Haunted convent?

[eilcon]

I honestly can't say whether I believe in ghosts or not because I've never had a ghostly encounter. I do think, though, that if any place could be haunted it would be our convent - more than a century old and where many Sisters have passed away. There's no longer anyone living there; we just use the space for our archives, offices and meetings. I've been there alone many times at various times during the day and it's a little creepy, but that's it.

Heard a couple of things this past weekend that have me thinking I'm not going there by myself again anytime soon. Apparently, about a month ago, one of the maintenance guys from our high school (which is connected to the convent), was up on the third floor early in the morning testing the alarms. He heard a noise and, when he investigated, saw a woman in a somewhat old-fashioned gray dress with a white cap on her head sitting at a table in one of the old bedrooms. She appeared to be eating from a bowl. When he spoke to her, she lifted her head, but didn't respond or look at him. Since no one was supposed to be on the third floor, he went down to get one of the other maintenance. When the returned, the woman, the table and chair were gone. We did have a couple of Sisters, now dead, who used to dress this way, and there's a strong believe among the current Sisters that it was one of them.

Also, recently one of our Sisters and a staff member were watching some surveillance tape from one of the cameras at the convent and both saw the shadow of a wheelchair rolling toward the elevator at the same time. Pretty creepy.

I'm not sure what to believe but probably won't be visiting the convent alone again anytime soon.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I believe in ghosts, or whatever they are, because I think I've had an encounter, and have had many friends who've already experienced "something". Some stories have been good, and some not so good. Mine own was not good...nothing happened, but I got very bad feelings every time I went into a certain room in a house I was renting. Tried to avoide that room as much as possible!!

 

[-_aj_-]

I believe there are ghosts/spirits whatever people what to call them....my story

my mams dad - he died when she was 11 I obvously never met him but every so often I used to smell tobacco smoke it used to be when I lived here originally and when me and Blaine had, had a fight, then the first night I moved into my first flat was the last night I ever smelt it for 2 and a half years and just the other night after a massive argument with my mother I smelt it again, as did she she says she always smells it when me and her have a fight. And no one smokes in the house so we have never known how to explain it

I am going to study it further i think im very curious about it all and would love to go somewhere that had deffinate sightings

 

[ruthyb]

Originally Posted by mrsgreenjeens

I believe in ghosts, or whatever they are, because I think I've had an encounter, and have had many friends who've already experienced "something". Some stories have been good, and some not so good. Mine own was not good...nothing happened, but I got very bad feelings every time I went into a certain room in a house I was renting. Tried to avoide that room as much as possible!!

Its weird you should post this, we watched Paranormal activity last night, I thought it was a true life film but it isn't and it got me wondering whether there is spirits/ghosts. I used to work in a nursing home on nights and there was 3 floors, the top floor only had windows in the bedrooms and the corridor was completely dark apart from lights, I never saw anything but I had that feeling to get out as soon as I can whenever I went up there. This really intrigues me as I would love to know what happens in the after life? x

 

[trouts mom]

Wow Eileen, way to creep me out!

 

[chinacat]

I had some really strange experiences in a place I used to live and work in. Quite a few people saw or felt things there. It wasn't scary just weird. I had Ripley then and I swear she saw and sensed things.
Years ago I lived in a house in Hull that freaked me out so much I moved back home.
I'm still not sure I believe in ghosts as such but I do believe there are still things in this world that we are unable to explain.

 

[ruthyb]

Aj mentioned smells, when I worked in the nursing home there was just two carers to 40 residents, the home is an old victorian house that was occupied by a local family before it was sold to become a nursin home and one night I could smell like a roast dinner cooking, the smell was overpowering, it was that nice of a smell we got hungry and even phoned the adjoining nursing home to see if they were cookin and they weren't, we investigated further and the smell was coming from the cellar, apparently the servants used to live and prepare all the food for the family in the cellar.I also smelt tobacco smoke one night and at that time we had no residents that smoked, we even checked on all of them to make sure, the lift went up and down on its own one night too. All of this I suppose could be explainable though-sort of lol, never saw anything but one of my colleagues said he did. x

 

[zohdee]

I absolutely believe in ghosts/spirits.

One night while I was driving home from work years ago, I heard a voice say "pull over". I had an eerie feeling and along with that voice, I pulled over. Less than a minute later another car whose driver I presume was intoxicated, was driving on my side of the road. If I hadn't pulled over on the berm, I would have been hit head on.

Also, we went hiking a few weeks back at a woods that is suposedly haunted. We ran into a few male workers securing posts for an area that is off limits to hikers. We chatted for a bit and went on our way. About fifteen minutes later my daughter and I distinctly heard a female voice yell for help. This voice continued on for perhaps five minutes and we could not even pinpoint the location on where it was coming from..it seemed to just be all around. When we left the woods, we encountered the male workers and asked them if they heard anything and they replied no.

I have never felt in danger there..just this really odd, prickly feeling at the back of my neck. Of course, that is not going to stop me from hiking there

.

 

[cattybird]

I think I believe in Ghosts. When I lived in Lexington, Ky, I used to go to a haunted Chapel. It was on The University Campus. Someone or something would take the candles out of the candle holders and put them on the alter, turn the chairs in the sitting room upside down and give organ concerts at one or two in the morning. I don't know if those activities are still going on or even if the Chapel's still there.!

 

[strange_wings]

Originally Posted by eilcon

I'm not sure what to believe but probably won't be visiting the convent alone again anytime soon.

If these were the ghosts of former Sisters, why would you need to be frightened of them? Would you have run from them in fear when they were alive? (maybe a few of them you would have, who knows.

)

Another thought is that over the years, day in and day out, daily activities can get recorded. A bit like a short clip on a VHS or cassette, to play when triggered. The Earth is a big magnet, after all. This is called a residual haunting - nothing is actually there.

I don't believe you have a single thing to be scared of. If the convent is a peaceful place full of happiness you're not going to find something there that would hurt you.

I wish I had the same assurance growing up. I don't know what was in my childhood home but it wasn't that nice to me - though it didn't really try causing any harm either. After so many years of that I'd get so annoyed at it making noise while I was trying to sleep I'd tell it to go away.

 

[threecatowner]

I grew up not believing in ghosts, supernatural, etc. etc., but I loved anything related to it: Haunted hayrides, haunted house tours, and so on.

Last month we visited New Bern, NC and took a "ghost tour" of the city at dark. I took pictures all around. Some were taken at "haunted buildings" and a church cemetery where many folks had been buried after dying of yellow fever in the 1700's.

Strangely enough, most of the pictures I took at "haunted" places had circular, bright orbs on them. The pictures I took elsewhere in town have NONE. My husband tells me I'm absolutely nuts (about lots of things) and that these were reflections. Reflections? In a cemetery? Of what? These pictures freaked me out, and looked like something out of "Ghost Hunters".

Weird stuff happened at Gettysburg Battlefield a few years back, too.

So, yeah, I'm beginning to think anything is possible...

 

[strange_wings]

^Those are usually dust particles, It just has to do with certain locations, kicking up dust, and the flash. Which is why you wouldn't see them in well lit places elsewhere.

You could go get the same picture in your living room right now. Turn the lights out, take a handful of clean cat litter - throw it in the air and take a picture with the flash. Your home is now haunted... by cat litter dust particles.

Actual orbs are rare in pictures and video and will be solid, and in most cases emitting light onto things. I've seen them twice, in person, in the house I used to live in. They were literally glowing balls of light roughly the size of softballs.

Another odd effect of light, and lens, is things having glowing edges. Such as violet around something (purple fringing) . Nothing supernatural at all, it's chromatic aberration - yet I see lots of people think this is something special.

 

[threecatowner]

Originally Posted by strange_wings

^Those are usually dust particles, It just has to do with certain locations, kicking up dust, and the flash. Which is why you wouldn't see them in well lit places elsewhere.

You could go get the same picture in your living room right now. Turn the lights out, take a handful of clean cat litter - throw it in the air and take a picture with the flash. Your home is now haunted... by cat litter dust particles.

Actual orbs are rare in pictures and video and will be solid, and in most cases emitting light onto things. I've seen them twice, in person, in the house I used to live in. They were literally glowing balls of light roughly the size of softballs.

Okay, strange_wings - just as soon as I get some "clean" litter, you're on! I would have thought dust, lens spots, moisture, or some other explanation, but the brightly lit orbs ONLY showed up on photos I took of haunted places. I took tons of other pictures - of my kids, my friends, the town - all at the same time - and not one showed an orb. So, who knows?

 

[cococat]

Oh I love stories like this! For my birthday I requested to stay at a haunted hotel as a gift. Halloween is like the best time of year for me, I am really into the haunted houses and scary stuff on TV.
But I wouldn't be scared of such great women of God. Why would you be scared of sisters? I would pray for them though for their souls to have some rest. I wouldn't think from my beliefs about ghosts/restless spirits that anyone from that place should remain there after their death. I am strange in that I always get kinda sad when I hear about kid or pet spirits or other kind hearted souls, I feel they should go ahead and be in a better place and not feel the need to hang around anymore.

 

[strange_wings]

I've taken pictures and had one show dust particles and the one before and after it not show them.

All I can think is maybe I breathed or moved just enough to catch them with a flash. It's a photography problem, though.

Another think you could try, sweep or vacuum then take a picture. You'll definitely see how much dust gets kicked up.

Actually, if you look up dust particles and how they show up from a flash, you should be able to find a good explanation of how they specifically look (due to reflecting light). Usually they're not completely solid looking - though bugs can look weird.

ETA: Something else I just remembered. Those going on haunted tours, especially in buildings. They make money off these tour so they want people to "find" stuff so that they'll bring in new customers. This means that stuff is faked. iirc I think the Stanley Hotel (or another really famous hotel) uses some IR stuff to mess with cameras.

 

[ruthyb]

Originally Posted by strange_wings

ETA: Something else I just remembered. Those going on haunted tours, especially in buildings. They make money off these tour so they want people to "find" stuff so that they'll bring in new customers. This means that stuff is faked. iirc I think the Stanley Hotel (or another really famous hotel) uses some IR stuff to mess with cameras.

Yep, if you want to do it you are better going on your own (well with someone

) somewhere like an old church or somewhere rumoured to be haunted. x

 

[eilcon]

Originally Posted by cococat

Oh I love stories like this! For my birthday I requested to stay at a haunted hotel as a gift. Halloween is like the best time of year for me, I am really into the haunted houses and scary stuff on TV.
But I wouldn't be scared of such great women of God. Why would you be scared of sisters? I would pray for them though for their souls to have some rest. I wouldn't think from my beliefs about ghosts/restless spirits that anyone from that place should remain there after their death. I am strange in that I always get kinda sad when I hear about kid or pet spirits or other kind hearted souls, I feel they should go ahead and be in a better place and not feel the need to hang around anymore.

Sounds like a great gift! I love Halloween too. When I was growing up, my cousins and I loved telling ghost stories and scaring ourselves.

I'm not scared of the Sisters. They were wonderful, faith-filled women. I'd just prefer not to see anything like the maintenance guy did when I'm up in the old convent by myself.

 

[strange_wings]

^We're just trying to calm your fears. You have nothing to be spooked of, its honestly extremely rare that there's anything harmful haunting a place. If you see something just think of it as a new story for you to tell.

Originally Posted by Ruthyb

Yep, if you want to do it you are better going on your own (well with someone

) somewhere like an old church or somewhere rumoured to be haunted. x

No trespassing, though. Always ask permission because some places are dangerous or not as abandoned as you think. In the US its a good way to scare someone into thinking they have an intruder and get shot at.

 

[Winchester]

Originally Posted by threecatowner

I grew up not believing in ghosts, supernatural, etc. etc., but I loved anything related to it: Haunted hayrides, haunted house tours, and so on.

Last month we visited New Bern, NC and took a "ghost tour" of the city at dark. I took pictures all around. Some were taken at "haunted buildings" and a church cemetery where many folks had been buried after dying of yellow fever in the 1700's.

Strangely enough, most of the pictures I took at "haunted" places had circular, bright orbs on them. The pictures I took elsewhere in town have NONE. My husband tells me I'm absolutely nuts (about lots of things) and that these were reflections. Reflections? In a cemetery? Of what? These pictures freaked me out, and looked like something out of "Ghost Hunters".

Weird stuff happened at Gettysburg Battlefield a few years back, too.

So, yeah, I'm beginning to think anything is possible...

I've been to Gettysburg several times and we've done the ghost walks. If I can find my pictures, I'll post them. We were able to get several pictures with orbs on them. I took a picture of my DH, my brother and his BIL. Right in between DH and my brother is an orb, almost like it was a man standing there between the two of them. And there was nothing there when I took the picture. Nothing. We definitely have some creepy Gettysburg pictures.

We've been talking about visiting Salem during Halloween sometime. The problem is that you almost have to make reservations a couple years in advance and we keep forgetting to do that. But I think Salem would be a great place to visit.

 

[trimph1]

I've seen some things before that made me jump out of my skin before so that would not surprise me--but what is kind of interesting are the theories about how the orbs come about in the first place.

Paul Devereux's book "Earthlights Revelation" catalogues a whole slew of sites around the globe that have, in one way or another, some aspect of geological faulting occur that can generate some type of energy field that makes up these orbs.

I've got a few photos myself that show some of these things floating over Lake Huron by Kincardin ON as well--now, if only I knew how to post the dang pix----