Southern Gothic

Southern Gothic
    In 1987, I was living in a house in Atlanta with four roommates. We lived there for just over a year and during that time, we had several experiences with what we later became convinced was an actual ghostly presence.

The house we were renting was well over a hundred years old, having been built sometime just after the American Civil War when Atlanta had been burned and destroyed by Union forces.

The house was a beautiful old Victorian home located in an area of Atlanta known as Inman Park. We were all pretty young (in our twenties) and trying to get started in our respective careers, so the prospect of sharing the rent for a wonderful old two story, five bedroom house with a full basement was an attractive one.

One week after moving in, we were all asleep in our rooms when we were awakened by screaming from our roommate, whom I'll call Hanna. We all jumped out of bed and went into Hanna's room. She was sitting up, saying that she had woken up to see the dark figure of a man standing next to her bed, looking down at her. She said that when she had screamed, the figure turned and walked out of the room. She was very scared and highly agitated. Myself and the other male roommate (the housemates consisted of two male/female couples and one single female) immediately checked out the inside and outside of the house, but we could find no intruder. (This happened around two or three o'clock in the morning). We finally got Hanna to calm down and everyone went back to bed. The next day, we just chalked up this first incident to nervousness about living in a new home that just happened to be a creaky and somewhat spooky old antique house. (However, Hanna would not hear of that explanation and in the ensuing days, continued to insist that she had seen this dark figure standing by her bed. She refused to stay in the house alone after that).

About two weeks after that first incident, we were again all asleep when suddenly there was a very loud crash and the sound of tinkling of glass from the hallway that separated all of the bedrooms and a common bathroom. Once more, we all jumped up and ran out into the hall where we found that a full-length mirror that had been mounted on the bathroom door had shattered into hundreds of pieces all over the floor. Since everyone had been asleep, we could not figure out how this had happened as the mirror frame was still securely fastened to the door and only the glass itself had broken. (Atlanta is not prone to earthquakes and the street was not a busy one, so we ruled out the possibility that a large truck or something had passed by and caused vibrations to occur inside the place).

Later, similar "poltergeist" activity would manifest itself in many other ways: there was one instance when I was home alone in the house watching television when, for no good reason that I could later ascertain, three candles that were sitting on the fireplace mantle suddenly fell off onto the floor, almost as if someone had swept them off with a hand. Then there was the phenomenon that we all experienced at one time or another where personal objects and other items would go missing, only to turn up later in a place where the owner would swear that he/she had not left them. (On one occasion, missing car keys were found lying right in the middle of the person's bed after a thorough search had been conducted for them by everyone home at the time). Other strange activity came in the form of knocking and tapping sounds heard coming from either the attic or the basement when it was certain that no one was in either space.

The last incident that involved the sighting of an actual "entity" occurred about two months after we had moved in. We were having a small party at our place and a house guest, who none of us had met prior to the party, was taking a personal tour of the place on her own. She suddenly came running up from downstairs saying that she had just seen a man standing in the corner of the basement. She said that when she had called out to him, he simply disappeared! We immediately went down to the basement to check and of course, found nobody there. This was most interesting because there was only one entrance into the basement and a person who might have been trying to play a trick would not have been able to escape past anyone without being seen. (As noted, that house guest who saw the figure in the basement was a brand new acquaintance whom we later determined had no prior knowledge that our place had any sort of "unusual" activity connected to it).

After about six months of all this, things seemed to quiet down and no more "ghost" activity was noticed or reported by anyone. We began to convince ourselves that maybe, just maybe, we had all overreacted to some degree and perhaps we were all just being overly-imaginative about the whole thing.

Finally, toward the end of our time living in the house, my wife and I were out at a restaurant one evening having a drink and dinner. We struck up a conversation with another couple sitting at a table nearby, two people who were complete strangers to us and whom we happened to meet that night by total chance. When they asked us where we were living in Atlanta, we told them about our place in Inman Park. They said, "Really, we used to live in Inman Park. Which street do you live on?" When we told them, they said, "That is interesting, we used to rent a house on that same street. What is your address?" When we gave our address to them, they said, "Oh my god, we used to rent that exact same house ourselves," immediately followed by the women saying, "Have you seen the ghost yet?" Well, you can imagine that both my wife and I were completely flabbergasted to have received such validation about our "ghost problem" from two complete strangers! We ended up comparing notes with them and they told us about many strange happenings they had witnessed in the house that were quite similar to our own.

That experience thoroughly convinced me that there really is something to the whole subject of ghosts and afterward, I no longer dismissed similar stories that I heard from other people quite so easily.
  

Ghost Encounters

Ghost Encounters

    Some will argue there is no such thing of ghosts. I understand those individuals may feel frightened by the thought of phantoms or banshees roaming our world. Or some individuals may just assume that ghosts are a bunch of silly fictional myths that our kind made up for amusing fairy-tales to be told over the past centuries. However, "seeing is believing," and if I never saw the things I've seen in my lifetime, perhaps, I too would question their existence.

My first real poltergeist experience happened when I was about five years old. It was late at night and I was awoken by a sound coming from the dining room. I heard the dinner table chairs roughly sliding against the tile floor. When I finally realized I was awake and not dreaming I became horrified. A few seconds went by the chairs suddenly stop moving. Then the ever most terrifying thing happened. I heard an unearthly woman's voice call to me. The voice sounded like it came from the kitchen adjacent to the dining room. I can't recall everything she said but I'm pretty sure she was just saying my name over and over. The hardest thing I had to do was get out of bed and run like heck to my mother's bedroom across the pitch black hall. Eventually, after the paralysis wore off, that is exactly what I did. I remember tripping on the laundry basket as sneaking over to my mom's side of the bed. I didn't want to wake her and be sent back to my room. She woke up immediately when I crawled into her arms. She told me it was just a nightmare and to go back to my room. She had to turn on my bedroom light and walk me to bed. Naturally I couldn't fall asleep for quite some time that night, even with my twin sister asleep in the room. I remember having to stare at our Dr. Seuss light fixture for comfort. Every time I glanced at the bedroom door I would quiver intensely. I did not dare go investigate the kitchen or dining room until the next morning.

Of course everyone laughed at me the next day when I explained exactly what happened. My older brother and dad even had an on-going joke about the "ghost chair" (which was the only unassigned chair when the five of us were eating at the dinner table.) They would kid and demand my mother to fix up a plate of food for the ghost. I kept thinking to myself one day they'll see.

That day wasn't too far away, at least for my brother and sister. A few years later on a stormy early evening, the three of us were left home alone. At that time our brother was old enough to baby-sit us but too immature to properly company us. He used to tease us all the time about ghosts. "Ghostbusters" had just come out in the theater so of course that was still fresh in everyone's mind. One time he even made, what he convinced us to believe, a PK meter that would indicate if ghosts were near by. The little stick on the home-made PK meter would move sporadic-like so he would tell us that this house was haunted and filled with ghosts. But during this occasion, he decided to just tell us scary stories instead. With the lightning, loud thunder, our parents gone and my brother's wickedness, we became two very scared little girls. My brother eventually came to his senses and then tried to comfort us. He kept trying to reassure us that ghosts are make-believe. Then he said these words, which I will never forget... "There is no such thing of ghosts; if there was they would show us a sign." BOOM! Instantly after those words came out of my brother's mouth, all the lights went out. They eventually came back on a couple seconds later. My brother never teased us about ghosts since.

That incident may not sound tremendously frightening, but as a child it seemed as if I were living in a horror picture. My next occurrence may very well be the most petrifying. I was about eight-teen or nine-teen years old. My sister and I went for a drive to Siesta Key in Sarasota. The sun was just about setting and we decided, before we go home for the day, we should drive around the Key's ritzy subdivision to gawk at all the pretty mansions. We came across an empty lot, which is unusual because it was fairly decent in size and located right on the canal. All the other lots in the area consist of massive homes neck and neck of each other. It was so peculiar to see such a large waste of space which had so much value. My sister wanted me to pull over on the curb so we could walk around to go exploring. She said "let's pretend we own this lot and we're going to build a big mansion here." As we were walking through the palmettos further within the lot, a sudden freezing cold chill overcame us and the sky instantly turned grey. My anxious sister said "we need to leave NOW!" She believed she was being intuitive and was shown a sign. She imagined something bad would happen to us if we stayed there. She even said "I think someone is living here like a bum or some crazy person." "No, it's okay. We're fine." I hesitantly replied; although I started to sense some uncertainty about staying in that lot. She said "well I'm going back to the car." I then quickly followed her thinking to myself I'm brave but not brave enough to be here alone.

We drove off into the subdivision to complete our little adventure in searching for a favorite mansion to drool over. It was now officially night time so we agreed to head out. As trying to find the exit of the Key we unintentionally came across our vacant lot. I stopped the car positioned head on so we could glance at it one more time. Because it was dark out we could see the lights from another home on the opposite side of the canal glaring through the trees.

My sister said "oh look! You can see through those people's windows over there." We both were staring at the same spot and then that's when it happened. A silhouette of man or creature appeared before us, maybe about twenty or thirty feet from the car. It looked like it was staring at us with evil intentions. The odd thing was that this shadow had no face. He was completely transparent. "Do you see what I see?" my sister muttered. I said "Yup." I don't think I ever pealed out of somewhere so fast than I did that day. We were frightened but it made for a good laugh on our way back home.

Up until then I never really felt threatened by a ghost; before they would just make themselves known. This one was different. He made it extremely obvious he did not want our presence on his territory. I would imagine he must have made attempts to horde off any other unwanted guests; after all it was the only empty lot in the whole neighborhood.

My only other evidential ghost encounter up to date occurred about two years ago. One late night I was sitting in my driveway trying to contact my spirit guide who I call Sunbeam. Spirit guides are thought to be predestined spirits who help guide us (subconsciously) through our lifetimes, similar to the belief of guardian angels protecting us. When I communicate with Sunbeam I don't physically see her or hear her voice. I just talk to her as if I am saying my prayers out loud. While sitting there rambling I abruptly noticed, to my left, a luminous apparition of a fair skin woman with long blond wavy hair floating down the street about three feet above the ground. She was wearing a soft blue and white renaissance-like gown and some sort of hat or veil. The instant we made eye contact she vanished before my eyes. I assumed I saw my spirit guide but I didn't have that comforting feeling I often felt when I'd communicate with her. Plus that wasn't how I envisioned her. If anything I thought she would look like just a ball of energy if she chose to appear to me. At times I believe that spirit guides do not prefer to appear to us because they have no desire to prove themselves to us. I then realized I had just seen a ghost.

My theory on ghost or lost souls is that they are deceased people who some how get stuck in a parallel dimension in between Earth and the Afterlife. I don't think everyone will become a ghost after they die. Only those who do not want to face the reality of dying or those who felt they did not want to leave here with any unresolved issues, are the ones who get trapped in this realm. The amount of time as a ghost varies for each individual. Some could be a ghost for centuries or more, some could be one for a couple weeks. It's not uncommon for someone, after they die, to linger around as a ghost for a little while before they cross over and "head towards the light." Some may be confused or in denial and need extra guidance or confirmation of their death. Once they accept their death they should be able to go Home.

If ever encountering a lost soul it is important to tell them they are dead and assure them that they will be okay if they just trust life and have faith. No matter what religion they were, or if not religious at all, they all still go to the Afterlife which is our true home. Keep in mind they cannot physically harm you. Most are just depressed and have no intention of hurting anyone.

Ghost encounters can be very overwhelming. During an encounter many people say they felt an eerie and cold presence. I suggest that feeling we get isn't because ghosts are dangerous or evil, but possibly because we sympathize with their pain.

-Lori Ann Alvarez
  

Ann's House

Ann's House
    In 1978, my parents bought a 30 year old house which was originally owned by an actress who's full name I will not reveal, Ann was her first name... She was famous in the 30' through 50's era. Anyway, I was born in 1979 and from an early age I remember a few instances where I was spooked.

My first odd experience occurred one normal night when I was about 4 or 5 years old. For some reason I awoke and got out of bed. I heard something in the kitchen which was directly down the hallway from my doorway. It was very late or early in the morning. When I peered down the hallway I saw a rabbit on our kitchen counter; its eyes were bright and its body was almost see through - like a projection. I was scared and tired, so I ran across the hallway to my older sisters room and slept there the rest of the night. Sure enough nobody believed me the next day. Over the next few years I always heard noises in my closet and cupboards in my bedroom. And all the while living there I always heard shuffling and pounding in a large walk in safe in the downstairs part of our house. In the ten year span living there I always felt like I was being watched, and I would never go inside the house unless my parents or someone else was with me. When I got off the school bus, I would wait outside until my mom got home. It was not until my mother told me a few things that she probably would not have revealed had she known how I would react. I overheard my mother talking to my aunt about how the previous owner told her that an actor, by the name of Ann "blank", had built the house. Even more interesting, the previous owners laughingly said they would occasionally see her walking down the halls. Once, my mother even admitted to me that she was home alone reading in the living room when she felt someone touch her on the shoulder, it was a comforting gesture but scared her when she turned and saw no one around. I was scared of that house.

When I was about 12 we moved to a house my Dad built, same city but miles away from the old house. The first night staying there I remember waking and looking out my bedroom window to see a white figure running down the lonesome road at a swift and graceful pace. Also, my beloved dog was in my sight and he ran from the object with tail in between legs... not typical, this dog was a butt kicking machine. It was weird but I was able to fall back asleep, next day nobody took me seriously. The last incident happened shortly after, I remember just laying down in my bed, it was a matter of seconds before I saw this woman hovering over me and she did not speak but it was like she said "I have followed you". I layed there paralyzed but managed to say "GET OUT, LEAVE ME ALONE". And ever since I have been totally ghost free, knock on wood. Long, maybe boring story for you guys, but real to me, too real.
  

An Old House and My Apartment Building

An Old House and My Apartment Building
    I was in the Navy and living ashore at Norfolk, VA in the early '70s. It was an old two story house. The main floor had a kitchen, dining room and living room. The second floor had a master bedroom, that nearly half the size of the house, a smaller bedroom and a bath.

One day I was in the master bedroom folding laundry. People came and went all the time (had a couple of roommates and they had friends) so the doors were seldom (if ever) locked.

I heard the front door open and close and called out I was upstairs. I heard heavy, plodding footsteps on the stairs, pausing at the bend in the middle. It was as if whomever was really tired and it was all they could do to walk up the steps. From where I was standing I could see clearly down the hall to the top of the stairs. The footsteps continued to the top and down the hall towards me. No one was there. The steps were quite audible. At the treshold of the bedroom door they stopped.

I stood there shaking like a leaf then quickly exited the room. Some time later I returned home to find every light in the place on. A roommate was sitting in the living room, white as a sheet, holding a poker from the fire place, in front of him. I asked what was wrong. He said he was watching tv when the door to the outside (the former front door since the house at one time faced Chesapeake Bay but at sometime was moved across the street, and turned around, so our "front door" had been the back door at one time and our back door the front) began turning on its own. He asked who was there and no answer. Then the door started shaking as if someone were trying to enter but couldn't. He went to the door and called out again, no reply. He opened the door and no one was there. And, the screen door was closed and lashed, with no breaks in the screen for someone to reach in.

I told him of my experience earlier and he said he had heard footsteps as well when no one was home. He never told anyone believing they would think him crazy.

Eventually others reported hearing strange things as well. The old house is no longer there. It was on a spit of land which has since been "re-developed" with freeways, ramps, etc. -sigh-

My apartment building, in Huntington, WV, has several spirits. Residents in two apartments on the other end of the hall (I live in the back) have reported seeing an old woman, in a white blouse and long black dress enter their apartment, walk through and exit. At one time this building had a landlady from who owned the place from about 1911 to '51. This could be her keeping any eye on her property.Huntington, WV (I am the senior resident in the building -three story brick apartment, erected in 1906- having moved here in July, 1979, and people will ask "You've been here a long time, have you heard of this or that happening?")

One evening in the early '80s a neighbour and I were playing cards. No radio, tv, or such on. Suddenly we heard loud noises coming from his apartment, as if it were being ransacked. Scott went to check and nothing was out of place. I have also had the feeling someone would be watching me from that apartment when no one was living there. (My kitchen windows and that ones form a sort of L shape.) I named the spirit "Casper", after the cartoon character Casper, the friendly ghost since he means no harm, merely curious. And when I have feeling of being watched I always wave and greet him. :)

There is also a ghost in my apartment.

It was August 2nd. A hot, muggy night. The cat I had then was laying on the floor facing the closed bathroom door. This was before the Net so I was watching tv and Muffy was in my line of vision. Suddenly she roused herself, started a low growl, twitching her tail, looking at the closed door, then to me, back to the door. I told her there was nothing there. Like a scene from a cheap movie I went to the door, put my hand on the doorknob and said, "See, there's nothing in there" and opened the door. Suddenly a cold rush of air passed through me, at least 20 degrees cooler than a moment before. After that Muffy was calm again and went back to her dozing... For a couple of years on that date I could feel the presence. I haven't for the last few years.
  

My Aunt

My Aunt
    About 5 years ago my aunt moved in with me and my family because she was really sick and her kids lived out of state. I was always real close with my aunt and looked forward to her living with us. I was closer to her than I was with my mom.

Anyway, she stayed with us for about 5 months, then decided to move out west so she could be closer to her kids. After about 2 months of her moving out west, her daughter called me and told me my aunt was in the hospital and the doctors didn't think she was going to make it. I was upset, but I was also thankful that I had a chance to become even more close to her in the 5 months that she stayed with us. A week later I was laying on the couch half awake and half asleep when I had a dream that my aunt was skipping down my driveway telling me good bye and that she would be back. She was real adamant about the fact that she'd be back. She climbed into her SUV and drove off. Just as she was driving off in my dream, the phone rang and woke me up. It was my mother telling me my aunt just died. I knew that's what she was going to say even before she got the words out.

What was weird about the dream is my aunt looked healthy. She actually had some weight on. She was always skin and bones because she was so sick and the fact that she was skipping. My aunt could barely walk let alone skip. Plus she didn't own a car because she was always too weak to drive. I like to believe she came to tell me good bye in my dreams, but as far as her coming back, I kind of wish she would. I say I 'kind of' wish she would because I've never seen a ghost and know for a fact that I would go insane if I did.

Well, I'm curious as to what everyone thinks and if anyone agrees that she came to me in my sleep to tell me good bye. Thanks!

  

The Haunting of Buffalo Ridge

The Haunting of Buffalo Ridge
    One of the infamous spots around here is Buffalo Ridge, a hilly road that's just a bit northwest of Cincinnati in Cleves. It's actually home to the Mitchell Memorial Forest, a park complete with a nature trail, lake for fishing, and a playground for the kiddies! Woo hoo! Not only that, but SUPPOSABLY this road is where Charles Manson himself spent his Cincinnati years! (I say supposably since I know his family lived around here at some point, but I never really looked into whether or not he grew up around Cleves. Not that it's important to the story anyways) Well, the urban legends of this road are outrageous. Stories range from being chased across the road at night by white vans, to phantom cars from failed gang initiations, an evil dog with glowing green eyes, ghosts that run across the road searching for their missing parts for all eternity, and most importantly, the Crematorium. You see, the urban legends say this road was the site of a corrupt crematorium that dropped bodies out in the woods, blah blah blah. And now supposably bodies are still out there somewhere.

Well, in high school I actually had an english teacher who told me that one time he and his friend drove down there, pulled over and juuuust happen to open a random barn door for whatever reason, and found chickens hanging from the ceiling on chains, and their blood being collected on leaves below. So they ran back to their car, and of course Gravedigger or some other monsterous truck comes tearing out of a driveway and chases him all the way out of Cleves! EXCITEMENT!

Buffalo RidgeThat's all well an good, but as I soon found out from personal research.. there was never a crematorium there. What IS there to this day, however, is the ruins of Cincinnati's first Planetarium, hidden in the woods. In fact, if you're still reading and want to know more about it, I made a website explaining the whole background of Buffalo Ridge (with pretty pictures!). At the time I made that site, I had tried just about everything and experienced nothing more than a police officer pulling over and literally laughing at us as we explained to him that we wanted to see dead people run across the road. I can feel my self-esteem rising. It also occured to us that the park's staff had rangers in white vans visiting it frequently, thus killing the chased-by-white-van experience for us.

And so! with all that out of the way, I can now explain my story. About two weeks ago, I lead a couple friends that are new to the area down to Buffalo Ridge. These friends being my old friend Jonathan, who's the same age as me and grew up in Indiana, and Kay, his as-of-now-girlfriend. I think. Well, we get there at about 9:00 pm when the sun was close to setting all the way, and as usual I have them park down the road a bit near another road (the name of which slips my mind) and walk back up to a "No dumping or we'll own your butt" sign. Behind which, is a trail leading down the woods and into the ruins of the old Planetarium.

Being the loser who loves to tell the local history that I am, I was talking pretty loudly about the area, while Kay and Jonathan walked behind me. They both carried a couple flashlights to see better in the thicks woods, and I just toughed it out in front. Oh yeah, I'm a real man! ...I try. Anyways, we come to what I can only describe as the foundation of the building. A bunch of bricks and torn metal in the hill side is all I got.

We sat down and started chatting it up, about whatever, and a good 30 minutes passed. Jonathan and I were discussing manly things, like whether we should go get those tiny fries at Steak n Shake, or an even manlier jug of root beer at the Jolly's up in Fairfield. Around then, Kay started mumbling about how "the air changed" or something to that degree. So, in hopes to see something spooky, I climbed down into the foundation of the ol' planetarium, and took Jonathan's flashlight so I could navigate walking around on the fallen stones and what not. At one point, I remember Kay saying we should get going, and by then I had already made my way to the other side of the rubble and was wanting to look around some more. But! Jonathan didn't like making her nervous, so I agreed to climb back out.

So, being the nice guy I am, I started to make my way back across the rubble. At this point, I shined my light back up the wall I had climbed down to see Kay and Jonathan, when I saw it! A man I couldn't really make out from where I was, was approaching the two of them, so jokingly I shouted "Hey, better tell that guy that we aren't sacrificing babies. Or drug dealers. Or drug dealers sacrificing babies!" and went back to my climbing across the rubble. Eventually, I made it up the wall and... no one was freakin there! Annoyed, I walked back up the trail to Buffalo Ridge, and found Kay crying while Jonathan hugged her. Aww. So I asked what happend to our guest, when Jonathan starts RANTING on, and ON about how "This dude just totally came out of no where, walked right up to me.. and vanished!!" Which made our heads spin.

From then on, we were pretty ecstatic, running back to the truck with Kay frightened, while Jonathan was excited, and I was pissed. I want a ghost to walk up to me and disappear! and I didn't even see it since I was walking over some flippin' stones and what not. Never again will I look where I'm going! ...Ok, bad idea. So finally, the story has become one of the only real ghosts we've got to talk about. But it's a fun story none the less, and has actually gone down at the Art Institute I go to as "Jonathan and Alex vs. the Invisible Amish Ninjas."
  

Late Night Spook

Late Night Spook
    One night, after a long day at school, I decided to go to bed early because I had a bad headache. There is a forest in my back yard and I sometimes feel like someone is watching me, but that night it was worse, so I looked around and saw shadows moving. I decided to ignore it and went to bed. As I fell asleep, I started having this dream that a guy was chasing me in the forest. After running for a while, I turned around to see if he was still there but couldn't see him, so I stopped, turned around and he grabbed my wrists very hard. It felt so real like if I wasn't in a dream. I woke up, and to my horror, I saw that both my wrists were bruised in the shape of fingers. I still freak out when someone grabs my wrists.
  

White Ghost

White Ghost
    Someone must have pulled the emergency chain for the train, I thought, as it stopped so suddenly. The sudden cessation of movement caused us all to fall forward.

Shaken, we stood up and put our heads out of the now motionless train's windows. Most passengers crowded outside.

It wasn't long before the police arrived on the scene.

It appears that someone had been crossing the line, and had been struck by the train. It was just one station before my intended destination: Baharampore.

Someone remarked that the body was still lying there. I was about to have a look for myself when someone caught my hand firmly. It was none other than the fellow passenger with whom I had been talking throughout my four-hour journey from Kolkata.

"There's nothing to see in that lifeless body. There is only a lot of blood and some mutilated limbs," he said. "It would make you very upset."

I carefully hid my curiosity.

It was half past four in the evening. My fellow traveler told me that he was also going to Baharampore, so we hired a one-cycle-van, being the only available transport for hire locally.

We talked ceaselessly as we traveled along. Sometimes about politics, sometimes about the present education scenario and sometimes about the high casualty rate in the traffic system. However, I couldn't help my mind returning to that unseen body. Who had lost his precious life, I wondered. I was twenty-six years old. There are so many things to see in life. Death was something I just didn't want to think about.

It was my first trip to Baharampore. A friend had invited me to spend a weekend at his home. I thought it would make a good escape from the clatter of Kolkata. It would be a change from the monotonous and weekly hustle-bustle of my everyday life.

On finally reaching my friend's house, I decided to say nothing about the accident or my ten-minute cycle-van journey. Actually, I'd enjoyed that open cab ride. Other than that mishap on the train, the whole journey had been most pleasant. I didn't want to make my friend unhappy by discussing sad things. Ankush, my long-time friend, was a good person, and his mother was anxious about the dish she was preparing for me. I didn't want to spoil anything that evening.

Since I was a city dweller, they were worried that I might find their rural home, which lacked electricity, difficult to get used to, but I really enjoyed sitting on the roof of their home on that starry night, soaking up the atmosphere, drinking coconut milk, eating fresh vegetables and fruits, and listening to his friends, whose native pronunciation of the very Bengali words I used was so very different from mine.

They asked me endless questions. About my work, my family and myself, which I was pleased to answer. I tried to respond in as much detail as I was able. They seemed pleased to hear that I am a writer. But, before long, I was rescued by Ankush.

Then one of his friends mentioned the accident that had killed an eighteen-year-old girl that very afternoon.

Ankush said to me, "Hey, I think you must have been there. Didn't you see anything of it?"

I told them everything I knew, and explained the reason for my silence.

To my utter surprise, they laughed uproarishly, as though it was a common happening.

Ankush said that, indeed, it was not a rare thing thereabouts. They were quite accustomed to accidents on the railway line.

I listened to what they were saying to each other without taking any further part in the conversation.

Ankush smiled at me, and tauntingly asked me if I was scared.

On hearing this, I became angry. I didn't see that they had any right to accuse me of this.

Bhuvan, one of the friends, said to me, "Well, could you go to where it happened? Right now. Alone? If you can, we can presume that you are not scared."

I agreed.

Accordingly, we immediately went to the place where the accident had happened, but deliberately kept a fair distance from the exact spot. They dared me to walk right up to the place where the young girl had been killed. It was barely visible as it was lit only by the light from the stars and a partially concealed moon. Only the signal glowed red.

Despite Ankush's protest, I started walking forward. It was really difficult for someone like me, to accept this as fun. Nevertheless, I wanted to demonstrate to them that I was really a brave man, and that I could accept their silly dare.

Walking in the dark was difficult as stones were scattered everywhere. I found I was sweating as I walked. But it was a challenge that I simply had to win.

Suddenly, before me, I saw a shadowy white object quivering exactly where I was heading. I stopped for a moment. It could be an hallucination, I reasoned. I started walking forward again. But, now, the apparition was quite visible. It was a person draped in white. And that wraithlike person was doing something. Who or what was it? Was it an illusion or ... ? The possibility that it was something paranormal sent a chill was running down my spine. I almost died with shock as someone put a hand on my shoulder. I just stopped breathing and closed my eyes.

In that gloomy light I found it was none other than Ankush who had been following me. He also saw what I had been seeing.

We drew closer and found what we had seen was an old person swabbing the place with water. There was no body, nothing of the dead girl remained.

"Eto rakto! - So much blood!" he was quietly saying to himself over and over.

It turned out that he was the stationmaster, whose son had died in the same way in a train accident twenty-five years previously. On one such cold night, such as this was, he was being chased by police officers and, without warning, a train thundered along and ran over him. After that sad incident, the stationmaster became mentally disturbed, and always took it upon himself to erase all evidence of such accidents.
  

Sounds in the Attic

Sounds in the Attic
    A few years ago a friend of mine rented an apartment in an old house. A year after he moved in, he started to hear footsteps from the attic above. He told us about it, and we just laughed an told him he was paranoid and that he just hallucinated it. So one friday night while we were watching movies over at his place we heard the noises too. It was definitely footstep we heard, like someone was walking slowly back and forth. We could even hear the "footsteps" moving around the attic. So we paused the movie and listened closely. The noises stopped, and we saw the rest of the movie.

Afterwards we sat and discussed what the noises could have been, and just as we were talking about it the "footsteps" reappeared. We freaked out, but decided the we should check it out. Armed with frying pans and knives from the kitchen walked towards the attic. The stairs up to the attic was in the hallway, because all of the tenants in the building had access to it. The door to the stairs had a heavy padlock plus a regular lock in the door. We unlocked the door and sneaked upstairs. We turned on the light and there was no one there. The attic was empty except for an old sofa and some mattresses, so there was really no place to hide. Scared as hell we turned off the light and locked the place.

On later occasions we heard the noises, but we never really did anything about it, we just accepted it for what it was and though it was cool to have our own "ghost pal".

  

Safe Ride Home

Safe Ride Home
    I had been living in Santa Barbara back in 1993 when I found myself suddenly unemployed. After several months without luck finding a job, I started going to the local Temp Agencies for work. One by one they turned me down, telling me that, with my Engineering degree, they weren't going to be able to place me because I was "overqualified" for anything they had to offer. So, out of the 7 Temp Agencies in town, the first 6 had turned me away, without even taking my resume! However, the 7th place not only took me in, they actually gave me a job and I found out later that this last place was run by two ladies who both had strong psychic abilities and many of their workers also had psychic abilities.

So, anyway, at the job they got me, I became friends with this one girl (who also worked with them) who was a strong psychic. She would tell me what I had for breakfast that day or what I would find in my mail when I got home, stuff like that - it was kinda freaky! I was really into using a Ouija board at that time (and have since learned why one should never do that...) and that was this girl's main practice, so we would get together all the time and use her Ouija board, which she had had specially made...it was round and made of wood and elaborately decorated. It was actually very nice, as a piece of art.

Well, this girl's background story was that - in every incarnation she had been through - she had always ended up being killed by this evil spirit who was jealous of her relationship with her "soul mate". Apparently, also, she had always been killed with the same jeweled dagger. So, in this incarnation, she said she had identified her "soulmate" and the "evil spirit" (whom happened to be married to each other this time around) and she had a photograph of them, with this woman having a jeweled dagger stuck in her belt, as some kind of "decoration" perhaps. Anyway - so take this part of the story as you will...

So, we were doing the board one night and were talking with her "Guardian Angel". Suddenly, an evil spirit took over the board and started swearing at us and threatening us, so we decided to send it away and call it a night. At this point, it was about 2 in the morning. We were discussing what had just happened, and, I mentioned to my friend that I would try to help her in anyway I could spiritually, to save her from her repeating "fate". She thanked me and I gathered my things and left.

I was about 10 steps outside her door when suddenly, someone screamed in my ear! It was almost like someone ran past me, screaming at me, because the volume was very low then very loud then very low again. I spun around, but, of course, no one was there. My friend lived in an apartment complex, but, being 2 in the morning, all was quiet around. I was scared and went back to my friend's place. I thought I knew what I had heard, but we brought out the board again and called for her Guardian Angel to confirm it.

What I had heard was...."Don't help her, you jerk!"

So now, I am scared out of my wits thinking her evil spirit is now after me! It took awhile to calm me down and my friend said that she would ask her Guardian Angel to accompany me home, to make sure I was safe. I kinda "poo-pooed" that in my mind, thinking that wasn't possible, but agreed. So, I get in my car and start driving home.

Several minutes later, when I was on the freeway of all places... what should happen but... suddenly a man (her Guardian Angel I assume) appeared sitting in the passenger seat of my car! Solid as you or I! He was about 35, blonde hair, wearing a red plaid shirt and blue jeans. His body was turned towards mine and he smiled at me and waved and then disappeared! I thought to myself, "Huh! Waddaya know! He *did* follow me home! That's cool!".

Then, when I got back to my apartment and parked my car, this man appeared again, solid as before, sitting crosslegged on the hood of my car, again smiling and waving at me. Then, the next morning, as I was taking a shower, suddenly two eyeballs appeared in the wall of my shower and looked around, then disappeared. That freaked me out the most, but only because I was naked at the time in the shower! I assumed the eyeballs belonged to this Guardian Angel.

So, nothing bad happened to me in regards to the "evil spirit" and I never saw the Red Plaid man again. Many people ask me, "Weren't you scared when he showed up in your car, when you were going 70 mph?" and I say, no, actually, a sense of peace and calm came over me each time he appeared and I knew that I was safe with him. It was a very interesting experience.
  

Beads Taken Off by Ghost?

Beads Taken Off by Ghost?
    Here's the gist. My best friend (chrissy) has a ghost that came to her door a couple of times and it really freaked her out so one night she put prayer beads on the doorknob and it didn't reappear for the past year. Last friday I went to go changing in her room but the door wouldn't shut because there were things blocking it, so I took the stuff off and put it in her laundry basket. I closed it and started changing (no one was home but chrissy and her step sister), they were all downstairs, and the door opened, I shouted "chrissy, wait, I'm changing" then I closed it back. It immediately opened right back and I said "stop it", then I tried to close it again, I leaned on the door, and I felt the door knob twist so I open it but no one was there. I went downstairs and told them the whole story but they said they were down there the whole time then chrissy asked me: "did you take the beads off the door?" I told her I did, then we all freaked out and sent her step sister upstairs to put it back on. However, they weren't there at first, but when we looked back on the doorknob they were suddenly there again. I know I took everything off the door... It was a scary night.
  

My Haunted Apartment

My Haunted Apartment
    Here are random little ghostly events that have occurred in my current apartment.

The first ghost experience I ever encountered there was awaking one night to find a full size horse standing by my bed! (Quite a sight in my tiny apartment!) I screamed "What is that?" and then noticed there was a cowboy on the horse, dressed in traditional "Old West" garb. He tipped his hat to me, lightly kicked the horse with his spurs, and the horse sauntered off through the wall.

Now, I live on the 2nd story and the wall the horse went through was an outside wall. So, people always ask me, "Well, didn't the horse fall once it was outside?" Hello! It's a ghost! If it can go through a wall, do you think a little thing like *gravity* would be a concern? :-)

Another time, I awoke to find a guy standing at the foot of my bed. He was dressed in a dark blue checked shirt and khaki pants. He was about maybe 50 and was kinda pudgy. He didn't seem threatening at all. Once he realized I saw him, he just disappeared.

Another time, I was trying to fall asleep and noticed a "lump" under my blankets moving from the edge of the bed towards me, kinda slowly. I assumed one of my cats had crawled under there and was approaching me, so I put my hand out to pet it on top of the covers, saying, "Oh, what a cute kitty!" However, as soon as I put my hand down for the pet, the "lump" disappeared - nothing was there! That totally freaked me out - because, it had been a pretty big "lump" - definitely cat sized.

In my bedroom, I have a huge window that takes up at least half of the wall. Living in the middle of the city, there is always significant ambient light coming through that window, not to mention my neighbors very bright security light he always has on.

Anyway, one night, as I turned off the light to go to sleep, suddenly, I was thrown into total darkness. Like - have you ever been deep in a cave where no light can go? The kind of darkness that is total, complete and ...threatening!

So, I immediately turned the light back on and looked out the window to see if maybe the power had gone off in the city or something, but, no, all my town's lights were still on, shining through my window.

So, I turn the light off again and...total evil darkness again! Almost like, being thrown into another dimension! So, the light came on immediately again and stayed on the rest of the night!

Another time, I awoke just in time to see this hairy creature running at me carrying a club over his head, like he was going to hit me with it! I screamed and the creature stopped and was suddenly flung backwards, getting smaller and smaller until it disappeared.

Now, most of these things have occurred at night, so skeptics could say, "Oh you were tired, so you imagined it", etc. However...

Several times, during the day, in my living room, I will have this little cloud of small lights appear and swirl around near the ceiling for several minutes at a time. Since I am usually engrossed in my TV show, my cats are usually the ones to notice them first. They will all run to just below the cloud and all stand up on their hind legs and reach out with their paws towards the lights, chattering the way cats do when they are excited.

Then, just as suddenly as they arrived, they are gone. And, the cats go back to their business...of sleeping and destroying everything I own! Oh well....
  

Suffocated by Evil

Suffocated by Evil
    I have many ghost stories and will post them here separately. This is the most "impressive" one though...

I was asleep one night when I awoke, realizing that I couldn't breathe. Now, I have several cats (don't most psychic people?) and, on occasion, they will lie down on my face while sleeping... such is their way. (As a wise person once told me - the one thing to always remember about cats is - if they were bigger, they'd eat you.) :-) So, I assumed this is what was happening.

However, when I was fully awake, I realized that I couldn't move and furthermore, that it was my pillow that was covering my face. I was lying on my side and the pillow I had my head on, was folded up over my face. So, once again, I assumed a cat had just slipped under there, but... that wasn't it.

I started to panic because I couldn't move and I also couldn't breathe! Now - the pillow just wasn't covering my face - it was being *pressed into* my face. I finally was able to, using all my might, move my head just a little bit back and forth.

After a couple seconds of that, the pillow suddenly dropped from my face and, standing right next to my bed, was this tall, thin "Death" figure, except all in white. Like a skeleton in a long, heavy, hooded robe that covered all but the hands. Where the face would be was just "ethereal" whiteness.

Within a split second, this figure reached down and grabbed by bedspread and pulled it over my face and held it tight, trying to suffocate me again! I thought, "This thing is going to kill me - I have to do something!" But, again, I couldn't move - I was paralyzed.

Then, I remembered, that I had been studying up on auras and I realized - this was my only chance. Again, with all my might, I envisioned an energy field around me and, when it had solidified, I pushed it as hard as I could towards this "thing" by my bed.

Suddenly, the bedspread flew off my face (and nearly off the bed) and I was able to see this "thing" being flung back to wherever it came from! It just quickly flew back away from the bed, getting smaller and smaller until it disappeared.

When it was gone, I was suddenly able to move again, so I immediately jumped out of bed and flung on all the lights and started screaming and crying... still being frightened out of my mind!

I couldn't stop screaming and crying about it for 2 days - I had truly felt like someone had just tried to kill me. I couldn't go to work... I couldn't do anything. It took about a week for me to be able to go back into my bedroom and then, about a month for me to be able to go to sleep without having ALL the lights on.

People who know this event ask me how I could still live there. I tell them - if something evil is out to get you - it will find you where ever you are - moving won't change that.

This happened in April 2003.
  

Weird Night

Weird Night
    My friend Janine and I worked in an old Hall in Lowestoft, Suffolk in the early nineties. I was living about a mile from the Hall, we finished work at about 11:00pm and were going back to mine for a drink. There we were, me wheeling my cycle and her holding a plate with a slice of lemon meringue pie on it walking down an unlit dual carriageway, halfway down this road was a layby hidden from the road by a small island covered in trees and bushes. We heard a van pull into the layby and a minute later we heard a noise behind us, looking back we saw a man pretending to pee while looking back the way we had come, strange...

He turned and looked straight at us, jumped onto the road and started to chase us. We shot down the road, it was late with hardly a car about, Janine pulled me across the road in an attempt to force a car to stop but they just swerved around us beeping their horn. The road was empty again. The man was gaining on us, my bag had caught on my bike so I had to haul it on my shoulder. He reached out and grabbed my hair, I swung my bike and knocked him back. Running across the road we saw an oldish man walking down the central reservation and ran towards him shouting for help. He was dressed in weird clothes, a tweed suit and the trousers came to just below his knees like plus fours. We looked back, the guy had seen him too and had turned around and was running back to his van. We were only about ten feet from him but the old guy seemed not to see us and kept looking into the distance as though nothing was happening. This infuriated us and we ran towards him demanding to know what he was playing at, when, just as we reached him he disappeared! Absolutely gobsmacked we ran on until we got to the farmhouse where I lived and called the police. The guy who had chased us fitted the description of someone who had attacked a girl in the next village to us! One of the policewomen told us that many years ago a man and his family had crashed not far down the road and that he had tried to walk to the village for help but died of his injuries before he got there, he'd been seen quite a few times before. He may not have saved his family all those years ago, but he sure saved us that night. The upside of this is that all through this Janine managed to keep hold of that pie, nothing has ever tasted so good!
  

Bed Time

Bed Time
    It was a school night and I had had some real rough times at school. I had just finished my dinner and went to have a bath to relax but just could not stop worrying about all my homework. As I went off to bed I felt as though someone was watching me get dressed, but being used to it I just took no notice of it.

I jumped into bed and stayed awake worrying. I heard my dad turn off all the lights and go to bed so I knew it was late.

As I finally got to sleep, I awoke to someone jumping on top of me as I was on the other side of the house I freaked out thinking if my mom and dad could hear me. I felt as though he was pulling my soul out of me through my stomach. I tried to scream but he had hold of the throat so it felt like he was holding my voicebox in his hand. I tried and tried to fight him off but he just wouldn't move until I tried to scream one more time and he vanished (I knew it was a man because I could feel big strong hands and I could also smell him).

I ran into my mom's room and told her what happened and she got two lovely ladies to bless the house. I never stayed in that room again.
  

The Thing We Couldn't See

The Thing We Couldn't See-
    I'd taken Dynishka to my mother's for a weekend visit. I'm not sure on the year, but I'll guess around 1987. Mom lived in Iowa. Dynishka and me were visiting from San Francisco.

For years I'd promised Dynishka I'd someday take her for a trek through my 'haunted' neighborhood. This particular time she held me to it.

We began by heading north up mom's street, which meant we were heading up a rather steep hill. At the top of the hill we crossed to the opposite side of the road, then entered a yard.

It was quite dark. As I groped to find familiar paths from my childhood, we stepped over plant material that felt spongy, and I remember thinking things had changed since last I'd made the neighborhood rounds. The yards there, in the old neighborhood, are massive, with backyards the size of football fields or better.

Finally we'd got (trespassed heh) to the back of said property, and there found a lovely little bridge crossing a small creek ... then a short jaunt and we were on another path that lead through the next yard, then on to the street north of mom's.

We headed west, past dark homes resting in ample yards ... toward the 'S' curve in the road. At the lower half of the 'S' - toward the north - was the house with the totem pole.

Ah, the totem pole.

Le'me tell ya, this thing is weird. It doesn't stand upright, but is instead curved like a huge doughnut sunk half in the ground. It felt cold like ceramic or plaster, but I now guess it's composition to be of fiberglass. It was 'decorated' (I use the term loosely) with an array of oddities; a huge ear (about a meter in length), the face of a King off a deck of cards (unsure which suit), a large brain (perhaps 5x human brain size), um ... mushrooms, gosh, I can't remember it all! The thing looked like an acid trip realized in an incredibly weird sculpture. (I'll try to get down there this summer and take photos ~ assuming it's still there.) We stayed for just a short time. I was leery of the large dog I knew to have patrolled the property some time before. Though it was creepy, we hadn't yet felt haunted.

We made off for the church grounds. Once there, we lay down in the parking lot to catch a glimpse of the expanse of stars above.

That parking lot, historically, was always where I would acquire (if you will) 'the littles' ... the little folk, who then would always follow myself and my guest on the remainder of our explore. (More stories for another time?)

That night, though we thought we'd heard 'the littles' tell-tale whispers and giggles ... something else seemed to pervade. Not a sound, but a sense. Of darkness ... no, worse. It felt malignant. Vile. Evil.

Dynishka and me sat bolt upright and instinctively began to scoot slowly so our backs were together as there we sat.

The 'little's' whispers and giggles were stifled as birds and crickets before a storm. The silence was obvious and unnerving.

We moved to stand, and a growl met us. Though let me explain, it was less a sound than a feeling. Make sense?

We decided we should flee ... and I decided to cut through the Robinson's ... a densely wooded yard that opens to a field which leads back to mom's street.

The growl moved in front of us. Mind you, I could physically see nothing, but the presence was unmistakable.

I gently touched Dynishka on the shoulder, indicating the direction of our next move with a nod of my head ... but I didn't stray my eyes from the spot my senses told me was occupied by the *Thing*.

Suddenly I burst off toward the road, not even wasting time to go through the Robinson's ... instead we went through the Kouskie's yard ... long as the other yards but not as densely treed. As we moved toward the back ... perhaps 100 feet from the house in the side yard, the *Thing* tried to get in front of us. By now, it was making such a racket I thought I'd go mad. I can't tell you now the sounds, I can't make my mind remember them. In fact, I wasn't sure at all if the sounds were in my head only and not out of it. Then I noticed from the corner of my eye that lights had flickered on in the Kouskie's house, and heads could be seen peering out toward us through assorted windows.

Somehow, knowing that others could hear (or sense?) the *Thing* terrified me even more. I'd ducked down to hide next to a truck-topper (sans truck), which had tall grasses all around it where the lawn mower couldn't reach. Dynishka dropped to her knees next to me, gasping. "What is that?" she screamed in a whisper.

For a moment, I didn't feel the *Thing* impeding our path. I took the moment to bolt. I hate to say it, but I was literally out to save myself ... not even stopping for a millisecond to check that Dynishka was surviving!

I'd got to the gate that separated the Kouskie's yard from mom's neighbor-across-the-street's yard. I was freaking out and not having an easy time with the latch, when again the *Thing* loudly made it's presence known. Finally the gate was open and we were sprinting across the expansive lawn toward the driveway ~ a long and winding drive. The formal garden surrounding the house is separated from the front by a long line of trees, which run parallel with the creek (mentioned earlier in my story). As we approached said line of trees running so fast nary a step touched the ground, we awoke what sounded like hundreds of sleeping birds, who all at once fled from the trees screeching and making a horrid sound.

Cacophonous.

Then I wasn't sure if it were birds I heard, or the thing which pursued us, or both. I should mention here ... outside of abject fear, there also seemed to be some weird time/space thing happening. I can't explain or describe it, everything just felt twisted and not real. Perhaps it was just terror.

Finally, out of the trees and making our way toward the front fence/gate (imposing gothic-looking black-iron jobby that was closed argh!) we didn't break step until we hit the gate and made to climb over. I felt as the men in "The Omen" who were running from the evil dogs in the cemetery, and had the terrible thought I'd impale myself!

I managed not to. We ran across the street toward the warm glow of the lights lining my mother's front walk, then could detect the comforting sound of my dog Benjy barking in the backyard.

We ran up the drive and crashed through the back gate to collapse on lawn chairs ... panting and laughing-almost-crying and trying to get a word out.

As we got our thoughts (translate as sh*t) together, and could finally talk, we sat and related in hushed voices what each the other had felt and seen etc. As we did so, we could hear that my horses in the pasture behind mom's house had come up to the fence [which kept them out of the backyard proper]. My dog trotted down the stone path to say hi to them, and we followed. Eventually, we stood at the fence, petting and cooing to the animals. Before me was Zeus, our largest stallion.

I remember now, hindsight, that he was acting odd (they all were). Skittish. But at the time, I guess I was trying to make things as normal as possible, and I shook it off.

Presently, Zeus took a long step back, an awkward movement, because he did so with only one leg. He then looked straight at me (into my eyes? Dunno, too dark) and commenced to urinating (?!), a long and drawn-out piss. His stance was, how shall I say, almost threatening, like he was a bull preparing to charge!

As Dynishka and me (and poor Benjy) were witnessing all this, the *Thing* dropped down on us from above. There were no trees directly above, just an 'old fashioned' type electrical line. It dropped to the ground directly between Zeus and me, but on *my* side of the fence. When I say it dropped, I mean, we could hear it ... feel the thud reverberate through the ground at our feet (we were all standing very close ... within a 3-4 foot circle).

Again, let me remind you I could physically see nothing, but my brain ... attempted to create a mass in the general vicinity of the *Thing* ... still I seriously don't remember physically seeing anything.

Anyway, the horses, including Zeus, erupted into wild neighing, bucking and kicking, then scattered as if wolves were after them.

Absolutely speechless, I looked at Dynishka, my mind groping for any sort of reasoning. Benjy broke me of my reverie (though I doubt it lasted more than a few seconds). Benjy was barking and making for the house. Again, we followed him.

The flight was excruciating.

For a moment, I could not see the house nor back porch, our supposed safety. Instead, I saw myself from behind running in panic, as though I saw through it's eyes.

We made it to the porch, Benjy was already inside via his own doggy-passage through the backdoor. I was tempted to jump through it myself, but my higher logic convinced me to use the doorknob instead. Dynishka and me didn't stop until we'd run to the front of the house ... to the front and formal living room (used only when mom has guests). Once there, we were oddly calmed. Collected. Moving pointedly.

I went to the secretary in the corner and removed a pen and paper. Dynishka switched on the stereo and retrieved a bottle of merlot from the wine cabinet. I sat on the sofa, pen in hand, with a mind to write of our experience. Dynishka sat on the floor near the serving/coffee table and poured us both a glass of wine. Though out of breath, we refused to show it. We were fine. My cats, one-by-one, began to saunter into the room ~ noticing that we were out-of-sorts, but not wanting us to think they cared enough to show any concern.

Just when everything was beginning to feel all right, a huge catfight erupted under the sofa upon which I sat. I mean, you could see fur flying out from below, and of course you know how awful is that sound! There was no doubt in my mind (at that time at least) my cats were fighting the *Thing* right under my caboose!

Now that's where the story ends. I know Dynishka and me took that bottle of wine to my bedroom where we sat with every single light on (including closet lights). We did not speak further of the incident that night. We simply waited for the sun, and thankfully the wait was uneventful.

I did eventually finish penning the whole story (by hand, somewhere in the region of 20 pages front and back). I held on to it for many *many* years, too. Though now, since I bought my house in '98 August ... I have been unable to locate the sheets, alas, I've done my best in this retelling.
  

The Thing We Couldn't See

The Thing We Couldn't See.
     I'd taken Dynishka to my mother's for a weekend visit. I'm not sure on the year, but I'll guess around 1987. Mom lived in Iowa. Dynishka and me were visiting from San Francisco.

For years I'd promised Dynishka I'd someday take her for a trek through my 'haunted' neighborhood. This particular time she held me to it.

We began by heading north up mom's street, which meant we were heading up a rather steep hill. At the top of the hill we crossed to the opposite side of the road, then entered a yard.

It was quite dark. As I groped to find familiar paths from my childhood, we stepped over plant material that felt spongy, and I remember thinking things had changed since last I'd made the neighborhood rounds. The yards there, in the old neighborhood, are massive, with backyards the size of football fields or better.

Finally we'd got (trespassed heh) to the back of said property, and there found a lovely little bridge crossing a small creek ... then a short jaunt and we were on another path that lead through the next yard, then on to the street north of mom's.

We headed west, past dark homes resting in ample yards ... toward the 'S' curve in the road. At the lower half of the 'S' - toward the north - was the house with the totem pole.

Ah, the totem pole.

Le'me tell ya, this thing is weird. It doesn't stand upright, but is instead curved like a huge doughnut sunk half in the ground. It felt cold like ceramic or plaster, but I now guess it's composition to be of fiberglass. It was 'decorated' (I use the term loosely) with an array of oddities; a huge ear (about a meter in length), the face of a King off a deck of cards (unsure which suit), a large brain (perhaps 5x human brain size), um ... mushrooms, gosh, I can't remember it all! The thing looked like an acid trip realized in an incredibly weird sculpture. (I'll try to get down there this summer and take photos ~ assuming it's still there.) We stayed for just a short time. I was leery of the large dog I knew to have patrolled the property some time before. Though it was creepy, we hadn't yet felt haunted.

We made off for the church grounds. Once there, we lay down in the parking lot to catch a glimpse of the expanse of stars above.

That parking lot, historically, was always where I would acquire (if you will) 'the littles' ... the little folk, who then would always follow myself and my guest on the remainder of our explore. (More stories for another time?)

That night, though we thought we'd heard 'the littles' tell-tale whispers and giggles ... something else seemed to pervade. Not a sound, but a sense. Of darkness ... no, worse. It felt malignant. Vile. Evil.

Dynishka and me sat bolt upright and instinctively began to scoot slowly so our backs were together as there we sat.

The 'little's' whispers and giggles were stifled as birds and crickets before a storm. The silence was obvious and unnerving.

We moved to stand, and a growl met us. Though let me explain, it was less a sound than a feeling. Make sense?

We decided we should flee ... and I decided to cut through the Robinson's ... a densely wooded yard that opens to a field which leads back to mom's street.

The growl moved in front of us. Mind you, I could physically see nothing, but the presence was unmistakable.

I gently touched Dynishka on the shoulder, indicating the direction of our next move with a nod of my head ... but I didn't stray my eyes from the spot my senses told me was occupied by the *Thing*.

Suddenly I burst off toward the road, not even wasting time to go through the Robinson's ... instead we went through the Kouskie's yard ... long as the other yards but not as densely treed. As we moved toward the back ... perhaps 100 feet from the house in the side yard, the *Thing* tried to get in front of us. By now, it was making such a racket I thought I'd go mad. I can't tell you now the sounds, I can't make my mind remember them. In fact, I wasn't sure at all if the sounds were in my head only and not out of it. Then I noticed from the corner of my eye that lights had flickered on in the Kouskie's house, and heads could be seen peering out toward us through assorted windows.

Somehow, knowing that others could hear (or sense?) the *Thing* terrified me even more. I'd ducked down to hide next to a truck-topper (sans truck), which had tall grasses all around it where the lawn mower couldn't reach. Dynishka dropped to her knees next to me, gasping. "What is that?" she screamed in a whisper.

For a moment, I didn't feel the *Thing* impeding our path. I took the moment to bolt. I hate to say it, but I was literally out to save myself ... not even stopping for a millisecond to check that Dynishka was surviving!

I'd got to the gate that separated the Kouskie's yard from mom's neighbor-across-the-street's yard. I was freaking out and not having an easy time with the latch, when again the *Thing* loudly made it's presence known. Finally the gate was open and we were sprinting across the expansive lawn toward the driveway ~ a long and winding drive. The formal garden surrounding the house is separated from the front by a long line of trees, which run parallel with the creek (mentioned earlier in my story). As we approached said line of trees running so fast nary a step touched the ground, we awoke what sounded like hundreds of sleeping birds, who all at once fled from the trees screeching and making a horrid sound.

Cacophonous.

Then I wasn't sure if it were birds I heard, or the thing which pursued us, or both. I should mention here ... outside of abject fear, there also seemed to be some weird time/space thing happening. I can't explain or describe it, everything just felt twisted and not real. Perhaps it was just terror.

Finally, out of the trees and making our way toward the front fence/gate (imposing gothic-looking black-iron jobby that was closed argh!) we didn't break step until we hit the gate and made to climb over. I felt as the men in "The Omen" who were running from the evil dogs in the cemetery, and had the terrible thought I'd impale myself!

I managed not to. We ran across the street toward the warm glow of the lights lining my mother's front walk, then could detect the comforting sound of my dog Benjy barking in the backyard.

We ran up the drive and crashed through the back gate to collapse on lawn chairs ... panting and laughing-almost-crying and trying to get a word out.

As we got our thoughts (translate as sh*t) together, and could finally talk, we sat and related in hushed voices what each the other had felt and seen etc. As we did so, we could hear that my horses in the pasture behind mom's house had come up to the fence [which kept them out of the backyard proper]. My dog trotted down the stone path to say hi to them, and we followed. Eventually, we stood at the fence, petting and cooing to the animals. Before me was Zeus, our largest stallion.

I remember now, hindsight, that he was acting odd (they all were). Skittish. But at the time, I guess I was trying to make things as normal as possible, and I shook it off.

Presently, Zeus took a long step back, an awkward movement, because he did so with only one leg. He then looked straight at me (into my eyes? Dunno, too dark) and commenced to urinating (?!), a long and drawn-out piss. His stance was, how shall I say, almost threatening, like he was a bull preparing to charge!

As Dynishka and me (and poor Benjy) were witnessing all this, the *Thing* dropped down on us from above. There were no trees directly above, just an 'old fashioned' type electrical line. It dropped to the ground directly between Zeus and me, but on *my* side of the fence. When I say it dropped, I mean, we could hear it ... feel the thud reverberate through the ground at our feet (we were all standing very close ... within a 3-4 foot circle).

Again, let me remind you I could physically see nothing, but my brain ... attempted to create a mass in the general vicinity of the *Thing* ... still I seriously don't remember physically seeing anything.

Anyway, the horses, including Zeus, erupted into wild neighing, bucking and kicking, then scattered as if wolves were after them.

Absolutely speechless, I looked at Dynishka, my mind groping for any sort of reasoning. Benjy broke me of my reverie (though I doubt it lasted more than a few seconds). Benjy was barking and making for the house. Again, we followed him.

The flight was excruciating.

For a moment, I could not see the house nor back porch, our supposed safety. Instead, I saw myself from behind running in panic, as though I saw through it's eyes.

We made it to the porch, Benjy was already inside via his own doggy-passage through the backdoor. I was tempted to jump through it myself, but my higher logic convinced me to use the doorknob instead. Dynishka and me didn't stop until we'd run to the front of the house ... to the front and formal living room (used only when mom has guests). Once there, we were oddly calmed. Collected. Moving pointedly.

I went to the secretary in the corner and removed a pen and paper. Dynishka switched on the stereo and retrieved a bottle of merlot from the wine cabinet. I sat on the sofa, pen in hand, with a mind to write of our experience. Dynishka sat on the floor near the serving/coffee table and poured us both a glass of wine. Though out of breath, we refused to show it. We were fine. My cats, one-by-one, began to saunter into the room ~ noticing that we were out-of-sorts, but not wanting us to think they cared enough to show any concern.

Just when everything was beginning to feel all right, a huge catfight erupted under the sofa upon which I sat. I mean, you could see fur flying out from below, and of course you know how awful is that sound! There was no doubt in my mind (at that time at least) my cats were fighting the *Thing* right under my caboose!

Now that's where the story ends. I know Dynishka and me took that bottle of wine to my bedroom where we sat with every single light on (including closet lights). We did not speak further of the incident that night. We simply waited for the sun, and thankfully the wait was uneventful.

I did eventually finish penning the whole story (by hand, somewhere in the region of 20 pages front and back). I held on to it for many *many* years, too. Though now, since I bought my house in '98 August ... I have been unable to locate the sheets, alas, I've done my best in this retelling.
     

Driving Down the Road

Driving Down the Road
     One day I was driving down the road late at night around 11:00pm and my car just shut off, I couldn't see anything because my headlights were off and my flashlight was missing. So I was on a dirt road and decided to see if there was help nearby. I heard foot steps and I turned around but no one was there. I found my flash light on the road and I turned it on and the light was pointing at a tree and I saw the words "heaven is close." Then I started to panic and I guess I passed out or something, and I ended up in my car again and it was turned on. I looked at the clock and it was 2:30am. I was scared out of my wits and dived back to my house in a hurry. I wonder what happened that night, can any of you help me understand this experience?
     

Mommy

Mommy
     There was a period in 1995 where a little girl lived in my house. I was laying in bed one morning relaxing before getting up and I heard a small girl's voice next to me say, "Mommy." It was so sweet sounding though that I wasn't afraid. About a month later, my husband of the time was fishing around in the library looking for a pack of cigarettes he had hidden when he heard a little girl ask him, "What are you doing?" Startled, he looked up thinking it was perhaps me but no one was there. This freaked him out and he promptly ran out of the house.

I don't know who this little girl was, why she called me mommy, or where she went shortly after these few incidents. I think sometimes only the ghost knows why or how they are there.
     

Orcas Island Voices

Orcas Island Voices
     In early 1990, I went to Orcas Island in Washington's San Juan islands to stay with family and friends at an older estate nestled on 80 beautiful wooded acres. It was a hot August afternoon and everyone but myself left to go play tennis. After lounging around awhile outside I got hot and decided to cool off inside.

The house was very lovely so I gave myself a self-guided tour. I ended up in what looked like attic space saw a lovely wood framed mirror of which I peered inside. Suddenly, I could hear voices around me, wildly talking in an attempt to be heard. Surprised and a bitshocked, I ran downstairs and fled outside. I was not going back in that house alone! When the owner's son returned with my family, I asked who might be haunting the house. I was told that there was a ghost in the house and it was a woman who had killed herself several decades earlier. She had stuffed her car's tail pipe with a rag and ran the engine in the garage until she died of carbon dioxide poisoning. She left this world but didn't leave the manor.
     

Violent Ghost

     One night, I was watching TV in my room when I felt like something was watching me. In the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a shadow move. When I looked over to the corner of my room, I saw it was where my bookcase was and thought it was just my imagination. I turned the TV off and reached for the light switch so I could go to bed.

There are 2 mirrors in my room on opposing walls and one of them is very large. When I reached for the switch I saw a shadow distinctly move in the larger mirror. When I quickly jerked my head to where the shadow might have been, I noticed the bookcase had a weird sort of dark hazy shadow to the side of it. It wasn't very noticeable and if I hadn't of seen something move near there, I probably wouldn't have seen it. I kept focusing when it moved! At that same time I got the worst headache and had to grab my head, it hurt so much! I closed my eyes and when I opened them and looked at the bookcase, the ghost wasn't there.

I looked around my room until I finally saw it. It had moved closer to me and was becoming more noticeable. The hazy darkness had gotten darker and I could start to see the shape of a slightly bulky man. I kept my eyes on it and it stayed put. My head was thumping but I didn't want to take my eyes off it. Then it shrank suddenly, to the floor. I didn't want to look down in case something sudden happened, so I stayed put.

I waited for about 1 1/2 hours until I thought it was gone and went to turn off the light. I felt something grab my arm though and pull at it. In my head, I suddenly thought of the words; 'back moment', for no reason. I looked at the shadow and closed my eyes thinking it would go away. It did but when I looked around the room again I saw it back near the bookcase again. This time, I told it to go away and leave me alone and it quickly moved across the room near the door. There was a bottle of perfume on the mini table near the door and the shadow knocked it off when it moved. I turned off the light and got under the covers and it felt like the covers were squeezing me. Like when you suck air out of a bag with something in it. I tried to move but it felt like I was stuck and I heard something like an animal dying. My bed started shaking and I fought to get free of my blanket. I managed to stick my head out and saw the shadow figure standing across the room just watching me. I could see its eyes because they were more black then the rest of it. The bed was still shaking and the covers were still tight so I closed my eyes and screamed. Then my bed stopped, the blankets became loose and I ran out, in my PJ's, got in my car and stayed at a friend's house after telling her what happened.

I asked one of my more religious friend's to find someone to exorcise my flat but I haven't had any word back yet. This happened about a month ago and I've been at my house during the day but at my friend's house in the night time. I can't bear to sleep in my room anymore after what happened.
     

हम आपको ऐसी ही एक घटना से परिचित करवाने जा रहे हैं जिसके पीछे क्या कारण है यह तो नहीं पता लेकिन गांव के लोग इसे अपने पूर्वजों की आत्मा से जुड़ा राज मान रहे हैं.
गोरखपुर (उत्तर प्रदेश) के पास एक छोटा सा गांव है. इस गांव की लगभग 5 एकड़ जमीन पूरी तरह खाली पड़ी है. लेकिन उल्लेखनीय बात यह है कि यह जमीन पिछले कई दशकों से खाली पड़ी है क्योंकि यहां जो पेड़ थे वह भी या तो गिर गए या फिर कटवा दिए गए. इस जमीन पर कहा जाता है दो बड़ी-बड़ी हांडियां घूमती रहती हैं. दो हांडिया जिनका मुंह एक-दूसरे से जुड़ा हुआ है और वह इस जुड़े हुए मुंह के साथ पूरी जमीन का चक्कर लगाती हैं. जो भी उन हांडियों को पकड़ने की कोशिश करता है उसे असफलता ही हाथ लगती है. वह किसी के हाथ नहीं आतीं और कहां छिप जाती हैं यह कोई नहीं जानता.

अब आप सोच रहे होंगे कि या तो यह कहानी मनगढ़ंत है या तो इसके पीछे कोई गहरा राज है. जी हां, इन हांडियों के वहां विचरण करने के पीछे एक गहरा राज है और गांव वालों के अनुसार वह राज है धन-दौलत.

गांव वालों का कहना है कि एक विशिष्ट परिवार के छिपे हुए खजाने की रक्षा करने के लिए ही यह हांडिया उस जमीन पर घूमती हैं. ऐसी मान्यता है कि अगर कोई वस्तु एक लंबे समय तक जमीन में गड़ी रहती है तो उसमें जान आ जाती है और ऐसा ही कुछ हुआ इन हांडियों के साथ. पहले के जमाने में जब ना तो बैंक हुआ करते थे और ना ही कोई लॉकर तो परिवार के लोग अपनी धन-दौलत को जमीन में गाड़ देते थे. काफी समय तक जमीन में गड़े इस खजाने की जब किसी ने खोज खबर नहीं ली तो वह खजाना जीवित हो उठा और उस जमीन पर भ्रमण करने लगा.

अब आप यह भी सोच रहे होंगे कि इतना बड़ा खजाना होने के बावजूद क्या किसी ने उन हांडियों को पकड़ने की कोशिश नहीं की? तो इस सवाल का जवाब हम आपको देते हैं कि कोशिश तो की लेकिन वह हांडिया किसी के हाथ आने के लिए तैयार नहीं हैं. कहते हैं इन हांडियों में उस परिवार के पूर्वजों की आत्मा है और वह जिसे अपने उत्तराधिकारी के रूप में स्वीकार करेंगे उसे ही वह खजाना सौंपेंगे और अगर किसी ने जबरन उन हांडियों को पकड़ने की कोशिश की तो इससे जान का खतरा भी हो सकता है.
अभी तक उस परिवार की सभी पीढ़ियां इस खजाने को पाने के लिए हांडियों को काबू में करने की कोशिश कर चुकी हैं लेकिन किसी को सफलता हासिल नहीं हुई है.