Do you believe in the "paranormal"?

[Dulcee]

Last summer my family and I stayed at a supposedly haunted B&B in Gettysburg

I went to Gettysburg College for my undergrad education. I can tell you that living in a dorm that predated the battle, and spending far too much time on the battlefields after dark, that the feeling of uneasiness or being watched is almost commonplace in some areas.

My one experience that I can't label as just feeling off or watched was also in Gettysburg. My parents were visiting me for the weekend and we had decided to take a walking history tour one evening. We had walked a large portion of the town before ending at seminary ridge, a prominent area of town well connected to the battle.

We were standing in front of one of the buildings, at this point it was dark, the sun completely down. As the tour started up again I had hung back slightly reading one of the stands. My mother was just a few steps ahead waiting for me. I looked up and for lack of any other description watched a shadow walk from one side of the brick building to the other. It was undoubtedly the shadow of a person. I looked behind me, looking for said person and no one was there. At which point I also noticed there were no lights to cast a shadow. I kept mute. It seemed utterly ridiculous. I'm a scientist, I don't deal well with the unexplainable.

It wasn't until two years later, after I had graduated from college that I overheard my mother telling a friend, my story, the exact shadow. We had never told each other that we had seen the same thing. Both of us thought it was impossible. She thought I'd laugh at her as I'm very straight edged with most things.

Its the one experience to this day that makes me think the paranormal is just something we haven't quite figured out yet.

[darthmacho]

I believe it's possible. If you think about how big the universe is, and how complex it can be, I don't think at this stage we can discount it. However, until I experience it convincingly, for the most part I will remain skeptical.

My "paranormal" meter is as follows:

Aliens: Probable
Ghosts: Possible
Bigfoot: I hope so
The Devil: Unlikely
God: If you can hear me, I could use a little more $$ for this year's WDW trip! (Thanks!)

[TheVBs]

First I want to say thanks to all of you for sharing your stories! I've never had an experience (and would like to keep it that way!), but am fascinated by hearing about things others have experienced.

As far as whether or not ghosts are real.. I just don't know. Certainly people have had these experiences throughout history, all kinds of people from all walks of life. That makes you think. Definitely you could discount a fair chunk of them as explainable in some other way, or as the power of suggestion. But I think people are genuinely having unexplained experiences.

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

Ever since I bought my house almost 16 years ago, I occasionally will hear foot steps coming down the (carpeted) hallway. I have an alarm system with a motion detector and the alarm will not be going off.

Then one morning, I got up and went onto the screened in breezeway, between the house and garage, looked out the back door and there is a very clear image of a skeletal outline in the glass on the door leading to the back yard. I had my camera right in the kitchen so I grabbed it and got a couple of very good pictures. You can clearly see the eye sockets, the mouth and what appears to be an arm and hand reaching for the door handle. I really wish I knew how to post the picture here. One of the women I work with freaked when I showed her the pictures and said she'd sell the house and move. I pointed out that the ghost and I have managed to co-exist all these years and it hasn't done anything to harm me so I wasn't too worried.

My nephew wouldn't go into my kitchen alone for the longest time either. We don't talk about my ghost in front of them but then one day the now 8 year old started talking about the ghost in my house. I asked him why he thought there was a ghost and he said because he's seen it. I think he was around 5 then. And his little brother wouldn't go into the kitchen alone either. They were both kind of freaked out about it so I started making jokes and yelling at the ghost to go do the laundry or mow the lawn or do something to make themselves useful. That made the kids laugh so they weren't as scared.

They haven't mentioned it lately so maybe it's on vacation somewhere for the winter. Of course, now that I've said something, the unexplained will start happening again.

[garymacd]

We live very close to a battlefield from the War of 1812 and my wife and daughters have experienced some weird things. Shortly after we bought the house my wife awoke in the middle of the night to see two "beings" standing at the foot of the bed. We knew it wasn't any of the owners since we bought the house from the original owners and they were still alive.

A while later, our oldest daughter saw a young girl standing at the foot of her bed and has seen her walking through the upstairs hallway. The owners didn't have a daughter.

Our youngest daughter shares her room with a young American foot soldier from that battle who appears to be told to stand guard until relieved. It appears his relief never came, and with the wide ranging battle in the area, he may have died at his post. People are always finding different buttons, buckles, arrowheads, etc in the area. We even have a possible name for him. For the most part he seems innocuous and even protective of her, but every once in a while he gets a little frisky.

A friend of my wife's stayed in our youngest daughter's room once and had a dream of a young soldier sitting by a fire all alone playing a penny flute. He offered her oatcakes. She didn't know the history of the room or area.

All three also state they have experienced my father-in-law playing with their hair. He lived with us for the last 6 months of his life.

I, on the other hand, have never experienced anything.

[Scar]

As a Civil War reenactor, I have slept on a bunch of different battlefields multiple times each. Set up my tent for the weekend in spots where I am 100% sure many soilders died. Never seen, heard, felt, or sensed anything.

Now does that mean I discount ghosts? No, not really.

[Marker]

I absolutely believe there is something beyond tangible understanding.

I always held on to the potential of possibility since I was young.

We have had far too many unexplainable occurances here in the house to not at least maintain some level of possibility.

Our 3 kids all started out in the same room of our house. All three, when were little, made comments about there being "someone" in the room. That room is now my home office, and sometimes bedroom (thanks to my amazing ability to snore). There have been object move with no explanation, coming off a hook and landing in the middle of the room. There is a LazyBoy rocker recliner that is a bit squeaky, it has been heard squeaking, as though someone was sitting down, or standing up, when the door is closed and animals are all accounted for. I have on 2 occasions been woken up by the feel of someone tapping on my shoulder (the bed is a loft bed, 5 ft off the ground, even if someone were playing a trick on me, there's nobody in the house that could reach that high).

Elsewhere in the house, things have moved, doors have locked, dogs and cats will look at things no one else sees, often the dogs bark, and the cats run away.

Strangest one was 2 fresh baked cookies disappearing from the counter. Not that surprising you might say, perhaps not. But none of the 3 of us took them, animals were outside except 1 dog. But the cookies that disappeared were from the back of the counter, in the middle of the row. If it had been the dog, it would have been the front ones, and there would have been a mess. Instead, no mess, just 2 missing cookies.

Stuff happens often enough we just look at each other with a knowing grin and a shrug.

[TinkerbellT421]

I am kinda glad I started this thread. I am enjoying reading everyone's experiences and opinions!! Thanks for sharing them all. I start think that I might not be as crazy as I thought I was

They claim that animals and children can usually see things that adults cannot. I forget why but that is what I have read and heard.

I have some pretty crazy ghost pictures I took in Salem one year and some I took at an old abandon Fort called Fort Adams here in RI.

[Marker]

I thought of this after I finished my previous post.

One evening, back in college in Maryville MO around 1979, my wife and I (not actually sure if she was my wife yet then) were messing with a OUIJA board that we had found at my home when last we visited.

After messing with some rather typical, non-specific fun questions, we began asking more specific questions. To our surprise we were given some fairly specific details such as a last name, dates, reason for being there, where they were from, etc. It seemed like good fun. The next day we visited the library to do some research only to find that much of the information was factual.

We found record of the last name, and dates that fit what we had been given. We were told something about a "French Soldier", not a big surprise since MO was part of the Louisianna Purchase. But the dates matched, and we found records of matching names. But, were were specifically given the town of "Nodaway". Being in Nodaway county, we asked if it really meant "Nodaway County". The response was, very specifically, "No. Nodaway Town". Neither of us had ever heard of a town called "Nodaway". Turns out, there was, "Nodaway Township" to be exact.

So we had been "given" a Name, date, substantiating reason for being there, and a location that we had no idea had existed, much less at that specific time in history.

Needless to say, I was a bit shocked. And to this day have never touched a OUIJA board again.

I also have stories that came from a Halloween night tour of the Historic Union Hill Cemetary here in KC.

[Altair]

Needless to say, I was a bit shocked. And to this day have never touched a OUIJA board again.

"If there really is an afterlife, I'll bet the best way to contact it is through a plastic, mass-produced board game from Milton Bradley!"- Mad Magazine

[MNNHFLTX]

"If there really is an afterlife, I'll bet the best way to contact it is through a plastic, mass-produced board game from Milton Bradley!"- Mad Magazine

Lol! Who says the spirits can't use a mass-marketed tool to communicate with the living? As for me, I haven't touched one of those things since I was spooked out as an 8-year-old.

[TinkerbellT421]

Lol! Who says the spirits can't use a mass-marketed tool to communicate with the living? As for me, I haven't touched one of those things since I was spooked out as an 8-year-old.

[jennbunn]

My son and I watch the shows on tv for fun. I am on the fence if I think it is true.

[stitchingirl]

I don't watch the shows, mostly because I think they're either staged or if they're really real, would keep me up at night. Does that mean I don't believe? To the contrary, I am 100% convinced.

Years ago I was stationed at Camp Lejeune's Navy Hospital, on the 3rd floor ward. I was working the night shift and the locker room was down this long, glassed-in on one side hallway. As I was walking down the hall, I saw a reflection in the glass of a nurse in scrubs walking just behind me. I also smelled her perfume, a very strong and flowery smell. I turned around, expecting to see a coworker following me, but the hall was empty, I could see all the way down to the opposite end of our ward, some 100 feet or so. The nurse could have ducked in somewhere suddenly, you say. Nope. She was too close to me, and there were no doors or adjoining halls close enough for anyone to duck into. I went about my business, didn't think anything of it, until on another quiet shift we were all talking about ghosts and paranormal stuff. That was when one of the nurses who had worked there for forever told us about a nurse who used to work there. She wore a very strong flowery perfume, and often worked the night shift. One night going home from work she fell asleep at the wheel and ever since then, has been seen (and smelled) on the 3rd floor ward, where she never really left.

I'm positive that I saw her that night.

[Altair]

[QUOTE=stitchingirl;2244794 I saw a reflection in the glass of a nurse in scrubs walking just behind me. [/QUOTE]

Why do ghosts always wear clothes? Do your clothes go with you to the afterlife?

[TheVBs]

Why do ghosts always wear clothes? Do your clothes go with you to the afterlife?

Just a fun, silly response I thought people might get a kick out of:

In the Discworld series of novels, the "morphic resonance" is the tendency of a mind to remember, effectively, what shape it's body is. As a result, after one's death, it is "morphic resonance" that keeps the soul looking like the original body.

[TheVBs]

And more thanks for everyone who's shared their stories! I've really enjoyed reading them. For those of you who live with these activities in your home, I don't know how you do it! I would be a wreck.

This did remind me of something my dad experienced. He toured with a jazz band in the big band era (and before anyone ages me beyond my years, he was 50 when I was born!). We have a lot of his photos from that era, mostly with pretty girls. He was in a shop with a soda counter once and wanted to take a picture of the girl behind the counter. When he got his film developed in the next town they were in, he discovered that the only thing that showed up was the bow tie from her uniform. I actually have this picture somewhere. There's sort of a blur where the rest of her would be, and I would chalk it up to some kind of film problem, except that you can see the shelves continuing behind where she would have been standing! Still could be some kind of film/camera problem, I'm definitely not an expert. But, it was the only time it happened to him.

[Strmchsr]

As a pastor, I get asked this question a LOT, especially with the popularity of all of the paranormal shows. Aside from ghosts, people are wanting to know what happens when we die and I've done some pretty extensive biblical research on that subject.

My experience with the "paranormal" comes from a local group of paranormal researchers who have asked me to help them from time to time. They felt a pastor along could help in some situations, especially dealing with clients who have spiritual questions. I have been in more "haunted" places than I can count. I can say I've had a couple of experiences that would seriously freak you out, but those were not of the "friendly" nature. In general, though, I've never seen a single thing that convinces me that the spirit of a once living human was present. Having also been a scientist and meteorologist, I'm used to thinking scientifically about things you can't see. It's not provable yet, but I've become more convinced that "ghosts" are some kind of residual effect - that somehow an event, a person, an emotion gets imprinted on a sight or building and replays under certain conditions. 2000 years ago people thought lightning was caused by the gods chucking these bolts at us. Now we understand. I think the same thing will happen with "ghosts." I think there is something real going on, and I certainly believe in spiritual matters (obviously, given my occupation), but as for it being the spirit of a human, I'm highly skeptical of that and don't think it really matches the evidence.

[Janmac]

2000 years ago people thought lightning was caused by the gods chucking these bolts at us. Now we understand. I think the same thing will happen with "ghosts." I think there is something real going on, and I certainly believe in spiritual matters (obviously, given my occupation), but as for it being the spirit of a human, I'm highly skeptical of that and don't think it really matches the evidence.

I have used the same lightning analogy so it was interesting to read it in your post, Chris. With our limited senses of smell, hearing and sight, as well as nearly absent chemical and thermal senses, it's certain we miss out on much of what is going on around us. I also know that electricity and magnetism are flip sides of the same coin, so to speak, with emission of radio waves a requirement.

Thus when I have "known" things that were not yet told me about family members or very close friends, I figure there must be some sort of communication going on.

I too live in a house with areas that kids especially and a few adults like to avoid. I have heard voices, but never seen anything in 38 years.

Possibly the weirdest thing that has happened to me was outside, in the woods on the hill behind our house. I was walking near the fence line, checking it out, when I was practically assaulted by a feeling of good, for want of a better description. Powerful good. I looked at the ground around me and noticed a ring of stones, about fifteen feet in diameter. The rocks obviously had been in place awhile, judging by leaves, etc.

This stone ring seemed a bit too obvious - you see it in movies all the time - but there it was. I can recall hearing about a lot of places that have wrong feelings but not about right feeling places.

Jan

[TinkerbellT421]

I am loving reading all these stories and experiences with everyone and hearing everyone's opinions! Thank you all for responding.