Have you ever seen a ghost?

[Deleted]

I chatted via phone with my mom last night. It was the first real conversation we've had since her dad died 10 days ago (at 87, from Alzheimer's, it's really okay). My grandma died in May, and mom has been staying at their house for the past few weeks through the funeral and working to clean the house out.

Anyway, mom relayed the following story: gramps died on a Thursday. Mom was with him, and alone with his body for about an hour after he passed. She said it wasn't creepy at all; kind of peaceful. Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights her sisters were at the house with her, as well as one of my cousins. Sunday might was the only night she stayed there by herself. She was staying in her childhood room, and turned a fan on and cracked the hallway door for air circulation. My mom can't figure out if it was real or not, but she VIVIDLY remembers the door opening, and my gramps standing there with his coveralls on (he was a farmer) and a big shit eating grin (he was a jovial guy). He then walked through the room and into the closet. Mom doesn't remember feeling afraid when she thinks about this incident.

The bedroom door was wide open when she woke up in the morning.

It may have been a dream. I'm inclined to believe in ghosts/ spirits, if the scenario is right. Who knows. But if you've got a plausible ghost story, let's hear 'em!

[blackkitty]

I've felt ghosts before and when I lived in that house other people saw them and some people just heard them.

I think I saw a ghost yesterday but I am not sure if it was or not.

[bliss]

Yes. I've seen 4 ghosts.

My bff from elementary-junior high had a little boy haunting her house. I saw him twice. He would pour water on us when we were sleeping, throw her stuffed animals at us, and slam cupboards.

I saw my grandpa shortly after he died when I was in his chair. It was very quick and brief but I have an overwhelming feeling of comfort.

My granny May and my little brother Buddha will visit me from time to time. Always in the middle of the night and it hasn't happened in probably 2 years.

I totally believe in ghosts.

[Awkward]

There's an old wives tale that babies born in the morning will never see ghosts. Obviously it's just an owt, but I've never seen one personally.

Not too long after my grandmother passed away, my mother was driving to work when the radio in her car popped on (it was off) and she heard a woman's voice that sounded just like my grandmother's. She doesn't remember what the voice said, but she still felt it was comforting. I'd like to think it was her telling my mother (her daughter in law) that she was ok.

[Kore]

I used to believe in ghosts, but I don't anymore. These stories are still fascinating to me. I hope more share.

[chessie]

Dont really believe in that sorta thing..I used to as a kid though.

[Deleted]

I have never seen /experienced anything ghost-related, despite my love of history, work in historic preservation and a LOT of time spent in old buildings. I even lived in a ghost town for a summer internship. Nothing.

I guy I worked with had a good theory, from the quote from Albert Einstein: "energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another." My friend illustrated it by using his energy to pound a nail into a piece of wood with a hammer. So what happened to his energy, he asked? Did he just implant a part of his energy in this deck he was building? Innnnteresting.

[adlove]

A few years ago, I was sleeping over at my parents house during the holidays. I was on the couch, and the living room and kitchen are one big open space. I woke up in the middle of the night, looked toward the kitchen and I saw a black figure standing there. I thought it was my brother getting ready for school but it was like 3am. So I said his name and he didn't respond, so I said it louder, got up, shined my iPhone at the figure and it had moved back a few steps.

I freaked out, literally, was screaming and ran to my parents room.

I'm pretty positive there was nothing actually there, but the way the shadows and light was coming in from the window, I definitely "saw" a figure.

My parents house is only 7 years old, but my dad built it using bricks and beams that are ancient and come from different old buildings and ship yards and such. So while I don't necessarily believe in ghosts, their house has so much history that it's kind of cool to think about what the walls were witness to in the past.

[hamster]

Never seen anything, but my college roommate and I looked at renting a house that was creepy as fuck. We couldn't place it, but we both independently felt like it was haunted. Needless to say we chose not to rent it.

[bliss]

I've also seen a black shadowy figure. I saw it a lot when I was living with an ex. I think it was "after" him but I saw it. All.the.time.

When I saw Paranormal Activity and they talked about it, I was freaked the fuck out. I never saw 2 or 3.

[Kore]

Aug 21, 2012 13:56:47 GMT -5 bliss said:

When I saw Paranormal Activity and they talked about it, I was freaked the fuck out. I never saw 2 or 3.

These movies scare the shit out of me. My H & I got drunk & re-watched #3 Friday night Love them.

[bliss]

Aug 21, 2012 13:59:23 GMT -5 Kore said:

Aug 21, 2012 13:56:47 GMT -5 bliss said:

When I saw Paranormal Activity and they talked about it, I was freaked the fuck out. I never saw 2 or 3.

These movies scare the shit out of me. My H & I got drunk & re-watched #3 Friday night Love them.

LOL. I definitely love scary movies. But sometimes they hit too close to home and I just can't do it. I turn into a big puss.

[blackkitty]

I have another thought on ghosts... I think most people at least those that believe assume that a "ghost" is the spirit of someone who has died. I think if these things exist we don't really know what they are. Or if they are even real or just in the minds of the people that see them.

[Kore]

Aug 21, 2012 14:01:20 GMT -5 bliss said:

Aug 21, 2012 13:59:23 GMT -5 Kore said:

These movies scare the shit out of me. My H & I got drunk & re-watched #3 Friday night Love them.

LOL. I definitely love scary movies. But sometimes they hit too close to home and I just can't do it. I turn into a big puss.

I watched Silence of the Lambs for the first time when my city had 2 active serial killers. I vowed to never leave my house again after seeing it :-(

[adlove]

Aug 21, 2012 14:01:59 GMT -5 @blackkitty said:

I have another thought on ghosts... I think most people at least those that believe assume that a "ghost" is the spirit of someone who has died. I think if these things exist we don't really know what they are. Or if they are even real or just in the minds of the people that see them.

Yea, in my case I definitely think it was a mind trick. Or a light/shadow trick.

I have sleep paralysis pretty often, and in that case it wasn't sleep paralysis because I was up and moving but SP always involves me seeing or feeling something that isn't there. I have heard that many cases of alien abductions and weird visions can be attributed to sleep paralysis. But who knows.

[Deleted]

I used to believe in ghosts more, but ever since I started having sleep paralysis with hallucinations, I've realized that the mind can do some crazy fucking shit. ETA: I think a lot of people who claim to wake up and see ghosts are experiencing the same condition.

Anyways, we know a family that swears up and down there's a ghost in their attic, they all claim to see it.

Then in college my friends lived in a house that was supposedly haunted. I was sitting on a friends couch and everyone else was downstairs and the door creaked open. I thought someone was messing with me so I told them to knock it off. Then it creaked open some more, and I told them to stop. Then it happened again and I got all pissed off and told them to open the damn door already and the door slammed against the wall and no one was there. I may or may not have been completely high out of my mind. I can't remember.

[soleil]

So I haven't seen one...but I've recorded one.

I went with a ghost investigation team 2 years ago to an old, supposedly haunted house (violent history) in the middle of nowhere. We were in groups of 3, and I sort of split off from mine into a room in the back upstairs by myself. I borrowed my husband's fancy dictator to record things. I walked around boredly, asking random questions.

I asked if there was someone there and if someone had hurt them. It was relatively uneventful, dead quiet.

A few days later I was listening through the recordings, and when I got to that spot when I was asking questions alone, you can -clearly- hear a voice respond back (to my, ''did somebody hurt you?'' question). They said 'yes', and then a name that I couldn't make out.

Another story (not a ghost, but something): when I was little, I remember one night I was sitting in bed flipping through my picture books with the lamp on. My room was on the second story and had purple blinds on the windows. I heard a swish, you know when you move/tilt an individual blind to peek through it? I glanced up, and there were eyes staring right back at me through the blinds.

To this day I still remember the horror I felt, and I'm still convinced it was real. I was frozen for an instant before throwing myself out of bed and racing to my parents room. That was our old house though, and we had a lot of odd things that would happen sometimes.

[bliss]

Aug 21, 2012 14:01:59 GMT -5 @blackkitty said:

I have another thought on ghosts... I think most people at least those that believe assume that a "ghost" is the spirit of someone who has died. I think if these things exist we don't really know what they are. Or if they are even real or just in the minds of the people that see them.

I agree with that to an extent because people usually report seeing relatives. So I wonder if it's part of the grieving process.

But I've seen a ghost who I never even met when he was alive. So that's when I wonder and believe.

[ejpint]

A few years ago, I was staying with a friend after a wedding. By the time we got back to her house, we were of course beyond tipsy, and she was telling me about how before they bought the house, part of it had been damaged by a fire, and the previous owner, and older man, had died in the fire.

Now, it may well have been alcohol or a crazy dream, but at like 3am I woke and saw a shadowy figure of what looked like an old man standing in the doorway of the spare room I was sleeping in. I've convinced myself since then that it was totally just a dream inspired by her story.....right?

[hilwithonelary]

I've never seen a ghost, but I did have a ghostly experience.

My grandpa died when I was pregnant with DS. He would have been his first great grandchild, and I was very sad he didn't get to meet him.

In his later years, my grandpa was not very well and spent most of the day watching tv. He also had an obsession that the dining room light must be turned on while he ate.

We were visiting my grandma when DS was about 6 months old. We were sitting around the table eating lunch. Suddenly, the living room tv turned on. 2 seconds later, the chandelier started swaying rather forcefully.

We turned the light on after that. We've also made sure to turn it on any time we eat there since then.

[agnes]

Reading all these stories gives me the chills! I love these threads.

But no, I do not believe in ghosts.

[sporky]

My grandmother and sister have both claimed to see images of my grandfather since his passing. I've never actually seen any ghosts, but we hear them often at our house- footsteps, whispers, talking, opening doors, etc.

[Deleted]

Aug 21, 2012 14:23:53 GMT -5 hilwithonelary said:

I've never seen a ghost, but I did have a ghostly experience.

My grandpa died when I was pregnant with DS. He would have been his first great grandchild, and I was very sad he didn't get to meet him.

In his later years, my grandpa was not very well and spent most of the day watching tv. He also had an obsession that the dining room light must be turned on while he ate.

We were visiting my grandma when DS was about 6 months old. We were sitting around the table eating lunch. Suddenly, the living room tv turned on. 2 seconds later, the chandelier started swaying rather forcefully.

We turned the light on after that. We've also made sure to turn it on any time we eat there since then.

That's awesome!

My mom and her sisters were garage-saleing a BUNCH of crap from my grandparents house last weekend. Things like curtains, Christmas wrapping paper, silk flowers, etc. just... Shit, frankly. But my grandmother, having grown up in the Depression, kind of hoarded worthless decorative crap. I was hot out so everything was set up on the lawn the night before. My uncle turned off the sprinklers two nights before and checked them again the night before.

The sprinklers went off at 8am, just as people started arriving. Grandma was pissed hey we're selling her "treasures."

[Kore]

Aug 21, 2012 14:28:59 GMT -5 sporky said:

My grandmother and sister have both claimed to see images of my grandfather since his passing. I've never actually seen any ghosts, but we hear them often at our house- footsteps, whispers, talking, opening doors, etc.

Have you seen Paranormal Activity? How does hearing that stuff not scare the crap out of you?

I also always think of the awkward moments, like grandma's ghost being present while we have sex, or whatever.

[agnes]

LBIL thinks our house is haunted. There have been two incidents.

The first one he was home alone during the day. He heard a loud bang towards his sister's bedroom and my bedroom. Nothing looked out of place like it had fallen or anything.

The second was when he was stoked to be staying in his mother's bedroom while she was away (nicer bed, TV, etc). He had been sleeping there for about 4 nights. I noticed one morning that he had slept in his bedroom. I asked him why? He told me that he heard someone walking up the stairs to her bedroom, but when he looked, no one was there.

I think it's just his mind playing tricks on him. He's known to sleep walk while he's dreaming and tends to remember what he was dreaming about.

Now, everytime something is misplaced or we hear a loud noise, I say it's the ghost.

I'm told my work has a ghost. Weird stuff happens when you're up in the office late at night. One girls said that she heard footsteps coming up from behind her and a gush of air. But nothing's there.

[honeybee]

I don't know what I believe anymore. I know there is a whole lot about the natural world we haven't figured out yet.

I did my undergraduate education at Gettysburg College. There were tons of stories floating around. For myself I only have one.

My parents had come to visit and we were doing a walking history tour. It started late in the day and by midway through the tour was getting dark. We were walking along seminary ridge, an part of the battlefield. The host was moving the group along but both myself and my Mom were a few steps away reading an informational sign. In front of us was a large brick seminary building that dated pre-civil war.

I looked up from the sign, looking at the building and watched someone walk across, in front of the brick wall. When they reached the end of the building they were gone. No poof or anything just not there. I stood there for a second, trying to process that someone had disappeared in front of my eyes, my Mom nudged me to follow the group and we left.

I didn't say a word.

After I graduated we were talking about ghosts at dinner one night. I got up from the table and when I returned my mom was halfway through my story, only she had seen it. We had both saw someone walk in front of that building that night and neither had said a word at the time, we both thought no one would believe us for a moment. Its still not something I'm entirely comfortable with today.

[hilwithonelary]

I thought of a crazy second hand story.

A family friend was murdered a couple years ago. Last year, my mom had a vision of her saying that it was going to be all right. At the same time, she had a pain in her breast. She felt around and found a lump. She never had any more pain there. She also wasn't able to find the lump a second time. When she went to the doctor, the lump was so buried that even the doctor couldnt' find it. They still did a mammogram, and found a huge tumor. After 9 months of treatment, there is no more sign of the cancer.

It may have just been my mom's subconscious, but it's still pretty freaky.

[mrshandy]

Nope, I'm not really sure I believe in them.

[thatgirl2478]

I've had weird stuff happen - the feeling of my bed shaking/twisting parallel to the floor (vs vertically as it would if something big were going by outside), the feeling of something rope like being pulled underneath me while I'm sleeping, the feeling that I'm being watched, etc. I've also heard things, like my name being called or my dog's signature teeth chatter/humph noise. I've seen things like the TV turning on with no one near it or the remote. I've smelled my MIL's perfume in a place where she'd never visited.

Then there was the dream I had in which I had a baby on my MIL's bday. She was 10 days overdue, and they were overbooked on the initial date my OB and I discussed for an induction date, but my DD arrived on my MIL's bday just as my dream predicted.

There's all sorts of energy in this world, some people are more sensitive than others.

[Deleted]

I've heard, felt, and had one appear to me in a dream. I didn't know who the mystery dream person was until the next day I saw a photo in a newspaper clipping of the person. That was kind of weird. I am a paranormal investigator, and the person ended up being part of an investigation we were researching.