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Appalachian Mountain Ghost

 

When I was younger, about eight, I saw my first ghost. We were hiking in the Appalachian Mountains, back country camping. I was terrified about sleeping in the woods near the top of a mountain, but my mother said we would be just fine. "Animals are terrified of daddy," my mother said with a teasing tone. Holding my mother's hand I trusted her, but I was still nervous.

We hiked up along the Appalachian trail until my father decided it was time to settle down and set up camp. We found a nice clearing, the sun was setting. I looked up to my mother to notice that she was pale and her hand was tightly grasping mine.

"Todd, can we set up camp somewhere different?" My mother asked, still clutching my tiny hand. She was not liking the vibe the woods were giving. I sensed it too, I was afraid. My father shook his head, "It's getting late. I'm not searching for firewood in the dark." I remember asking to go home, the small clearing seemed to give a ominous vibe.

After hot dogs and marshmallows, we crawled into the 6 person tent my father had purchased. My father fell asleep in mere minutes but my mother and I could not sleep, "Emma? Are you asleep?" I lifted my head, "No, mama, I'm scared. I can't sleep."

"Hush, it's fine. We're safe inside the tent" she comforted. I finally fell asleep and woke up in the early hours of the morning. I came out of the tent and saw my mother sitting on the ground, meditating. She meditated every morning, with a cup of Earl Grey tea.

I came up to her and tapped her shoulder, "Mama? Can we take a walk?" Mother opened her eyes and got to her feet, "Sure, let's not go too far. I don't want daddy to worry."

We hiked near our camp sight when my mother suddenly stopped. I followed her gaze to see a hazy image of a man leaning against a Birch tree about 20ft away. He was just a hazy image, but he did not seem threatening, just calm and solemn. He lifted his head and looked in our direction. I rubbed my eyes and he was gone. My mother just looked at me and I understood that the man was not threatening, just calm, and sad.

After that I have never seen a ghost, but I will never forget him, never.

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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, willostudios, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments but I won't participate in the discussion.

sds (14 stories) (1436 posts)
+1
11 years ago (2013-04-28)
Hello willostudios, I do have the same doubts as Wyland and Val. It is better to participate in the discussions because it could clarify some points, which you might have missed. You might have considered some aspects trivial but for us, reading your narrative, it would give us some clue to believe your experience. We do not consider it as a story, we do feel it as an experience, from any person. Unless the narrative is quite bad and hard to believe, we don't give negative comments. We just give our suggestions and experienced posters give advise only to improve upon and to develop yourself to paranormal facts and experiences. Please clarify, if possible, what Wyland asked.

Regards and respects to you.

SDS
WishfulNull (151 posts)
+1
11 years ago (2013-04-26)
Willostudios, this was a very well-written story, and I very much enjoyed reading it! I am curious as to the answers to the questions Wyland_reynald asked as well - I do believe your story - it's quite a haunting image, and I can imagine something like that would be permanently burned in your memory! I wonder who it could have been... And I'm glad it wasn't a frightening encounter (other than the uncomfortable feelings the night before). Thank you for sharing this. Take care, and best wishes to you! 😁
valkricry (48 stories) (3257 posts) mod
+1
11 years ago (2013-04-26)
Willostudios,
I see you marked this as you won't be participating in the discussion of your story. I always find that a bit dissapointing for many reasons, the chief being if something is unclear there is no one who was there to clarify.
The disappearing part - my mother's people were not mountain men but 'ridge runners' in Ky. Some of them lived high up in the foot hills. They could appear to be there one minute and gone the next. Often you never even saw nor heard them until they spoke. Talk about eerie! 😆I guess that comes from all the tracking and hunting they do.
Wyland does have a point about the mist though. It can play tricks with your eyes sometimes.
Wyland_Renald (2 stories) (10 posts)
+1
11 years ago (2013-04-26)
Your story was a good read. I'll be honest and I am a skeptic. I've heard many stories (from my own mother and her family members from the 'home country').

Before we conclude to the supernatural we need to rule out the natural.

How was the weather then?
Was the haze clear enough for you to identify it as a man?
Were you sure it wasn't actually a real thing that wasn't clear in your site?
How awake were you and your mother at the time?
You both mentioned you were scared, do you think this had an effect?
Have you and your mother spoken about that event since?

These are just some questions someone can ask. For example, lack of sleep and stress can cause people to see things that are not there. The fact that both of you saw it while in sort of the same state won't be much for a skeptic to conclude this is really the supernatural. Also, the fact that you were young comes into play.

Please understand, I am not saying your story is a lie or what happened didn't. I am just asking these questions to rule out the natural. Other posters on here jump and reinforce the OP without having them step back and reexamine it.

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