Former Skeptic's Journal

I'm a 40 year old former skeptic in New Jersey who until recently had very little belief in God, ghosts, spirits, or any sort of afterlife. I was SURE of so many things. In my 1 other story I explained what changed my mind. I've become more open and aware of my surroundings. A poster on this site gave me the idea to keep a journal of my experiences so I can evaluate and see if a pattern emerges. I have done that and I'd like to share it with you. So far I have concluded that many of my experiences happen in relation to my garage (which half of it was my dad's workshop). I copied and pasted my journal entries below.

Monday, May 17th, 2010 - Repeating cobweb feelings on my face over the course of a few hours. Mostly concentrated on my right side, like a faint brushing across my face. Tingling and hair like. Over the next few weeks, similar feelings on both sides of my face. Random times.

(Edit) As of August 2010 it's still happening at random times and just my face. As I typed this right at this moment, the J key on my wireless keyboard was typing JJJJJJJJJJJJJ for 5 straight lines. I tapped the J key to stop it and nothing happened. I had to take out the batteries to stop the J key from continuing to type. It wasn't pressing down and then up, rather it was just repeating as if it was held down. To stop the JJJJJ from typing I tried to press J key to see if it was stuck, it wasn't.

Note: The J has no significance in my life except my sister's name begins with J and she is fine and dandy.

Tuesday, May 18th - Poked at work. Bent over squatted down helping a student when I feel a double tap on my right tricep as if a student wanted help. I turned around. There was no student behind me. Just two students working at their desks, too far away to have tapped me. It was unsettling yet exhilarating. This is my second experience at work with unexplained events. Both near the 5th grade hallway. We've had several students die over the last few years at our school due to cancer. I am wondering if the students have come back to visit. The students who passed where in the classes below the class I was in. The 5th grade wing is above the 1st grade wing. Of the 3 students that passed 2 were in the classes below me, the other would have been a 5th grader this year.

Monday, June 28th - Placed my droid on my bed, paused Robo-defense game. Placed on my bed. Walked to garage. Got soda, came back 30 seconds later, all 3 of my teleport towers are gone. In order for you to get rid of them you have click on each one, then click sell. It was very strange. The game was still paused, just minus the teleport towers. Nobody was home but me.

July 1st, 2010 - Light to the back porch was on. Switch was flipped in the on position. Was not near that light. It was off during the day. At night it was suddenly on. I could see the light shine from my TV room from out back of my sliding glass door. The light switch is on a wall off to the side in my garage. It is impossible to brush against it and turn it on, yet it was on. I turned it off and went back inside.

August 15, 2010 - My droid phone that was plugged into the wall charging for hours (locked in sleep mode), suddenly turned itself on, unlocked itself and loaded Pandora Radio app and began playing music. If you don't have a droid let me explain. When it is in sleep mode, you have to press a button to get the screen to come up, and then slide your finger across the face of the droid to 'unlock' the phone. In this instance it turned itself on from sleep mode, unlocked itself and began playing music. I was at my desk researching on the internet when the phone started playing music. It scared the heck out of me. A droid will turn itself on when you get a phone call. I received no phone call. I have no explanation as to how the droid loaded the Pandora app and how it began to play music on its own.

August 20, 2010 - Red light flash to my right near where I keep some books. It was the corner of my eye, and when I turned it was gone. I personally don't trust the "corner of the eye" thing because vision isn't real good from that angle. I'm chalking this one up as non-paranormal but it's still possible.

Friday, October 8th, 2010 - This is my Dad's birthday. My mom called me and told me she smelled my Dad's cologne all day. She told me she woke up to the smell and it followed her nearly all day. She was crying as she told me. This event didn't happen to me but I decided to include it here anyway.

Thursday, October 14, 2010 - My Garage Door keeps opening and closing at random times. It's a 20 year old garage door opener. It's the kind of door opener that doesn't even operate on the same frequency as other RF modern door openers. I had to unplug the door because I can't trust it to not be up when I'm not home. This could be an electrical issue and I have to check it out but I'll still count it as strange.

Friday, October 15, 2010 - I entered my home from work to the most horrific smell of sour milk. It was very strong. I smelled it in the garage first as I walked into the back door. I entered my home and was greeted with an even more powerful smell. I walked around the downstairs and I could not pinpoint the location of the smell. I ran up the steps and continued to smell. The smell got less and less as I got to the top of the steps. I entered the kitchen and I could still smell it but it was much fainter. I walked around upstairs to see if it was prevalent in any of my other rooms but it was not. After a minute or two upstairs I hurried downstairs to see if perhaps some milk products had fallen out of my garage freezer and defrosted and spoiled. As I got back down the steps I could no longer smell the spoiled milk scent. I walked into the garage anyway and checked the freezer and surrounding area. Nothing was amiss. The smell was completely gone. I walked back into the house and could not smell anything different.

This smell holds significant relevance for me because it reminded me of a previous job. My dad and I owned a family ice cream store for ten years between 1989 to 1999. You can't own an ice cream store and not at times smell like sour milk. Our aprons were always yucky along with towels and our clothes. I haven't smelled that strong of a smell of sour milk in over 10 years. I wonder if it was a message for me or was I just imagining it?

I wasn't thinking about anything in particular that day nor was I even thinking about my departed father but perhaps this was a subtle reminder that he is still around.