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Anyone Seen A Ghost?

My grandmother died on my 8th birthday, in 1979. A few months later I went off to Brownie camp, which was in a house somewhere in East Anglia - possibly Norfolk. I was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom with, I don't know, 10 other girls, in bunk beds. One afternoon, whilst doing some outside activity, I needed a hankie; we weren't meant to go back in on our own at such times, but being me, I decided I would anyway, so I made my way inside and climbed the stairs as quietly as I could. I found my bag and the hankie, and turned to go back downstairs. And that's when I'm sure I say my grandma, standing between me and the door, smiling at me. She wasn't solid - it was a transparent figure, and I could see the luridly coloured dressing gown belonging to one of the other girls hanging from the top bunk, but I got the impression that this was Grandma. Certainly it got to me so much that I charged out of the room and clattered down the stairs without caring about how much noise I was making.

Nearly 40 years on, I'm still not quite sure whether I actually saw anything, or whether my over-active imagination made it all up, but I do remember being scared. Which is daft, really, when it was only my grandma.
 
My grandmother died on my 8th birthday, in 1979. A few months later I went off to Brownie camp, which was in a house somewhere in East Anglia - possibly Norfolk. I was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom with, I don't know, 10 other girls, in bunk beds. One afternoon, whilst doing some outside activity, I needed a hankie; we weren't meant to go back in on our own at such times, but being me, I decided I would anyway, so I made my way inside and climbed the stairs as quietly as I could. I found my bag and the hankie, and turned to go back downstairs. And that's when I'm sure I say my grandma, standing between me and the door, smiling at me. She wasn't solid - it was a transparent figure, and I could see the luridly coloured dressing gown belonging to one of the other girls hanging from the top bunk, but I got the impression that this was Grandma. Certainly it got to me so much that I charged out of the room and clattered down the stairs without caring about how much noise I was making.

Nearly 40 years on, I'm still not quite sure whether I actually saw anything, or whether my over-active imagination made it all up, but I do remember being scared. Which is daft, really, when it was only my grandma.
Nice to think it was grandma popped back to see you.
 
Marc, I'd like to think so too. Funnily enough, my camp was cut short because I had to go to a wedding on the last Saturday, one of my cousins on that side of the family. Maybe she was also saying sorry that she wasn't able to be there too!
 
looking for somewhere to post this ... my personal trainer (!) told me this on tuesday ... he lived a few years ago in new build flats on sherborne street, cheetham hill manchester with his then girlfriend ... out of the blue one day they came home to find the double bed uncharacteristically made up with military precision, neither had done it

soon after, he was in the shower (configured as part of bathtub) when two hands pushed the shower curtain in towards him from the outside, although mid-shower he distinctly saw the hands with outspread fingers through the curtain ... he exclaimed "steff what are you playing at" only to hear his girlfriend shout "what" from the next room as the curtain fell back to rest

sadly however he followed up with "i subsequently looked it up in the library and the flats had been built on a jewish hospital site ... our flat was where the mortuary had been"
 
oh yeah one other thing, he was learning guitar and sometimes when he was alone and playing he would hear strange noises like things falling over or breaking, when he stopped playing there was silence, nothing was ever broken or disturbed that he could find

apparently the (now ex-) girlfriend still lives there
 
Always wanted to see one of them, those and the ones that stand over your bed peering at you.
The ghost thing is only very very lightly pencilled in on my "bah humbug" list partly due to my mother's experience. The bed peering thing is interesting to me because of two experiences, both whilst I was in bed and in semi sleep mode. The first late at night when I "saw" a figure size shadow walk past the bed, pause by my side and then walk on through the wall, despite there never having been a door there. The second on awaking during the early hours but relatively light outside, there appeared to be a number of figures standing round my bed,which very quickly disappeared.
I cannot say that these experiences were ghost sightings, rather semi sleep induced half dreams. If I had been wide awake I would look at it differently . Strange though that these incidents have stayed with me for all these years.
 
I too lived in a "Haunted house" aged 15 - 18 from 1979 - 82.
It was a part 18th Century nail makers cottage in Dodford Worcs extended in the 1930's into a Bungalow.

I woke one night to see an older Lady standing at the bottom of my bed looking me.
I bravely hid under the covers till morning. On telling my Mom of my "dream" next day she said "I've seen her too".
Turned out Mom had even spoken to the Lady when we first moved in, she came to the door, and thinking she was a neighbour, Mom said Hello, the (Ghost?) replied " I didn't know where I was for a bit, but I do now." and turning away disappeared.
I saw her again in broad daylight in the garden a couple of times. Not really scary or threatening at all, just there.

I also came home and opening the door saw a tall thin man in a black greatcoat and top hat (Think Jacob Reese Mogg!!!) standing behind Mom while she was ironing. He disappeared.

There was a large black Dog too, I saw that in the Hall, I opened the Kitchen door and as the light fell on it, it ran at me, and vanished. Totally silent. That was the worst thing to be honest, and really scared me.

Minor Polt stuff too, we had a statue of an African woman's head (hey it WAS the 70's) that left alone in a closed room overnight would turn 180 degrees to face the wall, also one of my books, a photo album, would vanish from where I always kept it, I would search everywhere, then a few days later it would be back in it's original place. I'm an only child, and I can't see my parents getting a kick out of moving it.

Seems a lot now I've written it, but this was all spread over three years, so months would go by with nothing.

Cheers
CW.
 
Great stuff! Thanks for posting that.
 
african rotating statuettes and bounding grims have nothing on JRM materialising to assist with the household chores
 
I used to go ghost hunting in my early days, and whilst I've definitely heard things that can't be explained and always go in with my skeptic's hat on, there's only ever been one incident that I can't attribute to anything else.

It was about 15 years ago and around this time of year. I'd visited my then girlfriend and was on my way back home through the countryside and had plenty of long stretches of straight road so you could see what was coming and what was behind. It was pretty dark, would have been somewhere between 11 and midnight, and it was a route I used regularly at the time so knew the road. I was all alone on that stretch at this particular moment.

I was paying attention to what I was doing, as you would on a dark night where it isn't lit, when I came across a black figure in the road, right by the kerb on my side, I believe walking away from me. I had to swerve, as it came out of nowhere, and I remember hitting the brakes afterwards to see who/what it was, but there was no-one there. I'm certain it was a figure, tall and human shapred, right on the road. I don't think I had full beams on, which may have revealed them (whoever it may have been) earlier, but the fact that they were gone still gives me chills. I kept going as the whole thing had left me shocked. I don't think I even considered stopping, thinking back.

Granted, it could have been my mind playing tricks on me. I don't remember being particularly tired, as I had a significant drive from one place to the other (no more than 1 hour via my route). I distinctly remember the black shape, no other colour to it, and obviously it caught me off guard that late and that remotely.

It was roughly at this spot on the A4260, so it could have been someone trudging along, but they were completely black, and I couldn't see them in my brake lights.
 
I too lived in a "Haunted house" aged 15 - 18 from 1979 - 82.
It was a part 18th Century nail makers cottage in Dodford Worcs extended in the 1930's into a Bungalow.

I woke one night to see an older Lady standing at the bottom of my bed looking me.
I bravely hid under the covers till morning. On telling my Mom of my "dream" next day she said "I've seen her too".
Turned out Mom had even spoken to the Lady when we first moved in, she came to the door, and thinking she was a neighbour, Mom said Hello, the (Ghost?) replied " I didn't know where I was for a bit, but I do now." and turning away disappeared.
I saw her again in broad daylight in the garden a couple of times. Not really scary or threatening at all, just there.

I also came home and opening the door saw a tall thin man in a black greatcoat and top hat (Think Jacob Reese Mogg!!!) standing behind Mom while she was ironing. He disappeared.

There was a large black Dog too, I saw that in the Hall, I opened the Kitchen door and as the light fell on it, it ran at me, and vanished. Totally silent. That was the worst thing to be honest, and really scared me.

Minor Polt stuff too, we had a statue of an African woman's head (hey it WAS the 70's) that left alone in a closed room overnight would turn 180 degrees to face the wall, also one of my books, a photo album, would vanish from where I always kept it, I would search everywhere, then a few days later it would be back in it's original place. I'm an only child, and I can't see my parents getting a kick out of moving it.

Seems a lot now I've written it, but this was all spread over three years, so months would go by with nothing.

Cheers
CW.
Your mum must have nerves of steel, the thought of something replying and then disappearing is quite frightening to me
 
I want to know if anyone has debunked a ghost Scooby Doo style by revealing it was some old guy who wanted people to stay off his lawn or something. Does anyone else find that sort of thing implausible? I mean, when was the last time anybody ever used a supernatural occurrence to mask some sort of criminal enterprise? The place would be crawling with supernatural investigators in no time flat, making the whole ruse completely implausible. Imagine every Murdoch owned supernatural investigation TV show winding up on your doorstep while you are just trying to keep the locals away from discovering your meth lab by dressing up as spooks. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it Randi, LOL.

"Dressing up as ghosts was dumb, but still, nobody came around after we shot those meddling kids and their dog and dumped their bodies in the desert." - Walter White
 
Scooby Doo was lazily adopting the structure of servant-girl gothic tales from way-back. The best-known example in the UK came to be The Ghost Train but there were endless variations to be played on the formula. I have the feeling that half the British comedies of the war years featured a spy-ring operating under cover of white sheets. The Cat & the Canary was similarly recycled endlessly for US audiences. They were not so much stories as strings on which to thread your gags and business.

Smugglers, arms-dealers, drug-dealers, bank-robbers, cat-burglars, car-ringers, grave-robbers, gangsters, white-slavers, resistance-operatives, wreckers, legacy-snatchers, highwaymen and ghost-riders in the sky have always been the subjects of fantasy. Their real-word counterparts, where they exist, may use disguise and misdirection in pursuit of their nefarious ends but putting-about tales of hauntings would, as you suggest, create unwanted curiosity. :cskull:
 
Scooby Doo was lazily adopting the structure of servant-girl gothic tales from way-back. The best-known example in the UK came to be The Ghost Train but there were endless variations to be played on the formula. I have the feeling that half the British comedies of the war years featured a spy-ring operating under cover of white sheets. The Cat & the Canary was similarly recycled endlessly for US audiences. They were not so much stories as strings on which to thread your gags and business.

Smugglers, arms-dealers, drug-dealers, bank-robbers, cat-burglars, car-ringers, grave-robbers, gangsters, white-slavers, resistance-operatives, wreckers, legacy-snatchers, highwaymen and ghost-riders in the sky have always been the subjects of fantasy. Their real-word counterparts, where they exist, may use disguise and misdirection in pursuit of their nefarious ends but putting-about tales of hauntings would, as you suggest, create unwanted curiosity. :cskull:
I remember the first episodes of Scooby Doo was exciting as a kid, but I understood fast the show was meant to show there's no real ghosts or monsters, just bad and criminal persons dressing up. The later movies changed that partly by showing real paranormal(real in the movie) creatures.
 
Scooby Doo was lazily adopting the structure of servant-girl gothic tales from way-back. The best-known example in the UK came to be The Ghost Train but there were endless variations to be played on the formula. I have the feeling that half the British comedies of the war years featured a spy-ring operating under cover of white sheets. The Cat & the Canary was similarly recycled endlessly for US audiences. They were not so much stories as strings on which to thread your gags and business.

Smugglers, arms-dealers, drug-dealers, bank-robbers, cat-burglars, car-ringers, grave-robbers, gangsters, white-slavers, resistance-operatives, wreckers, legacy-snatchers, highwaymen and ghost-riders in the sky have always been the subjects of fantasy. Their real-word counterparts, where they exist, may use disguise and misdirection in pursuit of their nefarious ends but putting-about tales of hauntings would, as you suggest, create unwanted curiosity. :cskull:

I always assumed Scooby Doo was Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys stuff with the Shaggy and Scoob being a rip off of Abbott and Costello. A&C robbed Laurel and Hardy, etc.. so it goes back.

Really interesting post JW. So is Nelly Dean part of this servant girl gothic tale stable?

edit: James just googling - again, really great post - thank you.
 
I always assumed Scooby Doo was Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys stuff with the Shaggy and Scoob being a rip off of Abbott and Costello. A&C robbed Laurel and Hardy, etc.. so it goes back.

Really interesting post JW. So is Nelly Dean part of this servant girl gothic tale stable?

edit: James just googling - again, really great post - thank you.
Nelly was at least a reliable narrator as Lowood.
And Hanna-Babera is really poor entertainment.
 
Bit of a long one, I'll try to condense as much as possible but I have debated over sharing this for some time. I am a open minded sceptic, hence the hesitation.

About 15 years ago, myself and the then Mr Sprite (more like a troll - big, hairy, believes in nothing he cant smack with a hammer!!) went on holiday to Edinburgh and stayed in a beautiful coach house in Penicuick. Due to his snoring and my being a light sleeper we opted for separate rooms, with our two teenagers aged 12 and 13 sleeping in the room between us. The next morning, Mr Sprite was unusually subdued and after me pushing him a bit he owned up that he almost bundled us all in the car at 2am for a quick jaunt home down the motorway. Apparently someone had been heavy breathing right in front of his face while he was trying to settle for sleep. He had no explanation, and laughably his solution to the issue was to hide under the duvet with his eyes closed in the hope it would go away!!

As he was still insistent that there is no such thing as ghosts he took the very adult decision to swap rooms with the kids for that night. Me being somewhat naïve, and a little childish happily went to bed waiting for the terrified screams of the kids when they encountered the heavy breather. I was, I hate to admit it, looking forward to this as the kids had not been told about the night before and as such would provide me irrefutable proof of the afterlife as soon as they heard this noise. Just as I was about to give up on them hearing anything I suddenly hear right in front of my face, loud, laboured breathing. I am ashamed to say I froze as this had not come into my calculations at all. I was wide awake and there was enough light from my dim bedside lamp for me to see no-one was there. Not surprisingly Mr Sprite was called upon to sleep in my room and the rest of the stay there was quiet except the sound each night of someone walking up the stairs.

I did rule out most logical explanations, the house was not close enough to any other to have sound transference and the windows had no cracks that could allow draughts to make a noise. Add to that the respective rooms were at opposite ends of the house. other than that I was stumped and when we emailed the owner to find out if anyone else had mentioned strange noises, we had no response.

About a year ago the (now former) Mr S who shall now be known as "Bob" for arguments sake, suggested myself and the new Mr Sprite take a holiday with him and his wife to Edinburgh as she had never been. Me still being a chronic wind-up merchant agreed on the basis that we stay at the very same coach house. Bob agreed - largely so as not to lose face I think!

We did not encounter the heavy breather, although I refused to stay upstairs on my own as did Bob. Bob did own up to hearing sounds almost every night as if someone was going through his wife's handbag which was in a chair near the bed. He did his usual approach of hide under the duvet and hope it would go away! For my part I had taken a decent digital camera and voice recorder determined to hunt the thing down. For the most part all we heard was creaks on the stairs which was proof of nothing other than the house cooling down and odd feelings of being watched which was most likely a bad case of paranoia. I did still insist on taking a few pictures each night once we had all gone to bed in the hope we might catch something though.

However two nights before we were due to leave my right arm and shoulder was freezing despite being as snuggled up as possible under a duvet and blanket. Not expecting much but being ever hopeful I asked Mr Sprite to take a series of pictures with the flash on the camera in the hope of catching something as this cold was not easily explainable. We had done all the usual draught checks and so on. I will endeavour to upload the pictures later as they are stored on my phone and I am using the work computer currently. There was clearly a black shadow in some pictures, seemingly receding in each subsequent image as if whatever this thing was didn't like the idea of being caught on camera. The shadow is right over my shoulder that was freezing and we still have no explanation.

As the owner has never been forthcoming on a possible haunting I am reluctant to share the name of the coach house for anyone that might want to rent it for a ghost hunt, but I am happy to share in a PM if anyone is interested.
 
As promised. It was a little longer than a year looking at the picture dates. I hate how time goes so fast!
 

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As promised. It was a little longer than a year looking at the picture dates. I hate how time goes so fast!
He also photographed something which looks like orbs. Orbs are supposed to contain the souls of the dead. Some claims to have seen faces in closeups of the orbs.
 
I noticed those but have always been on the fence about orbs until these photos were taken. I know there's probably a logical explanation but couldn't find one. I do have a lot more pictures on the original SD card but they were mostly blank with no shadows like the ones I've shared.
Mr Sprite has a good understanding of what was needed - he had strict instructions to not move during the picture taking and to keep his hands back from the lens and flash. I was stumped then as I am now to be honest
 
Always wanted to see one of them, those and the ones that stand over your bed peering at you.

I'm meant to have seen one of those on holiday in Scotland when I was a young child. I don't remember it at all, but I suspect it was a recurring bad dream. My mum remains convinced I saw something though.
 
This isn’t so much a ghost story as an extremely unnerving and sad experience.

Anyway, when I was 18 and at college a guy that I was friends with had been on an end of year night out with his peers when he’d fallen over and hit his head.

The day after he made a comment that he’d had a dream the night before that he’d been on a date or kissed a girl (I can’t remember the exact detail,) but the point is it was along those lines and whatever it was he’d dreamt, had come to fruition.

Being 18 years old I joked saying you’d better hope you don’t have a dream of you dying anytime soon, or words to that effect.

You can probably all guess where this story is going but within 2 or 3 days of that happening he’d died of a brain haemorrhage, presumably as a result of the injuries sustained when he fell although I don’t know that part for sure.

Absolutely horrific coincidence and not a joke that I’d ever make again.
 
I've had so many experiences I've lost count.. I've just left my late teens and decided to join this board because I found the stories fascinating and how they come from down to earth level-headed seeming people.

From when I was born (probably) until around 17 I had a number of experiences and sightings over my childhood from odd silly things to footsteps and figures/solid ghosts. Yes I've been told the obligatory (you've got a gift) line by mediums and psychics, but I must have had something going on in my childhood where they were attached to me. I do agree with the facts that children upto adolescence/early adulthood are susceptible to being sensitive to "the other side".
 
He also photographed something which looks like orbs. Orbs are supposed to contain the souls of the dead. Some claims to have seen faces in closeups of the orbs.
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).
 
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