Some background: I'm a 40 year old male teacher in central New Jersey and for 38 years I've been skeptical about the paranormal. For 38 years I haven't had a single personal paranormal experience. That all changed in 2007.
My father passed in December of 2007 and about 10 days after his passing I was awoken to a strong scent of bourbon. It was his drink of choice. I don't drink it; I don't even have it in my home. Yet, the entire night I was awoken to this scent. At first I'd wake up, and peer at the clock and realize it's not time to get up. I'd roll over and fall back to sleep. I'd smell it but I wasn't really awake and sharp. After the 3rd or 4th time I woke up I became more alert. I realized that what I'm smelling was real. I sat up, got up, walked around, tried to identify its origin. I was unable. I do know that it was localized in my bedroom. I would leave my bedroom and the smell would be gone. I'd enter and it would be present. It was equally strong in all parts of my bedroom. I honestly had no explanation and really didn't think it was paranormal. All throughout the night I was awoken to the scent. I sat up a few times and investigated again. I got the same results. After being awoken more than 10 times throughout the night, I'm beginning to become spooked and it dawns on me that maybe this is paranormal. I think, maybe its Dad saying goodbye or something or just reminding me he's watching. Finally, in the 4 o'clock hour I said aloud, "I smell it, I know, I know, its you." and rolled over and fell back to sleep. I awoke a few hours later and the smell was gone. This is the first time in my life I'd had any sort of paranormal experience. This is when I became interested in this field.
I began reading a bit, finding some websites like this one, and even watching some ghost shows on television. Since the incident above I've had about 5 strange events happen. These events can be explained logically but they still give me pause. I'd like to share three of them.
When I arrive home from work, I walk into my computer area, empty the contents of my pocket on my desk and get changed into more comfortable clothes. The contents of my pockets are always my phone, keys and wallet. Sometimes there is some loose change if I get coffee of something. This is my routine.
On this particular day I emptied my pockets onto my desk like normal and it included some change. I finished getting out of my work clothes, changed and sat at my computer. I checked my email, surfed for a few minutes, and played a few computer games. After about an hour I was done, pushed out my chair and stood up. I glanced over to my left to where the contents of my pocket reside and I notice one of the 3 coins on my desk, the quarter, is standing on its edge. I just froze and wondered how this is possible. I played on the computer for a fair bit of time. If the coin was on its edge, why didn't it fall from the vibration of me playing? What really gave me the shivers is the way I put the coins on my desk. I keep them in my closed fist until the bottom of my knuckles touch the top of the desk, and then I open my first to let the coins fall onto the desk. As the coins are falling I continue to press down on the desk until the coins fall flat. I do this because I don't want the coins to go flying around. I never realized I did it this way until I tried to recreate the incident above. What I do, in essence is slap the coins down upon the desk. Could the coin have come out of my pocket then onto my desk on its edge? I don't think so because of the way I put the coins on the desk.
Two days later it's now Friday and I'm home from the gym. I had some muscle soreness and wanted to take some Aleve before I went to bed. I have 3 pain medicines in my cabinet, Aleve, Tylenol, and Advil. I have a standard medicine cabinet above my vanity/sink area and above the toilet I have this big cabinet that my dad made. I opened both cabinets and could not find the Aleve. I did not take out anything from the cabinets, I just moved stuff around. I found the Tylenol and Advil. No Aleve. I looked on the windows ledge, near the sink, no Aleve. I haven't taken any pain medicine over a month. I shrugged and took 2 Tylenol and went to bed. The next morning I woke up, went to the bathroom and on my sink/vanity is the bottle of Aleve just sitting there. It was on the edge of the vanity. The vanity is tiny and narrow. A bottle can't just sit there for weeks on end. I just have enough room on the vanity for a bottle of liquid soap. I still can't figure out how it got there. I played those events over in my head, the sequence of me looking for the Aleve and I'm certain I never took anything out of the cabinets.
The last strange event happened at my school and it was the most bizarre. One of our teachers every year gives an assembly to the 5th graders about the Holocaust. It's toned down to their level and most of the graphic details are left out but she tells a true story of her family and what happened to them and other victims of the war. She uses technology (clips from Schindler's List) to show how some of these events transpired and the 5th graders are always quiet and riveted on the story. Since this wonderful teacher is as old as God, she has no idea how to run modern technology. This is where I come in since I'm the technology teacher in my school. I help her run the clips, and hook up sound cables that go from the computer to the television. After about 20 minutes into the presentation she is done with the clips and that's my cue she doesn't need me anymore. I disassemble the technology and return it to the proper classroom.
On my way back from dropping off the borrowed equipment I pass by the room again with the assembly. I decide not to go back in because it always makes me sad. I've heard this presentation for years and I have too much empathy for the victims and get too emotionally invested. I am on the second floor of my school, and begin to approach the double doors leading to the stairwell going down. As I approach the stairwell I hear a child sobbing. Concerned, I open the doors and I can hear it coming from below me. It's a sob, very different from a child's hysteria, or an injury cry. It was emotional, loud, sorrowful, and powerful. I can hear the sound in my head as I type this and I can accurately describe it as anguish. I hustled down the steps thinking something was wrong. I'm on the landing halfway down and the sobbing suddenly stops. In front of me I can see the two double wooden doors that lead to the 1st floor hallway. These doors make a racket when you open them. They have a push handle that goes CLANK and the sound echoes in the stairwell. I did not hear them open. I hit the bottom of the steps and turned left toward the emergency exit behind the stairwell. There is a nook in that area where you can stay unseen if you want to. There are also two steel doors, similar to the wood hallway doors. They open the same way and make the same noise. I ran to the back of the stairwell to see if a child was hiding back there. There was nobody there. I didn't hear the door open to the outside or the hallway but I opened it anyway and peered right and left. There was nobody outside the school. I closed the door and walked to the wooden doors that lead to first floor hallway. I saw two teachers walking up the hall talking and a receptionist at the front desk not 25 feet from me. I saw no child. I asked the receptionist if she saw anybody come out of these doors, she said no just me. I asked her if anybody was crying recently and she said no. I walked to the nurse's office, asked her if anybody came in crying, she said no.
The next day I approached the teacher who gave the assembly and asked her if anybody left upset or emotional during her presentation. She said no, nobody left. So now I'm wondering what exactly happened? Was it a spirit related to the holocaust assembly presenter? Was it a real kid I just couldn't find? How could a spirit cry? They don't have tears, vocal chords, etc. It leaves me with more questions than answers.
I'm a little apprehensive about mentioning these experiences to my friends for fear of being ridiculed or looked at in a negative way. I finally opened up about this to my sister hoping she wouldn't think me insane but I was surprised and blown away but what she told me was happening at her home since my father passed. I'm going to ask her permission to share her experiences with the community and if she says it's alright I'll post them here in the future. This is a great supportive community that gives me a place to share my experiences and to also get views and opinions on what I'm experiencing.
There is one thing I wanted to ask the community here. Is it possible I'm beginning to experience more things because I'm more open to it?
Thanks for listening.
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