Have you ever seen a ghost?

[SpikyHair]

I haven't. I'm curious but I don't think I'd want to see one, not if I was alone and scared anyway.

But Halloween is here (🎃 👻) and I keep reading spooky stories and it's got me thinking 😊

... Who on here has seen a ghost?

I've never seen anything, and don't consider myself particularly woo.

When my son was little he and I co-slept. One night when he was 15 months old I woke up to find him standing up on the bed beside me, his gaze apparently fixed on something behind me. I sat up and reached for him to encourage him to lie down again and he moved to the side and craned his head to look over my shoulder, he stared for a while, then he waved and said: "Bye bye, oh bye bye." Then laid himself down and went right back to sleep.

I would just think of it as small children being weird, but in the morning we got the news that my DH's grandmother had died that night. It made me wonder if it was her coming to say goodbye.

Just got back from my holiday and funnily enough saw a ghost! We were in a monastery with our private tour guide and I remember seeing a man with a hat stood behind DH. I thought what a cheeky sod eavesdropping on what our English speaking guide was saying as you get a lot of back packers who don't pay for a tour guide. Anyway when I turned back to look at him, he had gone! But we were in a long, wide open corridor and there was no way he could have walked off without me seeing him! I asked DH where did the man go and DH asked who? He said there wasn't anyone stood next to him the whole time!

No because they don’t exist or everybody would see one. Everything can be explained.

Source: + 10 years in a Parapsychology group where we rationally solve 99% of cases.

I had some strange things happen every single night I was staying in a holiday let a few years ago, I wasn't scared but I was fed up by the end of the holiday !

Not a ghost, but very spooky anyway.
Friend recently told us of how the whole family had once visited a site of antiquities in the Med area. None of them had never been there before, but a Gds of only 4 at the time, piped up instantly, 'I used to live here!' And he went on with details of where he and a friend (who he named, with a name he wouldn't have heard, but was correct in the context) used to play and hide, etc. pointing to the ancient ruined sites where such things would have happened.

He was quite matter of fact about it - unlike the rest of the family, who unsurprisingly all got the serious shivers. Shortly after they left, he said quite happily, 'Thank you for bringing me home.'

I think I have told this story before on MN. The first Christmas we had with DS, DH and I had had an argument on Christmas eve and gone to bed cross with each other. I woke up at 5 to get started for the Christmas family hordes and the whole house was filled with a perfume smell I simply did not recognise. It was so intensely strong.

DH got up about an hour later and I immediately said to him; 'What's that smell?' He replied; 'It;s my mother's perfume'.

His mother ha died 7 years before and I had never met her.

I haven't, but a tie friend of mine has. And he asked her what the lottery numbers were. 🤣😂

sashh that is lovely bless the old lady I hope they shared many more beers with Fred after that

Years ago my dm was babysitting, she put all the clean dishes away, later on they were back on the bench. She thought the dc were playing tricks but on checking they were all asleep. That same flat often I came home and the chair in the window was moved, our cat hated that flat and rarely came indoors.

Looking forward to more of these - you've promised Batibat - don't forget!

VenusClapTrap We had the sweetest cat for many years, who sadly died after he was attacked by a dog. About 3 or 4 after he had gone I was sat on the sofa I saw the grey shadow of a cat walk across my living room, jump onto the armchair, then disappear. Well I think I did, but I tried to tell myself there was a logical explanation. I have also had a sensation of a cat sat on my legs when I was half asleep, and also a loud purring which I thought was one of my other cats, but they weren't in the house. I love the thought that my best boy pops back now and again when I need him.

A couple of my brothers have told me that they saw a woman standing at the bottom of their bed staring at them when they were kids. They are very adamant that they saw someone. My father was a very nasty person, and besides him being abusive he had numerous affairs. I wonder if it was one of his other women...

Looking forward to more of these - you've promised Batibat - don't forget!

I wrote a long post yesterday which got eaten! I'll try again in a moment, but in the meantime, anyone who likes this thread should check out the annual Jezebel Scary Story contest. There have been hundreds of good stories submitted over the years, but IMO the best of them all is Sorcia McNasty's (scroll down, it's called Not Anything We Could See).

Also, there is a podcast called Spooked, just ending its second season, which has similar stories, very well produced. Highly recommended.

ok, trying again.

Two tales of woo, as told to me by DM.

First story: she and DF were house-sitting for DGPs who were on holiday. In the middle of the night DM awoke from a dream that the house was on fire. It was so vivid that she made DF get up and they searched the house to be sure there was nothing amiss. In the kitchen they found a teatowel on the Aga, very hot and just beginning to smoulder.

Second story belongs in the category of Haunted Holiday Cottages. I was on this family holiday but don't remember as I was a toddler. DB was a baby.

On arrival at the cottage, it looked as if the previous tenants had left very abruptly, actually in the middle of a meal. Table laid, plates, glasses, food, all abandoned. A cleaner was supposed to visit between lets, but obviously hadn't (DM later said she didn't blame her). Anyway, my parents had to clean it up before unpacking.

The shenanigans started small and escalated. There was a door which repeatedly opened no matter how many times it was closed. Early in the holiday DM stayed in the cottage to rest while everyone else went for a walk. She heard a babble of voices from downstairs, assumed we were back and went down, to find no-one there.

What was more troubling was the orbs flitting around the bedroom, especially as they tended to hover over DB's cot. DM tried moving the cot. The orbs moved with it.

Finally things came to a head in the middle of the night. We were woken by loud bangs and crashes coming from the cellar. It sounded almost as if someone was dragging round chained up safes and deed-boxes, Jacob Marley-style. DF goes down to investigate, finds nothing. We try to go back to sleep, but then the noise starts up AGAIN, louder than ever. At this point my parents had had all they could take and we packed up and left the house at dawn.

Postscript: DM did some antiquing in the village and bought a lovely Victorian mirror. The lady she bought it from asked where she was staying and seemed very interested in the answer. DM actually thought she was about to tell her more about the cottage but didn't want to hear it, so she hightailed it out of the shop. Frustrating as I'd dearly like to have known what the lady would have told her!

One might have expected some trouble from the mirror, ghosts liking to use them as portals and all, but no, it has hung blamelessly in the drawing-room ever since, a souvenir of the truncated holiday.

The teatowel/fire dream has reminded me of a friend’s story. She was going about her business one day, at home alone, when she heard a voice behind her say quite clearly ‘Gas’. Nobody there, no telly or radio on. She checked her cooker, everything switched off. While feeling a bit freaked out and wondering what to think about it, her friend rang. He had just got back from an overnight flight and wanted to check something with her before going to bed to catch up on sleep. While he was on the phone, he said something along the lines of “You know what, I keep thinking I can smell gas, it must be because I’m knackered, I’m hallucinating!”

She told him to ring up the gas company and get it checked out straight away. He dismissed it, saying it was just his imagination and that he couldn’t smell it any more. She pressed him further and he promised with some irritation to ring up after he’d had a sleep. She then told him what she’d heard (feeling a bit daft but also quite panicky), so finally he did concede and get a plumber in. Sure enough, it turned out there was a gas leak.

Batibat

Thank you for these links - I'm going to have a listen to a spooky podcast now.