How many here have actually seen a ghost?

Originally posted by Linux
'"... hard to imagine without actually seeing one for yourself. I guess I have a boring life and maybe the ghosts don't like me

"'

I agree,

Never seen a ghost - got an open mind however !

Something I've never really understood about this is well, imagine a close family member dies. If, as said, the family was close - then why wouldn't the deceased attempt to make contact ? Surely there should be a lot more sightings - does this mean that the folks left behind just don't have the ability to pick up, perhaps something is stopping the dead relative from returning, or perhaps there is nothing after death ?

Interesting to speculate.

I've been seeing them my entire life.. I have several that have followed me wherever i move to... Even talked to them in my younger days, but, that ended very baddly for me. I still hear them though, but tend to ignore them more often than not.. occassionaly i will respond , But, ONLY when i know i'm alone... i took enough razzing as a child about this, and spent more time than anyone should have to in a Psychiatrist office...

Anyone had any experience similar to mine?

Originally posted by thethrall_nb
I've been seeing them my entire life.. I have several that have followed me wherever i move to... Even talked to them in my younger days, but, that ended very baddly for me. I still hear them though, but tend to ignore them more often than not.. occassionaly i will respond , But, ONLY when i know i'm alone... i took enough razzing as a child about this, and spent more time than anyone should have to in a Psychiatrist office...

Anyone had any experience similar to mine?

Is your experiences like the sixth sense movie? That would be horrible for a child. Did you just see people without their injuries or did they look like normal people? Did you just accept it as normal routine as a child or were you frightened?

I once went to school with a girl who was majoring in psych anyway her sister was a psychiatrist and she told me this story. Her sister was discussing a little lady who lived in her building with the litttle lady's counselor, it seems the counselor was taking steps to have the little old lady committed. The little old lady was seeing things in her apartment, people walking back and forth, a whole family with children apparently inhabited the apartment building. The little old lady was sure she had lost her mind and was terrified that she was hallucinating. The psychiartrist who also lived in the same building told her not to commit the little old lady as she herself had seen the same ghosts the lady had seen. Fortunately for the old lady this was one psychiatrist who was aware.

[edit on 23-8-2004 by goose]

No, not like the 6th Sense, to me they looked like everyday"normal" people.
I would carry on general conversations with them. after while they would come and go visually, but I could still talk with them. It took quiet awhile for me to realize what they where, but it wasn't just people that i saw and interacted with, it was animals as well.. pets that i'ld had over the years and the like.
It seems to have been dwindling over the last few years though, the visuals are becoming mostly periphery, and the conversations have become more like eavsdropping on multiple Entitys conversing amongst themselves. Almost like they don't notice i'm there anymore.

I wonder how many open-minded psychiatrists there are out there

-Becs

I personally believe that ghost encounters in which the 'spirit' performs at a certain time or day or whatever, and always the same action or behavior, especially if percieved to be a no longer living person (someone who used to do these things passed on to the next world, or whatever), may not be hauntings at all, but rather an 'imprint on time'

You're speaking of a "phantasm"...different than a ghost. A ghost would be an entity capable of actually responding to stimuli in the environment (i.e. could run away from you, do something different, etc.)

Jury is still out on the entitiy in my house, or whether it's a phantasm. I'm leaning more towards phantasm, as it doesn't seem to respond to anything, but just sticks in the staircase and the bathroom (costing me a shower curtain at one point, hehe..)

I heard an intruder upstairs walking around. My wife isn't keen on guns, so I grabbed one of my swords. Went upstairs, heard something in the bathroom. Went in, saw nobody, but could see a shadow in the bathtub, with the shower curtain drawn. I'm the one to stab first, and ask questions later, and I thrust it through the middle of the shadow. It quickly dissapated, and I felt like an idiot with a slice in my shower curtain, hehe... But I KNOW it was there. I was relieved it was just the ghost, hehe...(a dead intruder would have been quite a hassle)...

My wife isn't keen on guns, so I grabbed one of my swords.

Thanks Gazrok, I'm still laughing...oh my stomach hurts

Sanc'.

Good deal, Gazrok.

My security system is actually a spiked flail... I'm not going to shoot one of my roommates by accident that way.

I don't remember ever seeing any ghosts, but I have heard a few. I lived in a house for a year that some odd things would happen in. I heard a baby crying a few times when the baby who lived there wasn't home. I have heard things slide and "thud" onto the floor and learn upon inspection that nothing is out of place. We would close the kitchen door, pull on the knob to make sure it was latched, walk away, and a few minutes later hear the knob turn and the door open again. I was home alone one night and the kitchen light switched on by itself. I thought one of my roommates had come home, but after nobody came in after 20 minutes, I figured it was "Bob, the one-armed man" dropping by again (I doubt the guy only had one arm, but that's just what I called him). No matter how evenly you hung the dish towel on the oven handle, the thing would ALWAYS end up on the floor (I still think there is a logical explanation for this one). I was disassembling a guitar of mine one night while stoned and could've sworn I saw something white and about the size of a quarter dollar fall out of my hand. I looked all over to find whatever it was, but had no luck. I figured I was just baked and imagining things, then my roommate asked me if I dropped something. She saw it happen too. Heck, there wasn't anything remotely close to that color on the floor in the entire room.

i have saw ghosts,felt there presence,talk to them(on ouiga board)but i have never been touched by one

Goose, you should write a book, or at least a couple of short stories.

I've had a couple of strange 'experiences', sight and sounds. Two of those centered around the college I attended. Home Ec. majors were required to board for one quarter in one of the old log cabin 'dorms'. It was a course on household management, 6 to 8 students and one teacher.

One Saturday night I returned before the others, but sat in bed, reading and waited up to 'dish the dirt' when they returned from their dates. My room was at the head of the stairs, with a clear view of the landing. I heard them walking across the dining area and coming up the stairs, but they did not appear at the landing.

I thought they had just gone back to raid the fridge, so I jumped out of bed called out to them, and headed in that direction. No one was in the kitchen, the entire first floor was empty, the teacher had even gone home for the weekend. I even checked outside in parking lot, that was empty except for MY car. I shrugged it off as my imagination, and returned to my room.

Just as I had gotten comfortable in bed with my book, I heard steps again. As I listened, the steps became louder as if coming up the stairs, then faded away. After this happed the third time, my roomies really did return. Needless to say they loved my story , and when we gave a tea for the faculty the next week, they delighted in telling them about my 'ghost'.

One of the elderly ladies, very calmly said, "Oh that was Katherine. She was a nurse here when this building was an infirmary for the students. She was probably making her rounds. Lots of people have heard her."

And we continued to 'hear' things, always attributed them to our Kathrine, but we never saw her.

The other experience I referred to in my previous post was 'visual' experience.

Walking to class, past one of the older buildings that had been converted from a 'campus store' to a administration bldg., I noticed one of the campus security cars parked near the door. From about 30 ft. away, I could see there was a pleasant looking older lady in the passenger seat. She was wearing a black dress, a string of pearls, and had short, slightly curly, snow white hair.

I remarked to a classmate that was walking with me, that it was odd to see someone like that riding with security, and that she must be a visitor. ( Our campus was somewhat remote, and we didn't get many'sightseers', but it was school policy for students to be overtly friendly to any visitors )

I had taken my eyes off of the woman for just a second, but when I looked back to 'wave and smile' per school policy, she was gone. I thought she might have been ill--that could be why she was in the security car--I stepped off the sidewalk to look over in the car. No one was there. Not in the front, not in the back. The car had been in full view the whole time, and I would have heard the door open and close in the sec I had glanced away.

Unfortunatly, my friend had not noticed the woman. But I had seen her, she had smiled at me, I had seen her as clearly as I could see my friend that was beside me. I shrugged it off, and pretty much forgot about it.

About 3 days later, I had a meeting with one of the counselors and as I walked into her office, I came face to face with a portrait of the very woman I had seen. She looked the exact same, down to the pearls and the smile. She was one of the original founders, and had died in the 40's.
She was even buried on campus, by the chapel. (I found out later).
I had not been in that office before, and had not to my knowledge, ever seen a copy of the portrait.

A few years later, I returned to campus to take some extra courses. One class was held in the building I had passed that day, so I asked one of the girls if she had ever heard of the place being haunted. She looked at me oddly, then recounted experiences she had in there a couple of evenings. She had heard steps, when she thought she was alone. She needed to lock up, and searched in vain for the source of the footsteps. Finally leaving after taping instructions to the door for the 'last one out' to lock the door. But she had never gotten anyone to 'own up' to being there.



[edit on 4-9-2004 by frayed1]

Aside from one time to be fairly certain, and a few instances of could be someone outside making a noise, I have not really had a ghost experience.

I get funky feelings in my stomache around energy, I think. Some can knock me right out of a completely mundane thought. I attribute those to ghost experiences. I however can not be sure until I see one with my own eyes.

The one experience I did have was one I heard, My mother and I were sitting in our parlour, when we heard my dog do her sigh/snort she always did from around the corner, by the front door where she had always slept. The scary thing, is that she had been dead about a month. We had become so used to her in life making those noises, that it took my mother about 15 seconds and it hit her first. She said did you just hear Bingo (dog's name) and when I thought about it, I'm pretty sure I did too.

Other than that, I've heard what sounded like bumps in the night coming from my deceased Aunt's bedroom around the time she was determined to have died about 3AM. I chalked that up, to someone coming home from work and slamming their car door outside.

-ADHDsux4me

My friend from a few years back told me about an experience he had at home. During a time when he was living with his parents he began to become artistic and enjoyed drawing. He began to be fascinated with certain images to draw (he would not tell me what he drew in order to protect me from it's harm). One afternoon he had his drawing on an easle in his room and he was out of the house at the time. That afternoon Grandma decides to visit his Mom at the house. A little while during the visit Grandma walks down the hall way and notices my friend's room door closed but light was emitting from the crack at the bottom. She thought he was home, eventhough the Mom said he was out. She then opens the door and she sees a terrible sight. A bright light was emitting out the the drawing and and two small gargoyles with wings were admiring the picture at the base of the drawing. The grandma make a shriek of terror and the beings turned to their heads take notice of her. They then flew into the picture and then the event ended. When my friend got home he was in so much trouble. He threw all those kind of drawings away or burned them (I can't remember what he said.) This family were strong Christians at the time and they still are. My friend's experimentation is what got him in trouble and attracted the unwanted spirit realm.

I don't want to diminish the story, but it sounds a little far fetched for me.

If you were to elaborate a little you could have a good short story in the works. I think a good comic book, or Sci-fi Magazine story.

This is not an insult, but I just in my experience have never heard of a paranormal experience that flashy.

Are you sure your friend was just not pulling the wool over your eyes?

-ADHDsux4me

Originally posted by ADHDsux4me
I don't want to diminish the story, but it sounds a little far fetched for me.

If you were to elaborate a little you could have a good short story in the works. I think a good comic book, or Sci-fi Magazine story.

This is not an insult, but I just in my experience have never heard of a paranormal experience that flashy.

Are you sure your friend was just not pulling the wool over your eyes?

-ADHDsux4me

Believe it or not. It wasn't my friend who saw it, it was his strong Christian Grandma. That family never had any experiences before or after that. The point is don't invite them. Its good to be unbelieving and a sceptic because that is a safeguard.

Anyone ever see a ghost?

When I was young. I was sleeping in my hallway i woke up and saw a tall shadow with a cow boy hat. I looked at this thing for a minute and I said "grandpa?", because my grandparents were sleeping over that night. whatever it was just stood there. so I fell back asleep. the crazy parts are these:

I asked my grandpa if he was up that night (2:00Am), he said no.

there is not one cowboy hat in my house.

the figure was blacker or darker then the darkness of the hallway. i know this sounds ironic but its true.

I was totally awake. because I remember. looking at a clock before I went back to sleep. this was the only ghost expeirence i ever had;

any members deal with something like this? of the shadow people or ghost out there.?

once i saw the reflection of what i 'think' was a ghost approach me in my apartment window. also, multiple times in that same apartment, ive heard movements when no one besides myself was home. and once when i felt but could not see the presence slowly approaching me, our cat looking terrified watched something (?) move around the room right up to me. i looked at the cat, and the cat looked at me as if to say 'its right there!!' i would have brushed it off as the cat acting weird, but i felt a presense too.... weird.

-lost

once me and my stepdad were sitting out on our back porch and a woman that looked exactly like my mom walked out into our barn so my stepdad called out and she diddent answer so we went to see if she was in there but she just disappeared but she never walked out of it.

then later we found out my mom was in town the whole thing... ghostlyy...

then in my old house, i lived in the basement there was a ghost that was in the bathroom once a month at 2:00 in the morning

Never seen nor do I believe in ghosts.