Do you believe in ghosts?

[HEyHEY]

I ask because when I spent my first night in the new place I felt a strange presence in the room. Often I'd have these waking dreams that someone was in the room and even have a clear picture of what the person looks like. Mid-fifties man, kinda buzz cut, a bit pudgy.
Anyway, we found out yesterday that someone did have a heart attack and die in the house.
I've been having the wierdness again. I also seem to be woken up by a feeling I'm being watched every night at around 12:45.

I'm not a religious person, but it's just creepy.
What do you think?

EDIT: I even asked my roomie about two weeks ago if she knew if anyone had died in the house because I was gonna ask the landlord.

[Jamastiene]

1. Nope

but I'm not saying they definitely don't exist. I just haven't "experienced" one yet. It was creepy when I first moved into this place a year ago. New places are creepy. Who knows though? You may have a ghost.

[Tom Kitten]

2. No, but

I won't necessarily rent an apartment in a purportedly haunted building or just generally spend time in a place with dark vibes...
I've been having a bunch of extremely vivid apocalyptic dreams/mightmares lately as it is!

[stopbush]

3. Nope. I guarantee the *ghost* will disappear once you

grow accustomed to the unique noises in your new digs.

The buzz cut guy was probably only "Jeff Gannon." It seems that he can get in just about anywhere...

[alittlelark]

4. I think that I wake up at almost exactly 4:30 am 4-5 days a week

I'm not sure why, but I always start thinking about my kids. It's weird. Our house has had at least 2 deaths in it (both natural), but if there is a 'something' that wakes me up at that time it is both invisible and benevolent.

I do KNOW that ghosts exist. When my (future) mother-in Law died (we were very close, but future hubby and I were living in different states), I told the two friends I was partying w/ that I thought she had died. I was calm, very calm ...Because she had told me and was 'happy' ( quickie- liver/pancreatic cancer - very bad), but I ruined the evening. I got a call the next day. She had died at 11:35 - approximately the time I had known it.

I did not 'see' her, but she spoke to me very clearly.

[HEyHEY]

6. That's like what happened to my mom

My dad and her were lying in bed around the time her Dad died. She was worried about the fate of her ailing mother. They were lying there ready to go to sleep and suddenly my mom says "Did you hear that?" My Dad says "What?"
Mom says, "My father just spoke to me, he said he'd take care of mom."

Strange

[alittlelark]

9. It is for real... I have no doubt at all.

We are all made up of electrical energy.

If I believed in anything akin to religion it would be similar to 'The Force'. The 'Force' is just the controlled utilization of the energy circulating around all of us, and the world. I believe that becoming 'connected' to someone means that you are literally ' on the same page (frequency) on some level.

I do not find these experiences to be superstition - just fact.

[DS1]

50. Not unlike my cat

he gets me up on the turn of the hour, every day

He's earned his "Fuckface O' Clockwork" nickname

[pres2032]

5. yup

I swear my bedroom in my parent's room is haunted. I've seen shadowy figures move across the foot of my bed, a strange light at the end of my bed. i don't think they're from cars cause i've only seen them once. around thanksgiving i heard scratching noises in the wall that lasted about a half hour. I've also heard knocking when i was the only one home.

:scared:

[JohnKleeb]

7. Yes

BTW the other day after my grandmother died, I felt a strange presence in my room too, I swear I heard voices.

[alittlelark]

19. When you go to sleep tonight have a pen and paper beside the bed

Go to bed thinking about the experience... all aspects of it.

You may dream about it - if so grab that pen and paper !!!

[JohnKleeb]

20. Ok I will, I barely remember tho

I had another experience near a graveyard.

[alittlelark]

21. Any pressing issue in your mind should be thought about -

- very focused thoughts and questions - before sleep. You could be amazed what your subconscious brain works out for you!

[rwenos]

8. If It's True, He Probably Won't Hurt You

Just go with it. He'll get bored and go find a more interesting creature who wears red spaghetti-strap nightgowns.

[HEyHEY]

10. I know he can't hurt me - but it's just plain creepy

[Historic NY]

11. Humm lets just say I've seen things that I've not completely

rationalized...especially at some old 18th century sites. Then again for some reason ever since my uncle died here in Dec..I am awaken at about 0344hrs..he passed at 0349. I now live alone and sometimes it spooks me. Perhaps tonight I will say up later as a co-worker just left we watched a movie and had a few drinks.

I now use his room for my library & computer room.

[Downtown Hound]

12. Yes

[InvisibleTouch]

13. Don't know about ghosts, exactly, but I do know...

...that different places and even different rooms in the same home seem to have different "energies" about them - not necessarily positive or negative, so much as just different, like different flavors. And some places appeal to some people and not others, for that reason - they match or don't match your own personal "vibes." I tend to be uncomfortable in places or rooms that don't bother others, and feel welcomed in places that make others uneasy. I also sometimes notice a different sense of place when crossing a state line or into a city limit. The collective nature of the people who live there, perhaps?

Then again, maybe it's all in my head. :)

[Historic NY]

15. What is weird is the cool or cold clammy feeling....

I sometimes get that when I'm in the field doing research or visiting a battlefield site. I spend a bit of time in cemeteries and its rough trying to find a particular burial at time. I remember one time walking around for over an hour...I was disgusted because I could not find a particular grave site. I stopped and was standing when I said okay "so, and so" give me a clue where are you. I looked down and his marker was lying flat right in front of my feet. I go to Gettysburg and sometimes have a rough time in certain areas. My friends think I'm a bit daft until they feel my skin which is like I was in a freezer. I normally a hot, sweating person.

[alittlelark]

18. I love old cemetaries and road trips... the 2 often merge.

I have checked out hundreds of old cemetaries over the years There are 3 cemetaries I have vistited in the past and will not in the future. 2 are along my standard CA-NM route.

I get goose bumpy thinking about them.

[LeahD]

14. Yes

My sister did not believe in those from the other side making appearances until she moved into a house and saw a man sitting on her sofa one night. He was holding his head in his hands and looked very forlorn. She later learned that a young man had committed suicide in the garage behind the house.

I also have two friends who have experienced visitations from the other side. One of them grew up in a house in California, and all of the members of her family saw the spirits quite regularly.

[intheflow]

16. Yes.

I know a psychic, and she has accurately seen dead people hanging around other people.

For instance, the first time she and I met, we met for about 5 minutes and she had to leave. She got in her car and about 5 minutes after that the phone rings. Our other friend answered the phone (it was her house). The psychic was calling to say there was a young guy in the car with her who was teasing her, not in a bad way. Just in a wise-guy kind of way, like a pesky kid brother as an adult. We figured out from her descripton of the guy and what he was saying that he was my ex-husband, father of my child, who had been murdered 10 years before at age 26.

I have felt my ex's presence over the years since his death. He had also been able to see ghosts, and our son seems to have a measure of that, too. It used to creep me out, but now I kind of like the company. AND I have someone to blame when I can't find things around the house. :)

I have never felt in danger of these ghost encounters. We're conditioned by Hollywood and camp fires to fear ghosts, but in reality, when was the last time you heard a ghost story from real life that wasn't benign? (And don't answer the BushCo. horror show, we don't have proof of demonic possession.) I suggest you kind of look at the presence as a housemate. If the guy died at 12:45, he's probably a little scared, every night. Wish him peace and go back to sleep. :hippie:

[zann725]

17. Burn some Sage, and/or white candles. Both are purifying gestures

to "pre-existing" or "co-exisiting" energies in a house. I find that in most places I've lived, I usually feel the need to do so about a month or so after I've moved in. I tend to be more "sensitive" to energies...and notice earlier what others notice later. I do so because I usually feel at that point that I need to "clean out" pre-existing energies, or at least let them know "I'm here now. This is mine...for now. Unless you want to pay rent!" That usually moves them aside.

You should do whatever it takes so that you feel more comfortable in your "home."

[LeahD]

22. Visitations

One friend was being visited so often, she was getting very uncomfortable about it. She never saw the spirit, felt the presence near her, and also felt a hand on the back of her neck. She talked with a woman who was clairvoyant, and in this case, the psychic told her that if she really thought about it, she would know who the spirit was. It made sense to my friend, because a year earlier, she lost an Aunt with whom she was very close. Sometimes when we lose someone, we don't want them to leave us, and we actually hold them on this plane. My friend was told to talk to the woman, tell her that it was OK to go to the other side. She also sprinkled salt in the corners of the rooms, and I believe it's also a way to clear the house similar to burning sage.

[enigmatic]

23. Yes

Here's my story, and I swear that it's true:

In the early 90's, I owned a Restuarant in a small town north of
Columbus,OH with a close friend. The Resturarnt was located in a
buliding that also housed a Masonic Lodge on the second floor
as well as a Post Office next door. I was living in what used to
be the town barbershop, which was in the basement area below the
PO.

Although I had always been interested in the paranormal, I'd had
nothing remotely "ghost-like" ever happen to me, until about 6
months after I had moved in to my basement studio.

During that time, I had gotten to be good friends with the man
who was the postmaster in town from the late 40's until the late
80's; he had eaten in the Restuarant with his wife many times,
and I had picked his brain about the history of the building,
and the town, while drinking coffee with them after their meals.
They had a son who died in the Viet Nam War; my parents had both
passed, so we deveopled a kind of a parent/son relationship in a
way. He had told me about my apartment which had once been the
barbershop, and talked about the barber, who was one of his best
friends but had died in 1982.

One Friday night a few monhts after I had moved in it had been a
busy night in the Restuarant, and after we closed I headed down
to my apartement with my then-girlfriend, who was visting for
the weekend from Cincinnati. I had to get up the next morning at
7AM to open up the Restuarant for Breakfast, so after I drank a
Mickey's Malt Liquor, we went to bed.

About 3:30AM I woke up to go to the bathroom, which was a few
steps away from my bed in the one room apartment. I walked
inside the bathroom and sat down with the light off, doing my
business and thinking about what I had to do later that morning
in the Restuarant. After I was done, I started to walk out the
door and towards my bed. "Something" told me to look to my left,
toward the other end of the rectangular room. I slowly turned,
and through the shadows in the corner of the room, I saw a man
cutting a little boy hair, who was about 9 or 10 years old and
sitting in a barber chair. I couldn't see the man's face in the
shadows, but I could see the boy's clearly.

He turned and "looked" at me with a kind of half-smile on his
face. I then literally backed into the bathroom, closed the
door, and sat on the john, shaking like a leaf. After about 25
or so minutes, I realized that I couldn't stay there all night,
but I was literally scared to death. After another 5 minutes, I
got up enough courage to open the door and walk to the bed. I
looked straight ahead as I walked, and when I was in bed, threw
the covers over my head and held on to my girlfriend. I ended up sleeping for about 2 hours, and when I awoke, was still freaked out, to put it mildly. I never told my girlfriend, or anybody else, what happened.

About 4 months later I had decided to sell my part of the
Restuarant to my friend and move to Phoenix with my girlfriend.
The last day I was working in the Restauant, the old postmaster
and his wife came in to have a last meal there with me. He had
brought a stack of photos that he had taken while he was
postmaster of the building and the town itself, and I was really
excited to pore through these since I had been gently bugging
him to see them since the first time he mentioned having them to
me.

We looked through them, and there were pics of the building in
the 50's; the town's main street, and of people he had known at
that time. He then picked up a picture and handed it to me. I
looked at it, and my heart literally stopped. It was a picture
of a man dressed up in a barber's smock standing next to a
little boy, who was smiling. I recognized the boy. He was the
one I had seen in the middle of the night 4 months earlier. I
asked the old postmaster who the people were.

He said, "Well, that's the barber of course, the one who's shop
is where you've been living in. The boy is my son; he had just
gotten his hair cut by my friend the barber when I took the
picture."

[intheflow]

25. I love this story!

I'm sorry it freaked you out so much, but if you think about it, you witnessed a happy time in both the ghosts lives. I think it was a blessing of sorts - two people coming back because you connected with someone close to them. Very romantic, in a way.

So saying, I probably would have moved, too! :D

[enigmatic]

26. It freaked me out at the time, but not now..

It was just too much of a shock to me at that time; nothing remotely like that had ever happened to me before, and i really didn't know how to handle it.

Now, I realize that what a "gift" (for lack of a better word) it was; it's something i'll never, ever forget...

[LeahD]

28. It is a gift

These experiences are life-altering, and you are a different person after coming face to face with the reality of an afterlife.

[enigmatic]

34. Yeah, it changed me...

I didn't tell anyone for a number of years after it happened because it was just too "out-there", but as I realized how profoundly it affected me, I realized what a gift it was...

[Seabiscuit]

24. No, but my wife does.

Kinda spooky listening to her sometimes.

[RadicalMom]

27. YES! I and many people I know have experienced them many times. If you

don't believe in them, you will if you ever get to see one.

[Az]

29. No I don't believe in ghosts

I do believe in all sorts of mental phenomena that cause people to believe things are something other than they are. But not being there and examining the situation I can't exactly say what is going on. At a guess stress related to a new environment is causing a variety of reactions including waking dreams and other phenomena.

[Shananigans]

30. Sweet...I want a man in my room watching me...

er...wait...that might be kinda creepy. I think I need a hug.

Damnit!

[Nikia]

31. I haven't experienced them, but reliable people have

Who I know well.
I'll say strongly probable.

[Zuni]

32. Yes

I work in a haunted building---it is an old building in Historic Annapolis, about 150 years old.
The ghost of an older woman has been seen there. People have also heard voices at times

[Blue Diadem]

33. Yes, spirits continue on

My mother used to tell me there were such things and I used to think she was nuts. That is until I moved here and saw one for myself.

So yeah, they're around. Mine appeared twice, once in full, the other time, only the upper part of his body. He had an odor though, kind of like bad BO. Occasionally I'd feel like someone had whooshed by me and then I'd smell the odor. He stopped coming around after his son(who was an elderly frail man) came back to visit the old homestead.

Our ghost was the original owner of the house and lived here for more than 60 yrs. An elderly neighbor verified my description of him.

[NNadir]

35. I am actually a ghost.

I've been dead since the summer of 1862 but I really started to feel dead after the 2004 election.

[orleans]

36. I knew it because I can see right through you!

(so to speak)

BOO!

[Bullwinkle925]

37. Well - here's my story.........

My daughter and I went away to attend a wedding. Stayed in an 1800's hotel in the California 'Gold Country'. Beautiful hotel, true to it's era , etc. Found out that there is supposed to be a ghost haunting the place. I found this to be particularly endearing to the place, but I didn't think much of it. Went to the wedding and then back to the room. Middle of the night I swear I awoke to the feeling of someone either touching or nudging my shoulder. My daughter was fast asleep. I finally went back to sleep without any other disturbances during the night. The next morning, my daughter couldn't find her comb and accused me of hiding it. We tore the place apart - no comb! Never found it.

Go figure?????

[scarlet_owl]

38. Yes I do.

[NV Whino]

39. Yes.

A friend of mine bought an old farm house, which came complete with ghost of the former inhabitant, Sofie. I was housesitting once. In the kitchen cooking dinner and the back door opened by itself. May not seem like a big deal until you understand that the lock on the back door was sticky itself and you had to put a shoulder to the door to get the door open once you disengaged the lock. Having been told about Sofie, I said, "Hi, Sofie," and went over to close the door. About 15 minutes later the door opened again. I said, "Bye, Sofie."

My friend and her daughter have both has experiences with Sofie. Sofie was/is benign and likes a good party.

[Dervill Crow]

40. Yes, I do.

I've been visited a couple of times. Once it was a young girl who looked a bit like my daughter, and that was a bit worrisome because I thought something might have happened to her, but neither time was really frightening.

[Floogeldy]

41. Believe it

A deceased relative of mine appeared before me in broad daylight on a busy sidewalk. This is no joke. I apologize for not sharing the details. It was way too much of a personal experience for me to discuss it here.

[mvd]

42. Yes, I do

I have never seen or knowingly experienced one. Have never lived in a haunted house, and there's no history in my family of deceased relatives visiting. But still, there's too much strange stuff out there to discount. Maybe most of it can be explained, but not all of it.

[trof]

43. no

[B Calm]

44. Nope, I don't believe in dead people's spirits! When your dead

its over.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

45. Yes.

I believe the spirit of a woman who died
in her early forties across the street
visited us off & on for months after her
death. We were friends with her, she left behind
several young children & lived an unhappy life.
She died at one in the morning, the dogs in the
neighborhood went wild, and the sounds began an
hour later, waking us up. The sounds were both
in the living room among my papers and in the
ceiling/attic, and later all over the house.
You have to experience something like that for
yourself to understand what it's like.

[Democrat Dragon]

46. Yes, But I don't think they're spirits of the dead

they're either spirits who taunt people or some phenomonen where a grusome death causes a repeating "memory" of those who lived in a place(even seen "The Grudge"?)

[Shopaholic]

47. Yes

I've seen, heard, and even smelled them. My grandfather died on Dec. 22nd and was buried on Christmas Eve. Ironic because Christmas was his favorite holiday and he would throw these huge parties every year at Christmastime. It was not unusual at all at Christmastime at my grandmother's house to hear strange sounds. I can remember one year when the entire family was in the dining room and we heard the back door slam shut. The only problem? That door was locked and bolted shut. There was no way that it possibly could have been opened and shut.

A couple of years later, our next door neighbor died suddenly. He was an elderly gentleman and loved to "sneak" over and "steal" roses from our rose garden. A couple of days after he was buried, I was home sick from school, and sitting in our den watching TV with my Mom. All of a sudden, we both smelled the overwhelming scent of roses filling the room. Our dog, who had been asleep at my feet, began to bark. My mother turned to me and said, "Do you smell that?" And just as suddenly, the smell went away. It was the middle of winter and about 20 degrees outside at the time. No roses in the room or in the house-no possible explanation for what all three of us experienced that day.

Just two out of the several experiences I've had through the years. So yes, I believe.

[amazona]

48. in a way

The ghost doesn't seem to be the "entire" person though -- they seem to suffer from severe mental deficiencies.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[DS1]

49. I've seen one and photographed one

So, yes, I believie in them