a friend of mine saw a real ghost this week....

[Gato Moteado]

...she stayed at the radisson south in bloomington, minnesota and had a ghost in her room. right after she turned the lights out for the night, she and her roommate saw a bright light shine through their 15th story window, then a little later both heard a wimpering close to their ears and each one felt something in their beds. then they called the front desk to ask if anything strange had ever happened in the room, but the front desk lady said no, never. while they were on the phone with the front desk they heard 3 loud bangs in the room but the front desk lady denied she heard the noise.

the next day my friend asked the bartender if anything bad had ever happened at the hotel and she said that someone committed suicide once by jumping off the roof of the section where my friend's room was.

i did a google search and turned up several references to paranormal experiences at that very hotel. most of the sites describe loud footsteps that sound like they are approaching you.

creepy.

has anyone ever stayed at that hotel and had any similar experiences?

[NJCher]

1. amazing!

They lie right to your friend's face but you turn this up on the Internet!


Cher

[Rocinante]

2. I have one

and it's true, I swear. When I was young I did photo and reporting jobs for local papers. There was always a rumor going on about an abandoned house back in the woods a few miles from where I grew up. Anyway the talk was a man killed his wife and kids with an axe and there were still blood stains on the walls. I asked the editors of the papers and some of the local politicians about it. They all said it was nonsense. After a while I said to hell with it and went down there. It was one of those old time farms where you have to have a horse or a horse and buggy to get to the house. I had to walk about a mile to get to it. Mind you it was about noon, no middle of the night stuff here. I walked into the house. Immediately I saw the old blood stains on the wall paper. But that was nothing. Have you ever seen ghost movies where the ghosts float towards you real fast? That's how it was. The faces of those poor souls will haunt me forever. I was lucky I suppose, they never tried to harm me, I think they only wanted to be remembered in some way. Have a good laugh, but you can go into that haunted hollow in my place, I could never do it again.

[oldshoe]

5. I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to seel you

I grew up in a so-called old haunted house in Ohio. The old woman who had it before died in an upstairs bedroom. My sister always heard and saw ghosts, and I always heard creaking joists when the wind blew and saw stray headlight beams from the highway play across the walls opposite the windows.

The house I live now in became available when the previous owner fell off the roof changing tiles and died. My wife's sister never heard a ghost while staying here, until we told her about this. Now she hears them all the time and warns us to sell and get out. I still hear creaking joists when the wind blows. And see lights only when cars pass. We do have owls, deer (which do bark when scared), badgers that burrow through the nearby compost, moose that paw the flower beds by my bedroom wall after first frost, squirrels that scamper over the stucco, bats that crept into the attic, dogs that pad over the floor at night rearranging their sorry selves for compfot every few hours, a furnace that thumps on and off and hums with a low throaty throb while in operation. I trimmed off the maple tree branch that used to rub against my son's outer wall. Then there is the thermal expansion and contracting of the building's frame as temperatures go up and down making creaking noises. The neighbor has an oil drum that "pops" when it's lid heats or contracts. Their horses can grunt, niegh or scream when nipped by another. Jeez, what a noisy place! Still, I've yet to see the ghost of the previous owners of anyplace I've ever lived in.

I've never met my brother's ghost either (car accident), although I dream we are together sometimes, which is nice. Nor have I met my son's ghost even though he died in my arms (Potter's syndrome).

Maybe I'm not trying hard enough.

[Rocinante]

6. I extend an invitation

come on down to middle Tn and I will personally introduce you to that place. It still stands. How about it?

[Wcross]

8. Cool! I am in Middle TN

Where is it? I have heard alot of stories around here. The bell witch in Mcminnville is one. Have you heard about the train conductor in Chapel Hill? They say you can see a light moving up and down the tracks on foggy nights. A conductor was decappitated in the 1800's and he is looking for his head.

[Boudicea]

17. Actually, the Bell Witch was in Adams, TN

Hi MiddTN. If you haven't read the small red paperback version of the story by a family member see if you can find it at a library. Verrry spooky. :O

[newyawker99]

31. Congrats Boudicea!! 200 posts

:toast:

[TennesseeWalker]

22. I'm sorry about your son.....

....but all the "noises" you described sure sound nice and relaxing. I live in the Appalachian mountains, and could hear all the sounds you were describing (except the moose). Very homey. :)

[Gato Moteado]

9. wow! that is frightening!

years ago, i did not believe this kind of thing but i've had a few minor experiences myself and have had friends that had experiences just like yours. yes, there are some things that science just can't explain.

[Gato Moteado]

15. you might want to contact these folks....

http://www.geocities.com/sweets2525/TnSpiritReaders.html

see if you can find the house in this huge listing of haunted tennessee places:
http://www.geocities.com/sweets2525/TnHauntedPlaces.html

some more tennessee ghost hunters:
http://tn_ghost.tripod.com/about.html

i did a google search on tennessee and ghost and there is no shortage of web sites regarding paranormal activity in the state!

[oldshoe]

3. No!

Sounds to me like the sound insulation needs improving. Was their bed head close to an ajacent occupied room in which someone might have been crying, or just acting silly? That you are reporting something second hand doesn't help the credibility here. You sound loaded for belief in this stuff, so I wonder whether your friends aren't just having a go at you.

Experience of the supernatural is in direct proportion to belief that it is possible. Susecptibility is all that is required for the mind to interpret one input as another. If you are slightly scared by one thing (a light) and jumpy, the mind then races to conclusions, especailly of the fight or flight variety as they have survival value. One weird noise/light in a strange place and bang! the ancient reflexes kick in to flee the primeval unknown threat, the mind races to label it. A ghost! A thief! A rapist! Boogeymen! John Ashcroft! Arnold Schwartznegar! Barney the Dino! (my personal biggest fear, what if he starts to sing?).

I'm willing to bet you are religous and believe in some sort of god/spirit who manipulates physics at will.

You wouldn't be a fan of Steven King, or watch American action shows, which specialize in fear-mongering as entertainment?

It's a real short putt from there to belief in ghosts.

Sorry if I appear rude, but please, save this thread for the national Enquirer Web site.

[Rocinante]

4. That was

just a little bit rude.Enquirer web site indeed.

[Blue_Chill]

32. Sounds like you NEED to believe that.

You get extremely defensive when anything challenges your thoughts on reality. Open your mind.

[CBHagman]

35. Actually, some "religious" people are the biggest skeptics in such matters

Don't assume that all who practice a faith believe in ghosts and/or certain types of supernatural experiences. Some of us approach any report of supernatural experiences with extreme caution. That goes for apparitions.

That said, I know a remarkable number of people who claim to have had supernatural experiences, and some of them would seem, on the surface, to be the last people you'd think would go through this.

As for myself, I have had one or two experiences that would qualify as supernatural (NOT ghost sightings), but I'm still inclined to look for additional explanations in cases like these.

[radfringe]

7. lived in a "haunted" house for a few months

myself and 3 friends rented a house for a winter. It was owned by a family that used it as a "summer cabin" - 17 rooms and upteen acres of land... it was also painted black

there were certain rooms in the house you just did not want to be in - two of the back bedrooms, the front "entry", and rooms over the barn/garage (these were once connected to the main house by an enclosed balcony...

You couldn't bring roses into the house, they would be dead and black by the following day, other flowers were ok. A psychic friend said that one of the "ghosts" was allergic to roses when alive, although the ghost liked roses, she did not want them in the house.

It wasn't unusual to feel something hopping on the bed similar to a cat, but we did not allow our cats in the upstairs areas and had it blocked off - or to feel like something sitting on the edge of the bed.

During the fall, when we would all be sitting outside on the back patio, you could hear dishes rattling around from the kitchen - but no one was in the house, cats and dogs were elsewhere.

I had worked overtime one winter night, got home around 8 pm-ish. made myself dinner, afterwards I settled in the kitchen to unwind and read a book. The mudroom door opened, I got up and closed it, sat back down.

Door opened again, I thought perhaps I didn't 'click' the latch - shut the door again, checked the latch, went back to reading.

Door opened again, this time I thought maybe an outside door was open and the wind popped the mudroom door. Checked the outside doors - they were closed/locked, checked the windows, they were fine and finally stuck my head outside - no wind, just a calm quite and clear winter night. Everything was closed/latched/locked, and went back to read.

Door opened again - perhaps from walking across the floor? loose floor boards in an old house could cause a door to pop open. So once again I shut the door, and I tested the floor boards by walking heavily across them. Door remained shut......

Couple of minutes later the door popped open again. This time while walking to shut the door I said out loud to noone in particular - "If you are going to use the door, please shut it behind you"

Before I could reach the door, it slammed shut. Shivers up my back? You bet

[Gato Moteado]

10. great story!

i definitely believe it, though. too many very credible people that i know have had similar experiences.

[JitterbugPerfume]

11. I sleep in the bed

my husband died in six years ago

believe me, he would haunt me if he could

a more jealous man has never lived

[radfringe]

12. there's more

one of our roommates woke up in the middle of the night to see a little girl in a striped jumper type dress standing at the foot of his bed...

when he "yelped" she just faded away...about a week later we were storing stuff in the attic (this was the first time we went into the attic) and came across a framed photo, circa 1940's... it was a picture of a little girl in s striped jumper type dress

local stories tell of a young boy and girl taking a small boat out onto the pond in the back and drowning...

want more? read on...

in the "winter" living room there was a wicker chair next to a wide expanse of windows.. if you went to the window around dusk to watch the sunset the chair would "move" backwards as if someone was getting out of it to make room for you. This was a regular wicker chair, not the rocking chair sort.

The house use to be heated by a coal furnace, it was later converted to oil. When it was heated by coal, you would have to shovel the coal into the furnace. There were times on a cold winter's night we could hear what sounded like rocks on metal being shuffled around...or like coal being shoveled into the furnace

Other times you would hear footsteps running up and down the stairs, sometimes accompanied by soft laughter

We had several friends staying the night after a party. One friend elected to sleep in one of the back bedrooms (this was one of the rooms you just didn't like being in)... She knew some of the stories we had told of the house and she pooh-poohed them. In the morning we found her sleeping on a couch...seems "someone" kept yanking the blankets off of her during the night.

Another roommate use to keep a stack of records stacked on his stereo turntable. There were times that the records would just start playing when no one was near or had touched the stereo. Seemed there was more than one Whitney Houston fan in the house.

Several years later one of my roommates moved to this town permanently, bought a house a couple of miles away from this particular house. When locals found out he had once lived in the 'haunted house' they asked him what kind of things did he experience. they nodded as he recounted some of the events, and told similar stories that they had heard or personally experienced

I've done google searches to see if there is any information on the house, but nada... If you want to give it a try - the house is known as Robinswood, it's located in Heath Massachusetts

[JitterbugPerfume]

13. My step father swore

that my brother appeared to him to say good bye before he died .

My brother was in central Indiana

My step father was in Virginia

but why would he say good bye to a friend , but not to his own parents...or sisters? Why not his wife?

wait a minute, I think I know the answer to that one LOL (the wife)

[bicentennial_baby]

20. I am there!

Where in Heath? My fiancee's parents live in Charlemont. Do you know what road or section of town it's in? I wanna go!

[radfringe]

26. coming from Charlemont on route 2

take a left at the Heath sign

bear right at the fork in the road, (steep hill) - stay on it until you get into the center of town, take the first right

House is 2nd or 3rd on the right, big house close to the road, with a barn/garage right next to it. Last time I was up there, (5 years ago) it looked like it had been sold to a family with a business, it was still painted black

[bicentennial_baby]

27. Cool, thanks!

My friend Allen lives in Heath too, I'll have to take a drive out there with him soon!

[Nikia]

14. I've never experienced a ghost

I've had people who I've respected experience ghosts before. I've heard various theories such as that they are spirits that don't know that they are dead or have some unresolved feelings that has caused them to stay around. I don't think that their existance has to be incomptabile with science. Science just has not explained the phenomenon yet. They could be made up of some kind of energy or even anti energy that exists with the human (or animal) body while he or she is alive. Yes, there might be a scientific explantion to the soul. I have some friends in physics who say that they are discovery things that could completely change our world view. Why couldn't this be one of them?

[foo_bar]

16. where's the scientific explanation for Santa Claus?

here it is

[ozymandius]

18. Physics and consciousness

There are many different types of "ghostly" manifestations.

While I believe that every one of us is a bucket of electro-chemical synapses, this does not explain consciousness to me. I have neither read nor heard a plausible scientific explanation for consciousness. Science, to me, has not arrived at that stage of development. However, the First Law of the Conservation of Energy may be onto something:

This first law states that all forms of energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only transferred.

Ghosts are energy remnants of once conscious individuals IMO.

I have another theory as to why some of us see them. I think that the energy released/transferred at the time of death is consciousness. That consciousness can remain on this plane (i.e. phase) of existence. Just like experiencing (in a proper setting) an audio or video recording that is out-of-phase, so some of us are wired to "see" and "hear" this phenomena.

Edited to make more long-winded.

[carrowsboy]

19. I've had 2 experiences

First one was when I had just parked in my space at my apartment complex. As I was about to get out of my car, I saw a man pass behind teh back of the car in my rear-view mirror. I assumed he was walking his og or something since this was around midnight or so and most residents did this at all hours. Being as though it was in the mirror, all I could see was his torso (just thought I'd add that). Anyways, I paid no mind and continued to get out of my car. When I got out there was no one there, it was a bit creepy.

The second experience scared the living hell out of me! I was walking home from school (college) one night around 2am. My college was up on a slight hill that was bout 1/4 mile from my apartment (it was literally right down the hill on the same side of the street.) Just as I got to the street, I looked down and saw this dark figure standing at the bottom underneath a street lamp. My immediate thought was "get on the other side of the street, this could be a mugger or something." In any event, I just had this feeling of a bad news. I quickly crossed the street, keeping my eyes on him at all time. I remember looking away for one split second and he was gone. I ran at top speed til I got home. In retrospect, it is weird that he looked like a man-shaped shadow and that street lamp should have at last picked up some color.

[jumptheshadow]

21. Some B&Bs use hauntings as a selling point

We had a client who used the many ghosts that haunt his B&B as a marketing tool. My very skeptical colleague woke up one night in the inn. The drawers in his dress were moving in and out without visible aid. He just said "I don't believe in you" and went back to sleep.

If you want to wade through the pop-ups and the other ads, there are lists of haunted B&Bs on this About.com site:

http://bandb.about.com/cs/haunted/

[GalleryGod]

23. I Lived and Worked at a College-where you could hear running footsteps

and doors slamming:scared: while the students were GONE on Vacation!
Made a believer out of me.
Hell-after a while-you could "set your watch" by the "Zombie Track meet" on 2nd Floor East.:crazy:

[veganwitch]

24. a few experiences

i use to collect music boxes when i was younger and they are all kept in a glass case. most are not wound at all or require the flip of a switch or to open or close the lid something. anyway, my mother is sitting in the living room and all of a sudden three start playing.

another time, my mother had left a note for me saying that her and my father had gone out. typical parent to child note. this was in the kitchen. anyway my parents get home before i do but forget about the note. a week or so later my mom is vacuuming in their bedroom upstairs and finds the note under their bed. we do have a dog but their were no signs that she had grabbed the note and taken it upstairs.

another time a couple of my friends are driving to walmart (our highschool hang out) and there was this back rood that i thought we could get to it. and we are driving and i get this really back chill. i simply say i dont think we can get there from here. we are back on the main road and my friend angela says "did anyone else get really creeped out back there." apparently we all felt it.

a couple months later im talking to a friend who lives in the indiana (am going to colleg at the time) and he said that a year before a man had killed his family back on that road.

[ProudGerman]

25. There is a standing million dollar reward for proof of paranormal activity

Why aren't any of you trying to claim that reward? Unless each of those claiming ghost stories as real is independently wealthy, that money I'm sure could be put to good use....donated to a favorite candidate even.

True, energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only transferred. But then again, if these "consciousnesses" are in fact energy, they can be measured. Medical science has been recording consciousness for quite a while, everytime you see a program where they show parts of the brain where electrical activity is intense when a subject thinks about a certain thing or other parts of the brain having activity for various emotional reactions. We agree that thoughts and emotions, and consciousness are the same, or do you hold consciousness seperate. If so, please clarify.

Also, energy vary rarely just floats around aimlessly, to my understanding at least. Lightning can be considered pure energy, but it only exists as pure energy for a brief moment as that energy is being transferred from the clouds to the ground. Even light isn't purely energy, or waves, it has physical qualities as well.

[ozymandius]

30. Reward?

Well, a million bucks would be nice. But proof is fleeting in any case. I imagine that the judge of this contest would require that proof be defined by the scientific process. If the haunting cannot be made to manifest on cue, then there's probably no prize awarded.

We agree that thoughts and emotions, and consciousness are the same, or do you hold consciousness seperate. If so, please clarify.

Interesting concept that we are all of these things: thoughts, emotions, consciousness and kinetic and potential energy. While I may be (physically) dead before my theory gells - I am inclined to say that we are all more than the sum of our parts. Consciousness is part of our whole while it has the potential to supercede our whole upon the expiration of the mortal coil. If consciousness is what remains of the physical being, then it is a plausible belief that consciousness carries with it some personality of the person whose body it used to be a part.

And about energy floating around aimlessly: I do not believe that this applies to the case of your "classic" haunting in which the spectre appears intent either to perform some repetitive act, exhibit a behavior, manifest aurally and visually or exude some emotion.

An imprint, such as an image that replays itself at random intervals at a fixed location, is more like a lightning strike, IMO. This phenomenon, to me, requires a trigger (like and atmospheric trigger for lightning).

[arwalden]

28. FOAF Anecdotal Stories...

... always interesting. But rarely true.

I love ghost fiction... it gives me the chills and heebie-jeebies too. But it's all fiction. Ghosts don't exist.

-- Allen

[Capn Sunshine]

29. In San Diego, the Coronado Hotel

on Coronado Island has an "old section" famous for ghost sightings. You can actually book a "haunted" room I believe.

[Blue_Chill]

33. My sister didn't see it but.......

Here's the short version.

The setting:
My dad and I were in his home office, which was located next to the guest room. My sister and her husband were in the guest room watching TV. My mother was upstairs in the kitch on the opposite side of the house.

The stuff:
My sister shoot up off the couch and asks her husband if he heard that and goes to the window. He asks hre what the hell she's talking about. She responds by telling him someone screamed her name from outside the window. He laughs and tells her she probably just fell asleep and dreamed it. A couple minutes go by and BAM she shoots off the couch again claiming she heard it again but this time she saw the window rattle. Her husband heard nothing, so she goes to the next room over and asks my father and I if we had. No, was our response.

Well this happened a thrid time in which she heard name screamed a few time in a row along with the window rattle. At this point she got scared and went to leave the room......just as my mother was coming down the stairs.

My Mother asked my farther to go get his gun immediately because someone was outside screaming my sisters name and banging on all the windows around the house. We all sat there in the same room none of the males heard anything. As we were standing there they heard it again and recoiled in fear because they saw a face in the window. We were all looking at the same window, the males saw nothing, my mom and sis saw and heard something outside.

The cats of the house refused to go outside that night and the dog was hiding under the bed.

Creepy eh?

[Love Bug]

34. I've stayed at the Radisson South many times

for science fiction conventions. I have to say some of the weird stuff that goes on at a SF con makes anything a ghost can do pale by comparison! No wonder I didn't see anything! :silly:

[AntiBushRepub]

37. South Florida

The one for around here goes like this..

(I have never been there)

What happened a long time ago: A bus with some kids got hit by a train.

Where it's at: Some railroad crossing out west.

What happens: Supposedly when you go there and put your car on the tracks, take it out of gear and it will roll off the tracks. (supposedly it's not sloped)... and the legend is if you put baby powder on the back of your car there will be little handprints of the ghosts of the kids that pushed you out of danger....

I don't happen to believe it but thats one local story.

[GOPisEvil]

38. Actually it's in San Antonio, TX.

Pssst - it's really gravity that moves your car. :-)

[NewYorkerfromMass]

36. Hey! I should have a ghost but don't.

My wife and I bought a property which had a dormitory building attached to it. HAD because it burned down. A woman who was renting a room in it died in the fire.

The story:

The property used to be a farm with a boarding house. The woman who owned it was renting only a handful of rooms at the time of the fire. When the fire was put out the tenant's body was discovered, and it was determined that she was murdered. The murderer set the fire to obscure that fact. The suspect was her boyfriend.

That was August 1997.

Every August since then someone (friends of the victim?) has placed a flower in a jar with a note at the site of the fire. This creeps my wife out to no end. I don't really care. This August, for the first time- no memorial was placed. I hear 5 years is a common grief period, maybe that is the case here. Anyway, given the violent end here, I've always been fully expecting to see a ghost, but haven't.

And if that isn't enough, the man who built the house back in the 20's committed suicide by hanging himself. (elsewhere on the property, not in the house).

So where's our ghost? :shrug:

[Blue_Chill]

39. Own any pets?

I don't know why but cats go apeshit when funny things start happening. I once saw my cat leap off the couch hiss while chasing something around the basement, corner it, attempt to scratch it and then suddenly freak out pee herself and hide under a sofa.

Damn near the strangest thing I have ever seen.

BTW - if there really are ghosts in the world no one knows why they exist or do anything. I've always suspected they may be caused bu some wierd echo of spent energy.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

40. Had a houseful of cats the last 2 weeks

nothing unusual. :-(

[Blue_Chill]

41. No ghost for you!

You got robbed. Idemand my frickin money back unless I saw some shadows in the hall way pronto!

lol!

trust me better not to have ghost.