Happy Hallowe'en!

[valis2]

And since it's that day, and because I've been overdosing on ghost shows on TV, I thought I'd ask the flist:

Have you had any sort of experience or encounter with ghosts? Tell me about it.

Comments

[luvboromir24601.livejournal.com]

lol Ever since the events I'm about to relate to you, I've been a huge believer in ghosts. I've read about it all: good spirits, negative spirits, demons, etc.
I've had several little experiences over the years, mainly dealing with contact through dreams with dead loved ones as opposed to seeing actual apparitions. I vividly saw and spoke with my grandfather in a dream and (this is going to sound weird) felt his spirit pull me off of a bucking horse, saving me from a serious accident. I immediately got up off of the ground and knew it was my grandfather who had put his arms around my waist and pulled me off of the horse (and I landed very gently on my bottom, which is not how you usually land when falling from a horse). I physically felt him pull me off and his presence practically permeated the air afterwards (that's the only way I can describe it) - it was quite an experience.

My twin sister, however, actually had the ability to see and communicate with spirits when she was younger. Early in '98 our grandfather passed away. We had been planning a trip to Hawaii that summer with him and went with our two grandmothers instead. My sister swears that the spirit of our grandfather (the same grandfather mentioned above) with us almost the entire trip. She could actually see him, but I saw what I consider to be proof when my sister asked my grandfather to show me that he was there at a restaurant, and a heavy mug of root beer and our table flipped over and spilled even though no one was near it. Mandy said that Grandpa did it and after all of these years I have yet to come up with any explanation of it. His spirit did several other things during the trip that I don't recall but it was damn strange. He apparently communicated with my sister several times after we went home too.

My sister saw several other spirits when we were in our early teens around that time; I remember we were working out at a Girl Scout camp on the plains and she said she kept seeing the spirit of what looked like a small boy from the 1800s. At one point I was standing with her and she suddenly said that the boy was standing nearby - I was skeptical and quickly ran over to where she said he was and I'll be damned if that area wasn't freezing cold (and this was a typical Texas day of over 95 degrees). Mandy also saw the spirit of a little boy who haunts gift shop at the Alamo in San Antonio during two different visits.

I'm hoping to have some new experiences to relate when I go to Gettysburg next year but, as I have learned from staying at haunted places before, it doesn't always happen. I'm really sensitive to vibrations and energy but I've never seen a spirit like my sister :) Still, I definitely believe. I wish I could join a "ghost hunting team" like TAPS with all of the high tech equipment; that would just complete my life. :D

[luvboromir24601.livejournal.com]

Wow, that entry I just made is kind of incoherent and all gramatically incorrect and junk. O_o That's what happens when I need to sleep but choose to play on the Internet instead. :P

[luvboromir24601.livejournal.com]

We also caught the image of what appears to be a lady in a dress with a lace coller wearing a hat at the Peterson House in Washington D.C. (that's where Lincoln died; it's right across the street from Ford's Theatre). My sister sensed a presence in the garden so she snapped the pic - I need to find that sucker and post it on the Internet one of these days.

(I promising I'm leaving now...)

[luvboromir24601.livejournal.com]

Damn it, it's official: I cannot spell simple words like "collar" and am shamelessly spamming your journal. Yay for idiots!

[serpenatrix.livejournal.com]

I haven't, but a friend of me swears that sometimes she has seen a misterious black cat wondering around her flat and when she tries to follow it, it disappears. And believe me, there is no way any street cat could sneak into her flat.

[jen-deben.livejournal.com]

That is SO cool! *whistles the theme song from the X-files*

It must have been very comforting to know he wasn't just gone. I think I'd feel very frightened by evidence of a loved one lingering like that, but at the same time, the hardest thing about the death of a loved one is thinking that there's maybe just nothing left of them except your memories (I'm not religious, y'see).

[lady-branwyn.livejournal.com]

Six months to the day after my mother died, I dreamed that she walked into the room, sat on the end of my bed by my feet, and asked how I was doing. She wore the clothes she had been buried in, but otherwise she looked alive. We talked about school and doing the laundry, and then she left. I don't know if it was an actual visitation or whether my longing for her had shaped the dream. That was my sole encounter with the unknown.
Many years ago, Lord Branwyn and a teacher friend went walking in the old Nobottom Road Cemetery to look at the headstones. To this day, he swears that they heard the graves talk. He has no idea what they were saying because he was running for the car, hoping that Mari was still behind him. I don't believe in the supernatural, but this has given me pause because I know he is not a liar and there was another reliable witness.

[bob-the-mighty.livejournal.com]

Many times.

And you'll just have to wait for the book an 97 part mini-series of my life.

[mehitobel-ny.livejournal.com]

I didn't but...
My grandpa's one vice (that I knew of) was to sit by himself after dinner and take a few puffs on a cigar, which he'd make last for weeks. One evening a few days after he died, we were at his house sitting shiva, and my aunt & cousin came running in from the porch. They both swore they'd seen the lit end of a cigar, but when they went to look, it disappeared.

[mingbutterfly.livejournal.com]

I don't have any good stories really, but I share your love of ghost shows. Much like luvboromir24601, I would totally dig going on an investigation with TAPS.

[sylvadin.livejournal.com]

Ghosts? Sure. In fact, I've lived in a house that was haunted by...little mousie spirits.

Had a huge white cat once. He may have been about as bright as a night-light intelligence wise, but he definitely knew what to do whenever he saw a mouse scamper across the floor. (New house, country location, took a while to find and plug all the rodent entry points.) Problem was - the mice our cat did kill would then come back to haunt him. Hubbie and I would be sitting in the living room watching TV when our dumb wonderkitty would go stalking past our chairs, then pounce, and try to death-bite an invisible mouse; he'd get quite upset when he couldn't find the corpse beneath his paws. This went on for over two years.

Now, the weird part occurred after Hubbie and I installed the 'mousie condo'. We were at an arts-n-craft show and happened to find a wooden wall sculpture that looked like a little fairy apartment complex - a roof, windows, doors carved down the length of a tree branch. While Hubbie was hanging the sculpture on the wall, I jokingly said aloud: "Okay little micies. Sorry about Kitty evicting you to the spirit plane. Here's a lovely new condominium for you to occupy. Now, stop teasing the cat."

The theme-from-The-Twilight-Zone moments started happening several days later when our cat stopped stalking invisible mice through the living room - forever. Instead, we'd find him sitting in the foyer, staring up at the mousie condo, and making his 'I want *that* but I can't reach it' frustration growls. But it was the occasions when our witless wonderkitty would suddenly start pawing the wall like he was chasing something *climbing* up the wall towards the mousie condo...

The fact that that our other housecats AND dogs would sometimes watch an invisible *something* scamper across the floor and up the wall to the condo merely cemented that 'oooo-kay' feeling.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Wow! This was really, really fascinating. It's really interesting that your sister was so "tuned in."

I'd totally love to see the image, absolutely! If you find it, please share! I think we'd all love to see it.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

That's really odd! I wonder what it is.

I always think I see my wonderful black cat, Little Moo, but it always turns out to be a black camera case or something. (He's been deceased for six years now.)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

How interesting. I've dreamt strange things before; the most disturbing was that an old man was leaning over my bead and shouting, "I!" It woke me right up.

Hmm. The graves talking incident could be echoes from something else, or perhaps someone left a radio on nearby...sounds very spooky!!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

This is going to be some book!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Oh, how fascinating! I've heard stories like that before as well. Pretty spooky!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I love that TAPS show so much! What I like is that they clearly have some grounding in physics, at the very least. That makes me SO happy. It doesn't seem to be rigged, and it's rather fascinating. That's what inspired this quick little query!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I would LOVE to go on a hunt with the TAPS team. They're who started this query, honestly. I'm really liking their show so far. It seems less rigged than many of the other shows I've seemed, and they seem to have more familiarity with the nature of physics, at the very least, which is very good. :)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Well, wow! That reminds me of the joke about the cat who went to heaven and asked only for a nice warm pillow, and the mice who went to heaven and asked for roller skates. When God stopped by and asked the cat how she was doing, she said, "Great! And thanks for the meals on wheels!"

But still...that's pretty interesting!

[luvboromir24601.livejournal.com]

TAPS definitely has the best ghost show on TV (but I do enjoy 'A Haunting' that comes on Discovery Channel every Thursday, even though it's based completely on eyewitness accounts and is more about storytelling than science); I make sure to watch them every Wednesday.

[luvboromir24601.livejournal.com]

It was a very life-changing experience for me; I certainly believe in some kind of an afterlife now!

[luvboromir24601.livejournal.com]

I will definitely try to post it - keep reminding me if I forget!

[jen-deben.livejournal.com]

That's really awesome - I feel weirdly delighted by the fact that the mousies actually take over the condo.

[jen-deben.livejournal.com]

I've remembered someone else's story - I don't have one of my own thank goodness.

My friend Shauna worked as a caregiver for a handicapped woman, Barb, who she had been friends with since childhood. They always had great times together and even kidnapped one another to go on each other's family vacations.

Barb's health began to decline, and Shauna spent many a day sitting at the end of Barb's bed, keeping her company. Later, Barb passed away.

The night before Barb's funeral, Shauna had a terrible cold and went to bed early. As she lay there, she heard the stack of clean laundry that was sitting on the chest at the end of her bed hit the floor. She thought a few grumbly thoughts, but was too tired to get up and do anything about it, so she just went to sleep.

The next morning she found the stack of laundry sitting upright and still perfectly folded on the floor - not as if it had fallen over, but as if it had been moved carefully aside so that someone could sit at the end of her bed.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I've watched only a couple episodes, but I was absolutely chuffed that they debunked a few pics and such. Go science!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Oooh, very spooky! I have someone else's story, too, and will try to post it tomorrow, if I have time.

*thinks otherworldly thoughts*