Question of the Day, Wednesday July 20, 2016

OH...HI!  It's that time of week again.  So...on with the question!

How much wood could a woodchuck chu....wait...wrong question....

Oh, yeah....Do you believe in ghosts and what do you think they are?

I do.  I believe that in some cases, the consciousness of the person who has died remains.  It can happen for a number of reasons, one of which is unfinished, urgent business.

I also believe in what are called "residual" hauntings, where something so intense and profound happened that it became imprinted on the environment, and replays, rather like a video disk.  Also in this groups are places like prisons and some hospitals, where there has been so much negative emotion that that becomes imprinted on the place itself.=, although there may not be a replay of any specific event.

I don't believe in ghosts......but I'm afraid of them (and yeah, I know how much sense that makes). I'm the one who tucks her feet under the covers every night before I go to sleep. Now I know there's nothing in the bedroom that can grab my foot. But I also know that if I keep my feet tucked under the covers, that "nothing" in the bedroom will never grab my foot. (See what I mean?) I've read too many Stephen King books.

During the time we lived in this one house years ago, my grandmother would come down and spend the day with me. I'd go get her early in the morning and bring her to my house. We'd bake together, I'd make a nice supper, and then Rick and I would take her home. After Grandma died, sometimes I would hear her calling me, esp if I was in the kitchen. She wasn't upset; she just wanted my attention for something. I'd just hear "Pam!" every once in a while. Whether it was something in the walls from her being in the house or what, I have no idea. It was definitely her.

She gave me a gorgeous antique mirror that's now in our hallway. One night, I woke up and she was standing in the bedroom. She started yelling at me because the mirror was dusty. "I didn't raise you to be that way! Now you get out of that bed right now and clean that mirror!" Mumbling, "Yes, ma'am," I got my butt out of bed, got the glass cleaner out and wiped down the mirror. Rick woke up and wondered what the heck I was doing. I told him that Grandma told me I had to clean the mirror. Evidently, it made perfect sense to him because he muttered something (probably about his wife), rolled over and went back to sleep. I clean that mirror every week, BTW. I just do.

And very early one morning, I awakened to see an elderly woman, with an apron!, sitting on the edge of Rick's side of the bed. She had her arm across Rick. She saw me looking at her and she smiled at me. Stood up, smoothed down her dress, walked to the foot of the bed and disappeared. It was Rick's paternal grandmother; I'd know that nose anywhere!   I only ever saw her that one time after she passed. Wasn't scared at all; in fact, I felt pretty good about the whole thing.

And I've seen Hydrox, The Old Coot. Sometimes, if I'm lying just so on the bed, I'll see him out of the corner of my eye. He'll come walking in the bedroom door, walk along the length of the bed to the foot of the bed, turn the corner, and then he's gone. I've also seen HYdrox walk back the hallway when I'm in the bathroom drying my hair. I usually dry my hair with a blow dryer, while I'm standing bent over. Again, I'll see him out of the corner of my eye; if I try to look straight at him, he goes away. I mentioned it to Dear Richard one time and he just kind of looked at me with that, "Uh huh, whatever" kind of look. But then a couple weeks after I told him that Hydrox was in the house, he said to me, "I saw him. Hydrox. I saw him. He walked into the bedroom." We haven't seen him for a while now; maybe he was just trying to let us know that he was OK. It's definitely him....he's the only black cat we've ever had.

I want to believe but I've never actually seen or felt anything that has convinced me ghosts exist. You'd think that living in this little house in the middle of The Suicide Forest and going through all those long walks alone in the woods I'd have seen something by now, but I never have. 

I keep an open mind though

I have serous doubts but I won't say they don't exist.  Some people think if something can't be proven then it doesn't exist.  I don't go that far, if it can't be proven that something doesn't exist then maybe it does.

I don't know if this counts but my mother came back to me the morning of her death-I was staring out the window at the hospice and she came back to me in a split second waving and smiling wearing her pink shirt and poof I haven't seen her since. She came back to tell me she made it to heaven and was happy and whole again. I seriously doubt I imagined it. I spoke to the staff there and they said it's very common. So yes I believe in my mother's spirit but never seen anyone else's ghost.

I believe in ghosts.. I really do. I know this sounds as if it is a story a kid would tell but:

When I was little girl, we were living with my uncle in the old family home, like an old farmhouse. I used to wake up in the middle of the night and see 1-3 shadowy figures in the doorway of my bedroom. I would sit up in bed and stare at them. They were just there watching me. Some nights, my mom would come to check on me. Sometimes she caught me sitting up in bed, sleeping. I always had to sleep with a night light because for some reason I was afraid of my bedroom. I always had a cold feeling in there. It was my grandmothers bedroom, and she died in her room...found that out many, many years later..as an older adult.

I also used to 'feel' something touch me during the night. I used to cover up, over my head, afraid to move. I would scream for my mother, but it always happened. 

The one and only time I stayed over my aunts house, I was sleeping on the sofa bed in the den. I honestly felt something rub me up and down my leg.. I was terrified. I was older then. Old enough to rationalize, but I was so scared, I screamed for my aunt. She came running, blamed her son for the touching me. My cousin, was obviously woken up from his sleep by my screaming. He denied it for years that he touched me. 

Turned out, many years later, I found out my Aunts house was indeed haunted. I always had a cold feeling and eventually refused to go into many rooms in her house.

When my aunt and uncle were on vacation, my dad would go over to check the house to make sure it was ok. One time, he felt something in there, got the weirdest cold, feeling---really scared him. I do not know if he saw anything--he never told me. From that point on, He refused to go in the house when it was not occupied by people. 

My aunt finally told me about her 'ghost'. It was a man, dressed in black with a white shirt and a black sweater. He would come to hang around every once in a while. Her attic door used to fly open, even though it was latched closed, the dishes in her dish drain used to rattle--even her son heard that and believed it was haunted. 

They even heard someone walking in the attic. 

My other cousin used to have the same cold feelings when he went over to visit them. 

He did some research and said that 3 people died on that property, many many years before they built the house there. 

On a different note, that property originally belonged to my dad. He was going to build a house for us there, but he ended up selling it to my aunt and uncle. I am so glad he did. 

I have other stories I could share. For some reason, I am kind of instinctive to where a house is 'cold' or not... I can feel a presence of some kind. 

My dad believed in ghosts also. 

I swear, when I broke my arm, I was not on narcotics that night. I was sleeping in my dad's lift chair. He passed away 7 months before. Artie was curled up and sleeping on my lap. In the middle of the night, I swear I heard my dad moving in his bed! I mean it! as if he was turning over... I heard the clang of the bed springs (hospital bed). The first time, I kept my eyes closed. I heard it again, finally opening my eyes and staring in the direction of the sound, my dads bedroom..  The last time was the loudest. I opened my eyes, Artie Jumped up in my lap and looked directly at my dad's bedroom. I honestly believe my dad was telling me he was there with me. He always told me he would never leave me....

So, to answer the question again, I do believe in ghosts, spirits, .........

I have had other experiences also.

When my aunt downsized, she moved into a second story apartment in a very old house in a neighboring town. She always came to my parents for Sunday dinner after my uncle passed. One day we were all there for dinner and I could tell something was bothering her. She had told Mom about this right after she moved into the apartment and she then told my sister and me.

It seems that there was a man in the apartment who used to come out of the bedroom closet during the night. He would awaken her and she said they would have conversations about all kinds of stuff. He was not harmful or malicious. He simply wanted to talk. He didn't show up every night, but pretty often, from the way she talked about him. 

Whether it was really true or not, we have no idea. She developed dementia before she passed away and she wouldn't make much sense about anything. But the talk about the man in her bedroom started right after she moved into the apartment; she was very coherent at that time. She used to complain to my mother quite a bit about him. She needed her sleep, she was really tired some nights.

After she died, my sister and I had to clean out her apartment and it took us a long time to get it done. She and I would often end up there late into the evening and a couple of times, we purposely went back to the bedroom and sat down on the bed, staring at the closet door. Of course, nothing ever happened, but maybe we weren't there late enough at night. We would have probably pooped our knickers if a man would have come out of the closet! 

I love this question. So very interesting!

The funny part is I never saw mom again after June 14 2008. She was only gone about 6-7 hours later when I saw her. I can still see it as if it was clear as day. The field. Her smile. My tears of happiness. The night before she was restless because she was haunted that she may not go to heaven. She never was a believer but I told her that with all the bullcrap she put up with from my dad that she WILL go to heaven. He didn't deserve her. I never seen someone treat someone so horribly. He is lucky I even talk to him.

All I can say is she loved him even to the end. She wanted me to flip him the bird on her final breathe but soon she started crying and said she couldn't do it that she still loved him. My mom no longer suffers and I am glad she is in a better place. I still miss her but so glad she doesn't have to put up with him anymore. Sorry this is a sore subject with me. I love my dad but I deplore his actions against my mother then in the same breathe proclaim how he can't stop thinking about her and how much he misses her. Makes my head spin.  

I don't really believe in ghosts, but I would like to. I love the idea of them and I love hearing people's stories. I like watching movies and TV shows about them too.

I don't believe in ghost because I never seen one. My sister, brother and mother claim they have.  

My mother got mad at my brother and sister last year and she said she was going to come back and haunt them after she died. She passed away in October and she never came back to haunt them. That just proves to me that there are no ghost.

Glad you're enjoying this one.  I've seen and heard them, as well.  There are two spirit cats that share my apartment, and play with Hekitty.  I hope they come with me when I move downstairs.  Hekitty would miss the company.

@Winchester, your answer really ticked me.  You see them, hear them, take instructions on housekeeping from them, but you don't believe in them?  C'mon,...who you foolin' here, Girl?

I've never actually seen one.However, within 6 months of my Mother passing away, the top floor of the house suddenly filled with the most beautiful smell

of cooking, something along the lines of cinnamon and nutmeg only much nicer even. I was sitting at the computer, not even thinking about her and this happened. I swear my husband had baked some muffins or a cake or something it was that strong! I went downstairs as he swore he never did any cooking. I thought he was pulling my leg as usual so went over to check the stove and it was cold. There is no way he was baking anything!  y Mother by the way, loved to bake things.

Years before the last story ever happened I was sitting in our apartment we had at the time as I was off work sick, with a bad cold, no fever though.

I was by myself.  Moog, our grey tabby cat was on the couch arm rest, when I could hear, what sounded like a cat running around the carpet and it's nails were getting caught on the carpet. Those of you who have cat's will surely recognize the sound it makes. I couldn't see anything, but I sure could hear it as plain as day. Moog's ear's perked up, so I know she too could here it. My 1st thought was to rationalize it by saying it must be my other cat, Paula. She was a light grey and white cat. I looked over at the chair across from the couch and she was sound asleep so it certainly wasn't her!

I also kept getting the feeling to get up and lock the door, which I did. Even after I locked the door and sat down I still had the feeling to get up and lock the door. Again I locked it. Well the 3rd time I locked it again! By this time I'm getting creeped out. Not by the sound of the cat's claws on the carpet but by the locks. Go figure! 

Great topic by the way!!!

I didn't believe in ghosts until I saw one.  

I saw my first ghost at age 14, then a couple of times, in different places, after that.

When I first moved in this house, I heard what must have been a male and a female ghost upstairs, when I was downstairs.We only had 2 cats then, and I could see them sleeping in the 2 chairs in the living room. I was in the dining room, which opens into the living room, dusting the dining room table. I was alone, all the doors and windows were closed and locked, and I couldn't hear normal outdoor noise because of this. I distinctly heard, above me, in the guest room, a man cough, sneeze and clear his throat, then a woman doing the same. It was clear--it could not have been another house sound, nor was it the cats.

Kind of a bummer. You can still have your allergies after death! 

At that time, we had the original storm door. Only on weeknights, when I was alone, and sitting on the sofa reading, I would jump, as I heard the storm door handle depress, as if someone was trying to get in from the outside. I chalked it up to a large bug hitting it.  It always happened between 9-10 PM.  I thought little of it, until I realized that it had to have come from inside,  between the front door and the storm door, as the storm door's outside handle was a knob, and didn't make that sound.   It happened a few times after that, but that was 9 years ago. I wonder if a previous resident, and our house had at least 5 families live here before we bought it--went to work at that time of night, or went out regularly on weeknights for another reason.  I never hear the front door's handle, but we changed that the day we moved in.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
- Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio

i believe in possibilities, because what i know......is that i don't know what all exists -- of these type things, like ghosts, and etc.

i've never seen a ghost, and never felt any 'presence' either. i do believe in my 'gut feeling' about things, and i don't discount it.

I am so enjoying this discussion!  Such INTERESTING experiences our members have had!