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Smelling a Ghost?

 

This story is a bit strange, but we'll see if any of you have had any similar experiences. My wife and I moved into our current home a few years ago. The second summer we lived here, I began to regularly experience what I would call a strong "old man smell" in sections of the first floor of our home. The smell was always highly-localized (in no more than a three-foot by three-foot area), and would be found in all sorts of different locations of the first floor, but never in more than one place at a time. My wife always told me that it must have just been some random smells from an old house or a smell from outside that got in through an open window. However, the smell was HIGHLY localized (you wouldn't smell anything and then BAM, you would walk through a small area with a very strong odor). I told my wife "I think it is one of the former owners of the home..."

After doing a bit of research, we learned that a former owner of our home lived out his final years of the home bound to a wheelchair on the first floor, renting out the upper floor to other tenants. I of course have no way of proving it, but I am convinced that it was his spirit. It was the first and only time I think I have ever "smelled" a presence, so I am curious to learn if anyone else out there has ever had a similar type of experience. Thanks!

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

ftbrunswick (1 posts)
+1
16 years ago (2009-06-01)
Several years ago, after my dad had passed on, I had had several experiences when I seemed to "sense" that he was near - no sounds, smells, or apparitions... Just out of the blue "sensings" of him. These just happened on random occasions - - not during particularly emotional times - for instance, it never happened on an anniversary date of one of his lifetime celebrations such as birthdays or Christmas... The experiences were always brief, out of the blue, yet were rather comforting. However, one day while out gardening, very much out of the blue (I had not been thinking about him at all that day or week, even) I was pulling weeds when I could smell him. It was a very intangible experiences as I couldn't tell you what it smelled like but I knew it was his "smell" - the combination of his soap/shampoo/toothpaste/detergents/natural body odor combined that was the scent of my father while he lived. Before I could really begin to try to process the experience, I heard screaming from our garage and I dropped my hoe and ran. There were my 2 sons, aged about 4 and 7. The older of the two boys had amazingly picked up and lifted a huge heavy anvil which was mounted to a very heavy wooden stand up and OFF the stomach/chest of my youngest son who had thought he could try to move it to the yard to play "blacksmiths" with... The anvil and stand very easily could have crushed or punctured his chest. The ability for the 7 year old to lift it off him after it had toppled over onto his brother was remarkable. Later, I tried several times to hoist it and failed. Very shortly, I recalled the experience of having smelled their grandfather, my Dad, and thought that perhaps he had been able to be there for the boys in some protective way and I had gotten a brief smell of his presence as he passed to the garage. I generally do not tend to give credence to this sort of thing, but I have no where else to categorize this experience in my realm of experiences and perceptions but to think that it was indeed a parting of the worlds that separate the living from the passed on and that my father had indeed been there.
QueeenMagggot (1 posts)
 
16 years ago (2009-03-04)
My grandmother passed away about a month ago. We were very close. The night before she died I had a dream about her dying, and as far as I know, I was the only one in the family to dream this...
About a week ago, I was at work, and I smelled my grandmother. It was not a perfume, just her natural scent that I remember her smelling like since I was little. I have never smelled the same particular scent anywhere else before, it is strictly hers. I would get a big whiff of it and continue to smell it for a few minutes. Then it would go away for another couple of minutes and come right back again. On and off all day long while I was at work. My boyfriend stopped by and he smelled it too. I think it was just her checking in to see how I was doing and to let me know she was there. It was very comforting and beautiful.
Navarice (1 posts)
+1
16 years ago (2009-01-12)
I have always smelled things of and on since I was little, especially smoke or cigarettes, those are really strong. Yesterday, I was outside and there was no one around and I smelled incense, it was really strong but pleasant. Was not use to that one.
pipkin (1 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-12-20)
my 2 daughters recently sent me a beautiful sweet smell to signify their presence today... It was the first significant smell that I have had. It was vivid and incredibly emotive. Friends on the other side know you better than you know yourself... Trust me xxxxx
Katona1700s (8 stories) (168 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-16)
Hello. Anyone want to go to the chat room and talk. I mean like a cool conversation for a little while.

😁 ❀ πŸ˜‰
Joanne (1 stories) (11 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-16)
Hi fourthgeneration,
I had a similar experience just a few days ago.
I was walking into my kitchen passing my pantry when I suddenly smelt a sweet floral scent/perfume, it was quite strong, I stopped walking and turned around to see where it was coming from but it was no longer there. It went as quickly as it had come. It's the middle of winter here so I had no doors or windows open and I don't wear perfume. It was very strange. Joanne
bruwx (2 stories) (78 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-08)
when I went to my aunties house some times I would feel happy/delighted for no reaosn and smell a very nice smell of flowers and my aunty told me that an old woman who loved her very mcuh died there, and I read on books that when a ghost is bad will leave foul smells like rotting, and wett floor patches, or machinery not working, and when good ghost is there a nice smell will be present 😊
PrincessKatie (7 stories) (420 posts)
 
17 years ago (2007-09-26)
I have never ever smelt a ghost before I can see them and hear them not smell them though. 😐thanks for sharing your story its a bit strange that's what I think not in a nasty way though.
rose (9 stories) (92 posts)
 
18 years ago (2007-05-22)
Abby - Thank you for your kind words. Yes, I wanted confirmation about what I have had been carrying through many years. All is a mystery, but not really a mystery when one gets closer to the truth. Life itself is a mystery, and yet, there are more mystery to discover within our world and beyond. But we are getting there. And that also has a purpose.
Take care,
Rose
Again thank you for responding.
Abby (710 posts)
 
18 years ago (2007-05-22)
Thanks fourth for allowing me this response to Rose as follows: Thank you very much Rose. I was thinking of you for sometime, as I had not seen you on this site for awhile. I was happy to find you here again and grateful for your comments. :) You already "know" you are just as filled with experiences, wisdom, knowing and common sense as anyone else and even myself. You are just confirming what you already "know". I also enjoy your comments and loveable contents. You are a very sweet, loving and "knowing" soul. This is why the spirits and ghosts show themselves to you. Thank you for your light, may it ever shine for you, your loved ones, and the rest of us fellow life travelers.
rose (9 stories) (92 posts)
 
18 years ago (2007-05-20)
Abby = it's so true, it's a way to make there presence known. Once I smelled a tabacco smoke in my daughter's room. There was no way on how that smell got there. We are not smokers. I always felt, it was there and watching us. Once I heard a voice in this room, just saying "Hello" and off it went. Anyway, we knew it was just there, communicating and wanting to enter into our lives. No way, It freaks me out. We moved months later. At the new place, I would smelled it again. I never paid mind to it, for it would happened continously. That is, if I permit it.
Rose
Rose
saddy1943 (4 stories) (16 posts)
 
18 years ago (2007-05-20)
Fourthgeneration, Several times in my 64 years I have had that happen to me. The next story I have written but is not on here yet tells about an old woman that killed her self in her home. It should be on here the first of the week. Saddy1943
Daisy_Pink13 (5 stories) (21 posts)
 
18 years ago (2007-05-19)
I read in a book (which was about my hometown!) about a house from the Victorian age. Someone was trying to sell it, so they took a picture of the side, and in the window, they saw a figure of a woman in the attic. So they went upstairs and smelled a woman's perfume, but from the Victorian age... There wasn't a bottle anywhere, and it was very strong.!
Abby (710 posts)
 
18 years ago (2007-05-17)
Dear fourthgeneration, whew, what a nickname, your story is not strange at all. This is common for spirits to communicate per scent or smell. This is called Clairscent which means to smell an odor or fragrance from the other side/spiritual realm or from a spirit.

Many people will smell odors and attribute them to this reality when sometimes it may be a loved one in spirit or an unknown spirit letting them know of their pre"scents".
fourthgeneration (6 stories) (29 posts)
 
18 years ago (2007-05-16)
Janice, yes, the smell I experienced was identical to the time I have spent with the very elderly... Who you know have not bathed in several days (mostly men in my own experience, which is why I said "old man" instead of "old person"). I have spent a great deal of time in nursing homes over the years (visiting friends/family), and that smell is very distinctive. When I would smell that smell in our home, I knew immediately what it reminded me of. That, and the fact that it was SO localized made me feel as though I was "smelling" a spirit. Impossible to prove though, of course.
Janice (7 stories) (248 posts)
 
18 years ago (2007-05-16)
Hey fourthgeneration, like Shane said, it's quite common that people smell that scent of perfume or cigerate smoke, but did you say that it was an "old man" smell? That's quite different than the usual scents people report but I'm sure it's happened out there and not just to you. I have felt their presences, but I have not smelled them, but I imagine that it must creepy to smell an un-familiar scent. I wish you the best of luck, fourth.
Shane (13 stories) (1258 posts)
 
18 years ago (2007-05-16)
Oh yeah, I know just what you are talking about. I have never personally experienced it, but I have friends who have. They tell me that they will pick up the scent of a cologne or perfume worn by a loved one or friend. That it will happen in just one small area or room and if they leave and come back the smell is gone. Also they say that if you smell sulphur or rotten meat for no reason that it could mean the presence of an evil entity.

Peace, Love, and Luck be with you.
kristy38 (5 stories) (52 posts)
 
18 years ago (2007-05-16)
i have never had that done to me but I say you ae right that it could have been the guy that lived there.

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