Trippy Tale # 29..."Childhood Hauntings"

Hello and welcome back to the playhouse! I know my next entry was supposed to be a "true" story about a haunting in a public housing unit, but after some research, I discovered the story wasn't actually true, so that's out. I don't post creative writing. "Just the facts mamm!"  So in place of that, I've posted some spine-tingling tales that I think you'll like even better! They're stories of childhood hauntings that left a lasting impression! Enjoy!  :)

"A HAUNTED CHILDHOOD"

"When I was five, me, my one year old brother,and my mom & dad moved out of Atlanta to a suburb just northeast of the city. The house was your run of the mill, shoddily made Pulte home. It was two stories tall, had crappy siding made out of that material that rots really easily (don't know what it's called, but it's not wood) and was affordable for us as a middle-class family.
The first two weeks there, I had to sleep on the floor with nothing more than a blanket and a pillow until the third week when my mom finally bought me a bunk-bed.
It was the first night on this bunk-bed that I found myself randomly awoken around 12am for no particular reason. Light was shining under the door and someone was in the hall. Immediately after this, I looked up and across my barren room to see a tall, shadowy figure standing in the middle of the floor. Immediately, my heart froze.
Being deadly afraid of whatever "it" was, I turned around, put the blanket over my head, and and attempted to muster the courage to yell, for about an hour. Finally, I began hollering at the top of my lungs for one of my parents.
Suddenly, my dad busts in and sees me, I am utterly relieved. What he said next was something I did not need to hear.
"Did you see it too?" I sat there silently for a moment.
"No." I lied.
Either way, he slept on the top bunk, and startled, we both went back to sleep.
During my ten years in that house, we saw multiple "things." The worst one came some years later...I was sleeping on the couch beneath our balcony that overlooked the den and living room and saw two bright white heads, like children, staring down at me. I nearly crapped my pants.
The last thing I remember seeing, was a tall, slender shadow that moved along the wall and disappeared.
I went to school and checked out dozens of ghost books and studied them as much as possible. I then read somewhere that cats kept the "spirits" away, so I got two cats with my mom's permission. Believe it or not, this actually worked.
The last real thing that happened, as I remember, was someone whispering my name as I walked by the room where I had seen the "figure" and one of the cats walking out of a door purring as if someone had been playing with it followed by the door, which was hollow and made from balsa wood (thus physically impossible to slam), slamming violently, the cat didn't budge. Luckily, the entire family was there for that.
The worst part, was that it wasn't until we moved that my mom admitted to seeing those "things" too, she even named some of them that I hadn't had the courage to tell her about, but she never talked about it, so she didn't scare my brother. She was even more startled when she got the place tested for carbon monoxide, and came up short.
I talked to a friend years later and he said that it might have something to do with low wave frequencies and air pockets. I chocked it up to this, and to this day, I no longer believe in that stuff. However, there's no denying what we all saw and how creepy it was. I still have extremely vivid dreams about that place to this day and that dark shadowy figure standing in doorways,just staring at me in silence."

"BOO"

"When I was five, we lived in military housing out in Long Beach, California. My father was in the Navy and we moved around quite a bit. I have never forgotten this... There used to be an old lady that would appear at my bedroom window at night. It was so scary and all she ever said to me was "Boo!" She wore her grey hair in a bun and wore a high-necked old-fashioned greyish-blue dress. She also wore one of those old timey pink cameo necklaces. She was very old and it always frightened me to the point I wouldn't look out that window. It seemed that just looking out the window caused her to appear. I could see her plainly even though it was dark. It only happened at that place...I was glad when we moved on. I wonder why this happened? Was this a real ghost or just my imagination? Any ideas? I've always wondered about this and doubt it was some deranged neighbor since her dress was from the 1800's."

"Childhood Memory"

"I feel I should give you the background on my home first. The house is about 117 years old and I have lived in it my entire life. I would say the haunting started when I was about three years old. My mother told my I had an irrational fear of being alone upstairs and some times even being up stairs at all! When I was about 5, I remember things started to go missing and then turn up again in peculiar places. One incident, my mother had a jar of money that had vanished and a day later, I found it in my doll house, I had no idea how it got there. Along with things being misplaced, we heard disembodied voices, people whispering and my mother on several occasions, came to my comfort because she heard a child crying and assumed it was me, when in fact, it was not.

When I finally got my own room, I was moved into what I now call "the nightmare room". I called it this, because as the night went on and I stayed in this room, I started to develop a severe case of night terrors. Every night, I would wake up screaming from graphic gory dreams. I never watched horror movies as a child, so when I described the dreams in such detail to my mother, she was shocked. Eventually I was moved from the room and slowly. the night terrors stopped. But I kid you not, to this day, I sleep with a blanket over my head! I think the absolute scariest thing though, was when I was about eight...there had not been much activity in a while, and I was sound asleep when I felt the sensation of almost like someone gently tapping on my calf to get my attention. Well it was enough to get my attention! I opened my eyes and I saw a full body apparition of a young man by the end of my bed. I was so shocked that I just screamed at the top of my lungs, and just like that, it was gone, never to show itself to me again. As I got older, the activity slowed down, and now at the age of 20, they are almost never active. I don't know if they are just dormant or maybe they only show themselves to children. I guess I will never know. On a side note, in high school, one of my teacher happened to live in my house when she was young just for a short time. She confirmed that she too had heard things in the house and had small things go missing. Other than that tidbit, I know nothing about the history of my home, although I would love to some day find out."

~Queenie~

Trippy Tale # 28...More Personal Ghost Stories!

From "Paranormal Corner"

http://paranormal-corner.blogspot.com/2010/07/mystic-telephone-ringing-and-footsteps.html

"Mystic Telephone Ringing & Footsteps"

"When my partner and I lived in Tromsø, Norway, we lived in an old house with 4 floors, including the empty basement, the 1st floor where we lived, Our landlord apartment on the 2nd floor, and the empty 3rd floor attic apartment.

Most of the time the landlord was not there because he and his wife owned another house about 45 minutes away. One day the landlord came to our apartment to tell us that he and his wife were going to Finland for a few weeks to see family and he gave us his cell number in case of emergency. Now that cell phone was the only phone he had. He had no phone in his apartment, basement or the attic.

About a week into his trip, My partner and I started to hear a phone ring  and it sounded like it was coming from his apartment on the 2nd floor. We both heard footsteps coming from the 2nd floor as well. However, when we went up to the 2nd floor all the doors were shut and locked. As soon as we would go back down stairs to our apartment we would once again hear a phone-ring, but with a different ring tone than what we were used to hear from the landlords cell, and hear foot steps. This continued everyday for another week and before called the landlord in Finland to tell him what we were experiencing. 

To our surprise, he informed us that he too had heard footsteps and a phone-ringing when his apartment had no one in it. He also informed us that he himself hears footsteps and mystic phone ringings that seem to be coming from his kitchen, steps or the attic while he is there. However, when he walks into the kitchen or up the attic he sees no one.

Hearing a phone-ring and hearing footsteps continued on and off until we moved out about three years later."

From Yahoo Answers:

"Questions Answered"

"My husband's best friend had been killed in a drunk driving accident, and for months, my husband was tormented as to whether or not his friend had suffered, or was ok wherever he was. One night, while we were staying at his parents' ranch where he grew up, he woke me up with tears streaming down his face. He had just gotten up to use the restroom, and saw something move outside the window. There was his friend, smiling at him and waving. His friend then turned and walked into the darkness. He has been at peace with it ever since then. He said it scared him at first, but his friend didn't look any different, and he felt his friend was trying to tell him it was ok, that he was alright wherever he was. After that, whenever we stayed there, I refused to get up at night to use the bathroom!" :)

"Grumpy Ghost"

"I once lived in an old farmhouse that I now call "The Black House" because of the feeling of dread always present and the things that happened there. My niece was spending the night with me (which she never would do again, in fact) and woke me at midnight asking who the man was that was sitting next to her on the couch? She was very frightened and said that our dog was curled up on the chair staring at him, and she knew it wasn't my son or anyone she had ever seen before. Obviously, there was no one there when I checked. She immediately begged me to call her mom to pick her up NOW. Shortly after wards I felt a "shove" on my back and fell forward down the staircase. I moved shortly after this!"

"Previous Tenant"

"when I moved into my house, my friend and I were upstairs and we happened to look downstairs. We saw a man walk past the staircase. My mom was visiting, so I asked her who had come with her, and she said "No one." Later that day, we were going through pictures the previous owner left behind, and we found a picture of the man! I guess he lived in the house before we did."

"Childhood Fear"

"Things came alive for me at night - not all nights, but enough - and there were many things I found terrifying.
The china doll (an angel) that stood beside my bed - I can vividly remember her turning her head to stare into my eyes. The worst, for me, was on the rare occasions where I was convinced she'd moved her fingers.
And then there were the mirrors. I hated those mirrors! There were two on either side of the wall and so they reflected against each other and I was convinced I could (and terrified I would) find my way in.
But worst of all, was when my name was called. The voice came (a man’s voice - smooth) whenever I was particularly on edge. It was infuriating – I knew what made the voice come, but the harder I tried to calm down, the more worked up I would get. I didn’t dare look in the mirrors while he was calling my name, I ran as fast I could back to my bed where I would lie and wonder what would happen if I didn’t. I never did try to find out!"

From Socyberty-Paranormal Experiences:



"Great Granny's Late-Night Visitor"

"I am not sure if I really remember seeing this or remember being told about it. Either way, this was my first paranormal experience.

In 1964, I was five years old. My great grandmother came to stay with us while my maternal grandparents took a much-needed vacation. They were her caregivers.
Granny slept in the same room with me. We had two twin beds.
One morning at breakfast, she told my mother about a women knocking on our bedroom window during the night. She said the women wanted her to climb out the window and join her. My mother laughed and told her it was a dream. The next day Granny died in my mother’s arms. Could this have been the Angel of Death calling for her, the ghost of a loved one or as my mother thought a simple dream?"

"A TRUE HAUNTING"

The True Story Of A Single Mom Who Experienced A Haunting In A Public Housing Unit

~Queenie~

Trippy Tale # 27..."Haunted Cemeteries...Yay or Nay??"

Hello & welcome back to the playhouse!


Today, I'm asking the question...

 "Can cemeteries be haunted?"

While it is my own personal belief that pretty much anywhere can be haunted if the circumstances are right, I have chosen to include the opinion of someone with a little more "authority" on the subject, Mr. Kenneth Biddle, from "PIRA" ("Paranormal Investigators & Research Association") ....

Cemeteries…Haunted? Why? by Kenny Biddle PIRA

"Recently, I read an article in which an investigator is asked about misconceptions of hauntings. This investigator says he "laughs when I hear about people going to graveyards to find ghosts. Why in the world would a graveyard be haunted?" Why? Why not?
Let's look at a simple response to that question. Why would a ghost haunt anywhere? If there is an afterlife, it's gotta be more interesting then here. But come on, this is not a science with clear-cut rules. The habits and traits of ghosts can change with every case, with every sighting. Cases differ from residual haunting to interactive spirits, all the way to footsteps that go from the second floor to the third but then one night they are heard going from the third to the second. Who knows why that ghost changed its mind? My point here is that ghosts are absolutely the hardest things to predict.
So why in the world would a ghost be hanging out in a cemetery? For starters, let's think about our relatives that have passed on. For many of us, we know that they are buried at -fill in the blank- cemetery. This is also the place we go to visit them, leave flowers or little reminders, to talk to them and to show kids and grandkids that this is where we remember them. Oh we still follow our religious beliefs and say that they are in a better place, but we still associate that grave with the deceased. Well, while we're there, we're putting out emotional energy. Tons of it! Remembering the good times, wishing they could've been hear for some event, missing them. That's a lot of energy, and I would think that that might draw the spirits to us. It would be like a family reunion. Assuming that they can see each other, I would expect grandparents that have passed on to act just as they did while they were alive, showing off their grandkids to other spirits!
Another reason could be that a cemetery might become something like a social gathering. "How could that be?" you say. Well, let's say that spirits, those that are free, can and do see one another. Many cemeteries are quite beautiful. So after a visit from the family, these spirits may decide to stick around and just enjoy the scenery. You might laugh at this, but who are we to decide what spirits do? They act as we do, by doing what THEY want, not what we think they should.
But, you may still persist, why would the same ghost haunt the same cemetery, night after night? Well, to be perfectly honest with you, I don't know. Who does? Not any of us living, that's for sure. Maybe its because of some of the things I mentioned above, or perhaps they just like to sit and watch people walking about or the cars pass by. I have had the good fortune, as well as others in my group, to witness one such ghost. In the Forest Hills Cemetery in northeast Philadelphia, I have seen the apparition of a man I have nicknamed "Abe." This is due to his appearance each time he has been sighted by me, as well as the others I have worked with. He is always seen in a tux, complete with a top hat. He has been seen during several investigations and also reported by residents in the area. E-mail from these residents express relief that they are not the "only ones to see this man." This is why I believe that cemeteries are indeed "haunted." Perhaps they are not haunted, but visited. Our research so far has turned up a possible ID on the apparition, but I cannot reveal it out of respect to his still living wife and family. That there may be why he stays, he's waiting until the day his wife joins him and they can both move on together.
One last theory as to why a cemetery may be haunted is that this is a spirit's physical connection to this life, on this world. The headstone may be the only memory of them that we have. Don't get me wrong, I know that they live in our hearts and we remember them through pictures and videos and even letters they wrote. What I'm saying is, this is how I remember them. When I walk into an old cemetery for the first time, I know nothing about it. After spending several hours there, I begin to recognize names and dates from constantly wondering around. If something happens, I write down the headstone that is closest to me, and to where it happened. After my visit, I know a half dozen people who lived a hundred or more years ago. I know who they were married to and when they were born. I even talk to them when I'm sitting, like many of us do, for the hours during the ghost hunt.
So, can cemeteries be haunted? I would have to say yes, but not every one of them, and not all of the time. I have been in a few that showed no results what-so-ever. Maybe I'll go back at a later time, but it's not on my to-do list. When you get into this field, you need to have an open mind. You also need to be skeptical, but above all else, try not to get tunnel vision. This means don't laugh at people just because they have a different view or a different idea of how something works. Especially when dealing with the UNKNOWN."

Kenny B.
PIRA





And now, for some super-scarifying photos from my own BFF, Pamela Lynn Miller-Bass!

Pam sent me these photos last week, after a trip to the graveyard in Warwick, Georgia, where she was sharpenin' up her photography skills.

 Seems she had visitors!

 In Pam's own words: " I was practicing my photography in the cemetery up the street from here. The sun was down and the moon was out. I believe I had visitors who saw me taking pics and wanted to come out and play!"

Judging from these photos...I'd have to agree!

~Queenie~