Shark Activist Ghost Haunting Aquarium?

About 15 years ago I went to visit the Portland Zoo/Aquarium in Portland, Oregon.

In one of the larger aquariums (I think its called 'Passages of the Deep') there are a variety of sharks and stingrays (which are related to sharks). And, when I saw all the sharks swimming around their size amplified by the aquarium glass...I just started thinking about that movie 'Jaws'. I know it's wrong to think of sharks that way, that movie did a lot of damage because it made people really afraid of sharks and promoted the hunting/killing of them. But, its a great classic scary movie, one of my favorites...so I am torn. My conscientious level towards protecting sharks has been raised a lot since I first saw 'Jaws'. And I don't want any innocent sharkies, especially vege eating sharks to be killed just for sport. And yet...I saw the big sharks with all their teeth and I couldn't help but say outloud...

"I am glad I am not in there with all those big sharks, I might get eaten up!"

Right away, after I made that comment, (even though my little voice was telling me don't say it) this lady who was about 18 years old, who I didn't notice being there when I came in, was all over me. She was thin, and had on a gray knit pull down cap with a few holes in it. She had short brownish red hair. She attacked me, and lectured me about how sharks were misunderstood victims, and how foolish I was to say such a thing, and then she just darted off quickly...before I could say anything back!

She darted off to the left of the tank down a hallway there, I quickly took a few steps back from the tank to see where she was going, and she was gone! She should have still been in the hallway.

I wondered if she worked at the aquarium, because she seemed to care a lot about the sharks, or if she was just visiting there like me.

About 10 years after that my husband's long lost sister from Norway (T) came to visit us in the U.S. and we thought she would like to see the Portland Zoo/Aquarium too. So, we took her there.

When (T) saw the sharks, she exclaimed and then said almost the exact same thing I has said years earlier, about getting eaten by the sharks. Myself, I was thinking about what happened with the lady on my visit there before, and was consciously only thinking of the sharks in a positive way as beautiful, graceful creatures. Which they are of course. They are very necessary to keep our oceans beautiful and clean.

But (T) had made her comment, and all of a sudden the same girl with the gray knit hat was all over (T). She came out of nowhere, and was even meaner to her, than she had been to me. She told (T) if they ate you they would have a meal for a week...(referring to T's plus size). The girl was furious and hadn't aged or changed a bit since I had seen her 10 years earlier. I laughed, and said to Teri "She got on my case too, last time I was here!" Then I asked the girl "Do you work here or do you just hang out here all day, waiting for someone to say something about the sharks?"

Then the girl darted off down the hallway, and she just dissappeared. She was just gone! I saw her blink out that time. I left T standing there and ran down the whole length of the hallway, and to where it turned off looking for her. I went down the hall and checked the Ladies room that was there...she wasn't in there either.

I came back to (T) and to explain why I had left suddenly I said "I think that girl was a ghost!" (T) gave me an uneasy smile and politely said nothing.

What I had noticed about the girl was that her skin was different than the skin of living people, and I felt colder as she came closer on both occasions. I do believe she is a ghost, but I think she is probably doing a good service, by shocking people and challenging their prejudice views towards sharks. She may have kept some from being killed who knows?

What do you think, was she a ghost?

Damn interesting encounter!

Now wouldn't it be something if she were in fact a ghost and she died at the fins er hands of the sharks in that very tank.

Any background research done on that aquarium?

Thanks,

-ADHD

*Oops I made a mistake! This actually took place at the Point Defiance Zoo/Aquarium (South Seas Aquarium) in Tacoma, Washington, not the Portland Zoo/Aquarium as I stated above. I just visited the aquarium in Portland not too long ago, and it was on my mind I guess.

*************

Hi 4me,

Whoa! That is something I didn't think of! That maybe the girl herself was eaten by a shark! Very good!

She did have on a hat similar to the kind sailors sometimes wear. A knit rolled up, pull down hat, and the holes in her hat could have been made by shark's teeth...Yikes!

Maybe she became part of one of the sharks in the tank by way of getting eaten, or through the water in the tank.

I think I will email them in Tacoma, and see if they know anything about her. I am sure if she appeared and spoke to me and to my sister-in-law, then she most likely appeared to others as well. Maybe she is a real person and just some goof that hangs out there. But, why was she wearing the same hat and clothes after all that time, and why did she still look like she was 18? I will have to see if anyone will confirm it. I have tried to track ghost sightings before at amusement type parks, and the staff was not very forthcoming, as they did not want to spook the tourists, but we shall see.

Thanks for your ideas!

[edit on 25-3-2006 by DeeplyAwake]

Nice encounter,im sure even if she was eaten by a Shark she wouldn't stick up for them plus why would she haunt the Fish Aquariam if she died out sea by a Shark inless shark captured moved their or somthing,inless she died their,look up history of the place of any deaths like Worker ate by a Shark

Galiega,

That is so funny what you just said! About why would she stick up for sharks if one ate her??..lol.

Except the only reason I could think why she wouldn't be mad at a shark for eating her is if she was already dead in the first place, and the shark didn't kill her, something else did, and the shark was just eating up her remains. Because sharks are scavengers, some types are more scavenger-like than others. And, they clean up after a lot of ocean life that dies naturally too. Also, I wouldn't be mad at a shark if it ate me because I am in their territory, and I am fair game. That's why I don't go swimming in the ocean...no waaay!

That's a good idea for me to check and see if anyone died there, someone who worked there, or a visitor, and get a description.