For jaxsue - My brother's "ghost story"

[Vegemite Girl]

We have varying degrees of it in our family. It comes from my Mother's Irish side, apparently. Her Grandfather used to see 'people who weren't there'. The way it's described I think he saw visions of future people/events, etc, instead of ghosts. My Gran has often seen things (she once saw her stepson leaning out of a window of their two storey house, beckoning to her. She went inside and he was nowhere to be found... at that exact same time he was actually at school, crying for her, as he'd suffered an injury and was in a fair bit of pain). She also 'just knows' things sometimes.

My Brother has seen a ghost, and has had a few weird experiences (mostly centered on a bedroom in my parent's house that he inhabited for a while - I swapped with him for a year and also had odd things happen there). My Sister used to see and converse with dead people when she was younger but it scared her as she got older and so she has shut it out altogether. She's now 19 and insists she can't do it anymore, but I wonder if that's true. I would be sceptical of her mediumship if it wasn't for an incident that happened when she was small. An acquaintance of my parents stalked Mum for a while, eventually tapering off about the time little Sister was born. Not long after he died Little Sis, then a toddler (she had never met this man and had no knowledge of him) told Mum about the man who had come into her room at night, sat on her bed, and told her to "say sorry to your Mum for me." She described him accurately.

I don't have it anywhere as strongly as the rest of them. I get feelings occasionally but they are usually either about little, inconsequential things (eg. I have a strong urge to take cash with me, and doing so makes my trip more convenient in some way) and when it is about bigger things it's often vague (eg. I knew my Brother, then heavily involved with drugs, was going to come out of his addiction OK. I didn't know how, though - I just had the feeling that whatever 'snapped him out of it' was going to be traumatic, and would work. I was right on both counts). I have had a vision once (my future children) and I've never seen a ghost, although I regularly see people out of the corner of my eye (that comes and goes, though). As a child I would hear voices of people who weren't there and smell things that weren't there, and I have dreamt of places before I saw them. That's not regular, though.

The only other person on our extended family with any kind of 'ability' is Mum. She has visions, has seen ghosts, and gets accurate feelings (we've tested these with lotto tickets. She can't predict what the numbers will be, but giver her a ticket and she'll tell you if it will win a prize. Her success rate is almost 100%, but of course the prizes are always small. She does insist she's destined to win one day though!  ) As a youngster she says she regularly saw visions of 3 kids - an older girl and boy and a much younger girl (the same configuration as my siblings and I). She is usually bang on with character assessment within a few minutes of meeting someone. I grew up with this as normal but I soon learnt to shut up about it. It's nice to know we're not as weird as I thought we were 

[housewife2k]

Everyone and anyone in my families of origin who had any gifts, and talked about the, were female. Specificaly, the first born female each generation for my dad's side . Great Grandma, Grandma, Oldest paternal Aunt, and Me. Female causin born eight years after me, nada.
On my mom's side, it's the left handed and ambidextrous females who prominantly display. Gramma, Auntie, me. My sister was has a really tough time whenever they change her meds, because she knows the little old lady in her breakfast nook is always there, but she can only talk to her when in an inbetween state, med wise. The little old lady told my sister the first time her medications went out of whack. Everyone outside of my family assumes it's because my sisters bipolar, but I have met the little old lady, she is nice, a grandma type spirit, who just wants to make sure sis is safe.
In Hubby's family, it's his mom, him and BIL all the way. Apparently Hubby's grandma was very gifted, but other than that, it isn't discussed.
I have three boys, and all three of them have strong talents, some convergent, some totally different. Frightening strong at times, though.

[Vegemite Girl]

My DH doesn't have it at all - he calls me a kook (lovingly, of course!). His entire family is a bit lacking in both emotion and this kind of thing (I've noticed that people who have it tend to be more empathetic than usual - is that your experience?) My mother insists DD2 has it. Mum says once when she was babysitting DD2 (a few months old at the time) she kept looking at something, concentrating, laughing, and then glancing at Mum. I'm not convinced, though; I've not seen any signs either DD has it. My Dad's family doesn't have it either.

In terms of explaining it, I lean towards it being a natural talent, like being able to sing in tune. Some people are born with perfect pitch, some people can be trained to sing, and others will always be tone deaf.

[LiveLoveLearn]

Ok I think it's early enough in the day to share a haunting story.  I have more around this particular house than I can remember, and many that I try not to, but here goes nothing.  (As I write this, I shiver.  Include background, it's pretty long)

My grandparents lived in a house in a historic district of the town I grew up in.  Most of the houses were from the 1800's, however, their house had been built around 1920 if I recall.  From what I was told, it was a replica of the house that had stood there and may have used the same foundation, I'm not sure.  I don't remember ever being told what happened to the first house but I do remember comming to the conclusion that it had burnt down.  It's 4 story Victorian with a dirt cellar (bottom floor, which was half-underground and contained utilities, half bath and storage), the first floor which had a sitting room, full bath, kitchen, formal dining, formal living room, foyer and long hallway with the grand staircase.  The second floor had a master bedroom with attached nursery, 3 small bedrooms and a full bath, and then the third floor was a full attic with two bedrooms, giant playroom and half bath.  It had extensive built-ins throughout all levels and there was at least one passage (I was never brave enough to look for more).  A greenhouse ran from the celler up to the second floor along the corner of the house by the kitchen.  It also had a fully enclosed back porch.

Anyway, this house was evil.  It terrified me when I was young, although as I got older I learned to deal with it and just trust when I felt something was off.  On an early occasion, I was playing by the grand staircase.  Between the celler level and first level, there was a landing with a side door, and I would often play on the stairs between the door and the first floor.  I was playing with barbies and I started hearing voices in the cellar, arguing.  I thought it was my grandparents, although I'd never heard them argue.  They'd been in the kitchen and since you can access the cellar through the greenhouse from there, I didn't think much of it.  Until the voices got closer to the cellar door.  They were not human.  I remember being frozen in fear as I listened to them coming closer and closer, grumbling something I couldn't understand in these voices that sounded like a mix between a cat talking and a cow.  I thought they were coming for me and I couldn't move, I couldn't talk, couldn't scream.  The doorknob to the cellar started glowing red and I was in full panic inside.  I was probably around 6 at the time and didn't know quite what was going on, but I knew how evil it felt.

Someone pulled into the drive, roaring past the side door, and everything went still for a moment.  The air was hot but it was quiet.  As the side door opened, the feeling of evil vanished, the doorknob stopped glowing, and the air got very, very cold.  My uncle, who was in college, came through the door and saw me there and just took me up to the kitchen.  I never told anyone about this but my mom's mom knew the house was 'off' and my mom always believed what I did tell her, so I'd imagine it wasn't a secret that something went on there.

I don't know much about my Scottish side, although the extensive geneology exists.  I know that the highland clan we are from is known for being sensitive and especially for having second sight and I've read much folklore about 'us'.  The name often makes it into fiction where a sensitive Scott is involved.  I never met my grandfather's mother but I think there's a very good reason that her picture was in the hallway with the grand staircase.  Most of my enounters in the house centered around the celler, master bedroom (which wasn't used as such), the attic and the staircase.  I've never researched what happened to the first house on that property but as I've found the courage to share one of the worst stories, perhaps I'll find the courage to look into it.  If anyone knows where to start researching that sort of thing, can you PM me?

[housewife2k]

My DH doesn't have it at all - he calls me a kook (lovingly, of course!). His entire family is a bit lacking in both emotion and this kind of thing (I've noticed that people who have it tend to be more empathetic than usual - is that your experience?) My mother insists DD2 has it. Mum says once when she was babysitting DD2 (a few months old at the time) she kept looking at something, concentrating, laughing, and then glancing at Mum. I'm not convinced, though; I've not seen any signs either DD has it. My Dad's family doesn't have it either.

In terms of explaining it, I lean towards it being a natural talent, like being able to sing in tune. Some people are born with perfect pitch, some people can be trained to sing, and others will always be tone deaf.

That is a good analogy. And sometimes, the people who have the talents don't want them, and the people who desperately want them will never have them.

I also agree with the empathy and emotion side of things.

[Brentwood]

I don't keep mirrors in my bedroom, nor my boys bedrooms. The only mirror, that isn't part of a compact or toy, in my house is in th bathroom. I just am really uncomfortable with them at night. Mirrors are portals, I believe I've stated my feelings on that here before.

I firmly blieve that buildings pick up the personalities/feelings/emotions that are in them. If many bad things happen in a building, the building has a bad feeling.

I have a whole slew of stories, but I am not sure which ones I want to post, and which ones I have already posted.

I wrote a story called "Fiona's Mirror." I guess the mirror in that story was a portal of sorts. It's not scary, though.

[Stormtreader]

LiveLoveLearn, I wonder if maybe they were goblins? They are supposed to have screechy/growly voices, be quarrelsome, and live underground.

[Sandi Papaya]

I should also mention that when my grandparents moved out of their house, it was sold to a Chinese family, who performed some traditional Chinese ritual (or maybe a series of them, I'm not sure) to rid the house of any spirits.

When they did this, the ghosts in the house (there were several different ones) moved next door. The neighbors in that house are longtime friends of my family. One day my aunt got a call from the wife, asking about the stories we had about hauntings in my grandparents' house. My aunt described some of the incidents we'd been through - mysterious voices, faces in mirrors, doors slamming by themselves, temperatures in one room (or one spot in the room) dropping appreciably, apparitions, etc.

When my aunt finished, the lady exclaimed, "But that's some of what I've been going through!" She called up a medium, who told her that when the neighbors had done their ritual to rid their house of lingering spirits, the spirits in my grandparents' house needed to find another place to take up residence - so they chose Tim and Monique's house. Monique's husband, Tim, thought she was crazy (of course).

The medium did a psychic cleansing and the spirits haven't been back since. I don't know why we never did the same thing.

[Brentwood]

As long as we're on the subject -

My husband and I bought our first house in 1998. The minute I stepped into the house, I felt as if I were "home." I felt warm, cozy, and safe there. I knew it was the house for us. I had to have it.

We had to move two years later when my husband got a promotion that brought us to Idaho. I always got the feeling the house didn't want us to leave (I know, I know...). In the 7-1/2 years since we left, there have been at least four other owners. In my more sentimental moments, I wonder if the house isn't driving people away, hoping we will come back.

The neighbors across the street were good friends of ours. We were all around the same age with kids around the same ages, and we got together often. The wife and I took our kids for walks in their strollers nearly every nice day, and we were always dropping in on each other for coffee and whatnot. She told me years later that she'd never been able to develop a friendship with anyone who moved into the house after us.

Coincidences? Probably.

But maybe houses do have personalities and powers.

[Sandi Papaya]

As long as we're on the subject -

My husband and I bought our first house in 1998. The minute I stepped into the house, I felt as if I were "home." I felt warm, cozy, and safe there. I knew it was the house for us. I had to have it.

We had to move two years later when my husband got a promotion that brought us to Idaho. I always got the feeling the house didn't want us to leave (I know, I know...). In the 7-1/2 years since we left, there have been at least four other owners. In my more sentimental moments, I wonder if the house isn't driving people away, hoping we will come back.

The neighbors across the street were good friends of ours. We were all around the same age with kids around the same ages, and we got together often. The wife and I took our kids for walks in their strollers nearly every nice day, and we were always dropping in on each other for coffee and whatnot. She told me years later that she'd never been able to develop a friendship with anyone who moved into the house after us.

Coincidences? Probably.

But maybe houses do have personalities and powers.

YES! The neighbors who moved into my grandparents' didn't last long. There have been a couple other owners since the house sold 5-6 years ago;  my grandparents were tenants all the years they lived there, but my family has talked about buying the house between several family members to get back our "birthright" (yes, I know it's not really our birthright, but the house was where I and all my cousins grew up; this house was "home base" for our entire family).

Now that the housing bubble has burst and housing prices are falling sharply, we're talking about it more than ever. My brother still works in our hometown, so occasionally he'll swing by and check to see if there are any "For Sale" signs outside the house. It's probably a pipe dream, but my brother, my cousin Robb and I all dream of being able to go back there. For all the spirit activity, that house was home for us. The spirits never, ever harmed us and we all got pretty used to them - they'd irritate us from time to time, but never harmed us.

Every time I go back to my hometown and see the house, with different paint colors, different cars in the drive, etc, I can't help but feel the house is as sad as I am.

[Morrigan]

To all the PPs who have remarked on people in their families with a certain sensitivity to otherworldly things or supernatural abilities, I find it interesting that it's almost always the females in the family who seem to possess this.

In my family, there's a marked sensitivity to these things among the females as well. Both of my mom's sisters, and my mom herself, have this to some degree. My mom has an uncanny ability to "see" the future, or to predict the outcome of almost any given situation. Part of it is her keen sense of observation, but there's a definite element of "the otherworldly" to some of her predictions.

I'm pretty sensitive to ghosts and spirits, and have often had spirits "attach" themselves to me. My grandmother (the same one who I'm sure is watching over me now, although she's been gone from this world for six months) lived in a haunted house for many years, and even when I wasn't in that particular house (for example, when I was in college, hundreds of miles away), things happened to me that had no "normal" explanation, and at times, I had the sense of a very familiar "presence" in the same room with me when I was ostensibly alone, one that I'd felt at my grandparents' house.

I've never checked with any of my female cousins about if they'd ever seen or felt anything. They don't seem to be particularly sensitive to the otherworldly, though. I think I'm the most "in tune" with that out of my cousins because I don't put much stock in the material (especially in material possessions, which they are obsessed with).

In my family, it's from my mother's side.  A real psychic, years ago, told them all some very strange, and very true things.  One thing (not relate to that, though) was that my mother is a Nurse of Souls.  My Aunts are all specific things-and each thing relates to how people treat them-like my mother.  Strangers, everywhere, just come up to her and start telling her their problems.  Very odd.

My two brothers and I are all sensitive, though.

[Suze]

A gentleman that sells crystals at our local Ren Fair told my friend and I that we are "medicine twins"  I seem to be her "battery back-up" when we are together thinking about the same thing the power levels go up drasticly.  I tend to tap into the power of earth.

He sells the most gourgous Herkimer Diamonds. He has his own mine in Herkimer, and those stones "feel" so soft and wonderfull.  I always manage to bring home one or two every year.

I have watched him give away stones and also if he "sees" someone coming pocket a stone or two out of the cases and put them back after they leave. (a couple of those people set off my "creep-o-meter")

and I have also seen him not even looking up from paperwork or busy work reach out and hand his wife a stone and point.  He invited me once to his mine and told me that I would propably find quite a few drop into my hands.  He called me a "still pesonality" whatever that means.

[Gyro Widget]

Well I've been reluctant to post this but I think I will mention it now.  I may have posted it before.. I cannot remember exactly if I have or not... what I do remember exactly was the event in question. 

A year ago I was with my fiancee (he is now my ex) and we were house shopping.  We bought a ranch style bungalow in the middle of nowhere and at first we were happy.  We could watch the fire flies at night and have our own campfires... it was perfect. 

One night however, my ex was outside taking out the trash to the end of the driveway for the next morning while I was in the house, tending to whatever cleaning I had to do at the time.  Well, I walked out the long hallway in our home, and past our master bedroom, where I could see the closet from the hallway.  There I saw what I thought was Jon standing up in the closet, with his back turned to me.  I started to make a joke - "Jon, what the hell are you doing in... the....?".  At that moment I realized it wasn't my fiancee and I began to run to the door and scream for him.  He asked me what was going on when he came inside and I told him.  I wouldn't go in the room to check to see if "it" was still there without him.  Sure enough.... everything was fine.  My ex dismissed it as me being dramatic and just seeing things.... he never believed in such foolishness. 

However a few weeks later he called me while I was on my way home, shaken up.  He was walking out in the garage and thought he had seen a reflection of himself, however it wasn't him at all.  It was the same tall, broad man. 

When I bought my dog, he wouldn't even go into half of the house.  Seriously, the dog would not step foot in the last two bedrooms of the house... he wouldn't even walk to the end of the hallway.  One night I wanted to see what he was crying about whenever I walked into the last room, so I picked him up and brought him in with me.  He began to cry wildly and ran out to the living room. 

I was happy when I took my dog and left that place. 


Another story:  Now I know I posted this years ago on e-hell in a similar thread.  This spirit was seen standing over me by someone else... 

I had gotten severe abdominal pains and managed to get myself to the hospital because I was collapsing in pain.  My ex (same guy as before) basically dumped me at that point because it was too much trouble for him to drive me to the hospital.  At the time, I was very young and away at university, with no family or close friends in the town.  So naturally, I was very scared in the hospital because they told me I was going to need an IV with morphine (the first time ever). 

I was watching the nurse that was tending to me walk back and forth, getting all the medicine ready for me and tending to other patients.  When she walked by the last time, she came to an abrupt halt and then came to my bed. 

She asked me "Is your father around?"

I answered "No? Why are you asking?"

She then replied "So strange... he isn't deceased is he?"  To which I told her with a bit of alarm, that no, he was on the other side of the Province.  I wanted to call him at that point to make sure he was okay. 

The nurse then told me why she asked me such an odd question.  She could have sworn that there was a tall, heavy man, dressed in all black standing next to my bed a few minutes ago. 

I must remind you at this point in the story that there was no IV in my arm yet and thus, no morphine in my system to cause me to hallucinate the conversation. 

[emmeileia]

Great stories, keep them coming!

I have had a few minor experiences of my own. When I was growing up I would often 'hear' someone shouting my name, only not with my physical ears...it is a little hard to describe. Also I would often see dark shadowy people-shaped things watching me out of the corner of my eyes. They have never felt threatening, and I have been told that they are ancestral spirits watching over me.
I have also been told that I have many spirits who like me and watch out for me. No one has been able to explain why, but apparently I just have a good 'vibe' to them.
Now on to my ghost stories

When I was in university six of my friends and I rented an old house on the main road from the campus. It had a wonderful welcoming feeling and we all felt at home there for the three years we lived in it. Odd things would sometimes happen there, but only if you were alone. One Christmas break my roomate who lived on the main floor at the bottom of the first staircase (there were two, a main stair and a servants stair) was in his room typing up and essay when he heard someone walk down the stairs and knock on his door. He thought one of us had come home unexpectedly so he opened his door, but no one was there. He shrugged it off and closed the door, but it swung open again. He tried this a few times, finally proping the door shut with his laundry basket. The door opened again, pushing his (full) laundry basket with it!
I had my own experience in that house. I was staying alone there over the summer working. I am a bit of a night owl, so at about 430 in the morning I was on my computer, and I got up to go to the washroom. I had to walk by the upper end of the servants staircase to get to the wasrhoom and as I passed it I heard footsteps downstairs as well as a rustling sound, like someone turning the pages of a newspaper. I was SCARED. I thought someone must have broken in! I ran back to my room, locked the door and picked up a big piece of wood I used to prop open my window. I waited up there till after dawn, but I did not hear any more noises so I went downstairs to investigate...all the windows were unbroken, and had been painted shut so it was impossible to open them. The doors were also locked. I was a little nervous staying home alone after that.

Also, when I was out in BC tree planting we were on a clearcut in the middle of nowhere (literally forest for miles around us with no trails) and we heard the sounds of children playing in the woods. Creepy...

[Vegemite Girl]

I have had a few minor experiences of my own. When I was growing up I would often 'hear' someone shouting my name, only not with my physical ears...it is a little hard to describe. Also I would often see dark shadowy people-shaped things watching me out of the corner of my eyes. They have never felt threatening,

I have had/do have the same things.