I ran into a friend of mine the other day, and she was telling me about her recent trip to New York.
“It was all fine,” she told me, “until I found out that my hotel was haunted. I couldn’t sleep!”
She proceeded to tell me that the hotel was built on land that formerly housed a boys’ orphanage where the residents were mistreated. Since the hotel opened, there have been several accounts by hotel guests of seeing ghostly boys playing on the 10th floor.
“Now I’m going to have to find a new hotel to stay at!” my friend told me.
Interesting, I thought to myself as I listened to her tale. So YOU believe in ghosts.
Turns out my friend is not alone. According to a recent article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, one third of people believe in ghostly beings. And nearly a quarter have had an experience where they saw, felt, or otherwise encountered an otherworldly presence.
All this ghost-talk got me wondering. I don’t think I know a single person who’s seen a ghost. I certainly haven’t seen any. And that’s sort of depressing.
So I’m hoping that some of YOU have led more exciting… and HAUNT-filled… lives than me!
Have YOU ever had a ghostly encounter? Or do you know someone *of impeccable character* who claims to have seen a ghost?
Share your spooky stories! (It IS almost Halloween, after all!)
***
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xo Jen
October 26, 2007 at 1:42 pm
ok, very timely. i just had a LNO with friends and one of the woman had a story of her daugther (first) saw someone in the house, then 2 weeks later the husband said, who is standing in the doorway ? yes they saw something. freaked her out and no joke she got holy water and stuff to protect them. but hubby thinks it was great grandma telling him all was ok b/c both his mom and grandma are sick.
October 26, 2007 at 5:54 pm
When I lived in Pennsylvania, I was around 9 at the time. I was upstairs listening to Kriss Kross- and yes, my pants were on backwards. {Okay, end of scary story right there, lol!} We had a beautiful rocking chair, and I swore that whenever I turned my back, it would move. I would SEE it in the corner of my eye- just a slow rock back and forth, then stop.
Finally, I got so freaked out I went back downstairs to my room and I cried there until my mom came in.
I told her what I’d seen, and she said nonchalantly- “Oh yeah, that’s just your grandmother.”
My grandmother, didn’t lead the greatest of lives, she was abused by my grandfather for a lot of it, and my mother believes she died of AIDS after receiving a blood transfusion. When she was alive, in her few restful moments, she would sit in her rocking chair and listen to music, sew wedding dresses, or sing.
She died on Christmas Eve, years before I was born. My mother said that she went home and sat amongst her mother’s things, and just sobbed. Missing her best friend, feeling hopeless and lost, she listened to one of her mom’s favorite records and the rocking chair began to rock.
Being the skeptic that I am, I tried to convince myself that it was just sound reverberating off the rocking chair, lol. But I can honestly say that I stil wonder if it was my grandmother popping in to say hello. My mother, however, seemed fairly convinced.
October 26, 2007 at 7:05 pm
i have a couple of ghost stories…my mom and my hometown neighbour. pretty creepy stuff, but the stories are too long to leave here….i’m gonna post about them, and i’ll let you know when i have them up!
October 26, 2007 at 7:55 pm
I have a ghost story from a friend of mine. She was babysitting her niece and nephew, and after they were all put to bed, she laid down on the couch to watch t.v. She fell asleep while the room was all messy. Then, she woke up when her sister and brother-in-law got home, and everything was all sparkling clean! They told her, “You didn’t have to clean up!” But she told them that she didn’t, and anyways, the blankets were way up on a high shelf that she couldn’t even reach! Spooky… but I wish I had a cleaning ghost. *sigh*
October 27, 2007 at 5:33 am
I have lots of ghost stories! They must have all moved to Jersey.
Here is one:
When Mr. Schmitty and I first were married we lived upstairs from his parents. I know, I know, but it was a big house with an apartment we had fixed up and our own entrance. And it was rent free.
Anyway, when Mr. Schmitty was young the apartment was rented out an elderly lady.One night Mr. Schmitty woke up to see a little old lady walk from our bedroom into the bathroom. He FREAKED! After that my two cats used to act very weird from time to time. One would always look past you like she saw something. The other used to run through the apartment and up the back of a chair that was in a corner. He would sit on the back of the chair and stare at the ceiling making a weird chattering noise. Then be would run away again.
When we moved out…they never did those things again.
October 27, 2007 at 6:21 am
The closest I came to actually seeing a ghost was feeling one. I was babysitting on this tiny little cabin by Lake George, for a family I didn’t really know, and it was dark. The kids were asleep. I thought I saw someone walk past the window and stood up to look, but there was no one there, then a shadow passed across the mirror over the fireplace and my hair stood up all over my body. I don’t know what it was, but it was very creepy, and kind of cool at the same time. I secretly love that stuff. I think if I was your friend I would have stayed, maybe even requested a room on the 10th floor.
October 27, 2007 at 7:31 am
GIRL! I read this post at the wrong time and totally got freaked out! I don’t knokw what is wrong with me, but I posted my own “close encounter” on my blog. PS. annonymous: I want a cleaning ghost too!!
October 27, 2007 at 8:21 am
We have a “friend” who follows us from house to house. Over the summer, it got really active. Radio coming on all hours of the night, light turning on and off. The kids toys were the worst part. All night long the toys would go off like they were being played with. One night the smoke detector went off for about 3 seconds just enough to nearly give me a heart attack. We moved out of that house recently and i think our friend must be happy now because i`s been much quieter lately. Although strange things still occur once in a while.
October 27, 2007 at 11:46 am
When my grandpa died I was 12. My parents and Aunts and Uncles left my cousin, brother and I sleeping at my cousin’s house to be with my grandfather when he passed.
He came to say goodbye to me as my cousin and I lay sleeping in her bed, before the parents got home to even tell us what happened. It was not a dream.
There – a ghost story from someone with impeccable character! :)
October 27, 2007 at 2:10 pm
I worked at a hospital that was haunted, they (the older nurses who had worked there for a while) believed it was due to one man who had cancer. He was very young and told one of the nurses that he hated God for doing this to him. After he died about 25 years before, the weird stuff started to happen. He died in room 9 on the 3rd floor, but room 9 on all 3 floors of the hospital had occurrences. Several nurses reported strange sounds and nurses from that room, especially when empty. It never failed that if they put a comatose patient in any of those rooms, they always died with in a few days.
I heard whistling and noises coming from that room when it was empty, and on night shift I would see a man walking down the hall, coming from room 9 out of the corner of my eye. When i would look , no one was in the hallway.
Once when i was checking a patient at the beginning of my night shift, who was in room 9, I felt the room get chilly and it felt if someone was standing right behind me looking over my shoulder. The hair all over my body stood on end! I said very calmly, “I’m just here checking on my patient… I wont bother you if you don’t bother me.”
The feeling went away after a few seconds.
Another time, the 4th floor was being renovated and was empty. Me and some PM shift nurses wanted to check it out, shortly after we got up there the call light from room 9 went off. Again, we 3 were the only ones up there, it was almost 11pm. We all looked at each other with big eyes for about a millisecond and hightailed it to the elevator.
As we were running to the elevator, I could hear running footsteps behind me since the workmen had covered the floor with plastic to keep it clean. I got that feeling that something bad was going to happen and we all were shreiking waiting for the elevator to get to that floor a few seconds later… and when the door opened I shoved the charge nurse in as hard as I could because I could still hear someone behind me on the plastic…
But there was no one there.
many of the Filipino nurses that I worked with were superstitious and claimed I was one of those people who could see and hear ghosts, even though I told them I never actually saw one dead on, only from the corner of my eyes. I had weird stuff happen in my childhood home… but I’ll save that for another time.
October 27, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Here is my favorite ghost story. My Mum worked part time in a purse store years ago. She worked with a girl named Cindy. The owner’s daughter died in a car accident. The owner always had her daughter carry a dime so she could call home in case she needed to (lol remember pay phones? when they were a dime!). She even had a dime set in her headstone. Well, shortly after her death, the employee named Cindy had a dream. She dreamed the daughter came to her and told her she was ok, and she INSISTED that Cindy tell her mother. So Cindy did, feeling a little silly. The next time the owner visited the grave… the dime was gone! Cool huh?
October 27, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Of course there are ghosts. I’ve never seen one but “felt” one in my presence once. Yikes! And now for my announcement….
A special day is coming up on my blog and in the blogosphere. Bloggers are set to blog for peace November 7, 2007.
I invite you to join me – and a cast of incredible bloggers – as we mark our world with a promise of peace. Bloggers from around the world including 30 countries (and counting)and nearly every state in the United States will participate in BlogBlast for Peace.I hope you will participate in this growing phenomenon.
Your blog. One post. One day. Please spread the word.
How To Get Your Peace Globe
Thank you,
Mimi Lenox
October 27, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Well, I never have and I don’t believe. But a girl at work swore she saw the ghost of her home’s former owner sitting on the bed with her little girl…. it really freaked me out how non-chalant she was about it….
October 28, 2007 at 6:09 am
No. No ghost stories for me other than the Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World. ;)
Tag, you’re it. There’s something for you on my blog.
October 28, 2007 at 11:43 am
Reading these comments is creeping me out! I have never had any kind of ghost encounter and I wouldn’t want to, either. But my oldest son’s friend’s parents are active in the SouthEast Michigan Ghost Hunters Society, they go check out places that are supposed to be haunted.
October 28, 2007 at 11:52 am
I have had a ghostly encounter at work and several others who worked there had the same thing happen to them. I worked at a store in the mall and there was a mirror on one wall and I would always see a girl with blond hair walking quickly toward the back room reflected in the mirror, but when I would walk around the corner from the back tothe front room of the store there was no one there. Then I would see her standing at the top of our ladder looking through things on the top shelf in the stock room, but if you blinked she would be gone. That store is gone now, but the employees in the store that took over that space in the mall have also seen the blond girl walking quickly through the store and up on a ladder in the back looking through things on the top shelf. Creeepy.
October 28, 2007 at 3:18 pm
I haven’t myself.
But I know of someone who has.
October 28, 2007 at 7:25 pm
I will be a party pooper. I don’t believe in ghosts.
October 29, 2007 at 7:34 am
I’ve never had an encounter of any kind even though I truly believe in all of that stuff. It’s one of those things where I want to see a ghost but I don’t at the same time!
We had to pry this story from a friend of ours- with impeccable character if I do say so myself- because he was embarrassed and not really a believer. Anyway, he was en route from Michigan to Alaska to be in the Coast Guard. At some point in his journey he stayed in an old hotel and was trying to go to sleep while the tv was on. He got a creepy feeling & when he looked he saw several people walking through his room, as if they were just passing through to get to another room. I can’t remember now but I think one looked directly at him and he just sat there stunned. Next thing he knew they were all gone. I would’ve had a heart attack (but would’ve squeeled with glee after!)
October 29, 2007 at 9:09 am
I live in a really creepy area. The woods are haunted…yes, the woods. I am not sure how they are able to really determine this but it is legend.
The closest I have ever seen to a ghost was when I woke up hung over one day in my friends house and as I walked by a mirror she had on the wall, out of the corner of my eye swear I saw a vision of someone in black (I was wearing white). Can’t tell whether it was sleep deprivation, residual alcohol in system or just a freaky mirror moment…will never know.
I have had other experiences with lights and fans and things making noise though, so I do believe there is something out there….
October 29, 2007 at 2:20 pm
I’m pretty sure that out house has a spirit or two rattling around in it. When my son was very young I would often come into his room to find him giggling and chatting with ….. an empty corner. Or at least I thought it was empty. Every so often one of his loud, electronic toys would go off while no one was in the room. I would frequently think that I heard footsteps going into my son’s playroom. All that stopped when my boy got a little older but it picked up again after my daughter was born. Now she’ll sit and stare into that same empty corner that my son did. I guess it doesn’t scare me because the kids obviously like whatever it is and they seem like pretty good judges of character.
Our house is nearly 100 years old so sometimes I wonder what kind of things may have happened here in the past.
October 29, 2007 at 3:15 pm
My sister has seen a ghost. She and her partner had an elderly aunt living with them who had no place else to go. She celebrated Christmas with them and then peacefully passed away. My sister said several nights later she looked up and saw Lenore standing on the stairs looking at her and smiling. She said she was absolutely as clear as day and my sister was completely wide awake. She then just faded away. My sister thinks her last fond memories were of them and she wanted to visit one more time.
October 29, 2007 at 4:25 pm
My father was always up in the middle of the night, doing his usual trips to the bathroom, then the kitchen for a late-night snack. After he passed away in January, 1998, my mother had his ashes in the house until April. For those three months, the toilet would flush at all hours of the night. Even after his ashes were scattered, we could hear him walk from the bedroom, through the living room, into the kitchen, and back. It was like his repetitive actions were imprinted on the house. For me, it was comforting to hear him. My mother no longer lives there and I have no idea if the new owners hear him or not.
October 30, 2007 at 8:47 am
i had heard lots of stories. always kind of laughed. then my finance and his friend were living in/renovating this old 1900′s house and i was over there a lot. 3-4 times we’d come in and the candles had moved from the coffee table to the dining table. 3-4 times 1 picture was taken off the wall and set down on the floor against the wall. one morning tyler said “man you were up late working” – daren said “umm, no i was asleep by like 10″….he’d heard a office chair rolling around upstairs where there office space was.
they moved…and a family with 3 kids moved in…and then resold the house about a year later. they called tyler up – said “we’re just wondering if thing happened when you were living there…” – “what kind of things?” – “well like things moving all the time. contact lense cases moving from beside the bed where they were taken out to down in the kitchen in the morning.” there little girl fell down the stairs and said it had felt like someone pushed her from behind. and there son, about 8 years old – totally changed personality – turned from this sweet, kind, tender-hearted boy to always being in a bad mood, depressed, telling his sisters he was going to kill them – the took him to specialists – had him on some medication but it wasn’t changing – now that they’ve moved he’s back to his sweet, kind self.
1 old man that lived there went crazy and his wife kept him locked on the top floor – he was known as the crazy man of the neighborhood – had thing up and around to protect him from aliens. the other old man that lived there died by falling down the stairs.
a little too creepy. i’d have to say i am a bit of a believer now.
October 30, 2007 at 10:41 pm
all these little stories have totally weirded me out!! now I have to go to sleep?!
plus, I, too, heard of a normal family that had furniture rearranged numerous times (until they quit putting it back).
maybe I’ll watch 30 Rock first….