A New Farm Ghost

I've not long discovered this site and read many of your great experiences. Now I guess it's about time I tell you one of several true events I've witnessed.

It all started when I was a young lad of 14 and living with my father and younger brother. We were renting a 3 bedroom house in New Farm, a suburb of Brisbane.

There was a small flat attached to the side of this house which was used by a few of my father's friends. My father was quite a heavy drinker and soon found himself a girlfriend with similar interests. Needless to say, I wasn't overly pleased with all this as one drinker in a family is more than enough. We both had a mutual, unspoken dislike of each other, though never leading to outbursts.

One afternoon in June or July of 1979, my father and his friends Kevin and Johnathon were sitting in the kitchen drinking, as they usually did. Dad's girlfriend was rather drunk as usual and in quite a snappy mood. This was nothing out of the ordinary for the pair of them. Naturally, an argument ensued between them both with her threatening that she would "do it". My father, being the hard drinking Scot that he was, merely bellowed back, "Just do it, see what I care, Woman." Eventually, the arguing subsided and dad continued his drinking session with his pals.

It was now almost 6pm and the evening news would soon be on the television, so we made our way into the lounge room and got comfortable on our chairs. Dad's girlfriend was asleep on the couch at this time. After several minutes Kevin exclaimed, "Jock, she's looking awfully grey." We all turned to look and, sure enough, she was a pallid grey colour. Dad had me run to the phone box down the street and call an ambulance, as we didn't have the telephone connected at home. Off I ran full pelt and dialed 000. By the time I returned the ambulance had arrived and the officers were loading her into the back on a stretcher. Dad's girlfriend lingered in hospital for almost a week before succumbing to the large amount of pills she had consumed. Life seemed to carry on as usual.

About a week later I was laying in bed reading before turning in for the night. It was around 10.30pm, and my father and little brother were both asleep already. I often slept with my bedroom door open, the foot of my bed facing the hallway that ran the length of the house.

Laying in bed reading, I caught something in the corner of my eye. Looking up over my book, I was shocked at the sight before me. Standing in the doorway to my room was a misty green grey shape in the form of a person that ended at knee level. My gaze was fixed on this apparition as fear consumed me, rendering me unable to scream no matter how desperately I wished to. After what seemed an eternity, though only seconds, the spirit turned and moved off towards my father's room further up the hall.

Terrified, I launched out of bed and shut and locked the door, arriving back in bed with the covers over my head in a flash. I remember thinking I was an idiot as ghosts can move through doors and walls.

Needless to say I had very little sleep that night. Waking in the morning I readied myself to go to work at the store. Upon walking into the kitchen, dad cast a quizzical stare at me and stated, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

I relayed the events of the previous night and was more than a little surprised when he stated he had felt her sit upon his bed on more than one occasion. Later that day I returned from work early, sick I told them, though I was more upset from what had occurred the night before.

Things settled and were as normal as could be expected after that, until arriving home from work in the early evening a few weeks later I closed the front door behind me. Walking along the hall, my bag over my shoulder, I stepped through the high doorway into the lounge room when a large Chinese lantern we had hanging as decoration came crashing to the ground, breaking into many pieces.

Reaching down, I picked up the broken lantern by the still intact ribbon and looked over at dad and Kevin who were as shocked as I. Not only was the ribbon unbroken, the large curved hook that it hung from was still securely attached in the doorframe. The lantern would have to have been lifted over the hook to have fallen. Also, a fall from that height wouldn't have broken it the way it was. It was as though this decorative lantern was flung with force, narrowly missing my head.

Well, there we have it. My apologies for the length of my story. I'll gladly answer any questions and, of course, your comments are more than welcome. Benny;)