Strange Events Beyond My Grasp

All my life I have experienced or witnessed the unexplainable. I always brushed them off, until I began researching them on the internet about 18 months ago. It started with a sleep paralysis experience and a host of experiences I pretty much ignored for many years.

These experiences led me to believe there are powers, spirits and occurrences that are beyond my grasp. Since these are all isolated events, none would qualify as a haunting, at least in my opinion.

My experiences are all very similar to others described here, none are especially unique. But they cause me to wonder: Why is so much beyond our understanding?

Little Girl in the Field: There is an old road running north and south in my town. The north end is lined with houses and buildings, most constructed within the last century, but about 18 blocks out the houses begin to thin out and there is a long stretch that was once farmland. It is now vacant field with few out buildings and scattered newer homes. After a half mile or so of this, there is a commercial stretch, some medical buildings and an old cemetery. One day I was driving from a medical appointment, going past a field, I saw a small girl in late 19th century or early 20th century clothing, standing in the middle of a field, crying. Shocked, I pulled over a ways down the road, stopped my car, turned around, and headed toward her to see if she was lost. Only she was gone when I got there. And there was no building around, no hiding place. I drove up and down the road for a while, but - nothing. I began to wonder if I'd really seen her. And I haven't seen her since.

Aromas: My husband and I live in the 110-year-old house where his first wife died. I believe at least one other person died here, too. The master suite, a former lumber room or unfinished attic, is over the kitchen and I frequently smell the aroma of toast or bread baking at say, 2 or 3 a.m., but I know it's not from the kitchen. Well, not when I notice it, anyway. It's not my husband, because he is there beside me, and my daughter is at school. So what is it? The strongest aroma was cinnamon toast, about a year ago. I sleep very lightly, and I know I was not dreaming. I was, however, getting very hungry!

Cold breeze passing over me: One night last spring, it was too cool to have the windows open. The furnace was still on and the room was snug. I felt a cold cloud coming toward me and felt it pass over me. Because of the way the room and the bed are situated, it could not have come from a window. It has not happened since.

Other noises: Until recently, I heard my name in an urgent whisper, usually in my mother's voice. This happened in a variety of places. (My mother is still living.) At our house, we have also heard things fall over but when we check to see what has fallen, everything is in place. A time or two we have heard men's voices downstairs, only to find there is no one down there.

Lights: Every once in a while, there will be a bluish flash in the bedroom. There is one window, facing north into the tops of a grove of trees. So I'm not convinced the window is the source. It happens infrequently, and I would have forgotten all about it, except that a coworker who thinks she has ghosts has experienced it too.

Shadow people: I have never seen shadow people here, but I have seen them in my grandmother's house (b. 1863) and - I think - one of the two houses I grew up in (b. In 1888 and 1915) - or maybe both; I can't recall because I brushed them off as my imagination. I have never lived in a new home, but I have lived in newer apartment buildings, and I have never had a single experience in an apartment building.

Certain rooms: In the 1888-era house I lived in as a teenager, there were two back bedrooms, once used for the housekeeper of the former owner. We think she died there. My siblings and I were all terrified of the smaller room, but never said anything while we lived in the house. We were young adults before we shared experiences. The room was always cold and depressing. We used it for storage, and that might have been one of the reasons it felt weird. If we had to go into the back hallway at night (the linen closet was there) we would hurry and avoid looking at the closed door. I should point out that this house was also very near a cemetery that had been moved in the 1890s.

My office: My office building is about 50 years old, built near the site of a terrible house fire that killed a woman. The house on our site was the house next door, and was built around 1890. It was torn down just before our office building went up. When I am there alone, I often hear what sounds like electric typewriters in the main office. Sometimes I will hear other noises, like paper crumbling in other office; I just had this experience before Christmas. We have had mice, so that's been the usual explanation, but it doesn't seem to be the explanation just now. There is a certain part of the office that is feels different. I took photos to show them to a sensitive friend, and she picked up something. (No orbs; I'm not a believer in orbs as ghosts, anyway.)

Other places: A few years back I went to a party at a house the owners think is haunted. We had a tour and I knew right away where the most haunted spot was. It just felt different. I've noticed this with people, too. I once had to deal with someone who later became well known in our state for misuse of public funds. I have never felt such evil emanate from anyone.

All of these things seem disconnected, but they have led me to question whether or not there are simply things we cannot completely understand, or wrap our minds around. Which is why I landed here.

I have some other haunted work place stories to share, but those are for another time.