Anyone Seen A Ghost?

[Ghost In The Machine]

african rotating statuettes and bounding grims have nothing on JRM materialising to assist with the household chores

I was chatting about him on another forum yesterday, before I saw this thread - and christened him "Moggferatu". Can just imagine him seeping out from under the door of his family vault, and appearing in people's rooms at night, with a swish of his cloak and his monocle glittering in the moonlight...

 

[MorningAngel]

I always assume orbs are just speaks of dust, insects, whatever. But I know someone who stayed in a castle in Yorkshire - well frequently does as they're a living history person - and says they saw orbs with the naked eye, in broad daylight. (Technophobe and in full medieval kit, so no evidence, sadly).

I do wonder if reenactors confuse ghosts.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

I do wonder if reenactors confuse ghosts.

Pretty sure we do. Or at least, confuse some non-ghosts. I've shat a few people up walking around at night - can't not have. One of my favourites was walking round the Lake District at night, dressed in complete 1800 kit. Quite a few cars drove past as we walked near a lake. I'm surprised it didn't cause a crash. Years ago, before the phone with camera - dressed as 17thC person, we had more than one experience when wandering around in kit, not quite at the place where we were re-enacting, when people took what they thought was a surreptious snap of us. I've often thought we might turn up one day on a site like this.

It's a known thing that people dressed in living history clothes in certain sites do seem to spark some incidents, themselves and I have heard tell of a few from re-enactors seeing something they knew, for whatever reason, wasn't another re-enactor (faceless people, people walking through walls, etc).

 

[MorningAngel]

Pretty sure we do. Or at least, confuse some non-ghosts. I've shat a few people up walking around at night - can't not have. One of my favourites was walking round the Lake District at night, dressed in complete 1800 kit. Quite a few cars drove past as we walked near a lake. I'm surprised it didn't cause a crash. Years ago, before the phone with camera - dressed as 17thC person, we had more than one experience when wandering around in kit, not quite at the place where we were re-enacting, when people took what they thought was a surreptious snap of us. I've often thought we might turn up one day on a site like this.

It's a known thing that people dressed in living history clothes in certain sites do seem to spark some incidents, themselves and I have heard tell of a few from re-enactors seeing something they knew, for whatever reason, wasn't another re-enactor (faceless people, people walking through walls, etc).

Talking of which mum and I might have ended up as a ghostly legend. We went to the Jane Austen Festival in Bath and we dressed up. When we have finished one activity it was starting to ran and we were some distance from our hotel. We tried for cabs but none were available. As we continued walking we found a man with a horse and carriage for hire. We didn’t half get some double takes!

 

[Naughty_Felid]

Pretty sure we do. Or at least, confuse some non-ghosts. I've shat a few people up walking around at night - can't not have. One of my favourites was walking round the Lake District at night, dressed in complete 1800 kit. Quite a few cars drove past as we walked near a lake. I'm surprised it didn't cause a crash. Years ago, before the phone with camera - dressed as 17thC person, we had more than one experience when wandering around in kit, not quite at the place where we were re-enacting, when people took what they thought was a surreptious snap of us. I've often thought we might turn up one day on a site like this.

It's a known thing that people dressed in living history clothes in certain sites do seem to spark some incidents, themselves and I have heard tell of a few from re-enactors seeing something they knew, for whatever reason, wasn't another re-enactor (faceless people, people walking through walls, etc).

Brilliant! You sound like a right tosser! What a great thing to do!

 

[maximus otter]

It's a known thing that people dressed in living history clothes...do seem to spark some incidents...

Back in the Eighties (?) l was on patrol in my Panda car when l spotted a column of smoke rising from a road about a mile away. l headed that way to investigate. Peering in that direction it became apparent that there was a car on the carriageway, and that it was well alight. People were walking away from it and toward me, though initially my attention was obviously on the burning car.

As l drew nearer, l saw that the men striding away from the conflagration were Cromwellian soldiers of the Civil War! l’m talking pikes, buff leather jackets, muskets, “Twelve Apostles” bandoliers, the works! My first thought was, “Fuck! l’ve gone through a time warp!”

My second - and as it turned out more accurate, though prosaic - thought was, “A bunch of blokes en route to a Sealed Knot reenactment have experienced an unfortunate car fire”.

Made for an interesting shift, though.

maximus otter

 

[catseye]

Back in the Eighties (?) l was on patrol in my Panda car when l spotted a column of smoke rising from a road about a mile away. l headed that way to investigate. Peering in that direction it became apparent that there was a car on the carriageway, and that it was well alight. People were walking away from it and toward me, though initially my attention was obviously on the burning car.

As l drew nearer, l saw that the men striding away from the conflagration were Cromwellian soldiers of the Civil War! l’m talking pikes, buff leather jackets, muskets, “Twelve Apostles” bandoliers, the works! My first thought was, “Fuck! l’ve gone through a time warp!”

My second - and as it turned out more accurate, though prosaic - thought was, “A bunch of blokes en route to a Sealed Knot reenactment have experienced an unfortunate car fire”.

Made for an interesting shift, though.

maximus otter

That just made me think of that insurance (I think) ad, where the bloke is trying to explain to the insurance person how he came to crash 'because a horse wearing a dress ran across in front of me, followed by a tin man ' and he's trying desperately to explain what the tin man was wearing. It makes me laugh every time.

 

[escargot]

Pretty sure we do. Or at least, confuse some non-ghosts. I've shat a few people up walking around at night - can't not have. One of my favourites was walking round the Lake District at night, dressed in complete 1800 kit. Quite a few cars drove past as we walked near a lake. I'm surprised it didn't cause a crash. Years ago, before the phone with camera - dressed as 17thC person, we had more than one experience when wandering around in kit, not quite at the place where we were re-enacting, when people took what they thought was a surreptious snap of us. I've often thought we might turn up one day on a site like this.

It's a known thing that people dressed in living history clothes in certain sites do seem to spark some incidents, themselves and I have heard tell of a few from re-enactors seeing something they knew, for whatever reason, wasn't another re-enactor (faceless people, people walking through walls, etc).

There was a letter in the FT years ago debunking a sighting of an apparent Victorian funeral procession on a country path, with the coffin being wheeled along on a sort of hand-pushed bier, attended by heavily-veiled mourners.

Turned out, the 'funeral' was actually a set of beehives being moved to a new site on a handcart and the 'mourners' were cautious beekeepers.
The daughter of one of the beekeepers wrote the letter.

 

[Dropship]

Are some ghosts solid-looking?
If so, we all might well have seen a ghost without knowing it..

 

[Coal]

Are some ghosts solid-looking?
If so, we all might well have seen a ghost without knowing it..

A lady of my acquaintance twice had this experience on heathland when riding. Exchanged a few words, turned around to say 'bye' or something like and 'gone'.

 

[PeteByrdie]

Are some ghosts solid-looking?
If so, we all might well have seen a ghost without knowing it..

From what I can gather, the notion that ghosts are nebulous is somewhat recent. One of the reasons strangers were often viewed with suspicion when met on a lonely road in remote areas is that one could never be sure one wasn't encountering a ghost, or an elf, or a demon, or a vampire which is basically a bloodsucking ghost anyway. All of these things could appear perfectly and solidly human in the beliefs of earlier generations, if they so wished.

 

[Jacket_Potato]

This isn't so much as seeng a ghost, as hearing one:

In summer 2006, I was 20 years old & a student at Swansea University - I moved into a flat with a friend. We moved in in June and both spent the summer living & working i town during the holidays.

I've always had an interest in fortean things but often this has taken a back seat in my life - I had a very busy social life & ghosts were the furthest thing from my mind when we moved in.

My flat mate had this boyfriend (who i never thought much of to be honest) and spent a lot of time round his, she also worked in a bar in the evenings so I was frequently alone in this flat more than I initially thought I would be

At night i started to hear this tapping sound coming from the bathroom - it scared me a bit and was a regular tapping sound (tap, nothing, tap, nothing). I remember getting out of bed to check there was no intruder & double check the front door & all windows were locked (which they always were of course). I realised the sound was the toilet roll holder tapping the wall, which was also my bedroom wall on the other side and there was no draught. I ended up sleeping with the radio on a low volume every night my flat mate wasn't there so I didn't feel alone and could drift off to late night love songs instead!

One evening, my flat mate was at work & i was chatting to a friend on my mobile in the living room. Suddenly I heard the sound of running water and asked my friend to stay on the phone whilst i checked it out. I looked round the bathroom door & the bath taps were on full force gushing water! As i stood there peeking round the door, the flow of water eased and then stopped. This happened within seconds and i was gabbling on the phone to my friend 'omg the taps are on what's happening' panic - when i didn't hear her voice, i looked at the phone and the call had ended (the phone was on but there was no call). This scared me as i didn't end the call and she was remaining on the line as moral support. Ended up waiting on the sofa for my flat mate to get home!

And the thing that freaked me out the most - again I was alone in the flat one evening & was brushing my teeth in the bathroom. As i was brushing my teeth, i heard a very clear male voice say 'hello' right in my ear. It was almost inside my ear (if that makes sense) and I was absolutely certain it was not my consciousness. Well i spat my toothpaste out and tore out of the bathroom like a shot! I considered running outside to a friend's but it was late & thinking quickly i decided tearing down round the streets at night in my pyjamas was probably less safe than just staying put and hiding under the duvet! The voice seemed perfectly friendly it just scared me a lot!

Nothing else really happened that I remember - both me and my flatmate were busy & i spent a lot of time either out with friends clubbing etc or round their houses, tried to avoid being there alone - we both moved out when the tenancy came to an end the following year

Activity seemed to centre around the bathroom, nothing really happened in the other rooms (was a 2 bedroom flat on the first floor)

 

[Dropship]

...One of the reasons strangers were often viewed with suspicion when met on a lonely road in remote areas is that one could never be sure one wasn't encountering a ghost, or an elf, or a demon, or a vampire..

Good point, I've noticed that in a good many "ghost" sightings (indoors and outdoors) the "ghost" (a demon or whatever) is in the form of a young weeping girl to arouse our fatherly protective instincts, possibly a ploy to make us engage in conversation with it so that it can try to get inside our head.

 

[Dropship]

..In summer 2006, I was 20 years old & a student at Swansea University -
..At night i started to hear this tapping sound coming from the bathroom..
..One evening..the bath taps were on full force gushing water! As i stood there peeking round the door, the flow of water eased and then stopped.
..again I was alone in the flat one evening As i was brushing my teeth, i heard a very clear male voice say 'hello' right in my ear. It was almost inside my ear (if that makes sense

Fascinating, and the key word there is "student"..
We all know that every so often a student tragically commits suicide, so my guess is that hard studying has weakened their "psychic shield", allowing all sorts of nasties (demons?) to get in their heads like the one that whispered "hello" in your ear to try to sucker you into engaging in conversation with it.
Perhaps that's why one of the Ten Commandments is to use Sundays as a "rest day" for chillaxing to give our psychic shields time to recharge?
Spock- "We're being scanned captain, source and origin unknown"
Kirk- "Shields up, red alert!"

 

[Dropship]

(Re: "solid-looking" ghosts)
------------------------------

A lady of my acquaintance twice had this experience on heathland when riding. Exchanged a few words, turned around to say 'bye' or something like and 'gone'.

I had something like that during a cycle-camping trip as I pedalled through a remote silent village in England at about 1 in the morning under a full moon, I saw an old-fashioned shepherd complete with a collie dog walking in the middle of the road, and I gave him a cheery "Morning!" as I passed but he never replied or even glanced at me, then he seemed to vanish into the shadows.

 

[Victory]

Fascinating, and the key word there is "student"..
We all know that every so often a student tragically commits suicide, so my guess is that hard studying has weakened their "psychic shield", allowing all sorts of nasties (demons?) to get in their heads like the one that whispered "hello" in your ear to try to sucker you into engaging in conversation with it.
Perhaps that's why one of the Ten Commandments is to use Sundays as a "rest day" for chillaxing to give our psychic shields time to recharge?
Spock- "We're being scanned captain, source and origin unknown"
Kirk- "Shields up, red alert!"

For Jews Sundown on a Friday to Sundown on a Saturday.

I think generally even if someone is not religious, it is wise to have a "Rest day."
Many people spend so much time working, commuting, working, then working again on their phones on the commute home, then organising household chores and not getting decent sleep etc. that we generally lose touch with ourselves and emotions get frayed.
We forget, or simply don't have time to, "ground" ourselves, to stop and smell the roses, and this can result not just in weakened immune systems and cold and flus, but also in addictions and depression.

 

[Dropship]

I think generally even if someone is not religious, it is wise to have a "Rest day."
We forget, or simply don't have time to, "ground" ourselves..and this can result not just in weakened immune systems and cold and flus, but also in addictions and depression.

Yes, my late father was a workaholic- literally- and sent himself half-nutty with overwork, "That factory's my life" he once told my mother.
The main symptom is a loss of perspective on things, an inability to realise what's important and what's not, for example when I was a kid he once kicked me like a dog for throwing orange peel down the toilet and it was too buoyant to flush.

PS- is my pic in post #644 showing alright? I can't see it on my monitor.

 

[David Plankton]

PS- is my pic in post #644 showing alright? I can't see it on my monitor.

No, can't see a pic in that post.

 

[EnolaGaia]

There's no photo attachment, and there's no inserted link to an external photo source.

 

[Dropship]

Okay see if it's there now I've tweaked it.

PS- Returning to the 'Has anyone seen a ghost' topic, we could also ask has anybody smelt one or heard one, even if we didn't actually see it with our eyes?
I'm thinking of when a room unaccountably fills with the smell of flowers or perfume?
I've never experienced that myself, although I did hear something odd about 30 years ago when I heard the family return from a shopping trip, but when I went down to greet them there was nobody there.
Interestingly I'd been up in my room building a fiddly model ship, so perhaps the fierce concentration drained my psychic shield, allowing that "false arrival" phenomena into my head?
Apparently false arrival is a fairly common thing experienced by quite a few people in one form or another, for example it featured in a paranormal TV documentary a while ago when the director of a small engineering firm based on an old airfield told how he was working late one night doing the accounts in his control tower "office" when he heard footsteps coming up the stone stairs and stop outside the door.
"Well come in then!" he called out impatiently but nothing happened, so he went and opened the door and there was nobody there.
It ties in with what I said about our psychic shields being drained if we're concentrating hard on doing something, namely hard-swotting students, me with that fiddly model ship, and the director doing his accounts.

 

[EnolaGaia]

... I did hear something odd about 30 years ago when I heard the family return from a shopping trip, but when I went down to greet them there was nobody there.
Interestingly I'd been up in my room building a fiddly model ship, so perhaps the fierce concentration drained my psychic shield, allowing that "false arrival" phenomena into my head? ...

... Or you'd breathed in a bit too much of the glue for too long ...

 

[Coal]

... Or you'd breathed in a bit too much of the glue for too long ...

That'll lower your psychic barriers all right.

 

[GNC]

How would you define a "psychic shield", Dropship? I'm not sure I understand unless you got it out of that movie Scanners. In which case I hope your head doesn't aplode.

 

[EnolaGaia]

More seriously ...

The 'false arrival' and similar heard-but-not-seen indications of a presence (which, by the way, I've experienced) frequently seem to have one thing in common - they occur when the observer is immersed in doing some task or activity.

Such incidents have occurred to me when (e.g.) working after hours in a facility that's not just supposed or presumed to be vacant, but which was locked down and secured by guards (well out of sight and earshot) and in-house surveillance.

In every such case where I've noticed an anomalous noise and gone to investigate*, it all started while I was immersed in doing something that required my attention.

* Not counting incidents where guards or other authorized personnel were doing their regular rounds or otherwise found to be the cause.

I've come to wonder whether this particular category of anomalous incidents is often triggered by free-wheeling imagination or merely marginal interpretation of stimuli in whatever portion of my mind isn't engaged with the task or activity at hand.

 

[Jacket_Potato]

This isn't so much as seeng a ghost, as hearing one:

In summer 2006, I was 20 years old & a student at Swansea University - I moved into a flat with a friend. We moved in in June and both spent the summer living & working i town during the holidays.

I've always had an interest in fortean things but often this has taken a back seat in my life - I had a very busy social life & ghosts were the furthest thing from my mind when we moved in.

My flat mate had this boyfriend (who i never thought much of to be honest) and spent a lot of time round his, she also worked in a bar in the evenings so I was frequently alone in this flat more than I initially thought I would be

At night i started to hear this tapping sound coming from the bathroom - it scared me a bit and was a regular tapping sound (tap, nothing, tap, nothing). I remember getting out of bed to check there was no intruder & double check the front door & all windows were locked (which they always were of course). I realised the sound was the toilet roll holder tapping the wall, which was also my bedroom wall on the other side and there was no draught. I ended up sleeping with the radio on a low volume every night my flat mate wasn't there so I didn't feel alone and could drift off to late night love songs instead!

One evening, my flat mate was at work & i was chatting to a friend on my mobile in the living room. Suddenly I heard the sound of running water and asked my friend to stay on the phone whilst i checked it out. I looked round the bathroom door & the bath taps were on full force gushing water! As i stood there peeking round the door, the flow of water eased and then stopped. This happened within seconds and i was gabbling on the phone to my friend 'omg the taps are on what's happening' panic - when i didn't hear her voice, i looked at the phone and the call had ended (the phone was on but there was no call). This scared me as i didn't end the call and she was remaining on the line as moral support. Ended up waiting on the sofa for my flat mate to get home!

And the thing that freaked me out the most - again I was alone in the flat one evening & was brushing my teeth in the bathroom. As i was brushing my teeth, i heard a very clear male voice say 'hello' right in my ear. It was almost inside my ear (if that makes sense) and I was absolutely certain it was not my consciousness. Well i spat my toothpaste out and tore out of the bathroom like a shot! I considered running outside to a friend's but it was late & thinking quickly i decided tearing down round the streets at night in my pyjamas was probably less safe than just staying put and hiding under the duvet! The voice seemed perfectly friendly it just scared me a lot!

Nothing else really happened that I remember - both me and my flatmate were busy & i spent a lot of time either out with friends clubbing etc or round their houses, tried to avoid being there alone - we both moved out when the tenancy came to an end the following year

Activity seemed to centre around the bathroom, nothing really happened in the other rooms (was a 2 bedroom flat on the first floor)

Just replying to my story with some extra info - i never felt like there was anything unpleasant in the flat, it just felt as though a male presence was hanging out in the bathroom - but it did freak me out quite a bit and i wasn't sorry to move out. Was always on edge going for a wee or brushing my teeth after that!

Also had a nice experience there - there was a lad i was a bit infatuated with, sometimes he would stay...sometimes not, it wasn't a relationship, but my emotions were all over the place. This had been going on for months and i got that draining feeling whenever i thought about him, a heaviness & longing. One morning in this flat, i woke up and felt - fantastic is the only way i can describe it. I felt light and free, couldn't figure out why i felt so new. And then i realised i couldn't feel his energy around me anymore, he was gone from my being and i didn't miss him. It happened over night, and was one of the most refreshing things i've felt, a sense of being new and whole.

The flat also had a beautiful view of the sea and i loved to watch the sun rise/set and the moon on the water

 

[MorningAngel]

There was a letter in the FT years ago debunking a sighting of an apparent Victorian funeral procession on a country path, with the coffin being wheeled along on a sort of hand-pushed bier, attended by heavily-veiled mourners.

Turned out, the 'funeral' was actually a set of beehives being moved to a new site on a handcart and the 'mourners' were cautious beekeepers.
The daughter of one of the beekeepers wrote the letter.

But wouldn’t mourners be in black and beekeepers generally in white?

 

[Dropship]

... Or you'd breathed in a bit too much of the glue for too long ...

Yes I hadn't thought of that possible explanation...
But False Arrivals don't only happen to glue-breathers, for example one chaps account tells how he left his house with two friends and began walking down the street, then one of them realised he'd forgotten something and went back to the house to get it.
The other two carried on walking and a couple of minutes later heard him running up behind them to join them, but when they glanced around he wasn't there.
Shortly after, he came running up for real.

 

[Dropship]

How would you define a "psychic shield", Dropship? I'm not sure I understand unless you got it out of that movie Scanners. In which case I hope your head doesn't aplode.

The term "psychic shield" is just something I cooked up; perhaps we're all born with one, I don't know....

 

[Dropship]

..The 'false arrival'...I've come to wonder whether this particular category of anomalous incidents is often triggered by free-wheeling imagination or merely marginal interpretation of stimuli in whatever portion of my mind isn't engaged with the task or activity at hand.

Yes, I've been over my own FA in my own mind many times analysing it.
I was up in my room and heard footsteps and voices in the street below, then I heard the sound of our gate being unlatched, then I heard the sound of the key going in the front door, then I heard their voices and footsteps in the hall, then complete silence.
I went down and found nobody there, and even looked in the other rooms and the back yard, but not a sausage.
They came back for real later and I asked my mother if they'd returned earlier and then nipped out again, but she didn't know what I was talking about so I let the matter drop and counted myself privileged to have experienced the FA.
I can only assume my mind had been playing tricks, but on the other hand it may have been a troop of demons pranking me...

 

[Dropship]

Just replying to my story with some extra info - i never felt like there was anything unpleasant in the flat, it just felt as though a male presence was hanging out in the bathroom - but it did freak me out quite a bit and i wasn't sorry to move out...

Good for you, it seems like a demon picked up on your loneliness and was hoping to use that to worm its way into your head but you were savvy enough to keep your guard up..
A classic example of demonic probing is when Jesus told his followers "Satan wanted to sift you but I blocked him".

Below: a nice pic of Satan in Gibson's "The Passion" doing what he does, sifting the minds of us all looking for character flaws and weaknesses that he can exploit to use against us; Shakespeare's Macbeth called him "The common enemy of man"..