by Sharon | Oct 17, 2018
The short answer is No.
When Josie was 10 years old, she was going to church camp.
At around 6 in the morning she got out of bed, showered, washed her hair and sat in the living room in the dark before her parents awoke and got ready to fix breakfast and take her to the church.
She was already feeling homesick and she hadn’t even left yet. She went into the kitchen, turned on the overhead light, went out to get the newspaper and sat at the kitchen table to read it.
Josie didn’t hear anyone come into the kitchen, but she felt as though she was being watched. She looked up and saw a young woman with straight blond shoulder-length hair, a flowery blouse, black jeans and white tennis shoes.
“What are you doing here?” Josie asked. She didn’t see anyone when she went out to get the paper. Did she forget to lock the door?
She just stood there with her arms crossed looking at Josie.
Josie got up and ran to tell her mother some stranger was in the kitchen.
Her mother immediately got up, put on a robe and slippers and went out to confront this stranger in her kitchen.
When Josie and her mother got to the kitchen, no one was there. They searched the house, but found no one. The door was locked and bolted from the inside.
Josie knew what she saw. Her mother tried to explain it away, but it looked like a real person, not a ghost.
At breakfast with her parents, she tried to put the incident behind her. They spoke about camp and what a great time she was going to have. Her father spoke of the fun he had as a kid going to camp and camping with his family.
When Josie arrived at the church camp after a long bus ride, one of the camp counselors looked exactly like the woman she saw in the kitchen that morning, but she was dressed differently.
This unnerved Josie. When she was assigned to the cabin of this particular camp counselor, she burst into tears. She didn’t know how she was going to survive a week with the “ghost” in her kitchen as her camp counselor.
Immediately, the woman took Josie aside to see what was bothering her. Josie explained the events of the morning. The counselor asked her where she lived. Three years ago to the day, the camp counselor’s twin sister was visiting her boyfriend who lived at that address. They were having an argument and he killed her right in the kitchen.
The camp counselor took it as a sign that her sister was telling her she was all right and perhaps knew Josie would be seeing her later that day to pass on the message.
“But she looked so real,” Josie said.
Since the apparition said nothing and was standing with her arms crossed, it didn’t seem at all friendly, but defensive. That may have been how she stood, facing her boyfriend before she was killed.
It’s not a pleasant story as far as the deceased twin was concerned, but for Josie and the camp counselor it explained something about the afterlife and how we are messengers for them, even when they don’t communicate with us. They do come to us in the form that we will accept . . . and sometimes scare the wits out of us.
Apparitions can be transparent and they can also be very lifelike. Here are other experiences:
Melonie was a high school math teacher.
She was working late at the high school when a little girl wearing a long black dress and boots with buttons up the side asked her, “Have you seen my mama?” Melonie said no and the little girl disappeared, just vanished. Melonie had seen apparitions before so this didn’t alarm her, but she did feel sad that this child was looking for her mother. Melonie wanted to show her to the light. That was probably where her mother was waiting for her.
Matt saw a pirate walking around the mall one night.
Matt was a security guard at the mall. All the stores were locked up and the cleaning crew was leaving. He was just going to go through the mall one last time before taking his dinner break when he saw a man dressed like a pirate with a patch on one eye and a sword in the sash that was tied around his waste.
Matt thought it was a man in costume. He called out to him to stop. He shouted, “The mall is closed and you have to get out!”
He looked all over the mall for this pirate, but didn’t see him. His buddy was in the security room with all the cameras and recordings. He asked if he had seen a pirate walking around the mall. His friend thought it was some kind of joke and waited for the punch line.
He checked the recordings, but there was no man dressed as a pirate walking around the mall.
Any doors that opened, would sound an alarm and that didn’t happen.
Three experiences of seeing ghostly apparitions that were three dimensional lets us know that apparitions are not always transparent.
This probably happens more often than we realize. I’ve been known to talk with apparitions at my local grocery store, believing it was a person shopping just like me … but later seeing the apparitions floating a few inches above the ground and walking through cars while crossing the parking lot.
So … just remember we’re not alone … there are apparitions all around us — some we can see and some we can’t.
I hope you enjoyed this post.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Oct 15, 2018
As you read Hazel’s Real Ghost Story, you may wonder as I did of how much is real and how much imagined …
I have a friend who told me when she was a child how she would rock her grandfather’s rocking chair and have long conversations with him.
She was very aware of her own imagination at play. This was abruptly brought to a close by her mother who was afraid that her daughter could invite the ghost of the grandfather . . . or something else.
This was running through my mind when I met Hazel and heard her account of the antique telephone …
You decide for yourself.
Hazel had an old antique telephone she found at an estate sale.
She set it on her grandmother’s antique desk. It was a novelty item– it was not plugged in. Hazel felt closer to her grandmother and loved ones who had passed. As she sat at her grandmother’s desk, she imagined the letters her grandmother penned at that writing desk and the calls that would come in. An invitation to tea? Family coming for a visit? Birth announcements? Wedding announcements? It was a lovely way Hazel liked to pass the time.
She remembered the days of party lines and by counting the number of rings would indicate that the call was for you or for someone else.
That thought just entered her mind when she heard the old telephone chirp out two short and one long ring. It did it several more times before Hazel answered it.
“Hello?” Hazel asked timidly. She felt a bit awed by answering the old telephone that wasn’t plugged in.
“Is that you?” came from the antique instrument.
“This is Hazel.”
“Oh, wrong number.”
Was this a call from heaven? Hazel wondered. She thought about this. Grandma was that you? Was it for someone who owned the telephone?
The more she thought about it, the more she thought the antique telephone was connected to the previous owner. She wondered how she could make it hers and receive messages from her loved ones.
Was Hazel asking for trouble?
She got out a smudge stick, lit it and allowed the smoke to envelope the antique telephone and antique desk.
“This telephone and desk are one,” she said. “The desk belonged to my grandmother and now the telephone belongs to her, too.”
Hazel thought a moment and added others thoughts she had to this ceremony she was conducting.
“I will receive messages on this telephone from my grandmother and loved ones who have passed. This is my direct link to them, just as in the days when they were here on this earthly plane of existence. I love you all and miss you.”
Hazel allowed the smudge stick to burn as she placed it in a bowl on a trivet and meditated while sitting at the old antique writing desk.
The telephone interrupted her meditation with one long and two short rings. Hazel thought that must be for me, since the two short and one long was for someone else. She answered it by saying, “Hello, this is Hazel.”
There was laughter on the other end of the line.
“Who is this?” she asked.
More laughter.
Hazel wondered if it was children playing a prank as in the old days. “Do you have Prince Albert in a can? Well, let him out!” Referring to the pipe tobacco.
That thought brought a smile to her lips as she hung up the telephone.
Hazel truly thought she had made a connection with the beyond. She just hadn’t connected to her loved ones.
A few days passed and the antique telephone remained silent.
She thought that since it was an old telephone, maybe an old number would reach her loved ones. She got out an old address book that belonged to her mother and looked at the list of names and numbers. Some numbers were scratched out and replaced with newer ones. She found one for her grandmother who had died in the 1960’s and using the rotary dial she placed her call with great anticipation. She also wondered how much this call was going to cost, but since the antique telephone wasn’t plugged in, she dismissed the thought as mere foolishness.
She heard ringing through the instrument. She was making a connection, if only someone would answer. It just kept ringing. She tried another number. The old number that belonged to her parents. She got a message of “That number is no longer in service.”
Hazel wondered how far back she had to go in order to connect with her loved ones. With determination she dialed number after number.
Exhausted from her efforts, she went into the kitchen to make dinner and think about this some more. She was truly obsessed with making a connection. She got out an old recipe book that belonged to her grandmother and even made the raisin oatmeal cookies she always had in her cookie jar. Hazel even brought down the old cookie jar from the high shelf above the refrigerator.
She almost fell off the step ladder when she heard the antique telephone peal out three short rings. She set the cookie jar on top of the refrigerator, stepped down to the kitchen floor and dashed to the telephone.
“Hello?” she answered breathlessly.
“Stop! Just stop what you’re doing!” and the line went dead.
Hazel was delighted! She had no intention of stopping. She made a connection!
It happened when Hazel was drinking tea and eating raisin oatmeal cookies around 2 in the afternoon. The antique telephone would chirp out three short rings. Hazel would answer it and receive instructions. She would follow them to the letter from cleaning out cupboards to running errands. She was also instructed to go to a particular thrift shop to buy what her grandmother referred to as “house dresses.”
Everyday Hazel would have her tea and raisin oatmeal cookies at 2 P.M. anticipating her telephone message. She was obsessed and some believe possessed. Her care provider never heard the antique telephone ring, but she would see Hazel run to answer it and bake more cookies or do something in another room or even get out in her car. Sometimes she would take a nap.
Whatever possessed Hazel, didn’t seem dangerous to her family, just odd. The care provider thought differently. She did file a report and the family dismissed her and hired someone new.
Hazel seems happy enough with a new care provider, her tea and raisin oatmeal cookies and telephone messages.
Is this really happening? Is it all in Hazel’s mind? Is the antique telephone haunted? These are all questions I can’t answer, but I believe something is going on with Hazel and that old antique telephone.
Please leave me a comment.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Oct 13, 2018
As I’m writing this it is raining and there is thunder rumbling and grumbling in the background.
I’ve been looking forward to this thunder storm for weeks now . . . and it has finally arrived!!
While writing my previous post, my computer screen went black . . . I was quite concerned about the post I was sharing — hoping it didn’t get lost . . . and also wondering if my laptop went kapoot . . . Fortunately all is well and I’m going to share with you another Real Ghost Story — this one not so close to home . . .
This happened once before when I was writing about a haunted doll . . . so I think it best to stay away from that topic during a thunder storm . . . But what would be of interest to you . . . and fun for me to write about while I’m experiencing this thunder storm.
My precious Yorkie is by my side. She’s not fond of thunder, but she’s all right. As am I, thanks for wondering 🙂
Ray and Brenda moved into a condo which had been built 25 or so years ago, but it was a nice place that is owned by a man who rented it out because he went to live in an assisted living complex.
The condo was rented to a couple who lived there for 5 years — they had no children, but worked at the local hospital and seemed very happy.They moved because they bought a house of their own.
So really, Brenda didn’t seem to have any reason for feeling uncomfortable in the house. The owner was still alive and happy, yet did have some health issues, but nothing to do with the “disturbances” and “uneasiness” Brenda was feeling.
The owner bought it as an investment after the death of his wife. He sold the house he shared with her and their now grown children and wanted to downsize a bit. The eldest son bought the house from his father and he still lives there with his family.
Actually, he was the one Ray and Brenda met when they decided to rent the condo.
So, hearing running and children giggling didn’t seem to fit with the condo environment of the past 25 years.
Of course, Ray didn’t hear any of this and Brenda was beginning to think she was imagining it.
Ray decided to give Brenda a kitten to keep her company while he was at work. The sweet little kitten was named Katie. And, it was Katie who confirmed for Brenda that something strange was indeed happening in the condo.
She noticed how Katie was looking at something behind her … then there was giggling … Katie’s fur puffed out from the top of her head down to her tail . . . I don’t know if Katie was frightened or scared, but something was definitely going on.
One morning while eating breakfast, Ray heard a woman call his name.
He looked up across the table to Brenda, but she was chewing a mouthful of food which immediately assured him that Brenda did not call his name.
He had a similar experience a few days later while he was brushing his teeth — but Brenda was in the laundry room quite a distance from the bathroom.
Once again he shrugged it off — thinking it was someone in an adjoining condo.
Ray stayed home from work one day due to a sinus infection and was trying to sleep when he heard children running and giggling. Every time he looked around, he saw nothing. Brenda had gone shopping and it was just Ray and Katie in the condo — and Katie was curled up sleeping at the foot of the bed.
He decided to watch television in the living room and rest in his recliner.
He was just about ready to doze off when he heard the running feet followed by the giggling . . . but there was something different this time … he saw two little girls running around.
He was startled and said, “How did you get in here?” Who are you?” “What are you doing in my house?”
All was quiet and has remained so …
For Brenda, she was pleased Ray finally confirmed what she knew was happening . . . and she was pleased Ray was able to get rid of the ghost children — along with their mother as well.
I do hope you enjoyed this Real Ghost Story — my thunder storm seems to have moved on … it has stopped raining and I’m not hearing thunder . . .
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Oct 12, 2018
Well, it is finally raining with the thunder rumbling in the background to make a wonderful background for my writing this Real Ghost Story about a creepy Friday Night Scare!!
This happened a few years ago, but it was a personal experience I’ll not soon forget.
I don’t like creepy experiences in or around my home . . . but it is what it is and I’m accepting it . . . but it doesn’t mean I have to like it 🙂
It was a Friday night the people who lived behind me were having a party with a live band.
It was loud, but I waited until after 10 PM before calling the police to have them quiet down. It was the strangest thing. I could see dark hooded entities hovering over the hedge that separated our yards. Plus there’s also a fence behind my hedge. One would think the hedge would cut down the noise, but I suppose it is just adding more privacy.
There were six hooded entities that hovered over the hedge as I was calling the nonemergency number for the police department. After my call, there were five still hovering. I did wonder what happened to the sixth one. I did notice they each carried something shiny — it may have been a knife. I just know it gave me an uneasy feeling.
I don’t know if it was the music or what this celebration was all about that my neighbors were holding. I just know that I didn’t like what was hovering over my hedge and I was beginning to not appreciate the neighbors who lived behind me.
I felt like I was playing out the Agatha Christy Ten Little Indians theme . . . then there were none. The cloaked entities disappeared as time passed. I do have protection all around my house and within, but for some reason I was feeling uncomfortable with these entitles. I was thinking it was better seeing them than not seeing them.
I lit some candles on my patio and I got out my smudge stick and waved it around my yard with my prayers. Just because these entities were hooded, didn’t necessarily mean they were evil. It does make me wonder why they would be hooded and not showing themselves.
As I said earlier, it bothered me that they did disappear. Wasn’t that the idea? I felt like they were spying on me. It made me wonder if it’s better to see what you really don’t want to see than not see them at all. Kind of a weird concept, actually.
Eventually, the band turned down their amps and the party continued, but much quieter.
I sat on my patio, enjoying the evening. I didn’t see anything hovering in my yard. It seemed calm and peaceful. I could hear talking, but wasn’t paying much attention to it.
Then there was screaming in the yard behind me. I also heard banging, crashes and more screams. There was a lot of noise, running feet and yelling from fear.
Evidently, neighbors on both sides and maybe beyond were concerned and the police were called again.
One neighbor told me that knives were being thrown and several were thrown in his yard. He didn’t appreciate it and called the police. Then he remarked about all the other noises and the screaming. The police came and the fire department with ambulances. It turned out to be a scene from some horror movie.
An elderly man rented the house with his grandson. It was his grandson’s birthday. The grandfather hired the band and caterers. It was a party that went south very quickly. Some neighbors asked them to turn down the music, but they didn’t. The old man tried to reason with them, but they locked him in his room.
By midnight, the party was out of hand and the kitchen was set on fire. Things were flying around the house. Many of the guests were hurt and running for their lives.
The house was a complete mess as was the yard.
The owners of the house came to access the damage. It was the talk of the neighborhood all weekend. The theme that was running through all the stories was that something was trying to kill them. The door to the grandfather’s room was splintered from the outside. All the metal handles and doorknobs were bent beyond recognition. All the doors and cupboard doors were barely hanging on their hinges. Windows were broken and food was thrown on the walls and the floor. Some knives were sticking out of the wall.
Was it the six entities I saw hovering over my hedge?
Did the music invite these entities or was it something else?
This is one of those experiences that doesn’t seem to have an explanation. None of the party participants shared what they were doing — if it was something to do with the paranormal. I know nothing about the band or the caterers. Nor the neighbors for that matter.
The grandfather is living with his son. The grandson was hospitalized with injuries from all the flying debris.
Even years later, this is a story shared in hushed tones. And, no one wants to believe it had anything to do with the paranormal . . . but I know better . . . even though the neighbors behind me don’t want to know.
The house behind me is still empty . . . or is it?
I haven’t seen the hooded figures . . . maybe they moved on with the band, the caterers or maybe the grandson . . . They could be in the house, but haven’t come outside beyond my fense and hedge. I do keep my distance . . . except when I walk around the block . . . but I’ve found I do walk swiftly by it . . . I keep my head down and look straight ahead. It does give off a negative vib . . .
I do thank you for stopping by and hope you’ll tell a friend or two about this website.
Sharon
by Sharon | Oct 10, 2018
A neighbor was doing major repairs on his house.
He is not the kind of person who would admit to having spirits in his house, but he had to admit something strange was going on since he began major construction by adding a second story to his home.
His wife was much more open minded and we started talking. I was on my way to my favorite coffee shop and she said she would meet me there.
I was surprised when her husband was with her when they walked up to the counter to place their order. I was sitting with my friend Barbara and her nephew and his girl friend.
I asked Bob how he liked camping out in his backyard. I thought this was the best way to get a conversation going. He said he felt like a kid. They had access to the house, but they set up a tent in their backyard to escape the dust and construction mess.
He even admitted to imagining their fire pit was a campfire and he and his wife Millie would tell scary stories.
Barbara asked if they were having any disturbances in the house.
She explained that all houses have spirits and those that take up residence don’t like change and new construction is something that threatens them.
Bob admitted they had problems with the architect and getting the stairway and the upstairs lay out the way they wanted it. Then there was the plumber who couldn’t get the upstairs baths working. Electrical was a problem, too. Mirrors kept breaking. Tools kept disappearing. Workers could hear talking or music or heavy footsteps. Inspectors wouldn’t arrive when scheduled. When they did come, they wouldn’t sign off the work.
They were well behind schedule. Workers refused to come. They reported being pushed and being watched. They also knew they weren’t welcome and their tool boxes would be dumped out or thrown across a room. Many quit, even though they needed the work, but they felt their life was in danger.
Millie was tired of camping out in the backyard, but she, too, started feeling uncomfortable in the house. They were close to throwing in the towel.
I suggested they speak with a psychic friend of mine to find out what was going on in the house.
I expected resistance and scoffing, but Bob jumped at the opportunity to get to the bottom of this and see what spirits were in the house and let them know who was boss.
I didn’t point out that Bob and Millie were camping out in their backyard afraid to spend any time in their house while the spirits were having a great time in the house.
We were invited to participate in a séance one evening.
When I arrived, Barbara, her husband, nephew and his girlfriend were already there. The psychic was running late. I could hear heavy footsteps upstairs. There were lights turning on and off throughout the house. I also heard water running upstairs. I expected it to flow down the staircase, but that didn’t happen.
It was a spooky place.
When the psychic arrived, we took our places around the dining room table. I noticed my chair kept moving and others were having a similar experience. The table moved. I brought my legs up into the chair to sit with them crossed as though I was sitting on the floor. I noticed others were readjusting themselves as well.
Bob’s chair tipped backward and he went crashing to the floor.
We were all a bit shaken up by that and decided to leave the table. We went out to the patio and sat talking while the psychic walked through the house.
There was a little boy who appeared, floated to Bob and kicked him in the shins. A little girl pulled Millie’s hair. I couldn’t believe it was ghosts of children who were causing all the trouble.
The children didn’t like the new construction. They didn’t like people in their house.
The psychic explained that they were of another time and needed to leave and join their parents who were waiting for them. They didn’t want to go. She explained that their friends were probably there, too. But nothing she said persuaded them to go.
I asked if they knew they were dead.
They ignored my question, but said they were told to stay in the house while their father drove their mother to the hospital. Evidently, they never returned and the children were trying their best to obey what their father had told them.
We needed to do some research about the house and the family that lived there. We weren’t going to have a séance that night or maybe any night.
I found it interesting how this construction brought the spirits out. There were others who had lived in the house without any disturbances. I wondered if that was possible. I also wondered why the children were there alone. Surely if something happened to the parents, relatives would have taken the children. It didn’t seem to make any sense.
Millie was finally able to get some answers about the early history of the house.
The parents of the children were going to the hospital, but they didn’t make it there. The children, instead of staying in the house as they were told to do were out running around the neighborhood. They ventured up into the hills and couldn’t find their way home in the dark. There were rumors the children were attacked by coyotes.
Once the ghost children were confronted with the truth, they talked with the psychic and explained how they tried to be obedient children believing their father would return home and in a few days their mother, too, with their new baby brother or sister. They were upset that the construction destroyed the house and their parents bedroom and that of the baby’s room.
It took several weeks before the children agreed to go into the light as instructed by the psychic. They realized that their behavior had nothing to do with the fate of their parents, but there were definite consequences that cut their lives short.
Today, Bob and Millie are delighted with the addition to their house. They are comfortable, but do think about the young family that lived in the house so many years before and what happened to the children as they were wandering in the hills.
The good news I can take from this story is that I have neighbors who believe in ghosts!!
It’s always disturbing to learn that the ghosts in your house are those of children.
And, yet, amusing that these young children haunted this house so successfully that they scared so many adults.
They have crossed-over and there was a happy ending. I do love it when I can share a Real Ghost Story with you that has a happy ending.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
