OT: Talking Unsolved Legends / Events Wednesday - Ghosts

I remember as a kid moving to a new house. I think i was in 2nd grade. I may have been young, but i wasn't the only one who experienced weird things. My uncle would stay at our house after school and sometimes when he got there everything would be turned on (TV, etc.) windows open even though nobody has been home for hours. Almost every night i would go to sleep i could hear noises coming from downstairs, even footsteps. I was absolutely terrified of that place and wanted to move immediately. Thankfully we did.

Next story happens about 8 years later at a house two blocks from the previous one. Yes we only moved that far. One night my friend and I decide we want to go rent a game or movie from blockbuster. We were the only ones home so when i left i locked the house up. We come back about 45 minutes later to find every door & window open. Every single light in the house is on. All three TVs are on. No forced entry and we only had two keys. My mom was gone for the weekend so it couldn't have been her. Even typing this one out gives me chills. To this day i still don't know. There wasn't anything missing either. No explanation at all.

After my great-grandmother (Ruth, I will get back to that name later) passed away, we were at her house helping my great-grandfather cleaning out her stuff.  Their VCR (late 90's) was set to record her favorite show and it kicked on like it was set to record, then as quick as it turned on, it shut itself off, flashed good-bye 3 times then quit working. Not necessarily a ghost, but definitely unexplainable.

My cousin when he was really little, probably 4 or 5 definitely had a sixth sense or something.  He claimed he was being bitten by "mean people" at his house, when it was just him and my aunt and uncle.  Many time if you were sitting with him and playing he would look up, turn his head as if he was watching someone walk into a different room, then continue playing. We wanted to believe that it was his imagination, but seems unlikely that a 4 or 5 year old could make that up. This all started after my aunt and uncle began digging their backyard to build a pool (Poltergeist imagery, notwithstanding). This continued for a few years until she decided to try pouring salt all around the house and no activity occurred after.

While majority of his experiences were spine-tingling.  There were a few instances where he could be heard having a conversation while playing with himself.  When asked who he was talking to, he would reply "Ruth." Who had passed away 3 years before he was born. There is definitely no way he could have known that, but always said she was very nice and liked to play games with him, which she did when she was alive.  To this day, he doesn't remember any of this, but we always reminisce and like to think she was there to protect him from the "mean people."

Do not personally believe but have never had experiences like that of the OP.  If I had the experiences he is discussing I probably would.  Maybe I am just not cool enough for any ghost to want to visit.  :(

As a Michigan fan, much of the past two decades has felt as if i'm being haunted by ghosts, unable to rest from their deaths at the hands of severe beatings from Michigan football teams of old (Thanks, Yost).

They've done inexplicable things like move the spot of the football for JT Barrett, caused Blake O'Neil to fumble the snap, occasionally possessed the souls of our QBs to throws to their ghoulish invisible friend Tacopants, caused inexplicable injuries to key players, and, I firmly believe to this day, are torturing all of us for eternity. 

One instance that sticks out in my mind happened several years ago. My wife’s nephew (this was before we were married) came over to my house. Now my house I bought from my Grandfather when he was in assisted living. My Grandmother died in the house in 1999. Now at this point I had known my nephew for only a couple months. He was 6 at the time. We were in the hallway outside my bedroom (the room my grandma was in hospice in when she passed) and I noticed my nephew staring behind me. All of a sudden he said “your grandma died in there? I’m sorry.” Now myself nor my wife ever said anything about that to him. As I turned around all he said was, “yeah she is gone.”

It is interesting when kids say they see things like this. Makes me wonder if it’s just imagination or if they aren’t at a point where their brains automatically block out things that it doesn’t concept as being physical reality. 

I'd like to believe but I'm not quite sure. There's a lot of things we don't fully understand...

Back in the early 2000s, my dad and I went to my grandmother's for lunch. At one point we started talking about my late grandfather, as he was well liked by many people around the area. The conversation came to a natural pause when all three of us heard three knocks on the front door. We went around to answer it but no one was there. My grandfather's room was directly across from the front door.

I go back and forth on whether I believe or not. I currently do not...I think. Your points #1 and #2 are exactly what I was going to write. On the one hand, there's no concrete evidence of ghosts. On the other hand, there are a ton of stories and experiences of thousands and thousands of people that seem to imply there is something going on in the world that is ghost-like

I can't say I believe in ghosts but I won't discount them either.

My wife and I now live in the house that her parents owned (and she grew up in). Her mom passed away about seven years ago of pancreatic cancer. She died in the house. Since she's been gone, my wife reports that small objects used to change locations at their place of business (they were partners). Now that my wife has moved her business into our house (~3000 sq. ft. for just the two of us), things still are moving around. It's not malicious but a little creepy none-the-less. I noticed something that had moved just this morning.

We did a lot of the rehab work on the house ourselves (last Summer/Fall). About ten months ago, I was on the roof replacing the chimney flue pipe. It had been a nice day but in the late afternoon, clouds rolled in and the breeze became a little chilly. I climbed down the ladder to put on a fleece cycling vest (I was in a t-shirt & jeans) which was on the hood of my truck, in the driveway. As I was putting on the vest, I heard a voice say; "Dave, aren't you tired?" I remember thinking, 'yeah, I am a little tired' (we had been working most every evening, and every weekend, on the house since early July). I turned to see who asked the question. No one was in sight. While my wife knew all of the neighbors (and vice-versa), I didn't know any of them and none of them knew my name. The voice was not one I recognized (certainly not my mother-in-law's). My wife thinks it was her grandmother (who had lived in the house but has been gone for quite some time). It didn't give me chills at the time but when I related the story to others, it did. To this day, I have no clue as to who I heard.

I'm a big believer in energy.

Less than five days till the end of OT season!!!

Never had any experiences myself but my mom told me an experience she had when she was younger. I guess she was staying at a friend's apartment for the night while they were out of town. She said she woke up to an older lady standing near the foot of her bed and then disappeared. She told her friend about it who told her that there was an older lady who had passed away who had owned the apartment prior to her. My mom is not one to make things up or imagine them, though it could have been sleep paralysis.

Didn’t belive in ghosts until I moved to a Dearborn house built in 1950. Had a box of nails placed nowhere near the edge of a counter end up spilled onto the floor when I left the room and came back. I lived alone at the time. Also heard the front door open and footsteps walk in, no one else at home when I checked; door was locked.

I don't believe. To believe I would need an explanation as to how we could see or hear a non-physical being as both of those require physicality. 

I do find this topic fascinating though.

I went to undergrad at Ohio University and Athens hosts one of the supposedly most haunted places in America called The Ridges: A series of buildings that served as an asylum when asylums were horrible, horrible places.

Went on a guided tour of the grounds with some people from my dorm and of course we decided we had to break into the "most haunted" buildings. The night we did I had one friend run out after saying he felt slapped in the face and another said she was hearing things and basically had a nervous breakdown. Most of us felt chills in some places but I didn't think much of that. 

I chalked it up to psychology given the true creepiness of the location (stuff like fingernail marks in the concrete from people trying to claw themselves out, abandoned children's toys in a room set up for shock therapy, on and on) and the suggestion of background stories. Then we got our pictures developed (disposable camera days!) and there were weird glowing orbs everywhere. When we compared the photos to another group that went in after us they didn't have the orbs in their developed pictures. 

So I don't know if there are ghosts per se but after that I'm open to the idea there are things present we don't understand that may be related to human traumas that happened in a place. 

I didn't experience anything while there but me and wife did eat dinner at the Holly hotel a couple of months ago. I didn't know until after but I guess it is considered one of the most haunted places in Michigan. I do feel that if someone goes to a place that is reported haunted that can impact your mood prior and mess with your senses. I'm not saying people who go to places and know they have a reputation for being haunted are making things up when they say they experienced have things, but I do find experiences like my mom's where they had no idea the place had any history more credible.

My theory based on many credible stories that I hear and my own experiences are that there is strong evidence that some people exist in some spirit form here on Earth in the area where they lived for a period of time after they die for whatever reason.  It can last a very short time or many years.  I also believe it has something to do with them being disturbed about something or otherwise not being ready to completely leave this world.  So, they exist in this ethereal form for a while until they're ready to move on, to wherever that is.  Living people like us are more likely to perceive their presence if we have a stronger ESP capability.  That may explain why some people have these experiences and others never do.  I can't prove it of course, but it seems to make sense.

There are two incidents I know of.  One is soon after my Dad died.  He had died after complications from surgery which left him on a ventilator the last two weeks of his life.  He couldn't speak, but my sister perceived he was very angry about the medical advice he had received which led to his dire situation.  Not long after he passed, my mother was in the dining room and noticed a savings bond sitting on the table that she had not put there and never seen before.  No one else had been in the house who would have left it there.  It was exactly the type of thing my Dad would have done.

We knew a lady down in Ohio who operated a retail store, and for all we knew about her, she was very smart and a rationale person.  One day she was carrying out something for a customer to her car and out of the corner of her eye noticed an older man entering her store.  She hustled back to the store to see if he needed help finding something.  After walking all around the store he was nowhere to be seen.  She checked the back - no one.  She thought it was very strange, but did nothing more.  Some days or weeks after that, she was talking to a customer who had lived in the area for a while and described the man she saw going into her store.  Right away, the customers exclaimed "It was Mr. Smith!".  Apparently he had been a local farmer/landowner years before who owned the property before the stores were built.  He was long dead and allegedly other people had been seeing him periodically.  

Yes! This is what I'm talking about - bout time we got some real paranormal stuff in this thread!

I tend to believe in this stuff because of stories I've heard from levelheaded people who are close to me and I trust. Last weekend my girlfriend said she saw three children in old-style nightgowns in my childhood bedroom - twice in three nights. While its an old house, no one else has ever experienced anything but it still makes me think. But here are the best two from people I know:

My cousin's wife is a very sweet and VERY bright young woman (she works in a highly scientific field and even holds patents). She was on a business trip to Milwaukee and was dozing off in a hotel - admittedly road-weary and tired. She dozes off a little but then wakes up and calls my cousin and then notices a woman in 1890s garb standing in the room looking at her. She tells my cousin 'there's someone in the room with me', which admittedly freaks him out. The woman turns around, walks away and disappears. She's freaked out  but she chalks it up to fatigue and falls asleep after a while. She gets home and looks up the Milwaukee hotel - apparently it's haunted af - particularly the very room she was staying in. And people who have stayed in that room have reported seeing a woman in 1890s/turn of the century attire. That was one of the best first-hand ghost stories I've ever heard.

My mother is a realtor and a few years ago was trying to sell the house of my grandfather's friend and neighbor who had just passed. The house was pretty old and needed a decent amount of work before his daughter could sell it.  Apparently, two different groups of workers who came to work on the house told a neighbor that they saw a guy in WWII-era army uniform walking around the house. My mom thinks they're all 'wacky superstitious Irish guys' and doesn't believe it, but I thought it was pretty interesting.

Well  no one sees Tupac because he's still alive and living in Malaysia.

There was a ghost in the house I grew up in, or so my family says. It was in one specific room. 

My sister was in high school and she had an experience where she woke up and saw a girl with pigtails in a dress standing at the end of her bed, she said it got really cold as well. She heard weird noises and what not. She said she had a number of experiences with either seeing the girl or hearing voices. 

A little backstory: my parents bought the house in the early 90s, and it just so happened my dad worked with a guy who was married to one of the girls who grew up in that house. He told my dad that his wife had a sister who killed herself. We believe this is who was haunting that room, since they say spirits will usually go back to a place they think is safe, and they don’t like when other people are there. 

Before she slept in that room apparently it was where my parents had my crib. My mom said I was letting out these blood curdling screams while she was trying to get me to fall asleep and saw a demon like shadow on one of the walls and she could feel the air get really thick and the room get extra dark. That’s why they had my sister sleep there after that. When my sister moved out I ended up sleeping in there. I was about 7 or 8 and never recall any experience like ones my family members tell. My mom had the house and in particular that room blessed. Idk what was going on in there but maybe the blessing scared it off. 

No.  I firmly believe they don’t exist.  I leave open the option that it’s possible, but I have never experienced a singular event that wasn’t easily explainable or obvious (air pressure change causes door to close etc.)

My wife believes they do.  We experience the same event and she immediately believes it’s a ghost until I show her how the sound is made, the item moves, etc.

I absolutely believe in the paranormal and I am huge Bigfoot enthusiast.  There are just way too many people with incredible paranormal and Bigfoot encounters.  And there is nothing for these people for coming out and sharing their stories except ridicule.  Just think how many people won't come forward for the same reason?  

I don't believe I have ever had a spooky experience but my daughter says we have a ghost living in our home and his name is bob.  He is friendly of course.   

I purchased my first house from a retired minister.  His wife was in a nursing home and he wanted to move into and apartment to be closer to her, the house was about 30 miles away in the country.  One Sunday morning I got up and went to make coffee, every cabinet door in the kitchen was wide opened.  I was the last one to bed the night before, my now ex was asleep before I turned in, and the cabinet doors were not opened.   No children at that time, she and I were the only two in the house. 

About an hour or two later Pastor Miller shows up, the previous owner, and tells us his wife passed away during the night.

the coincidence was pretty creepy, we joked that she must have stopped by to see how the kitchen was organized compared to when she lived there.    Hindsight being 20/20, it could have been one of my ex's boyfriends stopping by while i was asleep.

They do exist. My mom's side of the family has owned a hotel in Western NY since 1920 (and the structure itself was built before the Civil War).

Many have died there. And many still reside there.

I don't believe in ghosts but there was one time in high school a friend and I were at my place just chilling in the living room and in my peripheral vision there was like this mass of black that appeared briefly. Could have been anything, a visual distortion, whatever. But the weird thing was my friend saw the same thing at the same time. We both kind of freaked out and looked at each other saying, "What the hell was that?!" Very brief and no voices or anything but strange we'd hallucinate the same random thing at the same time at the same place.