There must be a book in security guards' ghostly experiences... I can remember reading on a ghost thread on another forum, a few years back, (forget where) about someone who worked as a security guard, somewhere in London and he had a very scary time of it. If there are more ghosts at night... they'd see it all, presumably.Techy used to work in a very haunted building. He personally saw wet dog pawprints apparently leading into a lift when there were no people (apart from the other witness, a security guard) and certainly no dogs.
He has been followed along corridors by people who've disappeared and has found his way blocked in an underground passage by a big heavy goods cart that couldn't have got there without him hearing it.
Some of it might still be on here somewhere.
My first job was in an R&D centre backed onto an old manor house and while I took stories of figures on the stairs with a pinch of salt (given the tellers) the groundskeeper told me in complete seriousness (I knew him well as I used the grounds as a rough shoot and saw a lot of him), that there were many occasions when he'd gone around the upper floors in the old house turning out lights, only to find them back on when he'd left the building. He also said on many occasions his dog (a spaniel) would refuse to accompany him onto the second and third floors. The third floor was deathly quiet at the best of times as I recall. I never had 'an experience' and I used to shoot well into the dusk and darkness, if the ghost haunted the grounds, I never experienced it.Techy used to work in a very haunted building. He personally saw wet dog pawprints apparently leading into a lift when there were no people (apart from the other witness, a security guard) and certainly no dogs.
He has been followed along corridors by people who've disappeared and has found his way blocked in an underground passage by a big heavy goods cart that couldn't have got there without him hearing it.
Some of it might still be on here somewhere.
There must be a book in security guards' ghostly experiences... I can remember reading on a ghost thread on another forum, a few years back, (forget where) about someone who worked as a security guard, somewhere in London and he had a very scary time of it. If there are more ghosts at night... they'd see it all, presumably.
That's the thing Brig ... I wasn't scared and wasn't even thinking about ghosts .. I was more hooked on hoping that the chef had left enough slices of roast beef in the work's fridge after everyone else had gone home so I could nick some without getting caught doing it .. I told Kerry and Marnie about some of my over imaginations .. Marnie told me about customers having problems about room 10 .. dead ghost woman stuff, one customer booked out in a hurry, his boss called back telling her that he'd had a woman leaning over him in his bed apparently (she told me but she could have been 'playing along' I suppose) .. either way, I didn't wank on about this stuff because I was in charge of the place as the night porter and wanted to keep it that way without stupid ghost stories .. my mate came in one night, took a test photo on his new mobile, told me he'd taken a picture of a shadow shape in the corner of my bar but had accidentally erased it so I didn't give that any other thought .. a few weeks or so later, he was stood outside the building waiting for me to let him in to my night porter flat through the outside staff entrance part and said he'd seen the shadow of a woman following me up the stairs, he was watching me through some windows.. again I sort of remembered his earlier phone photo claim but didn't really care ..No one believes n ghosts until they actually experience one. Some still don't calling them hallucinations. Those that do believe in ghosts or something similar, most there of, are not afraid of them. Some, who don't believe in ghosts, are scared to death by them. They are mostly an unexplained enigma.
I have had a few ghostly experiences, including the full body apparition very close to me experience - verified by someone else who saw the same thing, and told me years later and had no way of knowing my story. And yet I struggle to believe anyone else's ghost stories. And I struggle with that hard-wired cynicism, as well. There are people I know who have also had unaccountable experiences and I know them well enough to utterly believe them but it is harder when it is not someone you know well.No one believes n ghosts until they actually experience one. Some still don't calling them hallucinations. Those that do believe in ghosts or something similar, most there of, are not afraid of them. Some, who don't believe in ghosts, are scared to death by them. They are mostly an unexplained enigma.
The thing I try to remember is that people can absolutely believe what they saw, but that can't be taken as hard evidence that what they saw was actually there.There are people I know who have also had unaccountable experiences and I know them well enough to utterly believe them but it is harder when it is not someone you know well.
My wife firmly believes there is a scientific recording of strong emotions that can be naturally replayed under the right conditions. I can see value to this belief but I have run into situations where that just won't fit. I thought ghosts were made up until my wife and I moved into a very strange house close to the Tygart river in West Virginia. That place convinced us both that strangeness exists whether it be ghosts or something else.
I don't know if this counts as a workplace, exactly, but since my brother used me as off-the-books child labor, perhaps it does...
Back in the 80's, my brother was the manager of a movie theater. It was a huge old building, built during the age of the silent movie palace. I spent a good chunk of my childhood there - bro would put me to work cleaning the auditoriums between shows and making popcorn at the concession stand. The rest of the time I'd roam the place, which was full of nooks and crannies. It was a bit maze-like, so that was pretty fun. I was quite fond of the place.
Probably all theaters have a creepy feeling after hours. When my cousins would visit, we'd listen to what my cousin N. called "theater echoes" - those sort of faint, disembodied voices you hear in a place like that. I suppose it's the acoustics that cause it, I like imagine it's some sort of trapped sound that just bounces around for years and years. Anyway, that's probably not too unusual in a place like that, but it did add to the atmosphere.
Sometimes I'd get the distinct feeling I was being watched, but I put that down to the cranky old projectionist - he'd been working there since the 1920's and I was forbidden to go into his booth (which was covered in nudie pictures the times I did sneak a look!) But some other things weren't so easy to pass off.
One was the thing we called "the bat" It wasn't a real bat (though occasionally one got in) because it would have to have been huge, able to move at warp speed and disappear from even an enclosed space instantly. The thing we would see was a large black shape like a wing that would appear in the corner of our eye. Turn to look at it, and it would appear in the corner of our other eye. I recall sitting on the stairs one day for ages, intently watching the thing flit through my peripheral vision - I was determined to look at it properly, you understand. But no luck.
This wasn't at all scary at all, just weird, and I thought it was just me until one day the staff were standing around and started talking about it - same large black shape, same peripheral flitting.
Then there were some nights, at 12 or 1 in the morning, my brother would be up in the offices finishing the day's paperwork when we'd hear distinctly human sounding footsteps slowly pacing the roof of the building. I recall bro saying that this happened all the time, and not being especially concerned about it. The roof wasn't flat though, so it couldn't have just been someone taking a stroll up there.
What was somewhat scarier was the basement. That's where the marquee letters were kept, and we'd have to go down there late at night when it was time to change the sign. The basement had a dirt floor and was always cold. Some of the older staff members attributed any haunting activities to this place, because years back one of the workers, a janitor who'd been allowed to sleep there, had died of a heart attack. I tried to stay away from there, not the least because the basement door was inside the men's restroom - the horror stories practically write themselves.
But the thing that really, truly convinced me the place was haunted were the candy machines. For decades, there'd been a couple of candy machines in the lobby, selling gumballs or candied peanuts for a nickel. Probably these machines has been used thousands of times over the years, but while my brother was working there, they'd decided to remove them. Still, after hours when everything was quiet, you could still hear them loud and clear - non-existent coin going into the slot, turn of the invisible crank, immaterial candy rattling down the chute. Over and over, cleat as a bell. Everyone who worked there knew the sound.
This is probably the most harmless and innocent of all ghostly manifestations, but very convincing to me! Someone on the forum recently mentioned hearing something similar at their workplace, which brought it to mind.
Looking back, I think this place wasn't seriously frightening because any hauntings were strictly of the Stone Tape variety.
Edit - oh, lawkes, I just looked it up and found an article claiming the theater is haunted - but blaming all the haunting on the ghost of the pervy projectionist! Silly. They should have asked me! Although I'm sure his shade is still hanging around.
Ghosts of candy! Is this the best Trick for Trick or treat ever? Thanks!Probably these machines has been used thousands of times over the years, but while my brother was working there, they'd decided to remove them. Still, after hours when everything was quiet, you could still hear them loud and clear - non-existent coin going into the slot, turn of the invisible crank, immaterial candy rattling down the chute. Over and over, clear as a bell. Everyone who worked there knew the sound.GhostAlthough I'm sure his shade is still hanging around.
a presence within, certainly not sinister, but playful and with a sense of humour.
If it's regular/predictable enough, how about setting up a webcam, camcorder, etc to record the greetings cards being set skewiff ?
puckish?
Sounds very similar to the Catmose Fish Bar and Bistro in Oakham where I lived in '97 .. that place was an ex bakery and the experiences you've described that we all felt are almost identical. An old man used to work for us who'd worked in the same building as a lad when it was a bakery, he refused to go in one of the top rooms.A shop of ours was once the town's bakery. The shop where the bread was sold is where you now enter and you you go up 5 stairs into what was their home, now the rest of our store.
We've had it for almost 8 years and from day 1 we've always been aware of a presence within, certainly not sinister, but playful and with a sense of humour.
We have timber floorboards in the building and you can hear when a customer is walking about in one of the upper rooms. However, when we're closed, we often hear footsteps walking about, loud and distinct. We also sell greeting cards for all occasions numbering in the hundreds. These are all on acrylic racks that run along portions of walls. At the end of each day and during quiet periods, we tidy them up after customers have rifled though them, often mixing them up. Particularly at the end of the day, again when the doors are closed and it's only staff, or me alone, the cards are straightened. You can often then walk into another room, just for a moment or two and walk back to the card area to find the ones you've just straightened all skewiff. This can happen 2 or 3 times until you tell it firmly to stop, and it does.
There is also a particular doorway that when you stand in it, a number of people have reported a tugging on their shirt or dress. I have felt this once myself and was convinced there was someone behind me.
We never feel uncomfortable when it's about and it seems to have periods when it's more active, although with no pattern that we've noticed so far.