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Real Ghost Stories

My Sister's Unfortunate Demise

 

I decided to write down some of the things my older sister Melissa (not her real name) told me about that happened to both her and our mom. It all took place in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of the paranormal activity happened in a duplex house in Alameda where I grew up, although strangely enough, nothing happened while I was living there, so I didn't get to experience any of this first-hand. I moved out in 1992, and our brother moved out in 1995, leaving just Melissa and our mom living there.

Adjacent to the living room was my old bedroom, which also served the dual purpose as a storage room where the types of things that a family normally stores were kept on shelves, and stacked in boxes on the floor. On a couple of different occasions, Melissa and our mom would be sitting watching TV in the living room, and suddenly they would both be startled by a crashing-tumbling sound inside the storage room as though a bunch of stuff had just fallen over and was breaking and shattering. They would go into the room to check it out, expecting to see a mess, but absolutely nothing would be out of place. On one occasion that same crashing sound was coming from the kitchen, and again nothing was out of place.

One morning our mom was in the bathroom getting ready for her day. From the vantage point of looking into the bathroom mirror, the reflection gave her a view of the hallway just outside the open bathroom door. As she was fixing her hair in the mirror, she saw someone walk past the bathroom doorway in the hall. She was the only one home at that time. When she later relayed this incident to me, she said that the 'person' looked like me! She remembered saying to herself, "What's Dave doing here?" By that time, I was living clear on the other side of the San Francisco Bay. It certainly wasn't me, but it was a male with the same build and general appearance (you can see my self portrait in my profile page).

There were nights when the entity that was haunting the duplex would crawl into bed with Melissa, and on alternate nights it would crawl into bed with our mom. They both told me that their bedding would rustle like someone was slipping under the covers, followed by the sensation of someone breathing on their necks.

Melissa and our mom moved out of the Alameda duplex in the year 2001, and into a two-bedroom, double-wide trailer within a trailer park in San Leandro. It's interesting to note that the Alameda duplex is still vacant to this day. After almost 12 years, the landlord has been unable to keep a tenant in it for very long, due to the paranormal activity. This information was provided to me by the neighbor across the street from the duplex who has been a family friend for decades.

Once Melissa and our mom moved into the trailer, it wasn't long before lots of paranormal stuff started happening there too.

Our mom spent a lot of time baby sitting her grandson (my brother's son). There were some toys that he played with while he was being babysat. Those toys were kept in the corner of the living room, and they always remained at our mom's house, even after my brother picked his up son in the evening, so that the toys would conveniently be there next time my brother brought his son over. Melissa said that in the middle of the night she would be awoken hearing some of the toys turning on by themselves. Sometimes it was the talking Elmo doll uttering one of its programmed phrases, or it would be one of the choo-choo train engines making different train noises.

One evening when Melissa was sitting in the living room with the cat on her lap watching TV, she felt a cold 'breeze' come straight out of the wood paneling of the wall next to her easy chair, and waft past her. On Melissa's lap, the cat's pupils dilated, because it was able to sense this invisible thing, and the kitty's head quickly turned, tracking the entity as it drifted across the living room toward the corner where the toys were kept, and right then the Elmo doll started talking. In fact it became almost a routine for the cat to see something invisible emerging from that same spot on the wall, and shooting across the living room, but the toys wouldn't always turn on afterward. It may be worth mentioning that directly on the other side of that wall was Melissa's bedroom closet, and that while she was lying in bed, she would sometimes hear shuffling noises inside that closet, even though the cat was also lying on the bed, so the shuffling couldn't have been the cat.

Melissa's bedroom had its own adjoining bathroom. When she was in the shower, the toilet would sometimes flush by itself. Also, I remember her telling me that she would straighten the towel that was hanging on the bathroom's towel rack, and every time she came back into the bathroom the corner of the towel was flipped up. No matter how many times she flipped the towel's corner back down, and carefully re-straightened the towel, it would be flipped up next time she came back into the bathroom.

Our mom was changing her grandson's diaper one day in her bedroom, and while the grandson was lying there looking up at the ceiling, he smiled saying, "Hi grandma! What are you doing up there?" Apparently he was seeing 'someone' floating just below the ceiling that bore a resemblance to our mom, namely an older woman with white hair looking down at him, and mistook it for his grandma.

One night Melissa was lying in bed right after having turned off the bedroom light, and then directly into her ear an old woman's voice called her name, sharply, "Melissa!"

Melissa recalled a moment when she was looking out the window of the kitchen while doing dishes, and she saw a really pale old man in a red plaid shirt standing just outside in the driveway. She didn't have time to wonder who it was, because by then he disappeared into thin air.

In 2005, our mom got cancer, and one morning she died in her bed in that trailer, and so that day her body was taken to a funeral parlor for embalming. That night as Melissa was lying in bed, she clearly heard our mom's voice whispering in her ear, "Melissa, I'm still here!"

That trailer park in San Leandro is almost entirely populated with elderly people, so I imagine that a good proportion of them die there in their trailers. It would be interesting to find out how many of the trailers are haunted.

Looking back, I believe that the activity originally started in the Alameda duplex because Melissa had a fondness for the Ouija board, and also for experimenting with automatic writing (psychography). One could easily find other submissions on this web site demonstrating that engaging in such practices is likely to open a 'portal' that will let negative entities come through. It's my understanding that any time you invite, or give permission for an entity to come into your space, you're asking for trouble. Once our mom died, and Melissa was alone and lonely, she ended up having conversations with three entities via automatic writing, but eventually she began to be able to see and hear them, and have conversations with them by simply talking back and forth without using any writing.

Things went seriously downhill from there, because these entities started telling her what to do, and what not to do. She started acting irrationally and impulsively. She went AWOL (absent without leave) from her job, and so they fired her. She then squandered all of her savings, and couldn't pay her rent, so she got evicted from her rental apartment, and all her belongings were auctioned off (family heirlooms too). She is now homeless, and penniless. I have no idea where she is, or if she's still alive. The last thing I heard was from other relatives in the Bay Area whom she paid a visit to, asking them if she could crash at their place, but everyone told her that she wasn't acting like the real Melissa anymore, and that she should go to the homeless shelter. My brother and I are both in no position to be able to help her either. Sorry for such an ending, but that's exactly how it all turned out. From a medical standpoint, one might say that Melissa has schizophrenia, but who can say that this isn't an example of how dangerous it can be for someone with a weak mind to blindly, and recklessly try to make contact with the spirit world?

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Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, deedubb66, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

RedWolf (31 stories) (1292 posts)
 
11 years ago (2012-11-17)
First my condolences on losing your mother. I know how hard that is. My mother died with her hand laying in mine no grip involved. I knew before anyone that she was dead because I felt her leave her body.
As for your sister it sounds like she lost her grip with reality. I assume she is the one who found your mother. She may have had some sort of breakdown afterwards or a total psychotic episode. You or your brother can become her custodian and have her committed.
The paranormal events that happened to your sister and mother might have started with the Ouija Board and if they brought it to the trailer with them something attached to it may have followed.
I hope she gets the help she needs because having conversations with people who aren't there may have nothing to do with the paranormal. To rule this out you may want to find a psychic/medium who can either deny or confirm the belief that something is controlling her.
zzsgranny (18 stories) (3329 posts) mod
+3
11 years ago (2012-11-17)
DW66: There are some of the posters on this site, myself included, who believe that one doesn't necessarily have to be a teen for poltergeist activity to occur... The negativity, the isolation, and the inclusion of everything your sister did in the past are, in my opinion, contributing factors in her experiences... Very touching, and sad, account... Like the others, I hope she can get the help she needs...

I took the opportunity to peruse your website... Your artwork is amazing, and I found it hard to pick a favorite! LOL... But by far the most interesting is "Soylent Green Factory"...Cool! 😊
callthewind (17 posts)
 
11 years ago (2012-11-17)
Dave, I wish you and yours good fortune. May your sister find a peaceful path in her life.

*❤*
deedubb66 (1 stories) (4 posts)
+2
11 years ago (2012-11-17)
I've been reluctant to provide any further information about the situation with my sister, lest I stray off the main theme of this web site. In other words, it would turn into a discussion of family values, mental illness, free will, and ethics, rather than about ghosts and the paranormal.

It could be argued that the "negative entity" paradigm is simply a metaphor for the powerful inner workings of the subconscious mind. In the case of my sister, there is no way to prove that her problem stems from negative entity influence. An interesting question to ask is whether or not she is responsible for our own decisions and actions. It could be that her subconscious mind is coming up with clever ways to abdicate responsibilities. The position that she is in now, which includes having some seriously grave health problems due to being morbidly obese, is a result of all of the everyday choices that she's made throughout her 53 years. We are all on this planet to learn by making mistakes, and most of us only learn the hard way.

At this point, she may be so constrained by her own compulsions, neuroses, and phobias that she finds it impossible to exercise her free will. Whatever the case, it is indeed a sad situation, and I agree that she needs the right kind of help. My brother has already made some rather heroic attempts to help her, the full extent of which I shall not elucidate here, but because of her illness she disregarded all of his efforts, and continued to systematically throw her life away. It really is a question of what can be done that will actually help her, and that is not relevant to the theme of this web site.

Again, thank you all for your kind comments,
Dave
Casper_the_ghost (9 stories) (180 posts)
 
11 years ago (2012-11-14)
What an interesting story yet very sad. A lot happened between your sister and mother, the spirit seemed to be looking out for them both that's one good thing. I hate hearing when people start dabbling in the Ouija board, you never know what you're dealing with. As suggested by Rozo, please do try to get into contact with your sister, hope she is safe.

On a side note, did anyone ever tell you, you look like a young Michael J. Fox? 😳
zetafornow (4 stories) (447 posts)
 
11 years ago (2012-11-13)
Wow...a lot of things going on in this story! First of all, sorry for the loss of your mother. I would just like to point out one thing however; You stated that a good percentage of people living in the trailers are elderly people and wondered how many of the trailers are haunted. Not everyone who dies comes back to haunt. In fact, it is my belief that most people do not.

As for your sister, I am very saddened to hear about her demise. It is now that she needs her family more than ever. You state that you are not able to help her out. She could very well have some health issues that should be dealt with. Is there not any help available for someone with no money or insurance? I know there is not much but she really needs someone to help her.

And a question for you... Do you believe in your heart the experiences your mother and sister had were true? I do and I'll tell you why..."out of the mouths of babes" says it all. The grandson who looked up at the ceiling and said something like "grandma what are you doing up there?" He must have been quite young as he was wearing diapers, and young children really don't lie or make up things like that. Usually they say exactly what's on their mind... Having children I know that... Sometimes to the point of embarrassment.

Good luck to you and keep us posted, zeta.
Isolde (guest)
+3
11 years ago (2012-11-13)
Hi, thank you for your answer. It does seem to rule some things out.

Is there no way you can force her into treatment? In my country it is only possible if the person is a threat to him/herself or her surroundings. I don't know if that's the case for your sister.

About the lessons learned: you can turn it around too: maybe it is the challenge of your lifetime to help your sister.
deedubb66 (1 stories) (4 posts)
+2
11 years ago (2012-11-13)
[at] Isolde,

Thank you for your comment. Melissa was 36 years old when the paranormal activity in the Alameda duplex started. That is probably too old for the young girl - polergeist phenomenon. This year (2012), she is now 53 years old. Just before she got evicted from her apartment, our brother checked her into a state mental hospital, but they can only detain a person for, I believe it was 2 weeks. Of course they diagnosed her with schizophrenia. They gave her pharmaceuticals, but she refused to take them. She is very stubborn.

I believe that this planet earth is a school (kindergarten!), and that as souls we incarnate in these human bodies in order to experience challenges that will enable us to grow spiritually. The soul that is playing the role of Melissa has indeed taken on some very difficult challenges this time around.
Isolde (guest)
+1
11 years ago (2012-11-13)
So, while the family is arguing about what treatment she should have, she is left on her own?

You know, medication can be used to make her mind less vulnerable and then work on the spirtual problem. Why not combine?
deedubb66 (1 stories) (4 posts)
 
11 years ago (2012-11-13)
[at] Rozo,
Thanks for your kind comment.
What can be done for her is indeed the question. It's difficult to know what to do for a person when they have free will, as we all do. It's even more difficult to know what to do when they are also mentally ill. I believe that she has allowed negative entities to become attached to her. They are overshadowing her, and she is allowing them to control her. I have spoken to the other family members. Everyone is at a loss as to what to do. In my opinion, the only kind of person that can help her is someone who is trained in the removal of attached negative entities. It's my understanding that even when the negative entities are removed, the person oftentimes will allow them to come back again, because the person sees them as their friends. The entities can be very seductive and deceptive. It's in their nature to find and exploit the weaknesses of a given individual, and they're very good at it. The other problem is that there is not one single family member that would agree that the situation is paranormal in nature. Rather, they would see it as strictly a psychiatric mental illness that should be treated with pharmaceutical medicine, which I think is for only masking symptoms, and doesn't get at the root of the problem.
deedubb66 (1 stories) (4 posts)
 
11 years ago (2012-11-13)
[at] newhunter30,

Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I won't pretend that I know very much about the topic of spirit communication. In agreement with you, I've heard that Ouija boards can open 'portals', but I haven't really heard that specifically about other forms of spirit communication. With regard to automatic writing, I've read that there has long been a debate over whether the automatist's hand is being moved simply by his or her subconscious mind, or if control of the hand is actually surrendered to allow an external entity to move the hand. If the latter is the case, then is it not essentially the same as when the participants in a Ouija board session surrender control of their hands for an entity to move the planchette?

If automatic writing is employed in order to carry on a real-time two-way conversation with an entity, as in my sister's case, that would also seem to be very similar to the purpose of a Ouija board session. So, to me, there seem to be enough similarities between using a Ouija board and automatic writing, that it would make sense for a novice to err on the side of caution and stay away from them both, at least until he or she does more research.

If the participants are giving the entity an invitation or permission, we might presume that certain kinds of protection schemes should be utilized during the session. Although I've read that any time you give permission to a negative entity, they will form attachments to your energy body, which would be analogous to a leach, or worse yet a tape worm. I'm currently half-way through reading Robert Bruce's informative book, "Practical Psychic Self-Defense", as I am planning to follow a training program to learn how to induce an out of body experience. Exploring the astral plane requires knowing ways to protect oneself from psychic attack.

Regarding the floating old woman in my story, yes I made an assumption about the appearance of its features. When my mom relayed that incident to me, all she said was that the grandson uttered his remark. She herself didn't see anyone floating above them in the room. Apparently the grandson was at a young enough age to have clairvoyant abilities, as some children have, but soon outgrow. For the grandson to fail to make a clear distinction between my mom's face and another face resembling hers, how closely would the apparition have to resemble my mom? It depends on the level of facial recognition ability that a child of such a young age is capable of. I've often wondered if it could either have been an energy double that my mom was projecting from herself, or perhaps a long-dead relative paying a visit from the other side to peek in on things, or yet again it may have been one of the ghosts that was haunting the trailer.
Isolde (guest)
+1
11 years ago (2012-11-13)
Thank you for the story. You could rationalise that it is poltergeist activitiy (young girl) combined with mental instable mind. I didn't got from your story that Melissa has gotten any proper medical treatment. Is sounds to me that she does need it.
I hope the future is more bright for her and her mind to be stronger to not let anything affect her in this way.
Rozo (3 stories) (108 posts)
+2
11 years ago (2012-11-13)
Wow, this is really sad and unfortunate.
Please get your family together and have a serious discussion on how and what you can do for her, she is Melissa after all and clearly needs intervention of some sort... I do understand how much of a burden it can be, trust me and I am in no way telling you what to do but rather just nudging you on to find her! Family my friend, is of the upmost importance!

I really hope things work out for you bud! All the best warmest wishes!
newhunter30 (2 stories) (137 posts)
+1
11 years ago (2012-11-12)
I am sorry to hear of the situation with your sister. I am by no means a know all of paranormal practices and may be wrong but I can not say that I have ever heard of automatic writing causing problems or open portals. I can say that messing with a Ouija board can very well do this from personal experience. I do have a question regarding a comment you made though "namely an older woman with white hair looking down at him, and mistook it for his grandma" did anyone tell you this or is it an assumption due to how your mother looked?

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