Is There A Difference Between A Ghost And A Spirit?

I enjoy having interesting discussions with my ghost hunting friends.

We had a lively discussion and finally settled on ghosts are tied to a particular location and spirits are free to roam as in the expression “free spirit.”

Now that I think of it, there were ghosts at my parent’s old place that seemed to belong there. They were primarily in the yard. They didn’t follow them when they moved, but the new owner  complained about lights turning on and off and the electric bill being more expensive each month.

I doubt these ghosts went inside to cause problems for the new owners. I believe the new owners brought their own spirits with them. Or attracted new ones.

The house was located approximately 5 miles away from a hospital and there was a cemetery across the street from the hospital.

I know I’ve had spirits trying to come home with me after visiting someone in the hospital or cemetery. I’ve had to be very firm with them to stay where they were and to not follow me home.

I have heard that spirits feed off the electrical system.

My cousin has seen her deceased father in her car waiting for her when she’s shopping at night. It’s comforting for her to know he’s still around to look out for her, but she has had to charge her battery regularly or replace it before the warranty is up. She has had the car checked to see why the battery is being drained, but there is no mechanical explanation.

There is always a fear that spirits will follow you home.

Many times they do, but we must not invite them to do so, unless you want to. The problem is most of us don’t know what we’re inviting in. Too often what we believe to be children turn out to be demons that create all kinds of problems.

I had once been of the belief of allowing ghosts and spirits to stay where they are, but when they impact my life in unpleasant ways, I have been forced to send them on their way elsewhere. Preferably “into the light.”

There can be ghosts, demons and spirits in antiques and old homes.

There is plenty of old haunted stuff out there waiting to be picked up by someone and brought into their homes. I have a friend who picked up an interesting piece of wood that was once part of a picket fence in front of an old house that was being demolished. He had it in his car and pretty much forgot about it, but he was getting speeding tickets, parking tickets and also had people running into him. He attributed it to that old piece of wood.

He later put that piece of wood in his yard to stake up a rose bush. It wasn’t long that sprinklers would turn on and off, he had a couple of pipes burst because of high water pressure and the rose bush died — some may believe from over watering or lack of watering which is possible, but he believes it had to do with that old haunted piece of wood he picked up.

This can be true of many things that one finds.

I found an odd coin that I believed to be lucky, but it was anything but.  My lucky day was when I lost it.

To tell you the truth, I was tempted to leave it some place for someone else or even throw it out, but I kept it thinking I would do some research on it — of course, I never did. I only hope whoever has it now is having better luck with it than I did and has taken the time to research it.

I hope this article was helpful and informative or got you thinking of some of your own personal experiences involving ghosts and spirits. I’d love to hear about them.

Please leave a comment below or send me an email:  sharon@twocansonastring.com

Thanks for stopping by!

Sharon

 

Busy At The Cemetery

I decorate grave sites during the early morning hours. This being Veteran’s Day Weekend I put out plenty of American Flags along with flower arrangements. At dawn it will be a sight to behold.

I love my job, but I must admit I do sometimes get a bit creeped out.

I bring candy for any ghostly children who may be around and some extra flowers for the ladies . . . and the gentlemen are quite fond of Jack Daniels, so I have some bottles ready for them, too. These are all ghostly apparitions that appear while I’m working.

It’s nice that they’re used to me, but as long as I’ve been doing this, I can’t help but be startled from time to time.

I pretty much thought that I’ve seen it all, but I did get a bit of a scare when a floating head followed me into the cemetery. It was just bobbing along beside the truck on the passenger side.

It reminded me of the bouncing ball that used to be used to follow the words in the song on cartoons and old Mitch Miller television programs.

Thoughts like this pop into my mind at the craziest times, but I’ve found it better to laugh about something creepy than be scared. It may be what has allowed me to do this job for so many years.

The shadows seemed to be alive.

Dark spots seemed to dart behind tall gravestones or trees. My initial thought that kids were out, but it is a closed cemetery. I suppose there is always a way inside other than through the main gate, but I hadn’t heard about it . . . other than the underground tunnel, but that was blocked off years ago . . . or that’s what the city wants us to believe . . . some have denied they had ever existed.

I concentrated on the job I had to decorate all the grave sites. It was going to be a long night. I started at dusk, when the gates were closed. I knew someone would be back around midnight to let me out, but until then I was alone in the cemetery . . . except for the ghostly residents.

I’m used to having the feeling of being watched, but the shadows moving in the darkness were new to me as was the bobbing ghostly head.

I was singing patriotic songs in my head as I worked, but creepy songs seemed to drown them out. I thought about “Monster Mash” which I always found enjoyable, but it was soon replaced with “Do you ever think as a hearse goes by, that you may be the next to die? They wrap you up in a big white sheet from your head down to your feet. They put you in a big black box, and  cover you up with dirt and rocks. All goes well for about a week, then your coffin begins to leak. The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms play pinochle on your snout. They eat your eyes, they eat your nose, they eat the jelly between your toes. A big green worm with rolling eyes, crawls in your stomach and out your eyes. Your stomach turns a slimy green, and pus pours out like whipping cream. You spread it on a slice of bread, and that’s what you eat when you are dead.” . . . I got a chill.

I kept working. That last song stayed in my mind much longer than I felt comfortable.

A baseball rolled up beside me. I knew that was Billy, a young boy I’ve seen at the cemetery from time to time and who, along with his ghostly friends come to my house at Christmas . . . but that’s a different story for another time.

I set a box of Junior Mints beside the baseball. I knew Billy liked them and would share them with his friends. I did feel a little more relaxed knowing Billy was there and forgot about the shadows . . . and the disgusting song.

There was a slight breeze that gave a gentle nudge to the leaves that seemed to whisper throughout the cemetery from tree to tree. Fortunately, the dark shadows were still.

I got that cold chill again. Checking my watch and looking around, I knew I had no time to entertain my imagination. I had an hour to finish up and meet the caretaker at the gate.

I moved the truck to light up the last section of the cemetery. I worked in silence — no songs popped in my head, but something strange did happen. I heard and then saw flowers being placed at the far end of the cemetery. It may have been the soldiers I brought the Jack Daniels for helping me out.

With the help of my ghostly soldiers, I finished early and waited at the gate for the caretaker. He seemed pleased to see me. I usually have a bottle of Jack Daniels for him, but my ghostly helpers, helped themselves to all the bottles along with the flowers they placed for me. If the caretaker wanted one, he’d have to deal with the soldiers.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sharon

Silhouettes On The Wall

Can an obsession be caused by tragic events from long ago?

There’s an old song that came out in the late 1950’s by the Rays called “Silhouettes”.

Brian and Karen are a young couple in their mid to late 20’s. Neither of them had heard the song until they went to an oldies sock hop a friend of theirs was having. It was a Friday night in late July, 2010. They were both in college, but hadn’t met until that night.

They danced to that song. They went out on the patio for some fresh air and they did see “Silhouettes” on the curtain, but when they returned inside, there were no curtains on that particular window. They could clearly see through onto the patio and the pool beyond which were lit up.

It seemed as though they went through some “time warp.”

Karen began to feel uncomfortable and went home. Brian promised to call her in a couple of days.

“That song kept going through my mind that night,” Karen recalled. “I could feel myself dancing with Brian.”

She heard someone whisper her name. When she opened her eyes and looked around the room, she saw two silhouettes dancing. (Her mother always kept the hall light on at night.)

Karen became frightened. Turned on the lights in her bedroom and thoroughly looked around, even under the bed, in the closet and checked the windows to make sure they were locked. Of course, she found nothing out of place, but that creepy, cold, yet clammy feeling enveloped her.

Early Saturday morning Karen got up. Her father was at the kitchen table drinking coffee and finishing his breakfast. Her mother was upstairs packing for their overnight stay at the cabin they bought years ago.

“How was the party?” he asked. “Have a good time?”

“Oh, the party was fine.”

Her father knew her words didn’t match her behavior so he looked her straight in the eyes and asked, “What happened?”

Reluctantly, Karen told him about dancing with Brian, going outside, seeing the silhouettes . . . and the strange silhouettes she saw in her bedroom after someone called her name.

Her father told her it was just a dream, but Karen didn’t contradict him.

“Why don’t you come to the cabin with us?”

Karen knew her father was concerned, but she declined the invitation. She had a part-time job at Target and wanted to go to work. She did, however, feel uncomfortable staying in the house alone that night.

Karen ate her breakfast in silence.

Her father left her to her thoughts.

Her mother came in and sat down beside her with a cup of coffee.

“Your father told me about the party and your bad dream,” she said. “Is Brian a nice boy?”

Karen confided in her mother about Brian’s family owning the local jewelry store and his older sister worked part time in the archives at the library. Her husband was an investment broker. She added, “I hope he calls.”

“I remember Marian, we went to high school together.” Marian is Brian’s mother. “I haven’t seen her for years.”

Karen’s father found his wife and daughter sitting at the kitchen table deep in thought.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked his wife.

Karen was hoping they’d decide not to go, but she also knew there were some repairs her father wanted to make at the cabin.

After her parents left for the cabin, Karen got ready for work.

She stopped by the library to look up any information she could find in the archives about the house on Birch Street. It was one of those restored old homes. Nothing fancy like a Victorian, but one that was built in the 1930’s and had been completely upgraded and modernized. It was on a half acre lot near the country club.

When Karen entered the library, she saw Brian sitting with a woman, studying some old books. She immediately went to the back of the library where the archives were stored.

The woman who had been sitting with Brian walked up to her and asked if she needed any help. Karen assumed the young woman was Brian’s sister. She inquired about the houses on Birch Street and was told those books were being reviewed by someone at the moment.

Karen wanted to know if Brian was having any weird experiences when she very clearly saw the silhouette of two dancers in an aisle to her left.

She became so unnerved by the experience that she ran out of the library without saying anything.

Karen arrived early to work. She hoped her friend who invited her to the party could help her with the history of her parent’s house.

There were others at work, who had also attended the party stocking shelves, folding clothing and straightening up displays. Karen saw her friend and assistant manager, Chelsea, working on a display of Halloween decorations.

That creepy, cold, clammy feeling came over Karen once again. She didn’t see the dancing silhouettes, but she felt as though she was being watched. The whole store was eerily quiet. A few customers were milling around, the canned music was playing softly in the background.

All of a sudden a display of toys fell from the shelves making at first a crashing sound, then beeps, chirps, whirls and screeches. Karen followed Chelsea to the toy department. It looked as though all the items inside the boxes were trying to get out.

“What on earth . . . ” Chelsea whispered. Her eyes were huge as she looked from the mess to Karen.

Chelsea’s boyfriend, Frank said, “Stand back, I’ll take care of this.” He was calm. Almost too calm, as though things like this happened all the time.

The truth was, things like this did happen all the time to Frank.

The background music immediately started playing “Silhouettes”. Chelsea burst into tears.

Karen and Chelsea went to the employees lounge.

When Chelsea composed herself she explained, “When we first moved into that house, I found a box of old 45 records and an old record player in the basement. I fell in love with that  silhouette song and many others recorded in the 1950’s. I believed that era was the best thing ever. I studied everything I could get my hands on about the 50’s and 60’s. It became an obsession that my parents thought was weird and sent me to a psychiatrist.”

She explained how she saw kids dancing in the living room with the furniture pushed back and shoes off.

“I could hear the music in my mind. I would even dance with them. Then things started to get strange.”

Chelsea started seeing silhouettes of dancers everywhere she went — school, home, the mall, even at the psychiatrist’s office. She was sent away to a psychiatric facility for extensive therapy.

“After being away for a year,” Chelsea explained, “I returned home and continued therapy.”

She didn’t see the silhouettes of dancers and she no longer was obsessed with the 50’s and 60’s until she met Frank.

“All that therapy down the drain,” she lamented. “Frank had an old restored T-bird. He had all the old songs on CDs and played them constantly.”

Chelsea fell right into the trap of Frank’s obsession which rekindled her own. It felt so natural to her. She thought she had a past life in that era and had some unfinished business her soul needed to work out.

But, what did this have to do with Karen? Why was she seeing silhouettes and dancers? She knew she had to see Brian and wondered if he was still at the library.

Karen volunteered to take Chelsea home and before returning to work stopped by the library. Fortunately for her she saw Brian leaving the library. They met at a restaurant to talk.

“I couldn’t get that silhouette song out of my mind,” Brian began. “Or what we saw.”

He contacted his sister at the library and told her what had happened. She looked through the archives at the library looking for anything that shed light on the situation. The only thing he found was about a fire in the old high school gym back in 1959. It was believed to be arson, because the doors to the gym were chained with padlocks. There was a spring dance in the gym at the time. Many students and chaperones had died in the gym from smoke inhalation  before the fire trucks arrived.

They crossed referenced the list of names of the deceased students and found that Chelsea’s great-aunt had died that night in the gym.

The strange thing was that Frank’s great-great-grandfather owned that house on Birch Street and he lost a son in that fire.

Brian and Karen believe that Chelsea’s great-aunt and Frank’s great-uncle are the silhouette dancers they saw that Friday night.

Were these spirits trying to give Brian and Karen a message? Or were they just caught up in the energy of the moment?

There are still unanswered questions for the young couple, but fortunately they are no longer bothered by the silhouettes, but they will never forget their experience.

‘thanks for stopping by!

Sharon

Are Apparitions Always Transparent?

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

Unexplainable Experiences

I’m always hearing about unexplainable paranormal experiences people have had.

I hear about them while I’m at my local coffee shop. Also while I’m setting flowers out at the local cemetery. Many people go there to visit with their past loved ones — and sometimes they speak back.

See if any of these are familiar to your personal real ghost stories.

Dianne was out shopping with her sister.

When they were checking out, her sister remarked, “I’m so tired, I can’t wait to rest my head on my pillow.”

A week later Dianne’s sister was attacked and killed while walking to her car after work.

A month later Dianne was putting away clean linens in the closet when a pillow case fell from the shelf.

Dianne felt at first uncomfortable, then a sense of well-being came over her. She took it as a sign that her sister was telling her everything was all right.

We do have our loved ones contact us beyond the grave in many different ways.

Penny dropped a friend home one night.

Her friend lived out on a dirt country road. Penny was feeling uncomfortable about driving out there, but she was a friend and needed a ride.

On her way home after dropping off her friend, Penny’s car just died. It was dark all around her. She couldn’t get the car started. Her headlights didn’t work, there was no signal for her cell phone. She found a flashlight, stepped out of the car to look around. She saw a handmade sign on the side of the road that read, “Heaven is near.”

She heard footsteps behind her and got back into her car and locked the door.

Penny was sure the grim reaper was after her.

Penny was so scared, she fainted.

When she awoke about two hours later — it was after 7 PM when she dropped her friend off  and it was then after 9 PM — the car was idling and the headlights were on.

She drove home in a haze not knowing what happened.

Some may say alien abduction. Others may say that her imagination got the better of her and she may have blacked out and in that blacked out state got the car running again.

I believe things happen for a reason. It’s possible that Penny needed to stop for awhile before exiting the dirt road and getting back on the highway. It’s similar to being delayed when we’re ready to go and we can’t find our keys.

We do have angels looking out for us.

Grandma Rita’s “Sittings”

Ralph’s grandmother was a medium. Every Friday night without fail she had what she called “sittings,” but they could be considered séances.

Ralph’s grandmother, grandfather, mother, father and Ralph were always there. Friends and neighbors would sometimes attend or invite a friend. It was nothing formal and there was no charge for participating.

One fall evening Ralph’s family was in attendance with two neighbor ladies. Rita was getting ready to begin when the flash of headlights shined through the front picture window. They heard a car door slam, followed by two more.

Ralph’s father got up to greet the late arrivals. He looked out the front window, but saw no car outside. He opened the front door and there was no one there.

Everyone heard the same thing, everyone looked out the front window — nothing was there.

Rita said something quite strange, “Now that we’re all here, shall we begin?”

Everyone returned to their seat and the “sitting” began.

Ralph doesn’t remember anything special about that reading. It may be his imagination, but he thought there may have been three more guests sitting at the table he couldn’t see.

Strange and unusual things happen all the time. Rita knew what was going on, but didn’t enlighten her family or guests. Spirits are individuals with personalities. These spirits were having a bit of fun in their mode of transportation. They knew how to make an entrance.

Brian’s Scary Night Alone

Brian was home alone to catch up on some work while his wife and children went to a movie after dinner. He was in his office when he heard water running in the kitchen. He thought his family was home and his wife was doing the dishes. He checked — no running water and no dirty dishes in the sink.

He returned to his office when he heard the television turn on and the distinctive sound of channels being changed. Brian went to check. The TV was off.

He called out to his family and even went upstairs to check all the rooms. He found nothing except a teddy bear in the hallway. He picked it up and tossed it on the bed of his youngest daughter.

When he returned to his office, the teddy bear was in his desk chair.

He was going to move it, but with all the other activities of the evening, he backed away and went into the living room to watch television. He channel surfed for awhile and decided to watch a DVD.

When Brian returned to his chair, the teddy bear was sitting there with it’s glassy eyes staring at him.

This time he threw the bear out of his chair and across the room.

He was so unnerved by the experience, he decided to go to bed and read.  On his way up the stairs, the bear tripped him and he fell hard on the stairs knocking himself out.

When his family returned home, Brian was still sprawled unconscious on the stairs. The next thing he remembered was waking up in the hospital.

His wife removed the teddy bear from the house after hearing Brian’s tale. Before returning home she had the house blessed, but when Brian returned there were still strange things going on in the house.

They soon moved.

There have been possessed dolls — why not teddy bears? There have been poltergeists and ghosts in houses. Brian believes this was the first time he was home alone. Had his family been with him, he would have thought nothing of the teddy bear being moved around, thinking his daughter or one of the other children did it.

It’s always fun to hear about the experiences of others — some are similar to our own — and some, thankfully haven’t happened to us.

I hope you enjoyed this post of a few real ghost stories — maybe there weren’t any real ghosts . . . but it does fit the broad definition.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Sharon