My experiences w/ ghosts: I'm scarred for life w/ the man in the mirror

I was grade 345or6, I can't remember my friend and I were sleeping in the same bed, I woke up in the middle of the night and looked into the mirror, there was a man with scraggly long dirty blond hair, grinning, he has a white shirt on like a ragged pirate one would wear, he was in the mirror staring, grinning, teeth and all, I hid under the blanket and said a prayer.....

I used to be terrified of the dark and sleep in my sisters room I looked into my room on morning and saw an orb like ghost going up and down my wall, and side to side, did the sheet thing and hid...

I have a few more more the mirror one I want to focus on because I cannot to this day walk past a mirror without freaking out or rushing to turn a light on... my sisters friends told me they did bloody mary at the school I went to, and their was a k marked in the mirror for "kill" or something, they were probably #ing with me, but to this day when I walk by a mirror my head starts saying it and I have to keep saying shut up....

I literally freak myself out, I hate my brain it really does play tricks on me, but the man in the mirror really got me... I'm literally an imsoniac now because I hate falling asleep in the dark, ect...

If my husband falls asleep before me I have to get up and do something until I'm dreadfully tired....

edit:more

Might as well tell you the other ghost experiences i've had........

Tape recording a song cyndi lauper time after time back in the early 90s...
I go to play it back and I hear someone whisper loudly my mothers name...
I go to get her and she thinks I did it.... She heard it though, I didn't I swore up and down, it was a guys voice really scary...

another one.

my and my friend were at my kitchen table playing a board game, nobody was home but a woman's voice called out to monica, like really slowly mooonica, five mins later she said my name...... We both heard it I ran downstairs and nothing was there, nobody..nothing....She went home #tin her pants, I sat outside with my dog until my mom came home, outside I heard carnival/music playing coming from the downstairs piano.......


So there were lot's of ghostly encounters at the old house, thats the only place i ever experienced so much activity...... Nobody else seemed to experience it but me... Everybody thought I was kidding or making it up to scare them....

So basically i'm scarred for life, I still think i'm going to encounter them again but I really think i'll die of a heart attack this time because i'm terrified....


[edit on 17-8-2004 by TrueLies]

I also saw a being which terrified me when I was very young (I was five). What made this worse was that my younger brother (four at the time) also saw it. Unlike him, however, I made eye contact with it, and that is why I know it was not human. It haunted my nightmares for many, many years. But this isn�t about me.

You would be amazed how many people see unexpected images, especially of people. The truth is, as best I can tell, that all sorts of spirits surround us all the time. However, we are usually happily oblivious to them, which is a good thing, lest we be unable to focus on this earth and live our lives.

The good news is that they generally do not represent a real danger to you -- physically, anyway. Opinions vary, but I think what is known as poltergeist activity is almost always associated with a living human, who actually does the PK element. In other words, I am highly doubtful that most, if any, spirits can cause changes in our physical world.

Of course, if the being or image you see is of a grisly or terrifying nature, it�s small comfort that it can�t necessarily physically harm you. Moreover, the more fear you build up around the being, the more it will scare you -- even if you never see it again. At this point, the mere possibility of seeing it again will terrify you and torment you mercilessly.

There are many ways to deal with this sort of thing. One way is to flee, and hope physical distance will protect you. Or not to look in mirrors. Another is to simply live with the fear, which I consider the least satisfactory solution.

The best answer, in my opinion, is to confront your fear head on and face it, no matter the consequences. In my case, this meant (and still means) being able to look out a window into the darkness. I just did so now, in fact, gratuitously. I was unable to do this for most of my childhood after that event. Now I can do it, even if there�s a little tingling of fear when I do so.

Thus this is my advice, to take or leave as you see fit: Make a point of looking in every mirror you come across. Do it to an absurd degree. Do it expecting full well to see this man grinning back at you any time you look. As a side project, learn to accept and appreciate your physical appearance -- it sounds like you have not seen yourself as much as you should.

Start in the daytime, then "graduate" to the nighttime. Make a habit of it. And if you should chance to see him again, tell him to get lost! You have more power within you than you can possibly imagine.

This is our world, and it belongs to us. Take back that which belongs to you!


Edit: Choice of words.


[edit on 8/18/2004 by Majic]

Thanks for the advice, although I do look at myself in the mirror probably way more then I should... sometimes I just can't get over myself lol... seriously, it's looking at a mirror in the dark which frightens me, 1. because of the grinning man, 2. because of the bloody mary prank my sisters friends played in elementary school...

I need closure, if you want to say bloody mary in the mirrory 3x times please do it, then get back to me to tell me nothing happened, i would be more easy.... You say confront your fears no matter the consequences, sounds like you can do it better then me... I can't do it, it's easier said then done....

Let me know how it works out!

I just walked into a darkened bathroom, where I could just barely see my outline and eyes in the image, and said "Blood Mary look in the mirror" three times very piously, and with a spooky Boris Karloff voice. Nothing.

So for good measure, I kept staring, and said that phrase and just plain "Bloody Mary" (without the spooky voice) at least a couple dozen times just to make sure, then just stared at the image for a couple of minutes. Nothing. She must be on holiday.

Remember, there need not be a spook present for us to feel spooky. Fear is a natural emotion, and indeed a gift at times. When it overwhelms you, then it becomes a curse.

I challenge you to do the same thing I just did and see what happens, and let me know. You may even want to try the "spooky voice". Remember, this isn't a movie, although if you are suggestible, you may be able to freak yourself out and see things which are not there.

Do not be afraid, you are in control.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember that this "Bloody Mary" business is intended to get you to see things! Most kids are pretty suggestible.


Edit: Important note.



[edit on 8/18/2004 by Majic]

i second majic

i once had an 'entity' that would visit and freak me out in my apartment.

i was very terrified, but i made the decision to face it.

when it came around next, i said aloud, "this is MY house, i am not afraid of you (although i was) and you must leave NOW" i was agressive with it, and did not back down. it doesnt bother me anymore.

the power is yours.

-lost

truelies my friend once told me about something as such dwelling in his mirror.

he said when he was little he would get out of the shower and hang out with his couzin in his bedroom. this was his parents room btw. and when hed look into the mirror to his left hed see a man making a face as if undergoing pain just staring at him. but with his hands and fingers in the air as if trying to reach for him. but at the same time his eyes were wide open as if he was surprised or stuck. and my couzin would ask his couzin if he sees him and he would reply with yes. and so hed take his eyes off the mirror and look again, sure enough he would be in there staring back at him..


could be some kind of satanic attempts from lucifer to trick you into being scared, because once hes got you in fear, hes got a sense of what you cant comprehend in the future. scripture talks about such acts..

my best advice would be to keep up the prayer and embrace the entity of our savior around you....blessings.....

I was deathly afraid of the dark in the house I used to live in as a child. Why? I'm not sure. What really disturbs me is that I can remember nothing of my life before roughly the age of 7. I wasn't afraid of the dark as a child but just the dark in that house. I had to sleep with the lights on in my room or I couldn't get to sleep. If I had the lights off, I would lay there in a cold sweat and work myself up so much that by the time I gave up trying to conquer my fear and turned on the light it would take me a good hour to calm down and fall asleep afterwards. Luckily the fear stopped once I moved out.

However, I had another fear that was more intense then that... Public speaking! That used to scare me ****less and I'm talking major panic attacks! Thankfully I knew the cause of that fear so I was able to work through the fear. I'll give the technique I used below and hopefully it will work for you. The only requirement is that the fear you are trying to overcome can be felt just by thinking of it. Not sure if this technique is used by psychologists, as I came up with it on my own, but it seems to work (at least for me).

Take out a sheet of paper or open up a document on the computer to type on. Think of the experience that terrified you the most and begin writing/typing all of the details. Make the image in your mind as real as possible. See all the details and write them down. Feel the fear that surged through your body once again and explain it on the paper/computer. Remember and record everything so that the memory becomes more real, like you are there living it again. Keep typing until you get to the point that you are most afraid... explain it - feel it. Then stop! Take a step back and realize that you are safe and let the fear go. When you are ready, read through the document you just wrote as objectively as possible. Try as best as you can to imagine that the person you are reading about in that story is not you but just a character.

Now then to work through the fear imagine another character that is the opposite of the one in the document you just wrote. Begin reading through the document again, visualizing everything as clear as possible again. When you get to a part of the document where that "character" became scared replace those thoughts and feelings with those of the new character - the one who is afraid of nothing and views everything with a calm mind. Really begin to analyze everything through the eyes of this new character. Explain everything.

For example: When you and your friend became scared when you heard your names called in the kitchen, your "opposite" half would see it for what it really is. Ghosts were people at one time also. If I came up to you and your friend and slowly said your names, you wouldn't be scared. It might be a little strange/creepy but you'd probably tell me to get lost and then go about your business. You and your friend would probably laugh about the incident later on.

If some people were in your house, playing pranks on you and forcing you to wait outside your OWN house while they sit inside and play carnival music. You wouldn't be scared you would be angry!

What you will come to realize during this exercise is that you are afraid of the unknown. You can't see the voice whispering your name, your don't know whats going to happen when you say bloody mary in front of the mirror so you end up scaring yourself. By thinking about these things through the eyes of the unafraid character you are in effect making the unkown known.

The clearer you can make everything when doing this the better your success. With my fear I could produce the physical effects on myself (shaking hands, cold sweat, tremor in my voice) just by imagining I was there (so this probably wont work for all fears). But, hopefully you or at least someone reading this thread can get some benefit from this.

Thanks for the exercise your definitely right about alot of it... However, nobody was home my mom was working a 7-3 shift, my dad left my mom, and my sister was working or at piano practice, but it doesn't matter anymore, i'm not scared of the woman's voice calling out to me, it's more the dark/mirror thing...

I'm glad majic did that exercise, I really appreciate it, while i'm too chicken to do it, it does give me comfort in knowing that nothing happened... I won't be afraid anymore, I just have that feeling, i'll let you know how I act tonight when I get up to get into the bathroom for a midnight twinkle... i have 3 mirrors in there and you have walk into the room to turn the light on, thats when my mind starts playing games with me I usually have to close my eyes or tell my brain to shut up and hurry to turn the light on but I doubt i'll have to do this anymore..

I really really appreciate it majjic...Now all I have to work on now is going to sleep without worrying if i'm going to make it through the night lol....
I'll tell you how it goes tonight, tomorrow... Thanks again!

true lies, i had fears of the mirror too, not that i ever recall seeing anything in it, but looking at a mirror in the dark always freaked me out, as a child i wouldn't sleep unless the mirror was covered with sheet. However since moving and becoming a mirror glutton teenager, i overcame the fear. Occasionally i might jump a little if i see my reflection in the mirror when the room is dark, and a little bit of that fear creeps back in, but I convince myself i have seen worse and the mirror is the easiest thing for me to smash to bits, if ever i do see something. Just know you're not alone.

and bloody mary doesn't work, I and several friends have tried at various times during my school years without any success.

Originally posted by TrueLies
I'm glad majic did that exercise, I really appreciate it, while i'm too chicken to do it, it does give me comfort in knowing that nothing happened... I won't be afraid anymore, I just have that feeling, i'll let you know how I act tonight when I get up to get into the bathroom for a midnight twinkle...

Don't beat yourself up if it takes some time. You're not chicken, just frightened, and yes, there's a big difference. Don�t mistake my levity and challenge in the �Bloody Mary test� for what it is not -- I�ll explain below.

Bear in mind that I spent the vast majority of my childhood terrified of looking out of windows into the dark outside. The fear also haunted me at other times, like when camping -- and I love camping.

Overcoming my fear of that thing in the window was not a one-night proposition, and to this day, I still feel a little twinge every time I look out a window into the dark. It's reflexive.

I also, from that night and every night until I was 18, slept with the covers pulled over my head, and every night, I remembered why I slept that way (talk about reinforcement!). When I was 18, I decided it was time to train myself out of that, and although it took time to kick the habit, it worked. I now breathe easy in my sleep.

The good news is this: Since that night oh so long ago, I have never, never, ever once seen that thing again. It was only that one time, and although I dreamed it was following me as I moved from place to place, in truth, it never did.

I can't say this will be true in your case, but -- and I don't say this flippantly, because I know the meaning of terror -- you will never know unless you look.

Remember that you can trick yourself into seeing things that aren't there. But at the same time, I recommend that you consider preparing yourself emotionally for seeing a frightening image when you look, as follows.

What I Do

This is not for everybody, but it worked (and still works) for me:

1) When you're afraid to look, assume that you will see something terrible, either what you have seen before or maybe even some new, worse terror.

2) Be prepared to laugh at it. Why play the drama game? Make it a joke! Just be prepared to laugh like a maniac at whatever you see. If you're really scared, then start laughing before you look. Make a joke of it, and mean it! I'm not talking about a nervous titter, either, I'm talking about full-blown, happy, sorry can't stop, gut-busting laughter! Fill the house with it!

3) You would be amazed how much power laughter has. Is this a silly way to deal with fear? Damn straight it is! Does it work? You�d be surprised how well. It has never failed me.

That Boris Karloff voice I mentioned? I was fully prepared to laugh if I actually saw �Bloody Mary�. I think she might have taken insult, if you get my drift, and decided I was unworthy of a star appearance. So that's why I was so glib about it in my post. I was laughing quite merrily about the whole thing.

So laugh, and make �Mary� (hehe). Again, your mileage may vary, but in cases like this, a good sense of humor is worth more than a stack of amulets or mystic protections. When you laugh, the whole world laughs with you -- even the spirit world.

Your laughter has much more power than any old spook's cheesy grin.

Just laugh!


A Footnote On "Bloody Mary"

Q: What makes Bloody Mary so scary? A: She always has the same hairstyle you do.

Bear in mind that the whole Bloody Mary business is based on combining your own reflection in the mirror with the power of suggestion. I have short hair, so Bloody Mary would look pretty "butch" to me.

Once you have defeated Bloody Mary, may I recommend that you make yourself a nice, stout Bloody Mary cocktail (easy on the Tabasco) and toast your real reflection in the mirror?

Cheers!

Majic


Edits: Additional mirth added at no additional cost.


[edit on 8/18/2004 by Majic]

Mirror Mirror on the wall which wicked demon will you call?

Mirrors are very intresting but terrorfying to most unless understood. You look in a mirror you can see your reflection, you look into your own eyes in a mirror and see actually yourself. Back in time Good ol' Nostradamaus used to use a "looking glass or a scribe" which is basically a black mirror..it distorts most of the color reflections and allows you to focus basically on yourself. Such is said they you can see the future or even spirits through a looking glass, now with my experience I do believe you see something but its not a spirit, ghost or even the future, Its actually your consouence. As you look into your own eyes which most people never do, you start to see diffrent images and even faces that do not look like you but they actaully are, this is your true self because you are allowing yourself to see you and focus only on you, so as you are looking into your own eyes you start to interpet the things that seem to be appearing by what you manifest within yourself. So please remember Mirrors arent scary its the people looking into thems fears that are.

dont feed into your fear. sometimes the paranormal love that.
nothing can harm you.

Originally posted by Justmytype
Mirror Mirror on the wall which wicked demon will you call?

Mirrors are very intresting but terrorfying to most unless understood. You look in a mirror you can see your reflection, you look into your own eyes in a mirror and see actually yourself. Back in time Good ol' Nostradamaus used to use a "looking glass or a scribe" which is basically a black mirror..it distorts most of the color reflections and allows you to focus basically on yourself. Such is said they you can see the future or even spirits through a looking glass, now with my experience I do believe you see something but its not a spirit, ghost or even the future, Its actually your consouence. As you look into your own eyes which most people never do, you start to see diffrent images and even faces that do not look like you but they actaully are, this is your true self because you are allowing yourself to see you and focus only on you, so as you are looking into your own eyes you start to interpet the things that seem to be appearing by what you manifest within yourself. So please remember Mirrors arent scary its the people looking into thems fears that are.

i was once told that u stare into a mirror in the dark with a black light nearby...u would be able to see your past 'faces'. i did it once, not sure if it was just my eyes playing tricks on me but after awhile my face changed to a little black boy. kinda weird but i took it with a grain of salt

May I ask are you black?? Question being, if you are you were seeing yourself as a child, if your not, the colors were distorted and you probably were seeing yourself as a child or what you percieve to be yourself as a child.

Originally posted by Justmytype
May I ask are you black?? Question being, if you are you were seeing yourself as a child, if your not, the colors were distorted and you probably were seeing yourself as a child or what you percieve to be yourself as a child.

no, fraid not. im not black

Whats the Bloody Mary Suppost to do?

I also heard one

You Light 3 black candles (I think) if it isnt feel free to fill me in

Then you say the Lords Prayer backwards (While looking into a mirror) as if u say it backwards its talking about "the devil" (I dont know if its the actualy letters or words you say backworks i guess its words)

Then the devil is suppost to appear in the mirror (And possibly engulf ya in flames) it causes some sort of fire to you tho i believe it burns (off) your face or so the myth goes

Originally posted by Crash
Whats the Bloody Mary Suppost to do?

I think it cures a hangover. I could be wrong.

Here's a link about the legend.
www.snopes.com...

I've taken a paranormal course or two in the past and done the mirror exercise, however all I see is purple around my face and my eyes get bigger, maybe i'm an alien I haven't seen anything, I don't have a problem looking into my eyes, it's actually comforting to do that because it allows me to connect to my inner self...

And Majjic,

I slept better last night, however I was still alittle bit upset about walking into the bathroom but I did think of how you did do it and nothing and it gave me comfort.. So thank you... Maybe one day i'll be able to face my fear...

Just remember to laugh , forgive and LOVE .

As I posted in greater length in my recent "coming out of the broomcloset" thread (Confessions Of A Former Wiccan), I'm no stranger to fear. Believe me, I know it very well.

Beware, because fear feeds Darkness. Yes, they can "smell" fear and are drawn to it. But verily, verily I say unto thee, that Fear can be countered and overcome by Love.

If you're curious and have way too much time on your hands, you can get a taste of one of the things I've been through by perusing that thread (be warned, it's catastrophically long-winded), and perhaps better understand why I have such unwavering confidence in the power of Love.

Love, like Fear, is not just an emotion, but a true spiritual force, and a powerful force indeed. Except perhaps for Bad Credit, Fear and Love are the only things of which I know that you gain more of by giving away.

Love yourself, love others, and perhaps most importantly, love those who would bring you fear -- alive or dead, real or imaginary. Those who seek Fear cannot abide Love, it is literally toxic to them.

Love is a great healer, but it is also the most powerful weapon imaginable against Darkness.

Love, and Fear not!



Edit: Is anything I post ever really finished?


[edit on 8/19/2004 by Majic]

I remember being young, 12 maybe and being alone in my house one afternoon. I heard a bang on the front door, then very deliberate, distinct footsteps coming up the stairs, past my bedroom, then up the second set of stairs into my sisters bedroom whose door then shut with a bang, assuming it was her i was not disturbed by the sounds, until i heard the front door open and my sister yelling up the stairs for me to help her carry something she had bought.

So what were the footsteps i had heard 30 minutes earlier? that experience continued to "haunt" me until i moved out of that house.