Ghost stories

My brother ran around with a ghost hunting group for a while, didn't see any.
Your digital camera can see the infrared light from your TV remote.
On a couple of occasions I have been mentally awake but physically asleep, eyes open but body paralyzed, that was pretty scary, but I stayed calm and figured I just needed to go back to sleep and re-boot the process. That worked but I can see where some people woul be really freaked out about it

When I was younger, I was sure there were ghosts. I loved all things "supernatural." I couldn't get enough of scary books and movies. Then in college, I got to take a class on parapsychology. Our class had the opportunity to visit the Chief Theater in Greeley, CO. This theater was supposedly haunted by a woman in white who either fell or was thrown off the balcony.

This place was a dream come true for a ghost hunter like myself! To top it off, it was appropriately rundown and creepy inside. The class took a little tour of the theater and then we congregated in the projection booth area to have a séance. Our professor encouraged us to try to communicate with any spirits that might be present. We all sat in silence for a good long time (half freezing to death). I tried very hard to believe that I was sensing something and half convinced myself that there was some kind of a presence there. I later realized that I had been caught up in the moment.

I still like spooky stories and creepy places, but I no longer believe in ghosts. I'm embarrassed that I wasted taxpayer money trying to communicate with spirits and all of the other goofy things we did in that class!:doh:

fool said:

On a couple of occasions I have been mentally awake but physically asleep, eyes open but body paralyzed, that was pretty scary, but I stayed calm and figured I just needed to go back to sleep and re-boot the process. That worked but I can see where some people woul be really freaked out about it

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This used to happen to me, too! It was freaky. Hasn't happened in a long time, thank goodness!

Evoken said:

Do you think it is possible that those in Purgatory may accomplish something related to their purification by visiting some place or appearing to someone on earth? Not in the sense of haunting places or making all the sort of mindless stuff we normally see reported, of course. After all, if they do so it would be only because God allows it.

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Are you familiar with Hamlet? That is basically the kind of thing I meant when I said maybe it's possible.

fool said:

My brother ran around with a ghost hunting group for a while, didn't see any.
Your digital camera can see the infrared light from your TV remote.
On a couple of occasions I have been mentally awake but physically asleep, eyes open but body paralyzed, that was pretty scary, but I stayed calm and figured I just needed to go back to sleep and re-boot the process. That worked but I can see where some people would be really freaked out about it

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This is sleep paralysis, it's well documented. As you could also still be in REM sleep it can be accompanyed by a lucid dream attempting to explain your paralysis.

I looked it up after I had woke up in this state and was convinced a burglar was kneeling on my chest and restraining me, whilst another stole from the house. The dream was so real when I re awoke in the morning I quickly checked the house for missing stuff.

Old interpretations were often as a "White Lady" type ghost sitting on your chest and screaming silently into your face...

When it happened again I did as you did. I told myself what it was, the burglar dissapeared and I drifted back off.

It's also been the route of alien abduction stories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

Spitfire said:

Are you familiar with Hamlet?

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No recuerdo a Hamlet. Soy inculto, lo se...

Good linky. Also.

fool said:

On a couple of occasions I have been mentally awake but physically asleep, eyes open but body paralyzed, that was pretty scary, but I stayed calm and figured I just needed to go back to sleep and re-boot the process. That worked but I can see where some people woul be really freaked out about it

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Becky said:

This used to happen to me, too! It was freaky. Hasn't happened in a long time, thank goodness!

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DoogieTalons said:

This is sleep paralysis, it's well documented. As you could also still be in REM sleep it can be accompanyed by a lucid dream attempting to explain your paralysis.

I looked it up after I had woke up in this state and was convinced a burglar was kneeling on my chest and restraining me, whilst another stole from the house. The dream was so real when I re awoke in the morning I quickly checked the house for missing stuff.

Old interpretations were often as a "White Lady" type ghost sitting on your chest and screaming silently into your face...

When it happened again I did as you did. I told myself what it was, the burglar dissapeared and I drifted back off.

It's also been the route of alien abduction stories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

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It's happened to me once. But I knew it wasn't a dream. I was scared. I thought I was paralyzed, and couldn't figure out why. And after what happened to me in third grade, it was easy to believe that it had happened for no reason that I could explain.

However, after a few minutes my body "woke up" and I got out of bed. I later learned what it was [the link Doogie gave explains it]. It hasn't happened since, though.

DoogieTalons said:

Old interpretations were often as a "White Lady" type ghost sitting on your chest and screaming silently into your face...

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That is so racist! :madmad:

Re: one occasion

Re: one occasion

About thirty years ago, I was seeing someone and had spent the night with her (my wild salad days). I woke up early and went into the kitchen to make coffee and found a kitchen chair in the living room that wasn't there the night before. She told me that it was only the poltergeist that hangs around her house. Thinking she was only trying to spook me I paid it no mind; a half hour later we were on the couch in the living room after breakfast talking; across the room the stereo receiver was on and we were listening to the radio. All of a sudden the big crystal knob on the receiver started moving by itself; it moved all the way down the dial and finally stopped perfectly on another station. :noway:
She smiled and said something like "that's him!".
I left pretty soon after that and I don't think I ever went back to her house again.

My one and only "ghostly encounter"

I believe in residual energies, for it makes little sense I think to a spirit can manifest itself into a recognizable entity, otherwise we would see them when someone dies or even during operations and so forth. Yet, no one can say that upon arriving at a scene of death that they haven't felt a chill in the air. At least some form of negativity. Now depending on the extent of the pain felt during the death the energy left could manipulate the enviorment in theory. Maybe also be visible as orbs (lights, sparks of energy), but I think it makes little sense to believe in the Scooby Do style of ghost. I have went on several ghost hunts, and experienced many strange happenings and sensations, but never saw anything.


Wynter

Knight said:

from wikipedia....

A ghost is said to be the apparition of a deceased person, frequently similar in appearance to that person, and usually encountered in places she or he frequented, or in association with the person's former belongings. The word "ghost" may also refer to the spirit or soul of a deceased person, or to any spirit or demon. Ghosts are often associated with hauntings, which is, according to the Parapsychological Association, "the more or less regular occurrence of paranormal phenomena associated with a particular locality (especially a building) and usually attributed to the activities of a discarnate entity; the phenomena may include apparitions, poltergeist disturbances, cold drafts, sounds of footsteps and voices, and various odours."​

I am curious.... how many of you TOLers believe in ghosts?

And if so... do you have any good ghost stories, how about pictures? If you have pictures of what you believe are ghosts please share them with us.

As for me.... the only ghost I believe in is the Holy Ghost, so for sake of this discussion lets not consider a belief in the Holy Ghost to be an affirmation in believing in ghosts. The ghosts I would like to discuss are the type described above in the wiki article I referenced.

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About 10 years ago I was working overnights at a group home for adults with mental retardation. When I was doing my orientation to work at that home, the manager and several of the staff informed me that I would hear a lot of strange noises, because the place was haunted, by a ghost they referred to as Harry. I simply stated that "I am not afraid of Harry". She had a shocked look on her face and said "you will be"! I just flashed her a grin and said " I understand spiritual authority. Harry can just be afraid of me!" I worked there for about a year and never heard any weird noises.

I don't believe in ghosts, but that doesn't stop me from watching a good horror flick - it's always fun to see people haunted by mythical entities!

Delmar said:

About 10 years ago I was working overnights at a group home for adults with mental retardation. When I was doing my orientation to work at that home, the manager and several of the staff informed me that I would hear a lot of strange noises, because the place was haunted, by a ghost they referred to as Harry. I simply stated that "I am not afraid of Harry". She had a shocked look on her face and said "you will be"! I just flashed her a grin and said " I understand spiritual authority. Harry can just be afraid of me!" I worked there for about a year and never heard any weird noises.

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:chuckle:

I don't believe in ghosts, but my dorm hall is allegedly haunted, and some of the stuff i've heard and felt is pretty convincing. I still don't believe in ghosts; whether those things i've seen and what not are ghosts, imaginary, or some sort of demonic spirits, all i know is that i'm done trying to find out what it is cause it gets scary.

blessthemartyr said:

I don't believe in ghosts, but my dorm hall is allegedly haunted, and some of the stuff i've heard and felt is pretty convincing. I still don't believe in ghosts; whether those things i've seen and what not are ghosts, imaginary, or some sort of demonic spirits, all i know is that i'm done trying to find out what it is cause it gets scary.

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Maybe all that loud music has melted your brain? :singer:

I remember my parents telling me my Brother Brian called my Mother after he passed away.

I don't know, maybe this stuff does happen, I voted no.

One of the most exciting experiences I've had with the supernatural involved a family in Missisauga, On (can't remember if i spelled that right) where my friend and I had gotten a call from a family claiming to be what they called tormented by sounds of running in their upstairs and extreme cold associated with their storage room depsite efforts to heat it. When my friend and I arrived she immediately began to question the family, while me being the ever skeptic explored the vacinity. I never really saw anything out of the norm, and thought we were basically on another goose chase. But they succeeded and making my friend what to spend a night there.

I don't recall precisely, but sometime around 11:30 pm the entire entrourage was downstairs, not a single person upstairs. The sounds of what I thought was a small child running soon echoed down the stairs. I shot off like a bolt of lightening to see what was going on. There was a strange aura, like a odd waveyness to the air located at the top of the steps, which soon slowly started to retreat growing ever faint the closer it got to the storage room. Then it totally dissolved.

So, we stayed longer and researched the house, its history as well as documented news about the land and surrounding area. Turned out a child had been born in the house where the mother had passed during childbirth. Judging by the size of the storage room, we concluded that perhaps that was the room the mother had passed away in. We then preceded to be respectful of the happening and convinced the family to evaculate the room of their items inside it, clean it, and make comfy guest room. They haven't been bothered by strange occurances since.

Now some would say that the spirit of the woman wasn't happy that the space was being disrespected. The cold is a common occurance among areas of supernatural activity. Plus the noise and the visual distortion could be results of the negative energy attached to the room. Some would say that all the cluttered space allowed poor air circulation, the weight of the items made the old floor moan and buckle, and perhaps the air variations I saw was some sort of draft perhaps dusty currents from under the door. Me I don't really care as my friend and I got paid all the same.

Spitfire said:

Are you familiar with Hamlet? That is basically the kind of thing I meant when I said maybe it's possible.

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I like a little hamlet, if it's cured...

Now gather round children and dim the lights while I tell you a true ghost story. The night my grandfather on father's side of the family passed I saw him standing in the doorway of my bedroom smiling at me. He'd been recovering from a successful operation and no one was particularly worried as he was scheduled to return home the next day. It was one of those freak occurrences, a blood clot, that felled him. When mother came to break the news to me she remembers me shrugging it off and telling her that he was fine and going back to play...at the time she assumed I didn't understand. When she talked about it more with me later she realized that I had.

Also, our family home is generations old and has a good bit of history. I frequently would hear singing or parties late at night in one of the front rooms, at that time used as a library but originally a drawing room. All of these things happened when I was in my formative years. As I grew older and lost faith in anything beyond the natural world they ceased. So was my grandfather's apparition, along with the rest, the result of an overly active imagination in a restless boy? Most likely. But who really knows?

BOO!

Sharri said:

I remember my parents telling me my Brother Brian called my Mother after he passed away.

I don't know, maybe this stuff does happen, I voted no.

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I have personally experienced cases where just like email, phone calls and voice mails get lost in the system for a while and appear later.

I don't have any fixed opinion of whether ghosts exist or not.

We've just moved into an old house (400 years old) which was a coaching Inn for a few hundred years. There are stories that there are ghosts there, but so far I've only experience one thing.

While knocking down a partition wall which divided up a bedroom, which was put there by the previous owner, I unexpectedly heard footsteps coming up the stairs. They are the original wooden stairs, so they creak a lot.
I was very focussed on the job in hand, and nobody else was supposed to be in the house, so I was very surprised to hear what I heard. I stopped what I was doing, and went out of the room to see. The footsteps continued across the landing and stopped just past where I was stood. But there was nobody to be seen.

I went back to the job and finished knocking down the partition wall.
I put the event down to some 'presence' wanting to know what all the banging was about.


I do think that some of these things might not be noises and manifestations of dead people, but of something living. Since we only know what our senses can let us experience, there is highly likely to be a lot more going on around us which we can't know about.
I think that potential is a lot more interesting than thinking about these things as being from past lives.