I See Dead People
May 3rd 2008
Julia LondonOn Writing!
I don’t really, but wouldn’t that be sort of cool? Okay, here is the deal: one day, I was out wogging, and there was a man ahead of me on the path. I was trying to quicken my waddle by maintaining the distance between us, but there is a point where the path joins a street on a neighborhood, and when I reached it, the man was nowhere to be seen.
Now, my first thought was that the dude had run home. But my stepdaughter had a different theory altogether: He was a ghost. A man who had died on the path (which was probably constructed in the last five years), who died running, who runs every day because he’s caught between heaven and hell.
I thought that was pretty clever imagining, and was telling some friends later—laughing, naturally—but my friends, grown woman like me, did not laugh. They began to talk about ghosts in their houses, or their grandparents houses, or weird things that had happened to them, as if those things happened to everyone. I’ve never had an experience like that. I asked them if they seriously believed the man ahead of me on the path was a ghost. Two said no, one of them shrugged and said, “Maybe. Who knows?”
Well I know—the guys was real. But whose to say there wasn’t some other ghost wogging with me that day? I was fascinated by the tales my pals were telling me about weird occurrences in their houses (things moving, doors closing, cold or hot spots), or around their person. It made me wonder about the supernatural world. Are some people more in tune with it than others? Are there really souls wandering around between us that can’t get to their eternal resting place? Have you ever had a supernatural or otherwise ghostly experience?
41 Comments »
evlqn on 03 May 2008 at 2:43 am #
Oh good goddess yes Julia, we have lived with spirits and entities all of our lives. A pyschic friend of ours says our house is on “the I-5 of the spirit world”. We have things going through here all of the time, we even have pictures of orbs floating in and around the house.
I have seen and felt spirits for as long as I can remember. One notable one was an Army recruiter that lived down the hall from us when myneice was a toddler. He died while at a convention in another state, three days later he came home. I had been laying down reading and I felt someone watching me so I looked up and there was Louie between the head of the bed and the wall. Now two things make that strange (three if you count his was dead), Louie would never have walked into our apartment without knocking, and there was only 4″ between the bed and the wall.
evlqn on 03 May 2008 at 2:56 am #
For the rest of the time we lived in that apartment we would hear him come into the building and walk up the stairs come to our door and ring the jingle bells we had by our door and then walk back to his apartment. The girls who rented his place after he died complained that no matter how often they rearranged the furniture it was moved back the way he had it when he lived there.
Every Samhain we put up an ancestor’s table for our departed family and friends. Last year our grandmother and two of our uncles stopped by.
We are very comfortable with spirits for the most part. There is always the buzz-killler in the bunch though.If someone was a horse’s hind-quarter in life they didn’t get over it just because they are dead, now they are a dead jerk.
Paula on 03 May 2008 at 3:59 am #
About 20 years ago when i was in my first nanny job (it was a live in post). I was babysitting and I kept hearing footsteps up stairs along the landing, I went up but all the children were asleep in bed, this pattern was reapeated about 6 or 7 tin=mes. When the parents returned I asked them about it, they said that years ago the house had been 2 cottages (but had since been made into one house.), There was a family who lived in one of the cottages and there had been an accident and a child had been running along the landing and fallen down the stairs and died and that every now and then the ghost of that child could ber heard running along the landing. That was spooky, the house was about 1/2 mile from the nearest neighbour and I often had to babysit alone at night. I survived though.
Margay on 03 May 2008 at 4:08 am #
I believe in spirits and the after-life. I’ve had some experiences in my life that have led me to this conclusion that have no other explanation for them than that they are, to coin a phrase, “paranormal.” I also believe that some people are more in tune with it than others, whether they realize it or not, and that is why these experiences with the otherwordly happen to them - the spirits know that they’re sensitive and therefore try to make contact through them. I could tell you some of the experiences I’ve had that have led me to this conclusion, but it would surpass the word limit here!
Margaret Garland on 03 May 2008 at 6:32 am #
Oh my, evlqn. The I-5 of the spirit world? My daughter would be knocking on your door in a New York minute if she knew. LOL
My only experience with the after life had to do with my husband. He died in October 1994. He was a professional photographer and an artist. I have paintings all over. I have one in the bedroom that I enjoy seeing when I first wake up. I had a photo of him that was taken in CT about 2 years before he died. I tucked it into the frame of the painting for comfort after he died. Shortly after Christmas, I came home one day and saw the photo was turned on it’s side & moved to the left side of the painting. I moved it back to the right side. This happend frequently for about a year. I would also smell his scent. You know that we all have our own special scent. So, there was no mistaking his. After 2 years, I sold our huge house and moved to a mobile home.
_cntd
Margaret Garland on 03 May 2008 at 6:36 am #
The photo/scent thing went on for another year or so. Then, stopped and has never happened again. I think he knew I was past the first deep grief of widowhood and could make it on my own. I’d be OK. And I was/am.
In our old house, I could chalk up those occurences to his having lived there for 18 years. But can’t explain why/how they followed me here. I brought nothing of his that would carry his scent. And there’s surely no explaining the moving photo.
I also had a much loved dog who died & I would see her out of the corner of my eyes sometimes.
J Perry Stone on 03 May 2008 at 6:57 am #
I don’t know how to explain it, but I believe they do exist. I think that’s the key to whether or not one is more open to ghosts.
My beloved cat died last week of liver cancer. I’m broken-hearted. For days after he died, I was awoken at 5 in the morning by meowing. His meowing.
Meg on 03 May 2008 at 7:05 am #
Sure, I believe in ghosts and the paranormal. I have had only one experience myself. I was in the ninth grade (about 14 years old). Me, younger sister, Mom, and her then-husband had moved into the house that the then-husband’s dad died in. It was late one evening and I was by myself in the living room doing homework. For some reason I looked to my left and there was Grandpa walking across the hallway. He walked from my sister’s room and into my parents’ room — through the door. He looked like he always had: tan work pants and a flannel shirt. He was just see-through and I didn’t see any legs past the knee. At the time it sacred the crap out of me, but now I think it’s pretty cool.
Also, the house that my mom llived in when I was born had a ghost. I was too young to remember that one, but Mom could tell you stories…
Meg on 03 May 2008 at 7:11 am #
Oh yeah. I later learned, after telling my mom what I saw, that Grandpa had taken that walk every night. He and his wife had separate bedrooms and he would walk to her room (sister’s room) every night, make sure she was ok, and walk back to his room (mom’s room).
Sabrina Jeffries on 03 May 2008 at 7:30 am #
I believe in ghosts, but have never seen one. I guess I’ve never lived in a house that was haunted.
Stonehawk on 03 May 2008 at 7:38 am #
I lived in a house in some town that I think was haunted. Ever night after I go to bed I wound feel really intense vibrations through out my room. It didn’t happen when I slept in other houses. Also one day as I was walking up the stairs in the house, I looked down and saw a cutted out obituary article lying on the stairs and believe me it had not been there before. There’s another weird thing is my Mom would sometimes complain to me about hearing noises in the house after getting up from bed. Another time while living in a house after my cat died I could swear I saw the cat walking on my bed out of the corners of my eyes and that happened twice.
SheridanLA on 03 May 2008 at 8:04 am #
Before I was born, my parents bought an old hotel. It had a couple of ghosts in it.. while I was too young to remember, they had stories - televisions turning on in empty rooms, doors opening and closing. My dad and I went back there about 10 years ago (they had sold it a long time ago) and talked with people there - sure enough, the ghosts were still doing the same things.
I also used to live near a graveyard in college. Quite often, I would be in my apartment and see someone or something walk by out of the corner of my eye - there was no one there. I was not scared, but it was interesting. When I moved, it did not happen in my new place.
A friend of mine is very in tune with things and has many many stories about her encounters. If she was a complete flake, I would be more skeptical, but she is not and had great detail about the encounters.
I have a hard time believing after there are so many stories, incidents, etc that there is not SOMETHING there.
Judy F on 03 May 2008 at 8:05 am #
Oh great stories. I believe in ghosts and the afterlife. After my friend Sue (my sisters SIL too) died she was on my mind a lot. I woke up one morning to find her sitting in my chair in my room and she told me she was ok. Never saw her after that.
When my friend Bonnie died I was constantly resetting a picture frame upright. It was a picture of the two of us with a third friend. I know it was her.
Shortly after I had my cat Dusty put to sleep (throat cancer) I woke up during the night to find my other cat Sam sleeping by my head. Now Sammy never slept there, that was Dusty’s spot and he has never slept there since. When I first woke up I could have swore it was Dusty sleeping there.
SheridanLA on 03 May 2008 at 8:05 am #
I always find it interesting that people can believe in angels, god, various stories of supernatural or miraculous acts yet cannot believe that there might be spirits roaming the earth. I suppose it is how you package it.
SheridanLA on 03 May 2008 at 8:07 am #
OH.. and Julia… I have adopted your wogging term, I hope you don’t mind. My friend and I started wogging the other day in addition to my training for the breast cancer walk.. we have regular wogging dates now. It makes me giggle, so thanks again
doglady on 03 May 2008 at 8:35 am #
When we were kids and lived in England my youngest brother’s imaginary friend, John, was a ghost. We lived in the house where John died. His brother inherited, remodeled the house and rented it out. We would all be in bed upstairs and my Mom and Dad would hear noises upstairs - walking, furniture moving. They would come up to check it out and find us all fast asleep. My Mom told Dad to go up one night and put extra blankets on us because it was so cold. The extra blankets were kept in the bottom of the wardrobes in my room and in the room my brothers shared. When Dad got to my room the extra blanket was on the bed and tucked in around me. Same thing in my brothers’ room. Freaked him out. James and I were in school, but Brian was at home with Mom all day. She would be in the hall and hear Brian talking to someone. When she walked in the room there was nobody there, but the rocking chair would be moving. She asked who he was talking to. He said “John.” The last week we were in England
doglady on 03 May 2008 at 8:41 am #
the landlord asked us to tea. As we were leaving his house, Brian stopped at the sideboard that was covered with framed photos. He pointed at one and said “That’s John.” It was the landlord’s dead brother. When we got back to the States Brian never talked to John again.
I moved back to Alabama right after my DH was killed. I moved around a lot, but finally settled on this five acres we bought the year he died. We intended it to be our retirement place. We had been here about a week (we, meaning me and the dog my dh gave me the year before we married so she was about 15 at the time of this incident.) I was having a really bad day, missing Roger. That night I was sitting in the livingroom and Sasha sat up, looked at the chair by the fireplace and started to bark and wag her tail. She finally went over and laid down next to the chair, tail still wagging. I finally asked “Is Daddy here?” Her tail went crazy. It happened on and off as long as Sasha was alive. The day she died I smelled
doglady on 03 May 2008 at 8:41 am #
Roger’s cologne all day.
RachelG on 03 May 2008 at 9:04 am #
What’s wogging?
rg
cail on 03 May 2008 at 9:07 am #
ooo, ghosts. when i was in elementary school, i went to bed one night, and was awoken mid morning to the sound of my closet opening. from my closet walked my great-grandfather who simply said goodbye and returned from where he came. next morning my dad told me that g-gfather had died in his sleep in the night.
i definitely believe in ghosts.
cail on 03 May 2008 at 9:08 am #
rachel, i think its walking/jogging. like really fast exercize walking.
Margaret Garland on 03 May 2008 at 9:45 am #
I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who had photos move or smelled the scent of a loved one. Or saw/felt a beloved pet. I always thought I’d be spooked by such things but it was very comforting.
doglady, your stories are amazing. The one about your DH gave me chill bumps.
Karen Hawkins on 03 May 2008 at 9:45 am #
Wow. I’m getting shivers. I’ve dreamed about people who’ve died before, but never actually seen one while awake. That would freak me out, I think, although I’ve read where people sometimes feel at peace when they see these apparitions, so maybe that’s part of the ghost sighting process — a sense of calmness.
Did any of you scream and run away? I think I would . . . but maybe not.
Now I’m jealous!
Margaret Garland on 03 May 2008 at 9:47 am #
I thought that’s what wogging was, too, cail. I remember when it came up a few weeks back but not the specific details.
I ought to start wogging myself. I’m sure Bella the beautiful would love it. And the weather is so nice right now here in SE PA.
SuzyQ on 03 May 2008 at 9:54 am #
Me and my sister always used to hear papers moving from the kitchen (we had a ranch house) in the middle of the night. Whenever we got up, it would stop. One day while sitting at the dinner table we were talking about it. My mom had this surprised look on her face. She told us that the night before her brother died, she got up in the middle of the night and saw him sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper. She spoke with him for a minute and then when she turned back around he was gone. She thought she’d been dreamed it.
Another thing, after my dog died, we would always hear her walking in the kitchen, since it was the only room without carpet.
SuzyQ on 03 May 2008 at 9:58 am #
I do believe that the spirit or essence of loved ones are always with us. Sometimes these experiences are just a way to let you know they still are there. We had another experience on my Grandmother’s 20th anniversary of her death. Strange things were happening all day, like the vacuum cleaner plug came out of the wall with plenty of cord left and a heavy brass candlestick falling over by itself while we were having dinner (and no one moved the table). My mom said Grandma just wanted to remind us she still here.
One more thing . . . my aunt always sees black shadow people before someone in the family dies. Some kind of premonition I guess. Not one I would like to have.
RachelG on 03 May 2008 at 10:08 am #
When ever I am troubled, I feel the calming presence of my father who died in 1999. His spirit is never far away from me.
What I have noticed is that when you talk about stuff like this, people have two reactions. They either look at you like you’re nuts, or they nod and know exactly what you’re talking about.
SuzyQ on 03 May 2008 at 10:13 am #
That’s why this blog is so great, Rachel. We don’t know when people give us that “you’re nuts” look - LOL!
evlqn on 03 May 2008 at 10:57 am #
I have a very strong psyhic connection with my sons and it was especially strong when they were younger and no other shameless hussies had thier affections. They wereabout 10 & 12 when they went to spend a month with thier grandparents. I missed them so much I closed the doors to thier rooms and one Sunday my husband and I were just hanging out and the doors started to open and close on thier own. First one and then the other and it got progressively louder and faster. My husband turned to me and said,”Call the kids.” We tried to reach them but they had gone camping at the lake. We found out later that day that my parents had nearly drowned at the same time the doors went wild and it was my sons that saved them. They could swim and my mom couldn’t and dad was having trouble getting her to shore.
After daddy died my niece said that she can smell grandpa every now and then.
Lisa H on 03 May 2008 at 11:30 am #
Hey Julia…I don’t believe in ghosts, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the man you saw was an angel. I have a friend in NM who picked up a hitchhiker, took him to lunch and then left him near the interstate ramp. He decided to go back and pick him up only seconds later, no cars had gone past him and there was only flat land for miles around. The man was gone! My friend believed he was an angel.
Julia London on 03 May 2008 at 11:38 am #
Sorry I am so late — I had to run an errand this morning.
I don’t disbelieve in ghosts — I just don’t have the vibe. Lisa H, that’s an interesting take — maybe he was an angel! A wogging angel! (Rachel, wogging is sort of a half-walk, half-run. Like a fast waddle).
Sheridan, I wish I had someone to wog with. Most people I see are actual runners!
So these are the kinds of stories my friends were telling me. I think it would be so cool to be in touch with spirits! I don’t know how it happens, if the person has to have the special something, or the place?
Suzanne Enoch on 03 May 2008 at 11:42 am #
My sister used to work at a university-offshoot elementary school that used to be an old ranch house. Every time they remodeled or painted or moved the furniture at the beginning or end of the school year, she would hear bootsteps on the front steps and look up to see a cowboy standing there, just watching her. Then he would fade away. Occasionally she’d see him out in the yard, usually at dusk or daybreak, checking out the buildings. She always referred to him as The Cowboy, and figured he either owned the old place or used to work there, and was curious about what was going on.
Kim on 03 May 2008 at 11:43 am #
I definitely believe in ghosts and spirits!
We used to live in this little house when Anthony was about 2 or 3. He would always talk to someone and he’d say it was the old man. We would also see a red reflection on our walls, there was no way it was lights from a car. We found out that the house had burned down with several children in the basement. And our dog would NEVER go in the basement. You couldn’t force him too. Very creepy!
There is a restaurant not far from us that they say is really haunted. Every Halloween they do a big news story on it.
Has anyone ever taken pictures and had something weird show up on it?
Kim on 03 May 2008 at 11:47 am #
Julia–I think you just have to be open to it. If you do see something odd you have to be able to say “that was creepy. I wonder if it was a spirit.” Instead of chalking it up to someone walking fast, your imagination or too much wine with dinner
I also absolutely believe in objects being able to absorb the events around them. One of my friends visited Aushwitz and I asked her if it felt angry or sad. Could you imagine the emotions those buildings and grounds witnessed?!?!? She said it was actually the most peaceful place she had ever been. I would love to visit someday but I would worry that it would be the blackest (feeling-wise) place on earth. I cannot imagine some place sadder.
Julia London on 03 May 2008 at 11:52 am #
JPerry, I am so sorry to hear about your cat. I still have not picked up Maude’s food bowl, and she died in February. I would love to hear her in the house now, but no such luck. :-(.
So what do yall think? Spirits are caught between the earthly and the eternal? All these stories are making me want to write something with a spirit or ghost.
Freedom Writer on 03 May 2008 at 2:14 pm #
I have two experiences, but I would not say that I have seen any ghosts. Shortly after my father died I was staying the night with my mother and heard footsteps coming down the hall. At first I felt very scared, but then an overwhelming feeling of peace came over me. At that moment something told me that it was my dad and I didn’t need to be frightened.
My other experience was my cat. And I use the term “my” cat loosely. Lucky chose me to be his human. He came when I called, but ignored everyone else. He died when he was 10. He and our cat Fat Cat were best buds in the cat world, her health started to fail maybe a year of so after Lucky died. I was sitting in my office on the day that we had planned to take her to the vets, and suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw a black cat jump into my reading chair I looked around, but the door was closed and there was not other cat in the room. I knew immediately that it was Lucky coming to be with Fat Cat on her last day.
Julia London on 03 May 2008 at 3:40 pm #
Freedom, that gives me chills (lucky and fat cat).
I am reminded that once I went to a psychic, and she told me that a man in overalls was watching over me. In my neck of the woods, that could have been either grandfather….or any cracker with a hoe. But its an interesting thought
Meg on 03 May 2008 at 5:03 pm #
Kim — Me and my niece have taken several pictures that have had “orbs” in them. The ones I took were at a house in Savannah that is supposed to be haunted. My niece’s pics were taken here in my house. The first time she caught one she was taking pics of one of my dogs. She took two, one right behind the other. One had an orb, the other did not. ??? What was it? We don’t know, but we thought it was kind of neat.
SuzyQ on 03 May 2008 at 6:01 pm #
Meg - a lot of times “orbs” are just pieces of dust that reflect the flash’s light when hit just right and show up as big round circles on the pictures. This can also happen outside when there is moisture in the air. I once took a picture outside at night while it was snowing and I ended up with a picture full of “orbs”. But I have to say, they still look pretty cool.
evlqn on 03 May 2008 at 6:10 pm #
Suzy we discovered quite by accident the difference between dust, moisture, snow or orbs. The snow is mis-shapen, dust is hazy, and moisture is solid. The orbs are always perfectly round and you can see through them. We have pictures of our last snow storm to compare which in the photos are snow and which are orbs. The mic on my camera is so senistive we could actually hear the snow hitting it.
Vickie on 04 May 2008 at 10:02 pm #
oh yes. My mom’s family live in the province, where everything is really old. My grandmother and my sister both have this ‘gift’. They have the third-eye, means they can see ghosts or spirits. course, I didn’t believe it. Maybe it’s their imagination. But…some weird stuff has happend in my grandma’s house that I have no idea to explain. WE have our own ghosts in our home too… or so my sister tells me. A little boy who lives in my parent’s room; a lady in the kitchen counter. As long as they don’t show themselves to me, it’s all good.