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Spiritual Customer

bloop

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Feb 4, 2016
Messages
101
Of all the weird, odd and generally spooky happenings that I have experienced over the years, the one I am about to tell you about is one made such an impact on me, that it sticks in my mind. It was my first encounter with a fully formed apparition/spirit/ghost whatever you want to call it or both myself and my boss at the time were hallucinating the exact same thing at the exact same point in time. I will apologise now for the length of this post, but I will try to keep it as short as possible - that said I hope you like reading.

Back in the 80's, i worked in a small grocery store. The shop was bigger than most 'corner' shops but was perhaps slightly smaller than your average Spar. There was one entry/exit to the shop and that was the front door - there was no back doors or windows. At the time of these events, renovations to knock through to the shop next door had recently taken place. I would arrive at my place of work at 8am and should finish at 5pm, but was often asked to work until 10pm. The only other member of staff was the shop owner or her husband. The shop owner would also arrive at 8am and would leave at 9am and I would be left alone until her husband arrived at 5pm or 10pm dependant on what time i was working till . Only on a wednesday afternoon would there be anyone else in the shop and this would be the cleaning lady that would do a deep clean of the floors and shelves.

I arrived that wednesday morning at 8am as usual and began the early chores before we unlocked the door to the schoolchildren and their mums at 8.30. My boss came through with our first brew and asked if the gentleman needed help. I looked up and pointed my gaze in the direction she was indicating, there in front of the greetings cards i saw the man to which she was referring. I apologised to him and told him to ask if he needed my help. He smiled the most beautiful smile. The sort of smile that reaches right to the eyes. In those few moments I seemed to become very aware of him - an immaculate blue pinstripe suit, a flower in his buttonhole, a pocket chain, a flat cap with white wispy hair that poked out. He looked to be dressed in his sunday best. After me acknowledging his presence, I busied myself again only to be disturbed again a minute or so later by my boss asking where the old gent had gone. I had no idea. He hadnt gone by me to get out the shop, so he must still be in there. My boss walked around the shop and found no one and I walked the opposite way and also found no one. She walked over to the door thinking we had left it unlocked and he had left without us noticing somehow, but the door was still locked and the keys were still in place. We were both completely at a loss to where this gent had gone and also how he had got in in the first place without one or the other of us seeing or hearing him come in. Due to the fact it was now time to open to the public, we had no time to discuss it further at that time, so we left if hanging whlst we set about with our day.

My boss left at 9am as she usually did and made nothing more than a passing reference to our 'visitor' that morning and for the rest of the early part of the day I was left alone until noon when the cleaning lady arrived. The rest of the morning passed uneventful. When the cleaner arrived at 12, I told her of the happenings earlier in the day, but due to us both having work to do and customers needing assistance, we didnt really get to talk much about anything.

Thursday morning arrived and I got into work as normal. All was quiet and my boss said she had experienced nothing more that morning before i got there. The morning progressed steadily and quietened down a little come 10.30am, when I chose to clean the glass countertops and fronts of sticky little fingermarks. I will mention at this point that the door to the shop is about 6 feet away from where I am working and to my right side. Without any warning the paperwork and paper bags kept on the counter began to blow around. The door was shut and there were no open windows. When I say blowing it was like a fan on high speed had just been placed beside. I stood there trying to make sense of what was happening and trying to work out where the 'wind' was coming from when I felt a hand resting on each shoulder. Without consciously moving my feet, I was turned around to face the person that had their hands on me. I looked directly into the deepest, sparkliest blue eyes I have to this day ever seen and realised I was looking into the eyes of the elderly gent that paid us a visit the morning before. I have no idea how long I stood there just staring but it was most likely only a few seconds, when the gent started to disintegrate. He started to disappear from his feet upwards, like the curl of smoke from a cigarette, until he was no longer there at all. I'm sure I cleared that six feet or so to the door in one step grabbing the telephone as I went. My boss came back striaght away and but for the fact I was visibly shaking and there was still paperwork everywhere, all looked as it did when she left that morning.

I never found out if he ever appeared again as I never went back to work there again. I refused to be alone in the shop and she wouldnt either stay with me nor would she employ someone else to be there, so very scared and confused about what I had witnessed, I left. Since then I have had numerous experiences of people that are there one minute and gone the next but never one that made it quite so obvious when his visit was over.
 
I'm amazed this story has had no comments..but then it's hard to know what to say about it!

Taking it as accurately and honestly told, it does sound out of the ordinary even as apparition tales go. The billowing papers etc are a mainstay of movies and tv but im not sure ive heard of it happening in real life accounts of ghostly encounters. What I find most interesting though is the apparitions interaction with you..since it implies at a minimum an active conscious mind that is fully aware of you and your presence, rather than some kind of "stone tape" replay of someone from the past.
 
Thanks for that gattino :) I have told this story as honestly as I can, there has been no 'bigging' it up to make it sound better or seem more dramatic than it actually was - even down to the papers blowing around. I know just reading it back to myself it seems so very unbelievable, but I will leave everyone to make their own minds up, I just know it happened. As I stated above, it scared the living daylights out of me so much so that I never went back there! I had never before nor have ever since, had an experience quite like that one. As I grew older and experienced more stuff following marriage and the birth of the children, I realised that although I had had expreriences with 'something' prior to that one at work, it was that particular one that seemed to kickstart my journey with the weird/strange/paranormal once and for all.
 
I was going to move on to that..you suggest at both the beginning and end of hte account that you have had many less dramatic encounters with people who have inexplicably disappeared from sight, and that his dramatic one was your first.

The obvious (fortean not psychological) thing to wonder there is if it suggests you are - perhaps unknown to yourself - a "medium".That is you can see them, sometimes, where the rest of us can't.. and maybe your blue eyed visitor was excited to realise you could see him. :litg:
 
I was going to move on to that..you suggest at both the beginning and end of hte account that you have had many less dramatic encounters with people who have inexplicably disappeared from sight, and that his dramatic one was your first.

The obvious (fortean not psychological) thing to wonder there is if it suggests you are - perhaps unknown to yourself - a "medium".That is you can see them, sometimes, where the rest of us can't.. and maybe your blue eyed visitor was excited to realise you could see him. :litg:


Thank you once more gattino, you are not the first person to have told me that I am perhaps a 'medium' and I have also been told that I should go to someone who can help me 'develop', BUT as the mere mention of mediumship is usually laughed at and anyone that claims to be a medium is called fake then I tend to steer away from associating with those terms. I think I joined these forums back in 2016, it has taken me so long to become comfortable (or brave) enough to discuss and relate to you good people some of my encounters. I have many more accounts I can still relate to you but I do not want to come across as some sort of mad, crazy woman. I am simply a person that has been very fortunate to see/feel/hear and experience some wonderful and not so wonderful odd events. :):)
 
Scary and fascinating at the same time, with the scary bits overtaking the fascinating usually, isnt it ? Like you, I have seen, heard and felt things, I have mentioned a few on here, I was apprehensive to speak of them, but after a while of lurking I joined, and spoke of them, as I realised what a nice bunch of people they are, they do not poo poo your experiences, but try to help you explain them, if that is possible.

Please do tell us of your other experiences.
 
A conclusion I've come to is that if something extraordinary - let's be blunt and say paranormal or supernatural - seems to have occurred to you and you're able to recount it as accurately as you know how then, unless you're trying to sell people something or start a religion, you don't have to prove anything to anybody. When we report our strange experiences someone else's disbelief is none of our business.
 
Fascinating. So this was back in the 80s? Do you know of the shop is still there? Did you ever return to it as a customer?
 
Fascinating. So this was back in the 80s? Do you know of the shop is still there? Did you ever return to it as a customer?


No the shop is no longer there, it was taken down and the land rebuilt on sometime in the nineties, and no I never returned as it was in an area I wouldnt have generally needed to frequent but for working there.
 
Afternoon Bloop. Would it be possible to do a sketch/drawing of the Gentleman's face in question?
 
Afternoon Bloop. Would it be possible to do a sketch/drawing of the Gentleman's face in question?


Sadly I dont think my very poor artistry skills would be of much use tbh, it certainly would not be a honest representation of what this old gent looked like. I would describe him as round/full faced, which was kindly in looks even moreso when he smiled. He had quite rosy cheeks and everything about his face looked to be 'in proportion'. His hair was snow white, with wispy bits that poked out under a blue flat cap. I want to say he wore either circular or half moon glasses, but I cannot with any conviction say this is a definite. I also cannot give a definite suggestion of age because I remember his skin seemed unlined yet he looked to be well over 80 and it had the appearance of being somewhat tanned, yet something tells me it wasnt. His eyes were amazing. As I stated above I have never seen eyes so blue or sparkly since. There did seem to be a 'peace' about him and until he began to disappear, I wasn't exactly scared, more puzzled as to what was happening. His height was barely more than mine and I am around 5ft 4 inches, so perhaps 5ft 6 inches. He had shall we say, meat on his bones with a rounded tummy/abdomen. In my head I can still see him clear as day and it has been around 33/4 years since it happened. I am sorry I cant get the description over to you better.
 
I will understand if you don't feel comfortable doing so bloop, but would it be possible to tell us where this shop was? Maybe we could look into the area, and see what we can find about the history of it?
 
I like that your Boss saw him too which lets us know that you weren't imagining it or hallucinating. How old were you at the time, Bloop? This will have been 1985/86 ish right?
 
A conclusion I've come to is that if something extraordinary - let's be blunt and say paranormal or supernatural - seems to have occurred to you and you're able to recount it as accurately as you know how then, unless you're trying to sell people something or start a religion, you don't have to prove anything to anybody. When we report our strange experiences someone else's disbelief is none of our business.


Spot-on. We get the odd evangelistic sceptic/troll on here who'll try to explain, often belligerently, that it's all in our heads because we're mad because THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS GHOSTS.

While it's OK to believe or not in ghosts or whatever, being judgmental about others' experiences or calling people liars (or silly names like 'sheeples') isn't tolerated here, not least because the intention of it is to silence discussion. The board is a safe place to share our personal spookiness that we might not want to discuss with people who know us in case it freaks them out!

So back on-topic, one wonders if the disappearing customer has visited new buildings on the site.
 
I will understand if you don't feel comfortable doing so bloop, but would it be possible to tell us where this shop was? Maybe we could look into the area, and see what we can find about the history of it?

I would rather not mention the area if that is ok Curious :)
 
I like that your Boss saw him too which lets us know that you weren't imagining it or hallucinating. How old were you at the time, Bloop? This will have been 1985/86 ish right?


I was 17/18 and it would have been around '85.
 
So back on-topic, one wonders if the disappearing customer has visited new buildings on the site.

I too have often wondered this, but as the new buildings are houses, I doubt the people living there would take kindly to a rather strange and witchity looking woman knocking on their doors asking if they have an extra none rent paying houseguests really. Perhaps when I leave this realm I will find out the answers to the many questions I have regarding this particular experience, if so I shall come back and let you all know :angel::angel::litg::litg:
 
Perhaps when I leave this realm I will find out the answers to the many questions I have regarding this particular experience, if so I shall come back and let you all know :angel::angel::litg::litg:

Ah now, the renowned 'Sleeping Seer' Edgar Cayce had words of wisdom on this very subject, viz. do not make promises about what you'll do in the afterlife.

He reckoned he'd counselled some ancient souls who'd done this, for example by swearing themselves to another forever, and had thenceforth been bound to carry out their oath in subsequent lives with disastrous results.

This is actually an old belief and is the basis of many legends about hauntings, where a spirit has asked for release from a vow.
 
Hi @bloop ! Let's see...

About you being able to see things other people can't : well, your boss have seen the same man one day before. You arrived to feel his touch, this is quite rare, but I have seen it happening to other people that don't necessarily manifest mediumship. I have heard and read about cases when the presence of one medium can make other people see an entity, but I have never witnessed something like this.

Once you have already stated that you have experienced other unusual sightings before this one, let's work with the hypothesis that you are a medium. As @gattino said above, if you are not using your mediumship to make money or influence people to do something they don't want or that would cause them harm, well.... You don't have to compare yourself with people that have used their gift on the wrong way or that have no gift at all. If you are a medium, sometimes is nice to have somebody more experienced to help you deal with it. Again, you must be lucky and careful, extremely selective on your choice, otherwise you can end finding why mediumship have a bad reputation.

Finally, I must say that your posts are a little out of the norm, because you can write very well. Your (hi)stories have life (somebody out there said "life after death!", I heard it, ok?), you can easily visualise each element, and you can have a feeling of logic, of progression on each step. I must congratulate you for that.

I guess that you have still many other histories waiting to be told, and I hope I can see them popping on a thread or another, soon.
 
I would rather not mention the area if that is ok Curious :)


No problem. And I totally respect your right to privacy. :)

I find your experience fascinating. You generally find me on these boards discussing time slip experiences and road ghosts. I kind of lean towards believing that there may be some kind of common ground between those two things. I'm not sure how. But it's generally my belief that many ghost cases and timeslips may actually be the same kind of phenomenon, viewed from a different position. Like a frozen moment in time being replayed visually because of some unknown set of circumstances. B

Your experience doesn't fit in with that notion, I don't think. If this smiling old chap actually put his hands on your shoulder then that physical contact is something else entirely. And I find that fascinating.
 
Ah now, the renowned 'Sleeping Seer' Edgar Cayce had words of wisdom on this very subject, viz. do not make promises about what you'll do in the afterlife.

He reckoned he'd counselled some ancient souls who'd done this, for example by swearing themselves to another forever, and had thenceforth been bound to carry out their oath in subsequent lives with disastrous results.

This is actually an old belief and is the basis of many legends about hauntings, where a spirit has asked for release from a vow.



Hmm, with some of the personal stuff that has happened in this lifetime, I think I may already be paying back or upholding previous vows I may have made! I'm hoping next time round ( if there is one), life is at least a little kinder and I am not bound to learn nor repeat the lessons of this earthly period.
 
Hmm, with some of the personal stuff that has happened in this lifetime, I think I may already be paying back or upholding previous vows I may have made! I'm hoping next time round ( if there is one), life is at least a little kinder and I am not bound to learn nor repeat the lessons of this earthly period.

We have a thread or two on reincarnation. Very interesting indeed.
 
Hi @bloop ! Let's see...

About you being able to see things other people can't : well, your boss have seen the same man one day before. You arrived to feel his touch, this is quite rare, but I have seen it happening to other people that don't necessarily manifest mediumship. I have heard and read about cases when the presence of one medium can make other people see an entity, but I have never witnessed something like this.

Once you have already stated that you have experienced other unusual sightings before this one, let's work with the hypothesis that you are a medium. As @gattino said above, if you are not using your mediumship to make money or influence people to do something they don't want or that would cause them harm, well.... You don't have to compare yourself with people that have used their gift on the wrong way or that have no gift at all. If you are a medium, sometimes is nice to have somebody more experienced to help you deal with it. Again, you must be lucky and careful, extremely selective on your choice, otherwise you can end finding why mediumship have a bad reputation.

Finally, I must say that your posts are a little out of the norm, because you can write very well. Your (hi)stories have life (somebody out there said "life after death!", I heard it, ok?), you can easily visualise each element, and you can have a feeling of logic, of progression on each step. I must congratulate you for that.

I guess that you have still many other histories waiting to be told, and I hope I can see them popping on a thread or another, soon.


Thank you chicorea :) I have been told by others that if they are in my company often/long enough they start to feel like they are itching/prickling, sometimes just on top of their heads other times all along the side that is closest to me. Dont know if that means anything at all - or if the dog just needs defleaing again *goes off to check dog*

I was once told by a medium in southport (whom I contacted because I could hear a group of people constantly chatting but I couldnt pick up what they were saying and thought if I tell the doctor I can hear voices I would be sectioned), that I should attend spiritualist church and develop my skill. Well I have tried a few since the lads have grown and as yet, haven't found one that sits right with me. As it is, I am quite content to just accept what is shown or given to me nowadays.

As for my writings, well I write as I think. Sometimes it is pretty coherent and sometimes it is nonesensical ramblings dependant on my concentration and pain levels that day.

I hope to regale you with more happenings soon - dont want to bore anyone though :) As it is for now, I have an A4 sized almond biscuit to make as part of a cake for my son's partner's birthday - I may be gone some time as biscuits and me do not mix ;)
 
No problem. And I totally respect your right to privacy. :)

I find your experience fascinating. You generally find me on these boards discussing time slip experiences and road ghosts. I kind of lean towards believing that there may be some kind of common ground between those two things. I'm not sure how. But it's generally my belief that many ghost cases and timeslips may actually be the same kind of phenomenon, viewed from a different position. Like a frozen moment in time being replayed visually because of some unknown set of circumstances. B

Your experience doesn't fit in with that notion, I don't think. If this smiling old chap actually put his hands on your shoulder then that physical contact is something else entirely. And I find that fascinating.


I also believe a ghost is a playback of a point in time, however I think a ghost and spirit are different types of activity/occurence although the words are often substituted for each other. I like to believe a spirit to be interactive should it wish to be, whilst the ghost will repeatedly follow the same pattern everytime it is seen. With reference to the old gent, yes I could feel the grip and weight of the hands as I, without conscious thought, was twisted as if on a turntable to look at him. To look at him he was a solid human being stood infront of me - then he disintegrated into a smokey wisp until there was nothing of him left to see. Certainly and interesting albeit frightening experience.
 
I also believe a ghost is a playback of a point in time, however I think a ghost and spirit are different types of activity/occurence although the words are often substituted for each other. I like to believe a spirit to be interactive should it wish to be, whilst the ghost will repeatedly follow the same pattern everytime it is seen. With reference to the old gent, yes I could feel the grip and weight of the hands as I, without conscious thought, was twisted as if on a turntable to look at him. To look at him he was a solid human being stood infront of me - then he disintegrated into a smokey wisp until there was nothing of him left to see. Certainly and interesting albeit frightening experience.


I bet! Fascinating, yes. But that would likewise scare the heck out of me.

I like the distinction you describe, btw. And yes, this very much sounds like a spirit.
 
The board is a safe place to share our personal spookiness that we might not want to discuss with people who know us in case it freaks them out!

Are you promulgating the notion of a "safe space"? I may have to report this to the PC Gone Mad thread. ;)
 
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