I saw a ghost!

This happened about 1977ish. It is a true story and it is the story of a ghost. First some background to the story.

Friends and I rented a house right next door to my foster Mum. It had been owned by an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. They had died within six months of each other. I had known them quite well since Mr. Johnson bred goldfish and a few other varieties together with a lot of birds. In fact most of his yard was one big aviary complete with massive concrete fish ponds.

I had a dog, Thor, German Shepherd, silver grey and weighed in at 60 Kg. Taking a few palings off the fence meant that when I was at work he would be able to keep my foster Mum company. The whole set up was ideal.

Everyone knew that there were two golden rules. If you put a plate on the floor it was Thor's and when I went to bed, do not open my bedroom door. If I was asleep you would get a warning growl and bared teeth. Thor would and had protected me, even my foster could not get to me if I was asleep.

There was nothing to separate this night from any other. I went to bed, Thor laid down on the floor right next to the left hand side of the bed as he always did. We went to sleep!

I was woken from sleep by a deep menacing continuous growl. I was not concerned, any threat would be met by Thor and if it was needed there was a magazine in the drawer within easy reach and a Ruger 10/22 semi-auto carbine under the right hand side of the bed. The street light outside provided minimal but useful illumination in the room so I slowly moved my head to see what Thor was growling for. At first I thought he may be having a dream. Well, full growl, bared teeth and he was looking at the end of the bed.

This is all happening in a very short time frame but at this instant I am wondering why he is not in full attack and leaping majestically at an intruder. He was not asleep, that was for sure. Of course I moved my head to look at the end of the bed where he was looking but I did so slowly.

There stood Mr. Johnson, or at least an apparition of him and yet it was definitely him. I watched the apparition watching me. After about ten seconds I reached over to turn on the bedside light and as I moved the apparition simply vanished.

With the light on, Thor finally moved and while he had lowered his growl it was still there while he sniffed all around the end of the bed. The next thing I did is to open the drawer, extract a small notepad and pen and wrote myself a note.

Strangely, because this was way out of character for me, I called Thor to me, patted him, told him everything was fine and then I went straight back to sleep.

I woke up the next morning, instantly recalled the event and read the note I had made. Mentally, I put it all down to a dream. Sleep writing was plausible, wasn't it? I swung my feet out of bed and put on my dressing gown to have the important morning pee and to let Thor out for his.

Thor went straight to the end of the bed, sniffed around on the bed, the floor, then the whole room, all the time growling softly. It was at this time that I realized I had seen a ghost and yet I simply found it 'interesting.'

Over time I realized that I had personal proof that life after death exists and that has made a very fundamental difference to me. I no longer fear death, I look forward to it in a way, just out of curiosity!

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The unseen world is the real world. All we know is temporary

Interesting anecdote, thank you.

Although it must have been a bit hairy, you've had that gift of proof that many of us seek in vain.

My nan had a similar experience after her husband (my pa) died. She awoke one night to see her husband standing at the end of her bed. Though I have never asked her about it she could of still been struggling with his death but unless we see it ourselves like you have OP, we really cannot make a judgement.

Originally posted by CJCrawley
Interesting anecdote, thank you.

Although it must have been a bit hairy, you've had that gift of proof that many of us seek in vain.

I would have expected a fear reaction in myself. Instinct probably should have dictated I armed the rifle. That is what was very strange about the whole incident. Thor only went to warn, not even to full frothing "you're about to die," type warn. Meanwhile I was utterly unafraid and calm as a still pond. I got back to sleep near instantly. My reaction was completely out of character for me. When I think back in hindsight, I still get nothing emotionally except fascination.

Thanks for the reply.

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Nicely told and confirmation from your dog. Great experience S & F

reply to post by pheonix358

reply to post by Aelfrede


Thank you. If it had not been for Thor's reactions I easily would have put this down to a dream, an unusual one, but a dream none the less. Having him scour the room in the full light of a new day really put this in the "It really happened" category for me.

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Great story! I've seen and experienced a bunch. I have to chuckle every time someone says that there is no such thing as ghosts. Those folks seem so silly to me.

Originally posted by FlyersFan
Great story! I've seen and experienced a bunch. I have to chuckle every time someone says that there is no such thing as ghosts. Those folks seem so silly to me.

Why? I've never seen a ghost and from all the experiences I've read, they don't seem to conform to any rules or are inconsistent in why they are here.

How is it silly to say ghosts don't exist if someone has never had this experience?

And at the same time, in a world where it is clear that a lot of humans have vivid imaginations, a lack of understanding of certain things, an inability to comprehend certain things, or are in fact ill and what they see as real is all imagined?

I don't think it's silly at all. I think belief in things without reason, now that is silly.

Ghosts, spirits, etc. I do not know, I don't deny it. I just think the outright opinion that people are silly if they have never experienced something or have no reason to believe something, is a little.. well, silly.

Originally posted by winofiend

Originally posted by FlyersFan
Great story! I've seen and experienced a bunch. I have to chuckle every time someone says that there is no such thing as ghosts. Those folks seem so silly to me.

Why? I've never seen a ghost and from all the experiences I've read, they don't seem to conform to any rules or are inconsistent in why they are here.

How is it silly to say ghosts don't exist if someone has never had this experience?

And at the same time, in a world where it is clear that a lot of humans have vivid imaginations, a lack of understanding of certain things, an inability to comprehend certain things, or are in fact ill and what they see as real is all imagined?

I don't think it's silly at all. I think belief in things without reason, now that is silly.

Ghosts, spirits, etc. I do not know, I don't deny it. I just think the outright opinion that people are silly if they have never experienced something or have no reason to believe something, is a little.. well, silly.

You may wish to reread FlyersFan's post. She is not saying that people who don't believe are silly. She is saying that people who refuse to consider the possibility, those that scoff at the mere mention of a Ghost are silly. Frankly, I agree with FlyersFan. You don't need to believe my story but when people openly scoff at the mere thought ....... well, they are silly.

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reply to post by pheonix358


Since 2003 the spirit world has revealed itself in my home. I (for whatever reasons; I am not sure what those reasons are) I am allowed to see ghosts, angels, and other beings in other dimensions. In fact for the past 10 years; the viewing of the spirit world has become a regular part of my life; it is now part of what is normal for me.

I enjoyed reading about your experience; thanks for sharing it.

I always appreciate the accounts that are somewhat verified by the notice of animals or children. It's hard to get either to alert to what you're imagining or hallucinating. I've never had the foot-of-the-bed apparition encounter, but I did have a full-body, seemingly solid encounter with a teenage girl (long, brown hair, blue jeans shorts and an oversize white t-shirt, with a logo on it) on a small, two-rut car-path in the middle of a small strip of dry land that runs between large swamp areas, while I was mountain biking. It was pretty shocking when I finally realized what had just happened. I was approaching her, from the direction she was heading, and when I looked down quickly to downshift, she was gone when I looked up again. She was only 20 yards ahead of me when she vanished, and we were surrounded by swamp on either side.

The weird thing was that it was mid-day, summer, and sunny. Not what you'd expect for an apparition encounter, but what the hell, it's not as if you get to choose when something like that happens to you.

Good story.

reply to post by NorEaster


I agree. I think as children most of us are taught to believe in the Easter Bunny, Santa, the Tooth Fairy and all the other childish beliefs. When we 'grow up' we lose these beliefs. That is as it should be, but, we lose something else as well. We start to be conditioned that what I can't see does not exist. The science mentality if you will.

Our mind from that point on will try and provide a logical scientific excuse for every thing we see or hear.It is only later that some of us are lucky enough to have our eyes opened for us.

How many ghosts or spirits have you seen but your unbelief has labelled them rationally. You would never know, would you?

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I haven't seen spirits, but I've had unexplainable experiences.

Years ago, I was living in a house which was previously owned by an elderly couple. The wife had passed away in an armchair in the corner of the main bedroom.

My son, at the time was 7, and wanted the bigger bedroom. Fine with me, I took over an addition off the back of the house, which was even bigger

Only problem he had with taking that bedroom, was that none of his friends would ever sleep overnight, because they said his room was haunted.

One morning, when he came out of his room, he asked why his dad's arrowhead silver pendant was on his night table. I wasn't with his dad anymore, and we lived about 8 hours away. I thought that was very strange that he was holding the arrowhead in his hand, and told him I didn't know how it got there - it should be in my jewellery box. I pulled out the jewellery box, and that arrowhead was still there.
We stood there, each of us with an arrowhead in our hands. Exact copies of each other.

My son had a really good attitude about it, he just walked away with the one from his table, and said "this is cool, the ghost lady's giving me stuff".
Just like it was a normal occurrence.

I've also had times in the past where I've felt something jump onto the bed, curl up against me, I reach down to pet my dog, only to realize nothing's there. I'm assuming it's pets from the past.

One of the dogs I have now though, isn't likely to let anything on the bed with us. He's a fierce (he thinks, lol) little Shihtzu, and he seems to be paying a lot of attention to something that I can't see, in my kitchen, always after supper time hours. He wags his tail, the fast anxious short wag, sometimes growls and guards his after-dinner treat (that he carries around for a while before eating). I see nothing there, the other dog sees nothing there.

It's an old house, but I don't know if anyone ever died here.
I've lived in 3 houses, that I know for sure that some died in, from old age. All has been good.

reply to post by snowspirit


Cool. Yes children see things easier because their minds are not preconditioned to not believe. I just try to keep an open mind on subjects I don't necessarily believe in.

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enjoyed reading that, thank you..

i see ghosts and all sorts of things i wish i didnt sometimes.. lol..

you have such a soothing energy, its like my whole body becomes relaxed reading what you wrote here and reading your responses.. nice work..

reply to post by pheonix358


So were you scared ? You said you don't fear death and that's no big deal, I don't either. So I can believe that. I do fear a painful death tho. See I don't like pain because I do like me.

Originally posted by thewhiteribbon
enjoyed reading that, thank you..

i see ghosts and all sorts of things i wish i didnt sometimes.. lol..

you have such a soothing energy, its like my whole body becomes relaxed reading what you wrote here and reading your responses.. nice work..

Thanks, writing helps with PTSD. I can be soothing especially when others need it. I can also be unsoothing, but it does not happen all that often any more. Glad you liked it.

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reply to post by randyvs


Have a read of my second post re being scared.

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Thought I would add this, happened 10 / 12 years before the events in this thread.

Linky

Enjoy, well, um, maybe enjoy is not the right word, but you get what I mean.

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