was this a ghost ?

tiamaria

My cat peers round the back of the telly looking for the birds on the nature programmes!

jaqui59

We once stayed in an old mill in Cornwall which had been converted to a holiday cottage .. In the lounge was a portrait of a middle aged man holding a cigarette in his hand ... We only stayed there for a couple of nights, because at 10pm on both those nights, the whole room filled with the stench of tobacco smoke, which made us feel very uneasy indeed, in fact, the whole cottage made us feel uneasy. We found a vacant caravan in a park a couple of miles down the road and had our holiday there instead. I really wanted to ask someone at the Company who rented the cottage whether any other holiday makers had mentioned the tobacco smell, or if they knew who the person was in the portrait, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

joeypesci

motherofstudents wrote: »

First, let me say that I am quite level headed and sceptical but something my sister in law has told me made me feel quite spooky. I'd be interested in opinions...what do you think it was ? My brother and sil bought their house last January after they were told about it by sil's mum. Her mum used to clean the house for the old lady who owned it and when it started to get to be a bit too much for her she moved into a residential care home. Anyway, one night last week my brother was working late, my niece was at her friend's house across the road so my sil decided to have a nice relaxing bath. She heard footsteps coming up the stairs and assumed it was her daughter. She was so convinced that she shouted out to her but got no answer. Then she heard my niece's bedroom door shut so got out of the bath and went to the bedroom. There was nobody there, nobody on the stairs, in fact nobody in the whole house. So she got dressed and went over the road to find her daughter with her friend and parents half way through watching a dvd. My sil is very forthright, assertive, works for the police and is not given to fantasizing in any way which makes it worse as I really believe she didn't make it up. The following day her mum arrived and told her that the old lady they bought the house from had died......the night before at 7.30pm, the exact time of the footsteps. Is it coincidence or what ??

It's a coincidence and it's, as always, a 3rd hand story that you heard from someone else.

I'm a sceptic and ALWAYS look for the logical reasons. Good idea would be to put a video camera on the stairs and one at the bottom with the one top of stairs in shot. And see if you catch anything. Having both cameras in shot of each other means no one can sneak behind one to do stuff.

Not that this was going on in this incident but there is something that happens to an old friend of mine and her mum in the nights. They wake and feel like they can't move and have a weird feeling there is something in the room with them. Being gullible they believe it was paranormal for years until I gave the proven scientific reason for it. When you sleep your brain shuts off most of your motive functions to stop you acting out your dreams. Some people start to wake while this is still active. They are then stuck in a half sleep and half awake point. So their motive functions are still switched off, hence they feel like they can't move (sleep paralysis). And because they are still partly asleep, they hallucinate the image or feeling of someone being in the room with them.

Also when we are in a very relaxed state, before sleep, we can hit hypnagogic state. Which can cause you to hallucinate. I would suggest due to your SIL being in the bath, in a relaxed state, she could of got to this point and been hallucinating which can create visions as well as sound.

meames_2

mouseymousey99 wrote: »

Fair exchange, I have loved reading these over the last few days.
My mother died at 7.30pm, the next day at roughly the same time I was standing in her hallway. She walked past me and up the stairs, as if she was going to bed. She didn't seem to know I was there, and didn't speak or anything. Also noticed she didn't really 'walk' as much as sort of float by? She wasn't a solid, but had sort of soft edges? I'm not describing this very well. Nothing in the least bit scarey or anything, this was my mum.
A more recent one...
Very sadly a soldier was killed overseas, and his dog died the next day - it had a lot of coverage on the news. I was watching the news, when they played the video of the dog. My cat ran into the room, went over to the tv and stood on his back legs. He kissed the screen, the image of the dog - then ran out. We sat there and couldn't speak for a while. He has never done anything like this. Again, nothing scarey but something quite loving I think?

This had made me shiver!

POPPYOSCAR

jamespir wrote: »

my aunt swears she saw her husband just after he died he came to her to tell her she was gonna be alright and that she shouldnt worry

then there was a knock on the door to tell her husband had died



im unsure if ghost exist or not

I had a similar thing happen with my aunt, who was in a home.Her husband(my uncle) still lived in their house. The staff were woken at 3.00am with my aunt calling out, she had never done this before. She told them that my uncle has just been to see her. They found out next day that he had died that night.

daisiegg

I missed this thread first time round but I have loved reading it...even if I don't necessarily believe, do enjoy a good ghost story!

However, despite being a non-believer, some weird things did used to happen in my old house. It was an old Victorian semi and very creaky, the walls were thin, so while there were often lots of weird noises it could always be explained away by next door and the age of the house.

There was a built-in cupboard in one of the bedrooms, with three locks on the outside. OH and I used to joke that 'that's where they locked up the children' - and the freaky thing about it was that it had scratch marks on the inside of the door (yes, I know, probably a cat or something).

Then one night, I had a really bad nightmare (at the time I was convinced it was real but obviously it was a dream!) where I saw an evil, dreadful looking woman standing in the room, holding a dead child by the neck. ERGH it was the most terrifying, vivid nightmare I've ever had and it still makes me feel horrible just thinking about it, even though it was a few years ago.

The weird thing was, a day or so later I went in the cupboard for something, and there were crayon scribbles all over the inside of the cupboard door.

We do not have any children and do not have crayons (or even felt tips or anything) in the house.

OH was away on business and no one else had been in the house.

They definitely hadn't been there before, as we had examined the scratches quite closely and used the cupboard all the time - we would definitely have noticed crayon drawings all over the cupboard.

Even though OH hadn't been home I searched the whole house for crayons/a crayon packet, even the bins - nothing. It freaked me out quite a lot and to this day, I haven't figured out a plausible explanation (other than that my landlord, despite saying he was out of the country on a school trip, which I know to be true as I had a friend on the same trip, was sick in the head and somehow snuck in while I was at work and did it?!)

OH (who is a very level-headed, cynical person) used to sometimes say he could see a figure in the kitchen when we were sitting watching TV. It creeped him out quite a lot but we put it down to shadows, etc.

Even though I really don't believe in ghosts/spirits, there was a nasty feeling about that house. I used to hate being there on my own at night (despite it happening a lot, as OH goes away on business loads) and used to have lots of bad dreams. It just felt like there was something rotten and nasty about the house.

Since we have moved, I have had no bad dreams and feel completely safe and calm when at home alone at night, even though this house is quite isolated compared the the old house.

Eeek but typing it all out has sent that creepy feeling down my spine again!

motherofstudents

Well, I have enjoyed reading everyone's experiences but still not really any closer to an explanation other than there are so many things we don't understand. In a way I don't see these things as 'supernatural'. I think they are just part of the universe that we don't understand.

I was reading yesterday about a couple of men driving along a road one day when they saw an old car in front, driving slowly so they started to overtake. There was a woman and child in the car, dressed in 1940's clothes so they assumed she had been involved in some kind of vintage rally. As they pulled alongside, they looked and saw that the woman looked terrified so they signalled to her to pull over. As she did, they pulled up in front and got out. There was no other car there. A moment later a different car pulled up and the driver said he had watched them overtake and couldn't understand where the other car had gone.

Their theory was that it was some kind of time slip. I believe Stephen Hawking thinks there are 11 dimensions and as we are only aware of 4, maybe that could answer some of these weird goings on. Very interesting stuff and I will never be dogmatic about it and say I know these things do exist or don't because I just don't know.

daisiegg

Oh I forgot to add, in our scary old house our radio always used to turn itself on and start playing Classic FM. We never had it tuned to Classic FM. Easily explained, I know, but still quite freaky to suddenly hear classical music when you're not expecting it! Things also used to fall off the top of bookcases quite a lot in that house.

Ooh, it's made me feel all creepy reading the stories in this thread. I've just had to put the TV on and turn lights on! it's also that really still, almost eerie atmosphere just before it snows, which isn't helping.

sparrer

When my DGD was 3 years old she was sitting on the stairs playing and chattering away. DD asked her who she was talking to, she replied Nanny Mary' (not her real name). Mary was her daddy's mother who died when he was in his early teens, and why Nanny when her only other grandparent is Grandma? She wasn't someone who was talked about in the family so highly improbable the LO would know anything of her.

The lady who lived in my current property makes her presence felt, subtly. As well as myself two other people have sensed her, another has seen her. She's not disturbed anyone, and isn't at all 'spooky'. She's been seen/felt in various rooms and going up the stairs in daylight. Just my theory but she may be looking for her husband who moved just after she died.

Non believers tend to mock the things they don't understand, believers are more likely to keep their beliefs to themselves as they've heard all the arguments many times. It's impossible to prove ghost/spirits exist, and just as impossible to prove they don't.

mogwai

I really enjoyed reading this thread! I've had all manner of supernatural experiences and def believe in the supernatural. Anyone who says categorically there are no such things as ghosts should realise that thats actually a very unscientific and illogical statement to make.

My parents, siblings and I moved into an old house back in 2003, pretty soon the kitchen became known for being a bit of a 'hotspot' for paranormal activity..

Once my sister and I were sitting in the kitchen having lunch when suddenly we heard my mum call my sisters name. The weird part was that she was abroad at the time and no one else was in the house. We both heard it clear as day and sat up with a jolt at the same time. It was my mums voice and the lilt she has when she calls our names as well.

Another weird thing that happens on the top floor is whenever we take any of our cats up to the top floor they start acting very affectionate and friendly - from I can't be bothered to move to I love everyone friendly, lol - it works everytime. Very weird - friendly ghost that likes cats?

Another more sinister experience I had was when I was on holiday with my family - my sister and I shared a bed and the first 2 nights we were there neither of us could sleep. We didn't share this with each other and we both thought the other was asleep, and weirdly, we both saw the same images - when my eyes were closed I could see these images, and when they were open I could still 'see' them in my minds eye..it was images of blanked out faces and crawling figures in black - these really freaked me out, even now when I think about it it makes my skin crawl. I had a constant feeling of unease and dread as well.

Then on the 3rd night suddenly there were no more images or uneasy feeling and we both slept like babies.

So the 3rd day we wake up and over breakfast one of us happened to share what had been happening - it turned out that my dad had experienced the same thing on the 3rd night - as if whatever it was had left us and was trying to attack my dad.

We were later told that lots of people had felt unease in that home and that was one of the reasons that my uncle whose house we were staying in decided to move.