[Mrsposer]

I've been noticing that the grocery stores, etc. have already started selling pumpkins. Drives me nuts, because that means that the holidays are right around the corner, which in turn means I will be broke.

I thought it could be fun to start a spooky thread of sorts, though. Soooo...my question is "do you believe in ghosts?" And if you do...why? Share your tales! Could be fun.

[TomGalvin]

That reminds me, I need to stock up on marine flares

[tizeagle]

I've got 20 pumpkins on a couple of vines that sprouted from the seeds I dumped last year.

[Imaposer]

Ok, I'll go out on a limb here, break the ice and be the first to sound like a lunatic. Surely I won't be all alone here...

At risk of proving myself as nutty as you probably already believe, and much to the consternation of Mrsposer, I’ll say that our house is HAUNTED.

Yep, you read that right. And this is coming from someone who isn’t particularly spiritual or superstitious and generally wouldn’t believe in such things at all. She won’t admit it but we’ve both had numerous experiences since living there. Nothing major, mind you, but just weird feelings, frequent glimpses of shadowy movement from the corner of the eye, that sort of thing. I’m sure it’s a case of over active imaginations… or perhaps we both have brain tumors? I guess it’s even conceivable that we have some sort of psychedelic mold spores emanating from our crawl space but I can’t deny that the experiences have occurred.

Other than the ones I’ve mentioned, I have had one that defies explanation and is definitely worthy of mention. I have a morning routine (yep, I’m a little OC too) when getting ready for work. I’ll spare you the details of the full routine but the part that matters here is when I get to my chest-of-drawers to get fresh socks and t-shirt. One morning I was on schedule with my routine, after coming out of the bathroom, I reached the chest and out of nowhere came a very strong odor of “old ladies perfume”. Now, I don’t mean a vague or transient odor, I’m talking the little old lady in the grocery store sort of thing, unmistakable and instantly recognizable. I stood there for a few moments trying to figure out from where it was emanating, and then just as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone, lasting perhaps 10 to 20 seconds. My first thought was that Mrsposer had put some sort of potpourri crap in one of my drawers or had used some sort of perfumed detergent. So, I opened each drawer and took a strong sniff… nothing. It hasn’t happened again since but it did that one time and that was one time too many for me.

Now that I’ve proven myself a nut I will say that I’m truly a rationalist and the very core of my being rebels at thoughts of unexplainable or supernatural phenomena. Our other “feelings” and experiences I can write of as over active imaginations, effects of lighting and shadow or other visual illusions, but I’m at a loss to find a logical explanation for this one event. Other than the fact that certain neurological disorders can cause olfactory hallucinations, that is.

Other than recommendations for a good shrink or neurologist, any ideas?

[sg]

I believe in nothing supernatural. Humans have very active imaginations, pattern matching brains that fill in the blanks, and revisionist memories, you need look no further.

[CHassan]

[AP]

My in-laws live in a castle in central France and my wife and I used to go there each year to visit. We would arrive to find the entire top floor set-up for our stay. It's a very impressive layout. But during each visit I would get these weird unnerving sensations, especially when I was up on the third floor by myself. On more than one occasion I found myself looking over my shoulder half expecting to find someone standing there. I would be so conscious of it that I would eventually get out of the house and go outside. A few times I was into a jog going down the steep stairwell just to get away from the feeling.

My wife recently returned from her folks home. She had taken her new camera with her and took a heap of photos and some video. We sat down one night after her return and went through the photos and one of the video files had the freakiest semi transparent orange coloured silhouette move really quickly across in front of the camera. When I saw it I had that pit of the stummock feeling. We slowed down the video and it would be impossible for a person to move that fast, maybe 40kph in a medium sized room. Slowing it down showed the cadence with arm movement etc. It was then I first told my wife about the strange feelings I get when staying in her parents house.

I have not experienced this before and agree with SG. I find it hard to believe in a ghost theory but I can't explain the in-laws home and the feeling I get there. It's creepy just writing about it.

[xerxes]

When I was younger, a couple of friends and I wanted to go camping. We heard about a quarry park that was an hour west of Youngstown, where I lived at the time. When we got there and walked in the front gate, I was instantly blown away. About a month previous, I had a very vivid dream about this very place, which I had never been before! I described this to my friend, telling him that in my dream the person I was with had fallen down a steep hill and been injured. After walking through the woods surrounding the quarry for a while, we cam upon a slope. Standing at the top, I joked that I should push him down it to fulfill my dream. As we turned around to walk away, my friend fell to the ground and cried out in pain. The campsites in the area were equipped with metal fire-rings, staked to the ground. The one he had been standing next to was covered with fallen leaves, and gave him a nasty scrape on his shin.

[Mrsposer]

Okay....I am a skeptic....so why am I the one who has the most experiences?? I have had the feeling you mentioned AP. I was in the bathroom leaning over the sink washing my face, when I felt like someone was behind me. I mean, so close that I almost felt like I was being touched. I thought Randy was playing a practical joke, so I just kept washing my face. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. haha I had that feeling the whole time I was bent over, and when I finally looked up...no one was there. FREAKY!!

I recently had an incident when we were in bed. We had just gone to bed and were starting to doze off a little. Randy sleeps on the left side, me on the right. I was on my tummy, all of a sudden it felt like someone touched my left arm. I thought it was Chelsea, maybe she was sick or something, and came to get me up. I opened my eyes, and no one was there. FREAKY!!

I have more!! Interested???

[Imaposer]

[Radwhacker]

There are some interesting theories based on the idea of electromagnetic fields and their interactions with the human brain.

I think it is entirely possible that all non-rational experience, such as ghosts, feelings of being watched, religious belief, Republicans and paragliding can be explained as perturbations in the brains EM field.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_theories_of_consciousness

[Imaposer]

[averen]

Bunch of crazies here!

My Mother-In-Law is no exception. When my (now) wife and I started dating she decided to not tell her mom anything about me...like nothing, no name, no description, nothing. Apparently her mom had messed up a couple of relationships for her in the past and she wanted to break that streak

Anyways I was staying over at her place one night and her mom called freakishly early in the morning. She went on to tell her about some dream that she had about this guy that she (my girlfriend) was going to marry at some point in her life. Anyways this guy was extremely handsome with his red hair and glasses, put up with all of her crap, and on top of everything was named Jared! Which freaked my wife out because 1) that is my name and 2) because she didn't tell ANYONE that would speak to her mom about me/us!

So things like that are a little freaky, we're now married and her mom likes to tell this story a lot

Jared

[tizeagle]

I'm the other end of the spectrum, although I don't go hunting the supernatural, three locations out of five in the last 12 years that I have lived have had at least one resident that didn't move in with me and only one of those spirits or ghosts or whatever was marginally unhappy because I was there.

I believe the belief and maybe the willingness of said beings to open up to my presence is because they don't bother me. My mother is of a Gypsy and Indian life style both hating to live in one location but growing up she was all into witchcraft, black magic and Tera cards. Now I don't know anything about it but I did get her free flowing attitude and supernatural beliefs but I don't preach them or even talk about them. This is my first time outside my wife.

One place I lived the naturals would move things around or even warn me if someone was approaching the front door of the house by moveing fabric. Another liked to screw with doors open or close them as they saw fit or even turn on or off a light with you in the room. Another one I could only guess that he or she would get upset from time to time because he or she would move a single shoe somewhere and I would have to find it.

One other incredible story is I can walk down a street in New Orleans Sober and feel as if I'm in a crowd. That city from early trading times has so much murder and political killings that it is a hot spot for the un-dead, if there is a resort thats were they all go for vacation. I've been to New Orleans for work well over 50 times in 12 years some of the hotels that have been converted in the old warehouse district also have very old residents.

So there's one for the crazy books. By the way when I learned they lived there too I always said hello and goodbye as I came and went.


Also if any of you have had the chance to have otter body experiences those are great to. I get a couple a year, total different experience than dreaming.

[sg]

I have this amazingly powerful anti-supernatural force field that surrounds me. No matter how much people swear of super natural events at certain places, when I arrive, they mysteriously disappear

Nothing remotely supernatural occurs when im around to me or anyone around me, ever. They always seem perplexed. I have some powerful anti-ghost mojo or something. They all immediately flee in terror when skeptic boy shows up for some reason

[Imaposer]

[Mrsposer]

haha What have I unleashed here??

I have another one!!
My dad suffered a terrible stroke last year. When I arrived at the hospital, they weren't ruling out brain surgery. So this is particularly emotional for me.
He didn't have your typical "clot", it was a "bleeding" stroke, which is far more serious. Anyway, once they realized that the surgery was no longer iminent, he was moved into the neurological ICU unit where he stayed for somewhere around 4 or 5 days. As you all probably know, he was only allowed a certain number of visitors at certain times. For the first day, he was really out of it, almost no communication at all. Then beginning on the second day, he would say things about some little man that had been jumping up out of the biohazard box laughing at him all night. (please be kind here...this is VERY emotional for me) Of course, I knew there was no such thing and I had mentioned it to the nurse. According to her, he was not on any different meds than he normally took at home. So, I immediately started to think that he was in some real trouble as far as brain damage went. During his stay in the ICU unit, he also saw a little black boy and a little black girl on a table playing. He said they were making a lot of noise and keeping him from resting. He would actually ask me if I saw them too. What do you say?? I said no and that maybe they had him on some loopy meds, just so I could make him feel like he wasn't going crazy. But, the final straw came when I had gone in to see him one time alone. Keep in mind that it is very quiet and somewhat dark. Also, my emotional state was wrecked as I feared he could die. I was standing by the side of his bed talking to him. He was looking at me, and then he looked off a little. The door was behind me and a little to the left. I noticed that was where his eyes were focused. He seemed pretty intent on looking that direction...even though I was still talking to him. Finally, I asked him what he was looking at. He said that little white- haired lady over there. Well, I thought it was a nurse or something and I turned to look but no one was there. I asked him what she was doing, he replied, " She's standing there, she's got a knife. "....And his eyes followed something across the room to the place directly behind me. (Chills) Then he sort of had an urgency in his voice when he said " She's gonna get you!!" Well, needless to say , I dove out of the way like some kind of nut.
I participated in this hallucination or whatever it was.
Now, he had already asked one of the nurses if anyone had ever died in that room. Of course she said no. But we all know that someone has...I mean it is a neurological ICU unit. So when he started seeing an old lady with a knife, it startled me. I am still unsure of what really happened there that day, I just know that I was more scared then than I have ever been. It seemed REAL...even to me...even though I didn't actually see anyone, I felt like it was possible that he did. Weird! Logic tells me that due to his near death experience with the stroke, that it was possible that his mind was playing tricks on him...and me! But, I still wonder, is it possible that he picked up on someone's energy from their past life??? I'm not crazy ...so be gentle here.

[Tom Benton]

[sg]

Guy needs to find better actors for his pet blair witch project

Best comment on youtube

[Lobido]

TB-
I trust you kid my friend. If ever BS there was this was, because because because because because, because of the baloney things they does. (To the tune of off to see the wizard).

Well, I never met a ghost. I tend to think they are the result of over active imaginations.

I have, however, been involved in a very bizarre coincidence (?). During my first marriage I awoke next to my wife and recounted a vivid dream to her. I dreamed that I wanted to try heroin, and in my dream she had argued against it. (I know, fodder for those who think my brain is fried, and no, I have never tried it). She had a strange look on her face as I told her, and then she told me her dream. She dreamed that the two of us were standing next to a fence, and on the opposite side of the fence was a field of snow. I wanted to hop the fence and play in the snow, but she did not want me too, she felt that the field of snow was not safe. In her dream she argued with me to keep me out of the field. Strange!

Imaposer, my professional opinion is that you are non compis mentis. This is subject to change, upon the filing of an appropriate picture of the Poser family.

I also have a supernatural story about a joint, but will need some real cajoling, such as a legitimate Poser mug post, to reveal it here.