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Mysterious Shadow Figure In Park Bathroom

 

About 10 years ago when I was 6 years old I attended a local summer camp at the YMCA. At the camp I had lots of friends that were my age and we all got along very well. It was just another regular day at camp where the camp counselors would bring us kids to a nearby park that had nothing more than a large gazebo, flower garden, and public restrooms.

The restrooms were always known to have paranormal activity, I had previously heard stories of it being haunted ever since I went to the camp. When we all got to the park the counselors told us we could do whatever we wanted as long as we stayed inside the park and not wander off. But the only problem with that was me and my small group of friends wanted to check out the supposedly haunted bathrooms just outside the park. We were afraid that if we would go to the bathrooms, the counselors would notice that we were gone and take away some of our camp privileges. My friends and I thought of a plan. The plan was to quickly run over to the bathrooms when the counselors were not paying attention and go inside. I thought this plan would be unsuccessful but it wasn't. When we got into the bathrooms I was gasping for air because of how fast I was running not worrying about anything paranormal. Once I caught my breath my friends were walking around, looking in stalls just to see if anything was out of the ordinary, while I was in the corner by the sinks and mirrors with an eerie feeling, I can't really explain it but something just did not feel right, and it smelled very bad in there (of coarse because its a bathroom).

It was a very large bathroom with about 10 stalls and my friends had checked every stall and everything was how it should be, nothing mysterious or weird had happened until we were about to leave the bathrooms. As my friend just got done going to the bathroom he started to wash his hands. Me and my other 2 friends were talking about how fake the bathroom legend is and how it is nothing but empty stalls, just when my friend that was washing his hands screamed vigorously while looking at the mirror. It startled me and my other friends because we did not know what he was screaming at, but when I looked up at him in the corner of my eye I saw a dark shadow figure in the shape of a human behind him in the mirror. All of us must have seen the figure because we all sprinted out of the bathroom screaming. We ran up to the counselors and told them what happened. The counselors were not mad at us, they actually felt bad for us because we were so shocked from the situation and crying. I like to be scientific about things and try to find explanations but I could not explain this occurrence because no one was in the bathroom except for me and my friends. This is an experience I will never forget because it is something I can truly not explain.

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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, EJ3the1, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

Lollipopspace (5 stories) (9 posts)
 
7 years ago (2017-04-26)
This is why I don't like public bathrooms you never know what could have happened befor you arrived. Also a similar thing happened to my friend but this was in cairns In a very strange bathroom in the middle of the city.
BeautInside (3 stories) (326 posts)
+2
7 years ago (2017-04-18)
Hi EJ3the1,

If you expecting someting to happen right from the begining, like you were because you wrote "The restrooms were always known to have paranormal activity". Then when you saw a shadow that could had been anything "normal" the power of suggestion did all the work...
Still paranormal or not, I enjoyed reading your experience.

Blessings.
roylynx (guest)
+1
7 years ago (2017-04-18)
Oh my! LOL
OK coach, I have done my torso exercise for today LOL
You guys are hilarious!

Just a little back up for the OP, rest rooms are not all haunted at list not the one in my house. 😐

When you consider a place is haunted, rumors are not the right information to have, but you have to know the background and the history of that place.

Like some comments here you might want to re-approach the place and do the same thing perhaps? (Checking on all the stalls, use the bathroom and look into the mirror)

Well, public facilities reforms (renew?) after years when things gets too old, we understand that things might be different, but just to let you know, most information found by my friends (whom belongs in a local "investigating" group) and some of the information that I found (TV and internet, I wish there were books too), most haunting activities still happen after re-constructing or any reformation.

If I can debunk this particular encounter, I will say that there were lights outside the bathroom which formed the shadow, true or not? You got to investigate yourself, do not fear the fact. πŸ˜‰

E.Lynx

PS Be safe this time and have permission please.
Nephylim (10 stories) (79 posts)
+4
7 years ago (2017-04-18)
I'd add a Holy hand grenade for the real pesky critters like killer rabbits from Caerbannog πŸ˜†
lady-glow (16 stories) (3149 posts)
+5
7 years ago (2017-04-18)
I second Rookdygin's suggestion about getting T-shirts plus a "paranormal protection kit" including the following items:

-Blessed mouthwash in spray bottle
-Alarm clock preprogrammed to go off at the witching hour (3:00 am)
-Dental floss flexible enough to shape into macrame crucifix
-Two protective toothbrushes, one manual to use against not evil entities and one electric for demonic ones like ZoZo
-Ouija board
-BS detector

If I'm missing something in the above list, please be free to add... Martin is paying... πŸ˜† πŸ˜†
rookdygin (24 stories) (4458 posts)
+4
7 years ago (2017-04-18)
Question 1: Would the Holy Water-Pic of Jerusalem Or the Sonic Care of the Saints be more effective?

Question 2: We have T-Shirts?

Question 3: (for Martin) Why don't we have T-Shirts?

πŸ˜‰

Respectfully,

Rook
Macknorton (5 stories) (646 posts)
+1
7 years ago (2017-04-18)
Thanks Valkicry
To be honest I wasn't 100% sure on the difference, thank you.
You are quite right.
I wonder; would it be quicker to simply grab some sticky plasters and use those to fasten two toothbrushes together in the shape of a cross?
I'm conscious of time restraints when denizens of the darkness are approaching...
valkricry (48 stories) (3257 posts) mod
+2
7 years ago (2017-04-18)
Oh, my... These comments have me cracking up! Apparently toothbrushes are now part of the essentials we keep for protection against evil spirits.
Mack, you probably know this, but there is a difference between a cross and a crucifix. Although both are t shaped, and are symbolic of the Christian faith, crucifixes bare the image of our crucified Lord. If you can twist two pieces of floss into a crucifix you have some serious talent!
I'd go with mint flavored floss - that way if it doesn't chase it off, the demon would at least have better breath.
What's next... Holy mouthwash?
RANDYM (2 stories) (266 posts)
+3
7 years ago (2017-04-17)
Hello Mack

Thanks! That is a great tip I had never though of.

And the best part is I have plenty of it. Each time I go to the dentist they load me up on floss. Why do I have plenty you ask?
That is correct sir. I brush but forget to floss.
I've got enough floss to back up Constantine.

I'll start carrying a package. One never knows when some pesky
Evil entity will sneak through the veil and try and wreak havoc
On us. I may start going to bed with one so I'll be ready for
The ever looming 3:00AM. That's when they really line up to come through. I know because I saw it on TV

Thanks again friend
Randy
Macknorton (5 stories) (646 posts)
+4
7 years ago (2017-04-17)
Hi RandyM
This is a very serious issue so I'm going to give you, and any other readers some VERY practical advice: if you are EVER in a situation in a bathroom and you sense an evil presence or there is a shadow in there (and it's not your own) , simply tie two equal lengths of standard dental floss together (peppermint flavoured is ok) into a crucifix.
This method is not nearly as effective as throwing a toothbrush but could potentially save your soul if nothing else is available.
Regards
Mack
RANDYM (2 stories) (266 posts)
+2
7 years ago (2017-04-16)
Tweed

You just have to practice up on the standard lines:

"Did you hear that?"
"I thought I saw"
"It's like something doesn't want us here"
"It just drained my batteries"
"AHHHHH! 3 scratches, It's demonic I tell you, Its mocking the Holy Trinity"

These are some lines from
We Are Dicks Paranormal

Dick is the "Lead Investigator" because he bought all of our T-Shirts
Tweed (33 stories) (2475 posts)
+4
7 years ago (2017-04-16)
Hi there EJ3the1,

Would there be any way you could contact the boys with you on that day to find out what their experiences of the day were? Public washrooms are a common location for ghostly activity, at least according to the many accounts on here. So I'm open to the possibility something was indeed there that day. But as others have said, it's very hard to say for sure.

I'd like to give you an example of something that, seriously just a few moments ago, happened to me. Our place has regular bumps and things going on. Mostly it's just the house settling, but sometimes, like just before, we hear the carpet scuffed by seemingly a footstep. The reason I'm telling you this is as I looked toward the direction of the sound I 'thought' I saw a puddy tat. Only kidding. I thought I saw a very vague shadow figure. But as this happened very quickly, considering position of the sound, direction and so on, lent itself to an expectation. It's more likely my perception put the shadow 'there' for a split second.

Just an example of how easily our expectations can misguide. 😊

Randy, your ostrich on crack description made me laugh. πŸ˜† I've always wanted to go on a paranormal investigation with a team but the kinds of people it attracts kind of puts me off. I don't fare well with airheads. 😳
RANDYM (2 stories) (266 posts)
+3
7 years ago (2017-04-15)
EJ3the1

Welcome to YGS and thank you for sharing.

I'm in no way trying to make light of your story but I'm going to have to agree with my good friends Manofan1 and Macknorton. And of course our YGS resident sleuth Lady-Glow. I tend to think that "expecting" to experience something may have lead to seeing something that is totally explainable but seemed much more to some hyped up kids. (no offense) I can't think of a single area of interest that this happens more often than in the world of the paranormal. Years ago I took a paranormal investigation class and there was this one guy who thought is was a ghost every time the air conditioner unit turned on. The poor guy wanted to see something so bad that each time a natural building noise happened his eyes lit up and he was looking around like an ostrich on crack.

Point being that you should always look to explain and event as hard as you can with a logical explanation.

Lady-Glow
A question if I may?

Can any old regular toothbrush fight off ANY entity from the other side?
Or, if going into battle with one that has passed all of it's "evil entity" course work and now has a ranking of Demon. Would you advise one to be armed with an electric toothbrush.
Say like a Sonic care? Maybe a Waterpick filled with Holy Water?
Who would you endorse?

Thanks
Randy
Macknorton (5 stories) (646 posts)
+3
7 years ago (2017-04-15)
Hi EJ3the1
Welcome and thanks for sharing.
For me, as have others have deduced, this seems like one of those scenarios where you have all worked yourselves up into an almost hysterical frenzy with the expectation of experiencing something ghostly.
There almost seems to be no debriefing amongst your friends after the fact about what exactly what you have seen. You wrote "All of us must have seen the figure because we all ran out of the bathroom screaming"
I suggest one person thought they saw something, in an already panicked state, they screamed then everyone screamed and then there was a veritable teenage stampede out of there.
Very hard to say if you had a paranormal experience but based on what you have written I would say probably not.
Regards
Mack
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+3
7 years ago (2017-04-15)
Hi EJ3the1--This really seems like a classic case of "expectation". You and your friends, already mighty impressionable at a mere six years old, had heard stories of the public washroom being haunted. You were all keyed up expecting "something" to happen. As you were in a place you weren't supposed to be, it isn't unreasonable to think that your on edge friend imagined he saw something and the rest of you, already full of expectation and the excitement of being where you shouldn't have been, responded to your friend's outburst.

You state, "All of us must have seen the figure because we all sprinted out of the bathroom screaming." In that statement one could deduce that one tensed out kid worked themself up into a frenzy and the rest responded to that outburst by screaming like young kids often do. Now, something could indeed have been in there with you. However, it seems a strong possibility that several six year olds worked themselves into a bit of a tither and imagination took over.

Out of curiosity, what were the stories of paranormal activity associated with the bathrooms? Did you hear these stories from other six year olds? If so, they were almost certainly stories created to add mystery where none actually existed. If you heard it from the counselors, they were probably spread in an attempt to keep six year old kids from wandering away from where they were supposed to be.
Melda (10 stories) (1363 posts)
+1
7 years ago (2017-04-15)
EJ3the1 - Only you would know what you in fact saw. Even if it wasn't a ghost, I can understand that it would have scared you half to death if that is what you thought it was.

Lady-glow - This toothbrush thing seems to have taken on a life of its own! In the not too distant future they'll be found in spiritual shops and there is sure to be a blessed one in every bathroom πŸ˜†

Regards, Melda
lady-glow (16 stories) (3149 posts)
+5
7 years ago (2017-04-15)
Welcome to YGS.
Have you gone back to that​ washroom again trying to find a possible explanation for the shadow? Perhaps it was caused by the angle of the light or a flaw in the mirror and, since you kids were expecting to have a paranormal encounter, you just assumed it to be a spirit.

Perhaps your perception at 16 YO is different to what it was ten years ago.

Anyway, if you ever go back to that washroom, take along a toothbrush... According to a recent story this is a very effective protection against evil entities. πŸ˜† πŸ˜†

Thanks for sharing.

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