tell us your ghost story

[WI_DEM]

Here's mine:

When I was about 7 it was Christmas Eve and I remember waking up in the middle of the night and seeing my Great Grandmother looking over me. She looked at me very sweetly and told me to go back to sleep. I did. The next morning (Christmas morning) I excitedly asked, "Where's Grammy?" My parents looked at me strangely. For one thing we lived in California at the time and Grammy lived in Wisconsin. They told me they didn't want to tell me right away on Christmas day but that they had gotten a call late Christmas Eve (after we kids had gone to bed) that Grammy had died.

I remember this as if it happened yesterday.

Do you have a true-life Ghost story?

[achtung_circus]

1. I lived in a house with "Fred"

At least we think he was Fred.
It was the house that my wife grew up in. It was a 100 year old farmhouse. When my wife was about 17 she and a girlfriend were sitting in the kitchen getting ready to go out. A man walked out of the bathroom, through the kitchen and living room. My wife followed him, she thought it was her father and she wanted money to go out with. She watched him turn the corner and walk out through an exterior wall.
The house was later rented to a female friend. She lived there a year until her boyfriend got upset at the noises and refused to go there anymore.
Next the house was lived in by my brother-in-law and his wife. His wife told us that she would often wake up to find a man dressed in blue coveralls standing at the foot of the bed watching her.
They moved out and we moved in. There were often noises, plates rattling, radio playing, what sounded like a Saturday night kitchen party. I was never nervous, the presence did not seem malevolent.
I was cutting our very large lawn when I saw a man in blue coveralls standing near the gas meter in the middle of the barnyard. As I watched he clutched his chest, fell to his knees. I kind of shook my head and he wasn't there. I continued cutting the grass and one of the local old ladies, one of those women who have lived there all their lives , knows everyone and everything, drove in to "chat".
She mentioned that the area of grass I was cutting used to be the chicken yard for the chicken house. She said that when it was built it was the wonder of the neighbourhood, large, newest technology, etc. in 1927. She said "it was built by Fred Stelter- he died right over there" and pointed at the gas meter.
Apparently he had set a grass fire to clear old dead grass, a practice called "the red lawnmower". The fire had got away from him and he had had a hearty attack while fighting the fire.
Fred was quite happy in our house until my brother-in-law killed himself in the basement. The house felt different for a couple of weeks and then it felt empty.
People who purport to understand this sort of thing tell me that Fred didn't know where to go when h died. When my brother-in-law died he served as a guide for Fred to get to wherever he was going.
I keep an open mind, report what I have heard and seen. I know like Donald Rumsfeld that there are unknown unknowns- things we don't know that we don't know.

[FarLeftRage]

2. At Work

After hearing all the tales told to me by night-watch, it finally happened...

I was working the week-end and was there in the wee hours of a Sunday morning about 2 or 3 in the AM.

Suddenly the phone rang and according to the numerical display, it was coming from another building on-site where I work.

The thing is, I was the only one that was on the property and there was an eerie sound of dead air on the line.

This happened about a half a dozen times before it stopped.

I told my co-workers about it Monday morning and they said I had some "playful" spirits with me that night.

[darkstar]

3. Sorry to bend the rules a tad:

A dream and a coincidence:

A friend died wiring a co-op bakery in college town I lived in. Left long-time girlfriend behind. All of us in our late-70's whole-wheat hippie circle were really saddened. A genuine, generous person.

About 2 days past funeral, I have dream. He and I meet in the crosswalk in front of diner his girlfriend works at. He is with somebody that dressed in white with long hair and beard. Abbey Road overtones--crosswalk--and John Lennon/Christ/holy man vibe. And my resently passed friend says "Tell Amy (not her real name) it didn't hurt at all and that I'm with him now."

I let a little bit of time go by before I relay this to her. Explain it as I did above. She takes it in and thanks me. Deeply moving exchange.

Not a week later, she invites about a dozen friend over. We get there, and she tells us about accepting Christ as her savior and in explaing why, cites my dream. Kind of awkward for me.

She soon drifted away from our hippie crowd, our habits, our beliefs, etc. to follow her own path and involvement in a very evangelical church.

Fast forward about 10 years: I'm living in a mid-sized town about 200 miles away in same state, and meet up w/ guy I knew from the city we grew up in. He has a wife. We all begin to hang out. I tell this story while out to dinner one night. B/c of her face, I thought I was giving his wife the creeps as I told about the experience (gives me chills every time). But by time I get to the accepting Christ part, she says "Amy's my sister."

Every single word is true. I promise.

[darkstar]

4. I'm not sure where I stand on ghosts

but these stories give me chills. Especially when they are personal. Yours did, WI DEM. Touching and (for an outsider) just a tad creepy. The others got me to. Phone calls on the night shift. Seeing Fred go down. Wow. Goosebumply....

[SarahB]

5. This weird night back in October

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

(remember, I was populistmom in case anyone already forgot)

[bigwillq]

6. What happened to you?

Did you just switch names or were you a tad bit naughty? I never heard why. Please explain. Thanks! and I'll give your thread a read!

[SarahB]

8. Here's the story

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

I'm never naughty (usually).

[bigwillq]

10. A big thanks for sharing

Great story. You're beautiful in both the before and after pics!
You really deserve some major props for changing your life on so many levels. It's amazing what we can achieve if we just have the right amount of will power, determination, strength and faith (and not just in the religious sense).
Good for you and best of luck in all your endeavors!

7. I was 4, my mom took me to my Grandfathers funeral.

I had no idea what a funeral was. It wasn't the service, it was the actual burial.

I don't remember this happening, but apparently I disturbed everyone in attendence when I wanted to go look behind some bushes, because "I see Granpa hiding back there."

I guess I saw my dead Grandpa hiding in the bushes at his own funeral, and I was insisting that Grandpa was trying to play peek a boo with me from the bushes. I kept telling my mom, who was already distraught, and she began crying pretty bad. My dad went to check the bushes to see if someone was there, but there was no one around. My older sister had to take me to our car and wait for the end of the ceremony, I wouldn't let go of the story, and everybody was freaked.

[mlawson]

12. I believe you. And I have a story sorta like that.

Things like that do happen; if you can get people to open up about it, many many have stories not dissimilar.

My grandmother (mother's mother) died (aged 99) at noon on a Sunday in 1980. There had been a freak snowstorm that night, and we were not at the nursing home, which was 18 miles away. The call about Grandma came about 12:15. Mother went hysterical, and would not be calmed down; she only pushed us away. Dad and I decided to let her grieve for awhile.

At 12:30, the phone rang again. It was Mother's cousin Evelyn in another state, who was her best friend (and was unaware that Grandma was in her last stages). Anyway, Evelyn NEVER called except at night. Her deceased mother happened to have been Grandma's best friend. Dad answered the phone, and Evelyn was just stammering, "I don't know why I called you. Something just TOLD me to call right now!".

No one will EVER, EVER convince me that that was a coincidence. I had been an atheist up to that point. No more.

[mopaul]

9. i think i 'felt' a ghost

i lived in an old house in okmulgee, ok. in 1980. the place had an attic, which i used for a studio. spent most of the day up there working on projects and studies. one night i was up late, it was about 3 a.m. i went up there to get something and got halfway up the stairs when i felt a horrible dread. some 'thing', i couldn't tell exactly what, scared the living hell out of me and i froze in my tracks. i hadn't gotten to the top of the stairs, where the light switch was, and realized i could not go forward or backward, because i was petrified with the most intense fear i'd ever felt, before, or since. i finally got the ability to move again, and slowly walked down the stairs, staring straight ahead, but seeing nothing. only darkenss. i couldn't sleep until the sun came up.

i didn't go back up there for a couple weeks. never told my wife.
to this day, it is probably the most terrified i have ever been, and i've seen and been through some hard core stuff. i have no idea what my fear was based on, i only know it was very real, and very evil.
i felt anger directed at me, as if i were an intruder or univited guest. just a horrible sense of malevolence and fear. very weird experience.

[snoochie]

15. That is wild

When you did finally go back, during the day of course, did it seem different to you? Or the same as before?

[mopaul]

17. only went up there in daylight

never went up there in the dark again. no, it never felt quite right after that. the whole house creeped me out after that, and fortunately i move out soon after.

but it really made the hair stand up on my head. hope it never happens again for sure

[m-jean03]

18. I had something like this happen when I was a kid

My friend lived in this very old Victorian house in upper Michigan. We were around nine years old and were there by ourselves, just messing around. As kids often do, we found the attic and the basement both to be quite spooky, and Kalin insisted the house was haunted -- she said she felt cold spots all the time, and heard noises.

Well, we got around to daring ourselves to go up to the attic. We'd been up there before, but never without anyone else in the house.

I took one step onto the winding staircase that led to the attic.

Then...CREEEEEEEEAAAAAAAK. A loud, long creak made our hearts skip a beat. I crept up to the landing, peered around the corner and screamed -- The Attic Door Had Swung Wide Open All By Itself. There was then a feeling of something present besides us, we both agree to this day.

We ran outside and wouldn't go back inside until her mom came home.

Kind of lame, but it sure was scary at the time.

[icymist]

11. I work in a nursing home on the NOC shift.

That's the night shift, for all of you who don't know nursing lingo. The night was a rare calm, absent of noise. An old 'grandmother aide was working next to me that night and as we were sitting at the nurse's desk at North station, sleep began to overtake my attempt at charting. I jerked my self awake with my brain still in a foggy sense. Looking up, I saw in a cloud a elderly man, wearing a red and black checkered flannel robe, walk across the hallway. I turned to Lilian, the 'grandmother aide', "Do you remember a elderly man, white hair and a white beard, walking with a cane and wearing a red and black flannel robe?"
Looking up from her book, Lilian said, "Yes. Mr Smith. He died about a year before you were hired here." She put her book down. "Why do you ask?"
How was I supposed to tell her that he was standing right in front of her? "Oh, never mind", I said as I watched Mr. Smith fade into the either.

[mlawson]

13. Kick. This is a very interesting post.

[Melsky]

14. In a victorian house in San Francisco

I was sitting on my bed, and someone sat down behind me. I felt the rush of wind as they sat down, and felt the bed indent. I thought a real person was there (I had roommates) and I jumped up. There was no one there.

The funniest thing is, all the stereotypical fright stuff happened to me. My hair stood on end, I broke out into a cold sweat, my heart leapt into my throat, etc. It was an incredible adrenaline rush!

Other incidents happened in the house, but only to my roommates and not while I was there.

[suegeo]

16. One hundred dollar bill

When I was very young, my dad got very ill and was hospitalized at a university hospital that was about an 8 hour drive away from home.

My mom left us kids to go stay with my dad. We didn't have much money, and after a while, my mom's money was running out. She wanted to stay at the hospital with my dad, but didn't have money for a motel/room.

So she walked the streets, worrying and thinking about what she should do, and next thing you know, a hundred dollar bill floats into her path, at her feet.

This was back in the 1960s, so $100 was alot of money. And how common are one hundred dollar bills, even today?

I don't know if a ghost sent her a hundred bucks, but it is a good story about a good person trying to do the right thing, then eventually having something good happen in return (good karma).

[MidwestMomma]

19. My something evil in the attic story

I moved into this old house in Manhattan KS. It had an upstairs bath and bedroom. In the ceiling in hallway outside the bath and bedroom was the opening to the attic. From the day I moved in there, I never liked going upstairs at night. But I was a new mom and I figured it was just new mom insecurity.

Anyway, seems like me and my daughter would always end up sleeping downstairs but one night I was like, this is crazy, go upstairs and sleep in the bedroom. So I go to sleep upstairs and that night I have a horrible nightmare that 'something' came out of the attic and had me by the foot and was trying to drag me off the bed. I wake up in a cold sweat, completely terrified. Spent the rest of the night downstairs.

Now I'm thinking it's still just me being crazy. But my sister and her boyfriend come to stay with me one weekend. I don't say anything about the upstairs creepiness, my dream, nothing. They proceed to spend the night in the upstairs bedroom. My sister gets up the next morning and tells me that she had a horrible nightmare that 'something' had her by the foot and was dragging her off the bed and she said swears she was halfway off the bed when she woke up. (She was on the side of the bed closest to the attic opening)

Let the freak out begin!!

Oh and to make it worse, to get upstairs you had to go up the stairs and then take a sharp right to the hallway which contributed to my night fears because you coudn't see the upstairs hallway until you turned the corner and that's exactly where that attic opening was.

Anyway, after the incident with my sister, I got to where I wouldn't even go upstairs at night at all so I moved out.

Spooky huh?

[m-jean03]

20. Yikes. That is incredibly spooky.

Are you glad you had the experience, just for story-telling's sake? Or was it seriously traumatic and not worth the grief?

[snoochie]

21. No and maybe

Not superstitious, and never have seen a ghost, so not sure on that... but there was this one strange incident.

When I was about 13 I remember waking up suddenly in a near panic in the middle of the night. I thought there was someone or something outside my window. I don't remember having heard anything, but something woke me up and that's the first thing I remember was looking out the window all bug eyed with fear. But there was nothing out there. It was windy so the trees and bushes were waving around but that was all.

Then all of a sudden there's this horrible stench comes out of nowhere. It was like I'd imagine a sewer would smell - cloying and penetrating and almost palpable. Along with it came this overwhelming sense of dread. I can't really describe it - it was like when you knew you were really in big trouble as a kid - that anticipation of something terrible that you knew was coming and that you couldn't control. Then, as if that wasn't enough, this unbelievably LOUD banging started. It was so loud I could feel it and it scared the living daylights out of me. It probably went on for about half a minute, but it seemed like a LOT longer at the time.

I wanted to run to my sister's room but I was too scared to get out from under the covers. I just laid there and eventually fell back asleep. Nobody said anything about anything the next day and I didn't mention it, either. Maybe it was just a dream, but it sure seemed real at the time.

22. One More - My Famous Raggedy Ann Story

About 15 years ago, when my wife and I were newly married and living in an old in-law apartment in San Francisco, I came home from work one day and entered the apartment, as usual. To get in to the main room, one had walk down a short hall past the bedroom door. As I walked past, I looked in, noticing that the bed had all my wife's stuffed animals propped up on it, and saw a new doll in the center of the bed.

It was a very large Raggedy Ann doll, about the size of a 10 year old child. It was sitting on the bed, facing the door, its legs sticking straigh forward, and its arm positioned as if it were giving the other dolls a friendly hug.

There was nothing obviously strange about the scene, but for some reason it gave me the shivers. I didn't like the way the doll appeared to be looking at me, looking and smiling, lol! Anyway, after a moments hesitation, I walked past the bedroom and said hi to the wife and our infant son.

We talked a bit, dinner was served, and then I remembered Raggedy Ann, and asked her where she got the new doll. The look on her face suggested that there might have been lobsters crawling in and out of my ears, she was no less surprised. She insisted that she had no idea what I was talking about, which I thought was a cute joke till I got up and walkedback to the bedroom door to retrieve the doll.

I still remember how I felt at that moment, realizing that the doll, (if indeed what I had seen WAS a doll) was no longer on the bed, in the bedroom, or anywhere in the house. A feeling of dread hit me, of being watched by something dark and angry, something with a sly smile, red hair, and empty black eyes, like a shark's eyes.

I slept on the couch for several days til my wife decided she had had enough, and demanded I move back into the bedroom

I can no longer stand to be around Raggedy Ann dolls. I hate them. My kids love this story, because they see how freaked out I get just telling it.

[WI_DEM]

23. thanks everyone who contributed

I posted this on Friday and then left for the weekend and so this is the first I've looked at this thread since my initial post. Some very strange and spooky occurances.