*ghost Story 1

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There is something that happened around 1986 to 1988. This story begins after moving into the Spring Ridge apartments located in the Kent-Covington area. My two daughters and I moved into this low-income townhouse apartments. When we walked through the front door, there was a coat/storage closet located on the right side of entrance down the hallway. The living room, kitchen and storage closet are all located on the first floor. There are some stairs that led up to three bedrooms and one bathroom. Anyway, I noticed after living in this apartment, I would get strange feelings that someone was always watching me. I would be lying in the bed and I had a feeling that eyes were watching me. It made me feel quite uncomfortable and seemed a little crazy because I could not see anyone standing there. Also, there was this bad stain on the floor inside the storage/coat closet, and every time I scrubbed and cleaned up this stain, it would appear again the next day. It looked like something was dripping on the floor from the ceiling above the closet, but I would look up at the ceiling to see where this stain/dripping was coming from, and could not find the source. Also, my 9-yearold daughter was afraid to be alone at the apartment. My daughter came to my bedroom at night and asked to sleep with me. It seemed something had scared her. She was afraid to tell me what was really bothering her. She waited until after we moved out of that apartment before telling me the reason why she kept silent. She told me that there were two spirits who would come to her at night while sleeping. She would awaken during the night and see these two spirits standing by her bed, just looking at her. She described one as appearing as a tall Frankenstein character and the other one was short with elf-like pointed ears. My daughter said the only time they spoke was to warn her not to tell anyone. The spirits told her that no one would believe her and that she would be sent away for being crazy. She did not like being left alone at the apartment, because the spirits would run up and down the stairs. My daughter could only hear the spirits as they ran up and down the stairs, but she could not see them doing this. After hearing this from my daughter, I told her that she should have said something, because I would have believed her. I told her that explains why I always felt there was a presence of evil at that apartment. It explains the bad stains inside the storage closet, why they kept coming back. Also, it explains why I always felt like something was watching me, especially when lying in the bed. Everything went back to normal after moving out of that apartment, sometimes I wonder if those things are still there. I am a Christian and I do believe that spirits dwell among us. I am fully aware that they do exist. Delores

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A collection of stories submitted by our readers.

PARANORMAL GLOSSARY

• Active or Intelligent haunting Active Haunting is phenomena caused by an intelligence that can demonstrate interaction with the environment, creating apparitions, moving objects, sights, sounds and feelings. • Anomaly An event or activity that is outside the normal. • Apparition A visual image seen with the naked eye that takes representing a spirit. Apparitions may be solid or transparent. • Channeling A method of communicating with the spirit in which the spirit speaks through the psychic. • Clairaudience A form of psychic ability that allows the psychic to hear transmissions from the spirit world. • Clairsentience A form of psychic ability that allows the psychic to receive transmissions from the spirit world using all senses. • Clairvoyance A form of psychic ability that allows the psychic to see transmissions from the spirit world. • Clearing Clearing, cleansing and banishing all refer to a ritual or set of rituals that are used by some psychics in spirit rescue or removal. Many of these rituals include burning incense, lighting candles, reciting prayers or incantations. • Collective apparition An apparition seen by more than one person at the same time. The viewers of collective apparition may be in separate locations. • Crisis apparition An apparition of a person seen within in conjunction with some kind of traumatic event. Crisis apparitions may appear even if the person is still living. • DVP (Direct Voice Phenomena) A DVP is a sound or voice that is heard with the naked ear. While clearly audible to the human ear, most DVP’s are not able to be recorded using conventional audio recording devices. • Ectoplasm: Physical spirit residue. • EMF Meter An EMF meter measures the electric-magnetic fields in the environment. These fields occur naturally, however fluctuations are also believed to be associated with spirit phenomena. Extreme deviations in EMF may indicate the presence of a spirit. Prolonged exposure to extremely high EMF may also result in psychological and physical reactions that simulate the perception of haunting phenomena in people who have a predisposed sensitivity. • EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) An EVP is a sound or voice that is recorded on audio or video recording devices. While not heard at the time of recording EVP’s are only heard later at playback. • Ghost A ghost is a generic term for the source of haunting phenomena. Commonly believed to be the spirit of a dead person, the origin or nature of ghosts has yet to be determined. • Infrared camera A camera which uses the infrared light spectrum to allow images to be recorded in little or no light.

• Orb An orb is a circular anomaly that appears most commonly in photographs and video, but can also sometimes be seen with the naked eye. The most common causes attributed to orb activity are dust, lens flare and moisture. Orbs may appear as solid or transparent. Although most orbs are white colors such as red, blue and green orbs have also been recorded. •Ouija Board A Ouija Board is a painted board containing letters, numbers and or symbols through which spirits may communicate during a séance. Ouija is a specific brand produced by the Parker Brothers Game Company. Similar boards may be found under names such as Pathfinder and Psychic Board. • Paranormal Any activity, event or phenomena that are outside what is normal for that location, time, or person. • Parapsychology The study of paranormal phenomena from a psychological aspect using scientific means. • Poltergeist Poltergeist activity is a very specific type of haunting that includes sometimes violent and noisy activity. Poltergeist activity is thought to be associated with females going through extreme hormonal changes such as adolescence, menopause, pregnancy, miscarriage and/ or childbirth. It may be tied to latent psychic abilities. Poltergeist activity is usually short in duration and can stop as suddenly as it starts. Because of its unpredictability, poltergeist activity is difficult to investigate and document. • Psychic A person who is able to tap into knowledge through clairvoyance, clairsentience or clairaudience. • Residual haunting Residual haunting is like a recording. It mostly is demonstrated with visual and auditory phenomenon. Because it’s like a recording, it cannot interact with witnesses or the environment. And although it can be disconcerting, it poses no threat and may dissipate over time. • Séance A method of communicating with spirit in which a group of people, using a Ouija board or other spirit communication device attempt to make contact with the spirit world. • Spirit Although commonly interchanged with the word “ghost”, spirit specifically relates to a dead person. • Supernatural Any activity, event or phenomena that does not adhere to natural law. • Thermal Camera A camera that uses a color coding system to differentiate between temperature readings. • Thought form A ghost produced solely by the power of the human mind or the collective unconscious. • Trigger object Any object used to illicit a response from a spirit or ghost. Trigger objects may be toys, music, photos or communication devices such as scrabble tiles. • White Noise A band of frequency at which there are no signals. White noise is often used to enhance EVP recording.

October 30, 2009 [9]

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I was a new downhill skier, having moved to the Northwest in my late 20’s after growing up in the desert. After a few lessons, I went skiing with friends, and got separated from the group toward the end of the day. As the light was growing dim, I found myself alone near the top of a very steep cirque, a good mile from the lodge. I was about to panic: no other skiers were nearby, and the route was way beyond my skill. Near tears, I heard a sound and looked up to see an elderly woman ski up to me. She had a long gray braid, ruddy cheeks and a Scandinavian wool hat. She was wearing khakis – the sort of woolen clothes from the 1940s –and long, wooden mountaineering skis with old-fashioned wooden poles and canvas baskets. We looked each other in the eyes, peered over the edge of the cirque and looked back at each other again. In a thick accent, she said: “Vell, all ve can do is fall in the snow...” and headed straight down the fall line. Not to be outdone by someone more than twice my age, I followed, but lost sight of her immediately. I shot straight down the hill without a hitch, even managing to coast up a small hill to the lodge door, but never saw the old woman again. E. L. S.

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Shortly after my father passed away, I was driving to work in heavy traffic. After a scary near-miss, I took a quick glance in the rear view mirror and saw my father’s face, perfectly clear, as though he were in the back seat. His presence gave me a sense of peace and calm, and I arrived safely. N.E.

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Though raised heathen, I was curious about a certain church, which I attended occasionally with a friend who was a member. They were having a very special service, rich in ceremony and music that I loved. By happenstance, my office relocated that day, and I was asked to move my things to the new space. The route to the new office took me past the church a few moments before the special celebration was to start. I turned off the arterial and found an open parking spot—with paid time on the meter—across from the church entrance. As I went in the door cautiously, an usher hurried me to the last seat in the church. I sat down, and immediately the ceremony began. Not a member of the church, I began to feel uncertain that I belonged there, musing “I wonder if it is OK for me to be here?” Precisely as that phrase formed in my mind, the clouds over the skylight above the altar parted, and a bright shaft of warm sunlight fell directly on me. Only me. The light shined directly on me for a time, then disappeared, but I felt uniquely welcomed. I joined the parish – though not the Church – that year. F. R.

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MORE GHOSTS: pg 10