Tell me a ghost story

[mollyringle]

On that survey I filled out two days ago, there was a question about whether I believe in ghosts. My answer basically is that I haven't ever seen one, but some part of my mind thinks they're possible. Or, rather, hopes they're possible, because it would suggest life after death and all kinds of interesting physics-related things.

When ten_fifteen filled out the survey, she alluded to a few experiences she couldn't quite explain away. She and her husband (alltimeqb) are rational, reliable people, as far as I know, so I prodded her into relating some of these experiences, and they are genuinely creepy and pretty difficult to account for.

So, the rest of you: do you have any such encounters? Let's do a forum on this. I want only first-hand ghost stories, stuff you personally experienced, not a tale handed down from your grandfather or your mother-in-law (even though those may be cool). Also, feel free to do your best at explaining it - e.g., "But then, I was looking through a pane of glass, so I suppose it could have been a reflection..." - just to make this as scientific as possible.

Banshees, poltergeist, telekinesis, and other strange earthly phenomena are fair game, too; it doesn't have to be an actual visible "ghost." But let's leave Bigfoot and UFO's out of it. We'll do that another time.

P.S. Kev or Kim, say the word and I'll remove that link (and/or your names). You needn't be an exhibit if you don't want to be. :)

Comments

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I have several.

I lived in a very old house (as in working hand-pump in the yard, and servants' quarters) for the first 6 years of my marriage. I always had a sense of something not quite gone. Old houses have long memories, and not all are good. I had cats that stared at, chased and caught...nothing. Nothing visible.

Magick sensitive friends hated to visit.

My next place was a townhouse. Newer, but in a VERY bad part of town. (3 shootings in 9 mo) There was a dark patch at the top of the stairs. No matter how much light we shed in that hall and on the steps, that corner stayed gloomy. And there was a really bad vibe coming out of the kids' room closet. Just creeped me out. My mother got creeped too, even though I hadn't said anything. She thought i was cruel for making the kids sleep in there.

My grandfather died in 1984. He loved many people a great deal. My grandmother told me her story of how he reminded her where she'd lost her rings when I told her this one. It was 1994. My baby was just 2. She was sitting up in Grandpa's Chair (and it was always Grandpa's Chair, even 10 years after his death), and started to the edge. I bounced out of my chair, thinking to catch her. But I saw her overbalance and start to fall. The air in front of the chair shimmered, and she was back at the back of the seat.
My grandpa wasn't going to let his great-grandbaby fall out of his chair.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Neat! - see, the Grandpa/baby story, that's the kind of thing I want - the very laws of physics being defied. That's where it gets really hard to explain. Anyway, always preferable to have helpful ghosts rather than malevolent ones.