

Molly, you mentioned the smoke. Every now and then, me or one of the kids will mention smelling pipe tobacco. My dad, who passed in '96 smoked a particular type of pipe tobacco that smelled so good. Sometimes my daughter smells the after shave he always wore. I didn't think of it until you mentioned that.

Teri Thackston said...

You guys are giving me chills. I love this stuff. Sometimes here at work, I feel as if someone is walking behind me down a certain part of one of hallways but when I turn around no one is there. And my boss said the water in the men's room came on by itself one evening when he was working late. To my knowledge no one has ever died in the building, but several people who used to work here passed away elsewhere. Maybe they're visiting.

Regina Carlysle said...

I think that can happen, Teri. I watched a show the other day about Sarah Winchester and her strange/fabulous house in San Jose, Calif. She was a mystic and believed it she ever stopped adding onto the house, she would die. She was heiress to the Winchester gun fortune. Apparently, a worker/caretaker's ghost is always seen in the house and on the property. In life, he watched out over the elderly woman.

Desirée Lee said...

The Winchester Mystery house is haunted. No doubt in my mind about that. I felt a lot of presences during the times I've been there.

Last time I went was about 6 years ago. The tour group moved from one room to another and the temperature difference was massive. One room was warm, the next one was bitter cold. None of us could stay in there very long. We were shivering.

Carpe Noctem,
Des

Desirée Lee
Putting the Romance Back in Necromancy
http://www.desireelee.com
des@desireelee.com

Jen said...

I had a friend in high school that had a ghost in her house. When they bought the house, the owners told them that there was a ghost attached to the house. He's a little old man they named Harvey. You could only see him on the wall in their hallway.

The music building at the college I went to is haunted. I never went in there at night. Too creepy.

One of my best friends was pregnant with twins. She lost one of them early in the pregnancy. From the time her son Halston was little until now, he would always talk about his little angel. Anytime that Halston was sick (he had some health issues when he was young), his little angel would come and sit on the foot of his bed and stay with him until he was feeling better.

Teri Thackston said...

I've seen programs on the Winchester House and would love to go there some day.

That's a wonderful story about the twins...sad that one of them died, but comforting to believe he's his brother's angel.

Molly Daniels said...

According to the people who moved into my 1st apartment, there was a ghost of an old man in it (the building used to be a nursing home). I never saw him, but I do remember the hallway floor creaking, but attributed it to the old house. When I moved, but returned for a visit, the new renters said that he liked me, but disapproved of the idiot who lived with me:) I'd forgotten all about that until now.

Judith Leger said...

Oh, Oh, I believe! I believe!

Ever since I was a small child, things did go bump in the night. Even when I became older and strange things happened, I knew there were spirits, ghosts, the unexplained in the world about us.

I devour anything on paranormal activities. Ghosthunters is a ritual for me and two of my three sons. The third one has had experiences similar to me so I think watching the shows bothers him a little too much.

Years ago, when my oldest son was about 2 maybe 3 years old, we all slept in the same bed. He was frightened to sleep in his room so he'd crawl into bed between hubby and me. We had a kingsize water bed. Very heavy headboard and solid on the floor.

For several weeks, I'd been feeling something tap me on the back of my leg after I went to bed. I had no idea what it was. I'd cut the lights on and nothing would be there.

On this particular night, I went to bed later than my hubby and son. I'd been in bed about 10 minutes when the house started to shake. (Our old house was up on piers, off the ground.) It sounded like someone was running. My bed room door was open and my eyes were glued to the opening. Even the waterbed's head board was shaking so severe it was hitting against the wall.

I was scared to death, frozen with fear. I could even hear the sound of running footsteps coming closer and closer. Finally, a figure ran by my door.

White skin, dressed in what I'd call swaddling about the hips, bare footed and where the head was suppose to be there, nothing but blackness.

The ghost, spirit, or what you want to call it disappeared into my bathroom.

I remained in bed for several minutes. Neither my son nor my hubby woke up and I certainly didn't want to wait hubby up. He'd think I was crazy. So I got up and searched the house. Nothing was there, everything was in place, all doors locked. I know it was a spirit.

For several weeks after this, I kept on feeling the tap on the back of my legs. Finally I asked it to stop and it did. Every now and then I still feel the touch but it's rare and I have never seen this spirit again.

Unknown said...

Hi Regina (and everyone)--

First, since you like Ghosthunters, let me brag that I'm from the same town, Warwick RI, where they have the TAPS office. For the longest time I thought it was a bar ;-)

Yes, it's indeed real. I'm a sensitive and I've been sharing space with other energies all my life. Some seem to be unaware, as if the realms of space/time are just bumping as we go about our lives seemingly at the same time, others are most certainly aware, and can be either good or nasty, depending on their mood and whether they like you or not. And other times, there's just a lingering energy about the place, happiness, or more often, sadness and fear and pain.

Several years back, I turned down a well-paying job in an office building that was housed in a rennovated 19th century textile mill. You know, child labor, terrible conditions, kids getting caught in machines, Industrial Revolution. I sat in the reception area waiting for my interview, and the air was so thick with misery that I had to excuse myself. Needless to say I withdrew my application. I'm always astounded that other people can't feel this, but it explains why so many are skeptical. ;-)

K.M. Saint James said...

Right after we moved into our house, late at night -- hubby was gone b/c he works at night, kids were little, too little to be up wandering around the house, I heard someone walk down my hallway. I swear it was one of those right-out-of-the-horror-movie sounds. The sound came directly to my doorway then stopped. The sound never went back down the hallway. When I turned on the light, no one was there. Yep, that was creepy. B/c all my kiddos were so small, you betcha I was rounding the rooms to check on them. All three were sound asleep.

I never had the experience again, but it was way spooky for awhile. About a year later, we were adopted by a dog -- you know how that goes -- and said dog became an inside pet. I've often wondered b/c the dog roams around the house, if whatever spirit I encountered that night went into hiding b/c the animal is around.

Of course, my kids are much older now and as teenagers one of them is always awake and making noise. Again, maybe my spirit needed total quiet and left after we all settled in.

Dana Marie Bell said...

Oh, this runs in my family...

My mother, soon after her father passed away, kept hearing someone calling her name. She'd go into the room, and no one would be there. She double-checked to make sure we kids were all asleep, and while she was doing that the radio would turn on. And since my father was right there with her...

I remember the house we lived in when I was a child was 125 years old. I saw an old woman walk across our dining room, but you couldn't see her legs from about halfway down her calves down. My mom saw the same thing. When we talked to the previous owner, she said an old lady had died in that dining room, which is how she got the house. After she bought it from the estate, she had the floors raised. Talk about spooky...

Kelley Nyrae said...

Totally believe in stuff like that. Very scary. My mom has had stuff like that happen. It freaks me out.

Regina Carlysle said...

Judith, you gave me GOOSE BUMPS!!! That is soooo frickin' scary.

Regina Carlysle said...

Can ghosts follow people? As you know we just had this weird experience. Today I went to lunch with Hubby while my daughter was sleeping. She said the back door kept opening and closing and our little dog was going nuts. She freaked completely out thinking someone was breaking into the house but no, that, of course wasn't the case. I got home less than an hr. ago and she was freaked out wondering if the little girl ghost had followed us home.

Regina Carlysle said...

I also wonder about animals. Years ago we had a family pet, a basset hound who we adored. Something happened and the vertabrae in her long back got messed up. She was in horrible pain and though, it killed us to do it, we had her put down. We grieved. For weeks, every time in went into the backyard I heard her doggie-tags clinking. It sounded like Bonnie was running up like she always did. It was so freaky I never said anything. Finally one night at dinner, I told the family what I'd been hearing. My husband...a big tough guy who doubts EVERYTHING..went WHITE. He said very low, yeah, I'm hearing it too. After about a month, we didn't hear the dog-tags tinkling anymore. Is this freakin' possible????

Kiss Carson said...

I love all things paranormal, especially ghosts. I have the ghost of a man living in our spare bathroom. The kids refuse to use the toilet because they feel someone watching them. The spookiest thing that ever happened to me (and I've had a few things happen)was I was home alone, tidying up and I was singing and humming to myself. After about half an hour of this, the television turned on and then the radio in another room ... Do you think a ghost was trying to tell me something? Don't give up my day job, perhaps? The latest ... whenever my husband and I have sex we lock the bedroom door with a slide lock so the kids can't barge in (it's happened too many times!). Twice, the door's unlocked and opened ... freaky!

I do believe!

Kiss Carson
Illusions of Destiny - The Wild Rose Press

Regina Carlysle said...

Oooh. A ghost watching Us have SEX...OMG. That is a freaky thought. I panic if my PETS are watching. Snort.

Unknown said...

The house I grew up in had some ghosts. It wasn’t an old house and no one died there that we know of. One we never saw like to toss stuff out the kitchen cupboards, nothing breakable, just Tupperware type stuff. It did similar stuff too.
The other main one was seen by most of the people in the house at one time or another. He was tall and thin and was dressed in clothes that looked like a gentleman’s clothing from the time of President Lincoln. He sometimes carried a walking stick, sometimes wore a top hat and sometimes had on a coat with tails. He patrolled the hall and bedrooms. Just looking in like he was checking on us. When I was 12 my parents went to the movies. My brother was reading in bed with a lamp that just had a bare bulb. He fell asleep and the bulb wound up on the mattress which caught fire. He felt someone shake him to wake him up (it wasn’t’ easy to wake that boy up either). No one was there and we were in the living room sleeping on the floor. It was nice having a guardian in the house.
I’ve had a lot of other experiences, in that house and other places, but that one is the easiest to describe. It probably saved all three of us and my friend who was spending the night.

Gadget Mom said...

What a great blog! I love everything paranormal as well. GH is my favorite. :) Great topic!

Midnyte Dupree

Unknown said...

I went to the WRW conference several years ago in a haunted hotel in French Lick, Indiana. We went ghost hunting through the hotel and had a blast. We didn't find the ghost, but we managed to scare ourselves and love doing it. I'd love to go back and do it again.

Unknown said...

I almost forgot. At our old building at the day job, there was supposedly the ghost of a deceased employee in her old office. Our CEO's daughter used to sprinkle holy water around that room and the surrounding offices after work. I caught her doing it once.

Phoenix said...

Regina, I don't think ghosts follow. My house in Indiana was totally haunted by several intities. They aren't here in Tennessee with us now. I've moved a lot over the years and none of the spirits in the few houses which were haunted, have followed me.

Alisha said...

Oooooo, great topic, Reg!

I love reading all the stories...and wow...poor Avery...very spooky! Yikes!

The house we live in is from the 50s. Old man Crawford died here. Heard this from neighbors. Well, he built the shed in the backyard and he DID NOT like my husband when we first moved in. In the winter, my husband goes out there to smoke. Mr. Crawford has been know to slam the giant door which could not just be shut from the wind unless it was a hurricane. He also turns the lights off and on and unlocks a PAD LOCK! I had to go out there one night to turn off the lights and lock up when my husband forgot to and was sick in bed with a hurt back...I was begging Mr. Crawford to please not show up. He didn't. Thank goodness. Also, he either roams inside or it's a little girl..that's what we think. I swear I've seen this black shadow pass down the hall..the shadow of a girl..but it's so weird and so fast when it happens..it's almost like my mind cannot accept it and I find myself looking away and telling myself that I'm tired and it was an optical illusion...the cat passing in the hall or something...lol. And in the kitchen...there's a creaky cabinet door. When you shut it, it sticks and you have to really pull it hard to open it. This damn door will open on command if you ask the ghost to do it. Many times I'll be writing in my kitchen and it just creaks open as if the ghost is saying hello. I'll shut it and it will open again. Very weird to see this happen right before your eyes as if to say, yes, I'm here....eeeeekkkk! It makes the creepiest squeak!

Also, our sweet dog died 3 years ago. I saw on this show about dead pets that your animals will hang around you and if you concentrate, you can feel the energy. There will be a warm spot where the spirit is and cold areas around it. I tried it while watching tv one night. My dog always laid at my feet. It was there. I felt like I was petting my dog again. Now I pet him often. My kids can feel it too. My husband thinks I'm a nut.

Regina Carlysle said...

Oooh! Scary Alisha! That's just freakin' creepy. Funny about the dog because I was wondering the same thing about pets. I swear I could hear BOnnie's tags clinking for the longest time.