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Anyone Seen A Ghost?

People would like to believe they saw a famous ghost, I’m sure. If I was lucky enough to see a full apparition I wouldn’t care (once I’d revived ) if it was an obscure ‘old Bob the cowman’ or ‘Mary-who-used-to-work-in-the–scullery,‘ though they’re not as romantic and not at all famous.
 
People would like to believe they saw a famous ghost, I’m sure. If I was lucky enough to see a full apparition I wouldn’t care (once I’d revived ) if it was an obscure ‘old Bob the cowman’ or ‘Mary-who-used-to-work-in-the–scullery,‘ though they’re not as romantic and not at all famous.
Maybe it's more the human need to be able to attribute ghostly sightings to actual events. Look at all the 'stories' full of 'it is said...' that seem to spring up in the wake of a sighting. Practically every white lady seen in any older house will cause a story of 'the parlourmaid who got pregnant by her employer and drowned herself in the lake/threw herself out of the window/hanged herself in the attic' with absolutely zero historic record of this event having taken place.
 
I've just been watching a 'Ghosts of London thing on YouTube, featuring the Tower of London, and it's been making me think. There were several reported sightings of 'Anne Boleyn' (most from the 19th century), where the reporter, usually a guard, saw a figure, one in a chapel (where he didn't see the face but he'd 'walked past the portrait most days'.) Now, I don't know about you, but I'd be hard pressed to identify someone appearing as if in life (particularly if you didn't even see their face) from a painted portrait. There's also reports of people positively identifying 'the princes in the tower' - when the most commonly known painting of them is from 1879 and the other (in which the princes bear absolutely no resemblance to the 1879 portrait) is from around 1850. (If they were killed, it was in 1483).

So, is this just that ghosts of royals are more 'touristworthy'? Assuming these people all saw something - what did they see? And could you identify, from a portrait, a ghost?
It's tradition innit. People do like to put a name to a face. Or the hazy absence of a face. :nods:
Perhaps it makes their sighting more believable.
 
It's tradition innit. People do like to put a name to a face. Or the hazy absence of a face. :nods:
Perhaps it makes their sighting more believable.
Also, don't underestimate the power of word-of-mouth. In traditional settings (let's say an aristocratic household that still has domestic staff), when a person died and started to haunt, the apparition may have been recognised by witnesses who knew the living person. This then gets passed on to new staff, family members etc. and solidifies into tradition. Then anyone who sees a ghost at the site, sees the famous ghost, because "everyone knows who that is".
 
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In traditional settings (let's say an aristocratic household that still has domestic staff), when a person died and started to haunt, the apparition may have been recognised by witnesses who knew the living person. This then gets passed on to new staff, family members etc. and solidifies into tradition

Yes, I was re-reading Underwood’s A-Z of British Ghosts and This Haunted Realm there are a fair few where the ghost is thought to be a deceased family member or maybe there is an old painting of the ’ghost’, so it gets passed down.
 
Yes, I was re-reading Underwood’s A-Z of British Ghosts and This Haunted Realm there are a fair few where the ghost is thought to be a deceased family member or maybe there is an old painting of the ’ghost’, so it gets passed down.
In that case there must be an awful lot of pissed off, misidentified ghosts.

"Bloody hell, not another one who thinks I'm Anne Boleyn, what have I got to do?"
 
I've just remembered this story that was told to me around 2000 /2001, by a work friend of mine. For some reason I can’t remember her name - Jackie rings a bell, so I’ll stick with that.

Jackie didn’t really have a very happy childhood. Her father had lost a leg in an industrial accident, and consequently was a violent abusive drunk (although not sexually)..

Eventually the alcohol got too much for his system and he died of cirrhosis of the liver when Jackie was in her mid-teens. She said that near to the end was awful, as the more unwell her father got the more violent he became. The years passed and Jackie met and married a man, and they went on to have two kids together, and although her husband knew about Jackie’s childhood situation, they never told any of the kids and in fact didn’t talk about her father to her kids at all.

One day Jackie was visiting her mother along with her 5-year-old daughter, and the daughter announced that she needed the bathroom -there was only one toilet in the house which was situated upstairs.

She was told to go up and use it, which she did, but two minutes later there was a horrendous scream. Jackie and her mother rushed up the stairs to find the 5 year old girl cowering in the corner of the hallway, shouting at her mum to keep that horrible man with one leg away from her.

I thought that story was a bit creepy tbh
 
I think possibly..maybe.. I’ve seen something that could have been a ghost on two occasions, and a few times when I’ve heard something strange (a couple I’ve already posted about on this forum somewhere so I won’t bother retelling them)

First was when I was a young child. We lived in a council flat at the time and my Father used to park his car in the communal car park behind the block. We were off out somewhere and I was stood behind the car waiting for my Dad to unlock it when I saw out of the corner of my eye someone speeding towards us on a push bike. I even heard the clicking of the chain. By the time I registered what it was it had passed close behind me so I turned my head to see who it was thinking it could have been one of my friends as we all rode our bikes around the car park. It had vanished, and the sound of the bike chain sort of quickly faded out. Funny thing is, and I think this is a kid thing, I kind of just shrugged it off and carried on with my day. Never forgot it though.

The second time was in the mid 90s when I worked in a nursing home. It was near the end of my shift and I was walking down the corridor when I glanced into the lounge room as I passed it and saw an elderly lady sat in one of the chairs. I looked right at her but because I was so used to seeing elderly ladies sat in there I didn’t really think about it. I took two steps past the door before I thought “Shit! Who have I forgotten to help to bed? The night staff will be pissed right off with me”
I genuinely thought it was an actual person as I’d looked right at her. Tall. Sat straight upright. Hair pulled back into a bun. All the lights in the room were still on so I’d gotten a clear look at her for the second it took me to pass the doorway.
I backed up to look in the room and it was empty.
You’d think I’d have been spooked but I was just really puzzled. Later I even used to sleep in that room when I was on the night sleeper shift.

The same nursing home. A long time resident who‘d had a stroke and used a wheelchair. He was able to wheel himself about by using his one good leg to pull himself along. He lived in a room in an older part of the building. Next to it was a very small toilet room. He had a habit of trying to use that toilet, falling out of his chair and getting stuck entangled in it. Being as it was such a narrow room we always had a hell of a time trying to pick him up/extract his limbs from the chair wheels. We had told him that he’d be better off going down the corridor and using the larger wheelchair accessible bathroom, or even using the call button so we could assist him, but he was a stubborn bugger! Many times we knew when he had gone into the small bathroom because we would hear the sound of his chair wheels squeaking on the lino floor.
He died suddenly one day. Another massive stroke hit him whilst he was sat at the dinner table. In the week between him dying and his funeral the end of the building where his room was just felt “off”. I’d never felt that before and I had worked there for a few years so experienced the passing of quite a few residents.
One evening I was climbing the main staircase next to his room when I heard the unmistakable sound of the squeak of his chair wheels on the toilet floor. Only he had died days ago! I knew it couldn’t have been any one else. The only other residents on that floor were either bed bound or fully mobile and didn’t use a wheelchair. I don’t mind admitting that it shit me up a tad!! but, and I don’t know where I got the courage from, I went to investigate. Kicked open the toilet door and flicked on the light. Empty room.
The uneasy heavy feeling in that end of the building persisted till the day of his funeral. Then it was gone. Never heard the squeak of his chair again either.
 
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I think possibly..maybe.. I’ve seen something that could have been a ghost on two occasions, and a few times when I’ve heard something strange (a couple I’ve already posted about on this forum somewhere so I won’t bother retelling them)

First was when I was a young child. We lived in a council flat at the time and my Father used to park his car in the communal car park behind the block. We were off out somewhere and I was stood behind the car waiting for my Dad to unlock it when I saw out of the corner of my eye someone speeding towards us on a push bike. I even heard the clicking of the chain. By the time I registered what it was it had passed close behind me so I turned my head to see who it was thinking it could have been one of my friends as we all rode our bikes around the car park. It had vanished, and the sound of the bike chain sort of quickly faded out. Funny thing is, and I think this is a kid thing, I kind of just shrugged it off and carried on with my day. Never forgot it though.

The second time was in the mid 90s when I worked in a nursing home. It was near the end of my shift and I was walking down the corridor when I glanced into the lounge room as I passed it and saw an elderly lady sat in one of the chairs. I looked right at her but because I was so used to seeing elderly ladies sat in there I didn’t really think about it. I took two steps past the door before I thought “Shit! Who have I forgotten to help to bed? The night staff will be pissed right off with me”
I genuinely thought it was an actual person as I’d looked right at her. Tall. Sat straight upright. Hair pulled back into a bun. All the lights in the room were still on so I’d gotten a clear look at her for the second it took me to pass the doorway.
I backed up to look in the room and it was empty.
You’d think I’d have been spooked but I was just really puzzled. Later I even used to sleep in that room when I was on the night sleeper shift.

The same nursing home. A long time resident who‘d had a stroke and used a wheelchair. He was able to wheel himself about by using his one good leg to pull himself along. He lived in a room in an older part of the building. Next to it was a very small toilet room. He had a habit of trying to use that toilet, falling out of his chair and getting stuck entangled in it. Being as it was such a narrow room we always had a hell of a time trying to pick him up/extract his limbs from the chair wheels. We had told him that he’d be better off going down the corridor and using the larger wheelchair accessible bathroom, or even using the call button so we could assist him, but he was a stubborn bugger! Many times we knew when he had gone into the small bathroom because we would hear the sound of his chair wheels squeaking on the lino floor.
He died suddenly one day. Another massive stroke hit him whilst he was sat at the dinner table. In the week between him dying and his funeral the end of the building where his room was just felt “off”. I’d never felt that before and I had worked there for a few years so experienced the passing of quite a few residents.
One evening I was climbing the main staircase next to his room when I heard the unmistakable sound of the squeak of his chair wheels in the toilet floor. Only he had died days ago! I knew it couldn’t have been any one else. The only other residents on that floor were either bed bound or fully mobile and didn’t use a wheelchair. I don’t mind admitting that it shit me up a tad!! but, and I don’t know where I got the courage from, I went to investigate. Kicked open the toilet door and flicked in the light. Empty room.
The uneasy heavy feeling in that end of the building persisted till the day of his funeral. Then it was gone. Never heard the squeak of his chair again either.

Loving the spectral cyclist. :)

As you say, children often accept weirdness as just another thing they don't understand yet.
(An example might be, in my own case, when a letter arrived for an adult who already knew what was in it.
Aged about eight, I'd be astounded at their wisdom when they'd pick up the post and say 'This'll be about the job I applied for!' and it was. :chuckle: )

I too used to work in care situations, also hospitals, and found spookiness galore. It's all on'ere.

Did you feel that the strangeness was OK because it was at work and wasn't coming home with you?
Like, it wasn't about you, or for you, or haunting you, it was just there, like the decor?
 
Did you feel that the strangeness was OK because it was at work and wasn't coming home with you?
Like, it wasn't about you, or for you, or haunting you, it was just there, like the decor?
Yes. That is kind of what it was like. Anyone who has worked in a care setting will know that there are so many stories of strange goings on but it’s almost accepted as normal every day things that happen in that line of work. You hear stories so often that when it finally happens to you you just think oh well. Had to happen some time I suppose, then you finish your shift, go home and have your tea and go to bed ready to get up and go to work the next day.

Nurses are very superstitious as well, especially many of the old school nurses I used to work with. Such as when someone would pass away they would insist on opening a window in the room to “let the spirit out” or putting pennies on the eyes of the deceased (I actually worked with a couple of nurses who did this)
some of that superstition rubs off on you after a while :chuckle:
 
Yes. That is kind of what it was like. Anyone who has worked in a care setting will know that there are so many stories of strange goings on but it’s almost accepted as normal every day things that happen in that line of work. You hear stories so often that when it finally happens to you you just think oh well. Had to happen some time I suppose, then you finish your shift, go home and have your tea and go to bed ready to get up and go to work the next day.

Nurses are very superstitious as well, especially many of the old school nurses I used to work with. Such as when someone would pass away they would insist on opening a window in the room to “let the spirit out” or putting pennies on the eyes of the deceased (I actually worked with a couple of nurses who did this)
some of that superstition rubs off on you after a while :chuckle:
You might have a look at some of our ghost threads if you haven't already. Lots of care-related spookiness on there. :)
 
I’ve just remembered another one. Not really sure if it counts as it wasn’t technically a spectral figure but here goes.
My Grandma had died about two months earlier. I loved her very much and was struggling to come to terms with her being gone and so was not sleeping very well. I had walked my daughter to school, come home, sat on the sofa, fell asleep and had the most vivid dream.
I was back at my Grandparents house (my happy place. Whenever I went there it just felt like home)
I walked into the tiny kitchen and there was my Grandma. She looked at me with the twinkle in her eyes she always had and said in her thick Leicester accent “haha, yer avunt got riduv me yet me duck!”
I woke up with a start. It was such a vivid dream and even after I woke it felt like Grandma was near For a good few minutes.
I decided to ring my Mum and tell her about it.
she was silent for a second, and then said “Do you know what day it is?”
I said no and she told me that my Grandma’s ashes were being buried that day. No one had told me (I live in Cornwall and her ashes were being buried in her hometown of Leicestershire)
Was it just a dream or had my Grandma come back to see me? I don’t know, but it felt like Grandma. Her personality. It was tremendously comforting. I often wonder if she really is still hanging around. Sometimes when I have To make important life choices I’ll think to myself “what would Grandma say about it” and I’ll hear the answer pop into my head. I’d
love to think it really was her. Even if it is just my imagination creating her I’m fine with that, because it still feels like she is with me.
 
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I’ve just remembered another one. Not really sure if it counts as it wasn’t technically a spectral figure but here goes.
My Grandma had died about two months earlier. I loved her very much and was struggling to come to terms with her being gone and so was not sleeping very well. I had walked my daughter to school, come home, sat on the sofa, fell asleep and had the most vivid dream.
I was back at my Grandparents house (my happy place. Whenever I went there it just felt like home)
I walked into the tiny kitchen and there was my Grandma. She looked at me with the twinkle in her eyes she always had and said in her thick Leicester accent “haha, yer avunt got riduv me yet me duck!”
I woke up with a start. It was such a vivid dream and even after I woke it felt like Grandma was near For a good few minutes.
I decided to ring my Mum and tell her about it.
she was silent for a second, and then said “Do you know what day it is?”
I said no and she told me that my Grandma’s ashes were being buried that day. No one had told me (I live in Cornwall and her ashes were being buried in her hometown of Leicestershire)
Was it just a dream or had my Grandma come back to see me? I don’t know, but it felt like Grandma. Her personality. It was tremendously comforting. I often wonder if she really is still hanging around. Sometimes when I have To make important life choices I’ll think to myself “what would Grandma say about it” and I’ll hear the answer pop into my head. I’d
love to think it really was her. Even if it is just my imagination creating her I’m fine with that, because it still feels like she is with me.
So, so many people tell the same story and it's always beautiful.
As you say, we don't know what's going on but it brings peace.
 
So, so many people tell the same story and it's always beautiful.
As you say, we don't know what's going on but it brings peace.
I was walking through North Lodge Park with the Mrs yesterday and I started telling her something about my Mum .. then she pointed out a robin that decided to land near us. I know it was probably just a robin but just in case I said "HELLO MUM :)" .. just in case ..
 
I was walking through North Lodge Park with the Mrs yesterday and I started telling her something about my Mum .. then she pointed out a robin that decided to land near us. I know it was probably just a robin but just in case I said "HELLO MUM :)" .. just in case ..
There we go! :)
We have a thread on robins. They are psychopomps.

Like Paddington Bear. ;)
 
My Mum wasn't ever really into marmalade (or Cilla Black or princess Diana) .. but it might have been her . That's good enough.
The way I see it, the universe sends us signs we can understand to tell us it's all OK.
Robins, symbols of angels, rainbows, music, animals, bells, whatever we need to see or hear to reassure us, we'll get it. :bthumbup:

You may have seen my recent Coincidences post.
All the life support machines were switched off and moved away in the room where someone I loved was dying.

As I was leaving, a machine gave a loud beep-beep. Like the cheery Ta-ra! my dear one might give on the car horn as they drove away.

That worked for me. :cool:
 
My Mum recently brought this incident up again in conversation after a recent strange event.
Some years ago when walking home from a friend's house I met my Mum walking home from the town with some shopping which I helped her with. Reaching home my Mum entered the house first and walked past the stairs and placed some of the shopping in the kitchen. I followed her in and said "Hello Nic, why are you sitting there for?" to the girl that I saw quite clearly sitting on the stairs, who I thought was my Sister. "Who are you talking to?" My Mum asked from the kitchen. "Nic, she's sitting on the stairs" I replied. "What are you on about? Your sister is up at your Grans house. I just left her up there" my Mum replied. We both walked out of the kitchen and back to the stairs as I said "who the hell did I just see then?" The stairs were now empty.
"Er.... Put the kettle on. I need a drink" I said to my Mum feeling a little freaked out.
We never saw anything else in the house until recently.
A couple of weeks ago I was a bit shaken up when shaving in the bathroom. As I was shaving I thought I could see a toothbrush moving in its cup on the window sill out the corner of my eye. I stopped shaving to look at the toothbrush. Nope, it's not moving. I carried on shaving. The toothbrush looked like it was moving again. I stopped and looked at it again. No, its definitely not moving. I started again. What the f... It looks like it is moving again. This time I switched off the razor but kept it up to my face. This time I looked straight at the toothbrush. To my shock it was moving slowly around in the cup as though it was being pushed. Fu**ing hell! I left the bathroom in rather a hurry and dashed down stairs to the rest of my family. "Something is bloody moving a toothbrush in a cup up there" I gasped.
My family said I had gone as white as a sheet. I reluctantly went back upstairs later to finish shaving. The toothbrush had moved 180° around the cup. I looked to see if there was perhaps an insect in the cup as beetles had flown in before but there was nothing there.
We have also heard things when we have each been alone in the house. We have all heard footsteps on the landing and stomping about in the bedrooms. A couple of occasions when I called out "Hello" the footsteps stopped.
I have thought about leaving a camera set up overnight to see if it captures anything but I am a little bit afraid of what it might record.
 
My Mum recently brought this incident up again in conversation after a recent strange event.
Some years ago when walking home from a friend's house I met my Mum walking home from the town with some shopping which I helped her with. Reaching home my Mum entered the house first and walked past the stairs and placed some of the shopping in the kitchen. I followed her in and said "Hello Nic, why are you sitting there for?" to the girl that I saw quite clearly sitting on the stairs, who I thought was my Sister. "Who are you talking to?" My Mum asked from the kitchen. "Nic, she's sitting on the stairs" I replied. "What are you on about? Your sister is up at your Grans house. I just left her up there" my Mum replied. We both walked out of the kitchen and back to the stairs as I said "who the hell did I just see then?" The stairs were now empty.
"Er.... Put the kettle on. I need a drink" I said to my Mum feeling a little freaked out.
We never saw anything else in the house until recently.
A couple of weeks ago I was a bit shaken up when shaving in the bathroom. As I was shaving I thought I could see a toothbrush moving in its cup on the window sill out the corner of my eye. I stopped shaving to look at the toothbrush. Nope, it's not moving. I carried on shaving. The toothbrush looked like it was moving again. I stopped and looked at it again. No, its definitely not moving. I started again. What the f... It looks like it is moving again. This time I switched off the razor but kept it up to my face. This time I looked straight at the toothbrush. To my shock it was moving slowly around in the cup as though it was being pushed. Fu**ing hell! I left the bathroom in rather a hurry and dashed down stairs to the rest of my family. "Something is bloody moving a toothbrush in a cup up there" I gasped.
My family said I had gone as white as a sheet. I reluctantly went back upstairs later to finish shaving. The toothbrush had moved 180° around the cup. I looked to see if there was perhaps an insect in the cup as beetles had flown in before but there was nothing there.
We have also heard things when we have each been alone in the house. We have all heard footsteps on the landing and stomping about in the bedrooms. A couple of occasions when I called out "Hello" the footsteps stopped.
I have thought about leaving a camera set up overnight to see if it captures anything but I am a little bit afraid of what it might record.
Leave a camera on night vision setting or better, infra red and a digital sound recorder. There's nothing to be afraid of yet. Talk to it warmly and politely (because that's how you'd want to be talked to) but ask it to please not follow you because you need to get some sleep then do your day to day stuff. Consider also leaving an organic 'trigger' object like a rose as a 'gift' to attract it.
 
Hi everyone, I'm new here and I have a true story I think you might like to read. Firstly, I have never personally seen anything paranormal, I consider myself a skeptic. The strangest thing I have ever personally seen was ball lightning, an experience I wrote about earlier today in the "New Members" welcome thread. HOWEVER I have been around a couple of weird incidents. The big one happened to a co-worker of mine, it is quite a story & possibly involves a ghost. I remember it vividly, and I have told it to a few friends since. But I've never written about this before....

Here goes: In 2002 I was fresh out of university and joined a finance company. But I didn't have a finance qualification, so I was doing data entry. I just wanted a paying job! It was a relatively new company, and immediately I noticed some of their processes were very haphazard. Anyway, there was a staff member I'll call Christine. This story is about Christine. She was young and new in the job, and she had a better qualification than me - she had completed a Masters of International Finance, or something similar to that...

I noticed straight away that Christine would arrive at 11am instead of the required 9am. The manager was gently encouraging her to arrive on time. She'd apologise and say she had trouble sleeping. This went on for a couple of weeks. She was never reprimanded though, I think because it was such a new company and their processes were pretty loose. They kept trying to be friendly to her, and just encourage her to arrive on time. Every day she would work the full 8 hours, starting at 11am and going home around 8pm....

Because we were both in our 20s, we made friends pretty quickly. She told me she was from Hong Kong, and only came to Australia (where I live) to study at university & start her career. I seemed to be the only person at work whom she talked to (everyone else was either too old or too boring). I had a lot going on in my life, and only thought of this job as a temporary experience, so I didn't give it much thought as to why she kept arriving at 11am...

One day she started the conversation with me "Do you believe in ghosts?". I told her no, not really. She said "I have to tell you why I keep coming to work really late. It is really stressful. I have to tell someone". Sure, I told her, I'm listening. She said "I can't sleep at night, I don't fall asleep until sunrise, that's why I keep coming to work late". That sounds terrible, I told her. She explained "No you don't understand! The reason why I can't sleep at night is I think I might have seen a ghost!! It is stressing me the f**k out. It is really upsetting me".

Her story was this: She had been to a supper club in the late hours, with her friend. It was a well-known place in our city because it was one of the only bars that stayed open until 7am or whatever. In her telling of the story, she was seated at a table with her boyfriend, and she went to the toilet. She said she was the only person in the toilet, and when she was in the cubicle she didn't hear anybody enter the room. Then, she went to the one of the basins and washed her hands. When she looked up in the mirror, there was suddenly an old lady at the basin next to her. She said the old lady had a "disfigured" face, and was very very slowly applying makeup. She said the old lady was just staring straight ahead while applying the makeup, and did not acknowledge her. She said her overwhelming feeling wasn't fright, but "a huge feeling of pity, because she had a disfigured face". She said she quickly looked down at the basin and washed her hands again, fearing ("out of pity") to make eye contact with the old lady. She then left the toilet and returned to her table.

The experience wasn't over, because she said from her seat at the table, she could see the toilet door entrance. Her boyfriend kept asking her "Are you ok? You seem upset?". I can't remember what she said in reply. But the next detail is: She did not see the old lady leave the toilet door. At some point her boyfriend wanted to go home, but she wanted to stay and observe the toilet door. The lady never exited the door. My co-worker was extremely troubled by this.

....And so I listened to the story and didn't know what to say. But I was concerned, because she was definitely upset by it. She would say "My god! Do you think I saw a ghost??? I feel so terrible". And that was her predicament. She told me she couldn't sleep, her boyfriend was annoyed by this, and now her job was in jeopardy. She only felt safe to sleep at sunrise. Being my younger self, I didn't have any wisdom to offer!

...And now for my cameo in this story. We tried to think of a plan. What should she do? I suggested we go back there and have a look. She said NO WAY was she ever going back there. Next, I suggested she phone the supper club, and tell them what happened. Maybe they knew more? So on our lunchbreak, we went into one of the boardrooms and made the phone call. First, she picked up the phone, then panicked, and said she couldn't do it. So I picked up the phone, and called the supper club. The phone call went something like this:

Club: "Hello? [name] Supper Club"
Me: "Hi. I'm calling on behalf of a friend"
Club: "Would you like to make a booking?"
Me: "No. I'm calling because my friend saw something really weird there, and we'd like to ask you about it"
Club: "Ah. Did she see the ghost of the old woman?"
Me: "Er, yeah. She saw something upsetting like that. Is it true, is there a ghost?"
Club: "Yes some people see her".
End of phone call.
My poor co-worker looking at me hopefully - "What did they say?".

So yeah, that is basically the story. This is all 100% true as experienced by me. A couple of months later, Christine quit her job and returned to Hong Kong. My life was incredibly busy back then, and I just moved onto other things. I probably stayed at that job for 18 months. But the incident has always stood out for me, because it was the only time I have personally known someone who thought they saw a ghost. And she seemed genuinely traumatised by it. I really felt sorry for her. In hindsight, I can see she needed counselling.

(NOTE: I have a theory that might explain what happened as a plausible non-paranormal event: The supper club probably had a reputation for being haunted? The man did say, after all, other people had seen it. And maybe Christine knew the reputation before she went there, and this primed her to wrongly conclude the old lady she saw in the toilet was a ghost?)
 
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My wife once worked at a special school. Each evening the staff would set the room up for the next morning. Often they’d return the next day to find something moved or missing. Thinking the caretaker or cleaners were the cause of this they raised with the caretaker how inconvenient this was. The caretaker assured them no one was moving anything then told them this wasn’t unusual in that part of the school. He apparently didn’t like locking that area up due to feeling uneasy. He also avoided going in there when the school was empty in the holidays when he was alone in the building. Some weeks later, there was an alarm call and the headteacher met the police at the school. After a thorough search the building was found to be secure and empty. As it was now around 6am the headteacher decided it wasn’t worth going home and went into his office once the police departed. He had told the caretaker he got several phone calls on the internal phone system from that part of the school but didn’t want to answer them.
Once, my wife and another member of staff had closed he classroom door and were leaving for the day no one being left inside the room. The door had frosted safety glass in it and they both observed, in the ambient light coming through, the shadow of a person pass by on the inside.
 
I've already posted two of my experiences on this thread somewhere but here's another.

I have a great interest in archaeology and ancient history and as a result of this I like to visit ruins and ancient churches. I’ve been perfectly happy wandering alone around secluded country churches and I particularly like to visit Saxon and Norman churches. Over the years I have visited a great many, sometimes I’ve found the atmosphere extremely friendly and pleasant but usually I just regard the church in question as a building of great historical interest, representing an incredible continuity through a thousand years of use. I had never had any unpleasant experiences, nor been nervous about visiting these places on my own. Last Saturday (18 October 2003) I travelled by public transport out to the tiny hamlet of Warnford, on the Meon river in Hampshire.

Warnford church stands on a secluded private estate just off the A32 Portsmouth to Alton road. Warnford itself is a tiny rural hamlet. To get to the church I had to pass through a wrought iron gate onto the estate itself (Warnford Park), then follow the driveway which zig-zagged through the grounds and crossed a bridge over the Meon river. The church itself stands in its rather overgrown graveyard, dominated by the squat, powerful Norman tower. Behind the church are the picturesque ruins of St John’s House, the remains of a Norman manor.
Entering the church the bell tower is to the left and is not accessible to the public, the font is close to the entrance, an original Norman font (dating to around 1130) with lead coating. The nave runs off to the right towards the altar, with the chancel separated by a wooden screen with access to the other side, there are two highly ornate tombs to either side of the altar (William Neale on the left, died in 1601, and the more ornate tomb of his son, Sir Thomas Neale, and wives, on the right). I began by buying the church guide leaflet and looking at the particular details as set out inside. I worked my way from the west (tower) end down to the east (altar) end and everything was normal, just a pleasant country church. However, when I passed the wooden screen and entered the chancel to look at the two tombs the air became very cold and the atmosphere was suddenly filled with an unseen, hostile presence. I felt a little nervous but looked at the tombs and took some photos. The atmosphere seemed to get more and more hostile, but I carried on looking around. My film ran out so I went back to my pack (left near the entrance) to get a new film, and was immediately struck by the change in atmosphere as soon as I left the chancel, I no longer felt the overpowering hostility nor the coldness of the air. I got a new film and returned to the chancel where the bad atmosphere was overpowering. I looked around nervously, there was a definite sense of expectancy in the air. Then I heard three loud, hollow knocks. I searched for their origin but found nothing, and tried to convince myself that it was just due to pigeons in the roof.
After seeing everything I wanted to I left, grabbed my pack and headed out to look around the cemetery and the ruins, I sat down and had some lunch then, overcome by a morbid curiosity, I re-entered the church. Everything seemed fine, I walked up the aisle with almost a feeling of dread and walked up to the altar area, once again walking into an area of cold hostility, and the definite feeling of a malign presence. The feeling was very powerful, and after taking a last look at the ornamented tombs I headed back to the exit. I was at the point of leaving when my mobile rang…it was a friend whom I hadn’t heard from in two years or so, her address book had fallen off the table and opened to my name and she decided it was a sign that she should call me…right when I was feeling particularly freaked out. As I chatted I heard a deep, gruff man’s voice shout something unintelligible from the area of the tomb of Sir Thomas Neale by the altar which startled me somewhat. When the call ended, I headed back to the area where I heard the shout, even more nervous than before and muttering to myself about my duty as a Fortean, but not really expecting to find anything. I crossed into the chancel and…nothing. No coldness, no feeling of hostility. The presence had completely vanished and I found myself in a normal country church. The change in atmosphere was striking. I headed once again for the exit, but stopped to admire the lead-covered font. Without thinking I rapped it with my knuckles…and almost needed a change of underwear when I heard the same distinctive knocking sound as earlier…I rapidly headed for the exit, deciding that my Fortean duty had been fulfilled and it was time to beat a hasty retreat.
Nothing particularly dramatic perhaps, but enough to scare me sh**less and the only time I’ve ever been spooked whilst visiting a church. I even had nightmares about it the following night, a thoroughly unpleasant experience. My brother and my mother want me to go back and take them there but it would be like going back to a place where I was mugged or something and I really have no desire to ever see the place again.
As @Floyd1 pointed out on another thread, I have been remiss in posting my photos. Here are the photos that I took at the time, just short of 20 years late, but never mind:
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I wonder why there is a napkin with two bottles and a wooden box over William Neale's tomb.

Even in a catholic Church, one would not commonly find "mass wine" outside the service hours. I find this rather weird. Could you have disturbed some kind of private ceremony ?
 
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