You are here: Real Ghost Stories :: Apparitions / Voices / Touches :: My Lifetime Experiences

Real Ghost Stories

My Lifetime Experiences

 

Most of my experiences occurred over a span of 11 years from 1996 to 2007. The most significant occurred in December of 2007 and was my last. This is all true but I remain unsure to this day due to the skeptic in me. There was no alcohol or drugs involved in any of this. If not for someone else sharing my last experience, I'm not sure what I would believe, but I have always been open minded.

Prior to 1996 my family had the following experiences at my grandparent's house. At age 5 I had come down stairs and asked who that man in grandma's room was. My family checked the house and nobody was there. Childhood imagination? These have been told to me so I can't vouch for the truthfulness. When in high school, my mother was awoken in the night to her bedroom door opening and a shadow of a man in the doorway. She asked "dad is that you" with no answer. Her sister in the next bed, same room, screamed and "it" disappeared. My grandfather checked the house and nobody had broken in, nor could he find anyone. One time my grandmother was doing dishes and a box on the kitchen table moved by itself. They described it as moving "back and forth." My great grandmother was walking down the upstairs hallway where she encountered a yellow glow?

Finally, when I was older, senior in high school, my grandparents went on vacation. My mother would stop by and get the mail and take it into the house. My grandmother was very meticulous about checking everything before she leaves, so my mom was a little surprised to find a bedroom window open. The next day she went to get the mail, she was talking in the yard with the neighbor, with whom they were very close, and he asked her why there was an open window (curtain blowing). It was the same one she had closed the previous time. I had been alone in the house many times and I personally, with the exception of when I was 5, never experienced anything.

My only experience before 1996 was a weird night with a Ouija board. I take this night with a grain of salt. It only "worked" with two people in our group, one of which was my girlfriend. I believe her when she said she wasn't moving it and we would make them not look down at the board. I don't know why nobody thought of blindfolds. It moved over a period of hours which included a lamp in the center of the table going on and off. Nothing else was affected (no brown out) and I was next to the plug. Also, a glass bell on a shelf "near" us just fell off. This was 1985.

I can only guess I did something that made me more susceptible in 1996, but I never seen things clearly. I was depressed from a break-up and looking for answers. I went to psychics and I had a New Age friend that had me use a crystal on a string which somehow moves on its own in a circular pattern. You ask questions over writing (yes/no/maybe) and it switches to back and forth over an answer. I don't know what I think about it but I can't explain it. Anyway, did I do something that "opened doors?" I don't know.

I am a renter who moves around and so I was never living in a haunted location. My following week experiences followed me wherever I lived, so I questioned the validity. Also, my dog never reacted to what I was seeing, so I would just assume, most of the time, it was my eyes playing tricks on me or something with my imagination as I was usually coming out of a sleep. So most of these experiences I don't know for sure if what I saw was real.

One was pretty creepy. I was having a nightmare where I was being strangled. When I woke up about 15 feet from me in the upper corner of the room were just two eyes looking at me. I didn't move and was kind of in shock. The remained for 5 to 10 seconds after I awoke.

Another time in a different location I woke up to my bed shaking and no it was not an earthquake. At first I figured it was my dog even though he doesn't sleep on my bed. I reached around for him, with the bed still shaking, and he was on the floor not touching the bed. He also wasn't reacting to it so I don't know what to think. I didn't go back to bed that night though.

All these other experiences, with the exception of my last, I am unsure what to make of it. I would always be awoken in the night with all the hair sticking up on my neck and arms and my heart racing. Many times I wouldn't even open my eyes because I didn't want to see anything. Usually what I saw was a shadow similar to in the Grunge 2 movie. Other times it was just a distortion. Best way I can describe it was like the alien in the predator movie with the camouflage. One time, at the foot of my bed, was a short red "thing". I don't know what it was. It didn't look like a person but wasn't clear. I sat up in bed, rubbed my eyes, and it was still there. As I slowly started moving towards it, it disappeared.

All my shadow figures occurred in the middle of the night, when I was awoken from sleep, in an already dark room, with a dog that didn't seem to notice, with one exception. I was briefly working 3rd shift and so I would sleep morning to afternoon. One time I woke up to a shadow in the shape of a person over my bed. For a split second, I thought my cousin was standing over me. When I realized it was just a shadow, I screamed "like a little girl" and it just disappeared. This was around 11 am and was clearly a very dark figure.

I probably just imagined the following but in 2004 my dog died of cancer. At the end he had a strong distinct smell to him. Twice, within a few months of his passing, I could swear when I came home and walked into my room that smell was briefly there. Also one time I thought it felt like he was walking across my bed. I probably just imagined this due to my missing him.

The last event occurred at an apartment in Oak Park, Illinois. I was visiting the girl I was seeing and we were lying on the couch watching a movie. To the left of the television, maybe 2 to 3 feet away, I saw a white head come out of the wall as if looking through a window into the room, and then go back into the wall. I just "shook it off" as if to convince myself I did not just see that. When I did this shaking my head, the girl said "you saw that to?" I asked her what she saw and she said a white face come out of the wall. I couldn't believe it. I got so excited because someone else finally saw what I saw. It was very distinctly a white head, but not necessarily human. So I don't know what it was.

Now I am into the show Ghost Hunters, though I am very skeptical about paranormal whenever money is involved, but I got brave and started asking "it" to appear. The girl was scared since she lived there and was not too thrilled. Over a period of 10 to 15 minutes I was repeatedly asking it to show it self or do something to reveal itself. Make a knocking sound, turn the lights on and off, appear, move something, etc. One thing that I had mentioned a few times was to knock over a half full water bottle that was in the center of a coffee table over. The third time (I think) I said this, the bottle slammed over very hard. The two of us just stood in disbelief. She put an end to anymore trying to communicate with whatever, turned on all the lights, and made me spend the night, which I was anyway. She moved out of her apartment about a month later, though she said it wasn't because of the "ghost."

After years of frequently being woken in the night to something, I have not had any experiences since the white head, my best. I don't know why. Did I lose an ability to see these things? I don't know. I am currently living in a house in which at least two people have died, and I have not had any experiences.

Has anyone gone on one of these overnight ghost hunt/tour things? Are they worth it? I would love to join a group who investigates haunted locations.

Hauntings with similar titles

Find ghost hunters and paranormal investigators from Illinois

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, mtp33, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

Femaelstrom (1 stories) (56 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-05-26)
Alrighty-then, since no one else mentioned this, I guess it's up to ME to.

Your...'dabbling' with a Ouija board could have opened you up to allowing evil entities into your "territorial bubble" (space/home) ***Kids--do NOT try this at HOME, or anywhere ELSE for that matter, as it is NOT a 'game'!*** Consult someone VERY holy (with positive energies) and VERY experienced in the CORRECT means of opening a Ouija portal, as that is what you are doing.

We exist in a comparatively dull world, limited to our 3 dimensional abilities, as well as sounds and smells, etc. There are OTHER dimensions that we don't commonly perceive, i.e., spiritual, angelic, and demonic, for examples. (note I said 'commonly') The Ouija board can open and connect THIS realm with other, usually-inaccessible realms, which are more often than not, negative realms, allowing lesser-creatures to slip into our space-time and contaminate our world. Ergo, evil exists to harass us mere mortals. They've never been 'flesh and bone' nor had our abilities for discernment; ability to feel emotions such as love, happiness, etc, and are therefore jealous.

Just as if you are performing household chores, if you don't know what you're doing, you can ruin Mom's Persian rug or her best china if you are careless, and try to clean them improperly. Same thing with the use and MIS-use of the Ouija.

So, as with a Persian rug, or Mom's best china, leave Ouija to the professionals. (Should you keep experiencing strange issues, look up Rooks cleansing ritual. He seems to know what he's doing!)
valkricry (48 stories) (3257 posts) mod
 
11 years ago (2013-05-19)
mtp,
Contrary to popular belief, just because someone dies in a house, the house doesn't automatically become haunted. It could be you are simply living in a non-haunted inviroment.
It's also like Granny says, it can go from a daily experience to nothing, and then quite suddenly flare back up. Then too, it could be very subtle things that you're putting down as 'old age creeping in'. (Hey, I use that one myself - so no offense meant! 😆) You know like misplacing your keys and then finding them in the oddest places or where you initially looked for them.
valkricry (48 stories) (3257 posts) mod
 
11 years ago (2013-05-19)
Okkayyy...you are like the 3rd person to say they didn't get an email telling them their story was posted. I just have to ask - did you check your 'junk mail' too?
mtp33 (1 stories) (1 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-05-19)
Hi everyone and thank you for the comments. It was interesting to hear others say their pets don't react. I guess I just assumed animals could see these things.

Sorry I didn't respond sooner. It took a while for my story to appear and I just kind of forgot about it.

It would be nice if we received emails when people post comments on your story.

Does anyone have any explainations for why I would see things frequently at multiple locations, but for only about an 11 year stretch, then nothing?

If anyone has any questions, let me know. I will check back. 😁
SmokenMirrors (6 stories) (78 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-04-29)
Hi MTP, you have written some very strange experiences and I have enjoyed reading about them.

With confirmation for the white head you saw it might be difficult to pass this one off as imagination. What ever it was it seems you managed to provoke a reaction out of it which rules out it been residual.

I've done over night ghost hunts and would recommend them, I was hooked after my first. I do the UK though so don't know any places groups to recommend near Illinois.
SerSpuddTheDemonKnight (1 stories) (8 posts)
+1
11 years ago (2013-04-26)
I don't kno if I'd say the smell was just you missing him. My mom died when I was just shy of two on thanksgiving day. She dipped a snuff called sweet garret (Literally, looks like dirt and smells like cinnamon burning. Its very distinct)... I lived in this house with my father most of my life, only moving for short periods of time before he would talk me into coming home.

Anyhow, we smelled this snuff a couple times a week at least until I graduated highschool. My father died in 2009 and I moved out for good in june of 2010 but I still smell that smell ever so often. And my wife has as well, although she remains a non-beleiver even after seeing locked doors open a close and lock back at least a couple times in every house we have lived in together. As far as your pet goes I would say he just still wanted to be with you.

As for the white head, I am not so sure what that could even be, except maybe that people say their are different plains of existence. Maybe what you seen was someone who figured out how to peer into ours and you just happened to see them.

Anyhow, great story hope really hope your experiences come back soon and you continue to post on them very interesting...
WishfulNull (151 posts)
+2
11 years ago (2013-04-25)
I enjoyed reading this story, and appreciated the very logical and detailed way you laid it out! I'm sorry to hear about your dog... I am someone who has never had (to my knowledge, anyway) paranormal things happen to me - I've never seen images or unexplainable shadows, never felt like someone was watching me (my husband, who does seem sensitive, gets very frustrated trying to explain how being watched, "feels", haha...). It could be that things happen that I don't notice, or else I don't have the ability or sensitivity to "see" what goes on... I sometimes picture a frustrated ghost, desperately waving hands in front of my face and madly gesturing & yelling, as I determinedly stumble right through it on my way to the bathroom in the middle of the night! Lol 😆 Poor thing... Anyway, my point is, I believe I am a "null", completely unable to pick up on paranormal energy... I believe there are many people out there who are sensitive to these things - perhaps animals also run this spectrum of sensitivity, as well... Your dog not reacting does't mean nothing happened... You may have just been much more sensitive than your pet. 😁
TalonWalt (3 stories) (69 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-04-25)
My 2 cats and dog don't react either, but my boyfriends cat and dog do. I have always chalked it off to my pets being used to seeing lots of (living) people in and out of my house all the time. While my boyfriends pets usually only saw him, until we started dating. So my pets probably just assume the spirits are just people.
Miracles51031 (39 stories) (4999 posts) mod
 
11 years ago (2013-04-25)
mtp33 - I am going to echo BadJuuJuu's comment to scarlett. My cat, to my recollection (which I admit might not be at its best today), has never reacted to either of our full-time "housemates." Rex aka The Demon flees every time my Living Room door opens but whenever my kids or I hear one of "our" ghosts, he never reacts. Weird cat 😆. So I wouldn't rule out your dog's reaction.

The way you have presented your experiences makes you seem very level-headed. Granted, people aren't always as they appear on the computer screen 😆 But if you aren't seeing ghosts around every corner, then I say listen to your gut.
BadJuuJuu (guest)
 
11 years ago (2013-04-25)
Hi Scarlett, as to the lack of reaction by the dog, not all animals respond. I have a seven year old cat, sweet beastie, but he never notices anything odd. Every other animal in the house reacts, but this one cat is oblivious. I guess there have to be exceptions to prove the rule. 😊
scarlettsnowe (1 stories) (79 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-04-25)
I don't know about this one, it may be real, but from what I experienced, your dog would have at least acted like he/she saw the apparitions or heard them. That doesn't mean they would panic or try to protect you, because not all apparitions are necessarily bad. But if it were real, the animals would at least see it. Could anything else have explained the eyes above your bed? And the shaking could have been tremors, not necessarily an earthquake. Just a couple of things to think about...
BadJuuJuu (guest)
+1
11 years ago (2013-04-25)
I don't think you've lost the ability to see/ sense things. As Granny mentioned, sometimes there is a long stretch of nothing between active periods. I'm sorry that you lost your dog. I would think that the scents were likely you missing him, but the sensation he was walking on the bed I think may have been him saying goodbye.
Spockie (8 stories) (203 posts)
+1
11 years ago (2013-04-25)
I have been on two of those ghost tours and thoroughly enjoyed them. Even if you don't believe in the supernatural aspect, you learn a lot about the history of the area, which is usually very interesting.
zzsgranny (18 stories) (3329 posts) mod
 
11 years ago (2013-04-25)
mtp: It's my opinion that everyone has the ability to see/hear/sense spirits. Most people either don't pay attention to, or dismiss as imagination, the weird stuff that happens to us all 😆. Those of us who co-exist with our ghosties go through varying periods of activity, anywhere from daily occurrences to months of nothing! I don't think you've lost the ability, but perhaps you have a lot going on in your life, and haven't been paying attention?

And yes, there are quite a few of us who've gone on overnight investigations. I was privileged to go with a few from this very site. Our stories are related in a series of stories begining with "Ghost Hunting With Loonies". It's a series of 5 stories. We went to Mansfield Reformatory, and in my opinion, worth every dime! 😆 We had a great time, and got some really cool stuff.

To publish a comment or vote, you need to be logged in (use the login form at the top of the page). If you don't have an account, sign up, it's free!

Search this site: