Ghostly Encouters

Was discussing in general about ghosts with friends recently, and their experiences that they have had with the unknown, here are their experiences that they have had. My friend, her husband and her 2 yr old little boy was driving home on Christmas Eve about 9yrs ago, on the A74, quite late at night, there was no other cars around, road was very quiet, when they saw a teenage boy walking alone, they stopped to give him a lift, but when they looked out he had vanished, at the time they thought that he had just jumped into a ditch or behind a bush or something, and carried on with their journey. But a few months later my friend was watching Breakfast TV, and there was someone on there that had, had the very same experience, only there were just the two of them in the car, there was no one in the back seat, and the boy got in, but after driving away, they turned around to speak to the boy and he was gone, this was also on the A74, isn't that strange, wonder if anyone can relate to this.
Other story, was my friend and his brother when they were both very young, woke up in the middle of the night, to see a very much alive clown sitting on their bike in the corner of their bedroom, my friend being the youngest of the two, was so scared he put his head under the bed clothes, but his older brother who was much braver, peeped out from under the bed clothes, and the clown had moved of the bike, and was now sitting on the end of the bed just watching them.

What part of the A74 Sparkle-? I drive part of the A74M everyday going to work. on the Aat Kinmount there are some reported road ghosts.

http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/scotland/dumfriesshire/dumfrieshire1.html

Not sure which part, will find out for you, these other stories are interesting though, spooky road, the one with all the farm animals sounds a bit O.T.T though.

I live with a ghost and have met them from time to time, but never during my trips to the UK, alas.

So do you know who your ghost is Wombat?

i Know my Ghost.. My Grandparents.. They Pop In Time to time.. Always in the corner of my eye.. isee them.. typing this now.. isee them in the corner of m yeye.. scares me..

Yes, I do know who my ghost is, which is actually quite reassuring - it's a former owner of my home. Through one of those coincidences that I suspect isn't a coincidence, I met his daughter a few years back. Everything I told her generally tallied with his behavior in life. She was intrigued by the occasional lights and doors which open on their own, but I assured her that her father is definitely a caretaker of this place, not anything which I fear. I have a very strong suspicion that when the wife dies, my ghost will move on, he's just waiting for her. He's not British, though, so I feel guilty for mentioning him on a British site!

Amazing!! We have been getting strange things happening in our house too lately, my Grandad died just over a year ago, don't know if it's just a coincidence or not, but just after a few months after he died, our sitting room door would open by itself, never did this before, did it very regular for a while, but has not done it for a few months now. But just the other day, I was on the PC and Hubby was in the bathroom, when we heard a loud noise like a fan going full blast, I went through to the kitchen, and the cooker hood fan had come on by itself and was on the fastest speed, I never use it on this speed, only the first setting, it was very strange, as the switch for it is quite stiff to slide along. My hubby said if he hadn't seen this for himself he would never had believed it!

wombat wrote:

Yes, I do know who my ghost is, which is actually quite reassuring - it's a former owner of my home. Through one of those coincidences that I suspect isn't a coincidence, I met his daughter a few years back. Everything I told her generally tallied with his behavior in life.

If it's not breaching confidentiality, could you list a few of these things that tallied? Presumably, he wasn't known for wandering around switching lights on and off and opening doors all the time.

I Had a Strong Relation with my Grandparents.. My Ghosts.. Theyre looking over me.. which comforts me.. Whemn they get me Scared or Somewhat Stressed I Always Say to my self out loud.. Please Stop it I Dont want Any More..
And it all Goes.. Weird..Plus That CLOWN STORYS That Is Weird..

Not as far as I know, he wasn't. Not saying it is him, or if it even is a ghost, just things that have happened, and are quite impossible to have happened on their own.

mysteryshopper wrote:

wombat wrote:

Yes, I do know who my ghost is, which is actually quite reassuring - it's a former owner of my home. Through one of those coincidences that I suspect isn't a coincidence, I met his daughter a few years back. Everything I told her generally tallied with his behavior in life.

If it's not breaching confidentiality, could you list a few of these things that tallied? Presumably, he wasn't known for wandering around switching lights on and off and opening doors all the time.

Oh, it's not a breech at all - the list is actually quite long. As I said, i just felt that i shouldn't go into too much details since this is a forum about British phenonemon and I live in the US.

He actually was known for opening doors quite a bit - there were movies and tv shows he loved, but pretended to hate, but the daughters noticed that he always seemed to wander in whenever they were on. We compared notes and doors only open when they are on. He has been known to adjust the volume.

My ghost was a teetotaler in real life. I am rather fond of a glass of wine. I first sensed and then saw him staring at the empty bottles in the recycling bins. (This makes me sound like a lush - I'm just lazy about recycling.) He didn't like it, and quite a few things fell from shelves, etc. for the first few months I lived here. Then i think he figured out that I am actually a fairly decent person and would take care of the place, even if I do drink alcohol, because that aspect of teh manifestations stopped and I haven't seen him since.

If I leave for a day or so, things stay quiet when I return. If I go away for a week, I hear him pacing up and down teh stairs, around the landing, etc. I've learned to just leave my bedroom door open when I get back because he will open it to make sure that i am at home again. This is also consistent - apparently even when his children were grown and just staying a night or so, he would check on them and always left the doors open.

He moves books around on the piano (up and down and around, not just a page changing at random), and he loved the piano in real life.

I tried to chat with the daughter about the funny light patterns but we never did work that bit out. For example, for several nights running, at about the same time every night, three lights each about the size of a pool ball did funny dances above teh stairway. There are no windows onto the stairway, no lights were on, etc. I could go on, but you get the idea.

I've never felt frightened - he was very concerned at first, but seems to have settled into a pattern and accepted me.

Anyway, probably more than you wanted to know and none of it British -

Hey Wombat that's some story, but a nice one, it's good that you know his daughters and are able to compare notes, which would be interesting for you, it would explain a lot for you, I wonder if he can see you, or not?

I know this discussion has come up elsewhere on this site and I've enjoyed reading the discussions. My gut feeling is that some ghosts are recording which play over and over and that others (like the one at my place) do have some sense of the beings with whom they share space.

Thanks, Wombat, interesting stuff, though I have to say there was nothing very conclusive, for me. It could all be coincidence.

When I was a teenager I lived with my Grandparents in an old converted distillery building. I believe we had a resident ghost as every night I would hear heavy footsteps pacing through my room into the hallway and from there into the kitchen and back. I never thought much of it back then and we certainly never talked about it. I never saw anything strange though and nothing ever happened.

We have three cats now and two of them regularly 'see' something that I can't see. I believe that whatever it is though is good natured as the cats try and play with it and there is no hissing or spitting.

Our neighbour recently told me a really spooky story though... he was driving from Dunfermline to Culross (don't know if any of you know that area, it's where I live), and on the way to Culross is a graveyard that I've passed many times myself. Anyway, my neighbour and his daughter were in the car and they saw this young girl, about 12 years old, dressed in black, standing by the graveyard. They both saw her. And then she vanished right in front of their eyes and they both saw this happening as well. My neighbour is one of these people who believe that there has to be an explanation for everything and he certainly doesn't believe in ghosts. This happened just a few weeks ago and I was pretty freaked out.

Inghinn

That's very interesting Inghinn, I have heard stories about that graveyard, I also stay in this area, a lot of history about here, never passed by that graveyard though, but my husband used to work beside guy's that used to hang about in that graveyard at night, but don't think they saw anything, but lived in hope.

I - two terrific stories.

My mother used to work at a hospital built on top of an old coal mine. One night she looked up to see two brown creatures the size of Hobbits scurry down the hall. She said it lasted about twenty seconds. When they disappeared Mom did a double take. "Don't worry, said the nurses next to her," we saw it too. She said that had she been alone, she might have doubted her eyes, but not with two other people who same the same thing.

Quote :

As I said, i just felt that i shouldn't go into too much details since this is a forum about British phenonemon and I live in the US.

Just going back your previous comment Wombat. I know we focus on Britain but I think hearing about cases from other countries is invaluable as it may help highlight differances between how certain cultures view, experience and report phenomena. Surely if there is a scientific mechanism to seeing a ghost it would work the same the world over so all cases are valuable resource material.

Ta! Then I will do so as appropriate.

Two generations of my family have seen an apparition in St Botolph's Priory churchyard, Colchester. The figure is that of a tall man in a black coat and a tall hat. My grandmother used to call him "Sandyman's Port" because he apparently looked like the man on the label of the Sandyman's Port bottle (I've never seen this, I'm guessing because they stopped making the stuff years ago).

My grandparents owned a house in Colchester where several strange things happened. One day I was there alone when I heard heavy footsteps thunder down the stairs. I opened the door and looked up the stairs but there was no one there. On another occasion a TV remote was flung across a room - my sister saw this happen and no-one was near it at the time. There were several other similar incidents and a continuous oppressive atmosphere in some parts of the house - you'd find yourself running down the stairs because of a strong feeling that someone was right behind you. It was all pretty creepy and still a talking point in the family to this day.

I remember the port bottle, despite not actually having drunk any. It was a silhouette like this http://www.goldingyoung.com/catalogues/Ct040204/lot289.jpg

Tim - two great tales. My college had two theaters, one far creepier than the other. There were several occasions when I was working late with another person or two and we all exchanged glances and left. We knew that whatever was in there, it had decided it wanted us out for the night. The one night we didn't, we finishing focusing the lights and left. When we came back the next morning, all of the lights had been refocused, all to shine on the same spot. The theater was locked when we left, and locked when we returned...

Thanks for the link mysteryshopper - gives me a better idea of what was seen.

Wombat - I know what you mean about the feeling that something doesn't want you there, I think that was what I was getting at in my post. I know that there was some recent research which pointed to certain sound frequencies that could cause "spooky" feelings and even visual images. What do people think; could this be relevant to some hauntings?

The idea of infrasound producing hauntings is certainly widespread but there is little evidence to support it. Infrasound can certainly make people feel uncomfortable, though I'm not sure it would be described as spooky.