GHOST STORY THREAD!!! (Real or fictional)

[Bicoastal]

The Time: A warm June evening too many years ago.
The Location: Any summer camp of your choice.

Your counselor: "Ok, people. The light is going off, and I have a very important make-out session--<ahem>--meeting to go to tonight. The poor saps on "night duty" will be right outside, so I don't want to come back and hear you guys were making trouble. No whispering, no flashlights, and especially NO GHOST STORIES! Night!"

<Click> goes the light. <Slam> goes the door. Silence while your counselor trudges off into the night. And then--

Someone: "Is anybody asleep?"

Everyone: "NOOOOOOO..."

Someone else: "I love ghost stories! Anyone know any good ones?"

You: "I know one. Wanna hear it?"

You retrieve your flashlight from its hiding place and switch it on, placing it directly under your chin. Next, you arrange yourself on your bunk so that everyone can see you, and when you have their complete and undivided attention--except for the one nerd who really is sleeping--you clear your throat and begin...
:scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared:
Anything that has to do with the supernatural is welcome--the old fictional standbys are fine, of course, but if you yourself had a true-life encounter with a ghost, alien, demon or some other evil spirit, I'm sure we'd all love to hear it. No bedwetters here, right? Just don't get too loud, or you'll get busted and have to sweep the cabin all week.

[SeattleGirl]

1. Well, I don't know if this qualifies as the campfire-type ghost story

but here goes:

My dad died 30 years ago, when I was 21. We had had a somewhat tumultuous relationship, primarily because of his alcoholism, and because we are both rather strong-willed. Despite the problems we had, though, we got to resolve a lot of things before he died, and I was devastated when he passed.

For several years after he died, I would sometimes smell his after-shower/after-shave odor in the bathroom. It was unique only to him, and I could FEEL his presence.

Then, about 6 years after he died, I was living with a friend of mine and her family. My friend got a call one evening from her mother, telling her that her (my friend's) father had died. She was devastated, and her reaction put me right back in the place I was in the immediate aftermath of my father's death.

We were standing in the kitchen when she told us (me and her husband). In the midst of my reaction, I FELT my dad standing next to me, putting his arm around me, as if to comfort me, and to let me know that he was there for me in a way that was difficult for him to do in life.

I know some people may think I'm nuts, or was just imagining it, but I know what I felt, and have absolutely no doubt if was my father next to me. It brought me great comfort in that moment.

[VenusRising]

2. I don't think you're nuts at all!!

I'm glad that you have had the comfort of your father there when you needed him.

I do not doubt one second that he is with you.

:hug:

[VenusRising]

3. I've posted this before, but here's mine.

My husband's grandmother died, so we went to New Jersey for the funeral. The town is an old Revolutionary war town and the whole town is said to be haunted. Well, I have been told stories for years now by my husband and MIL about "Mary", the spirit f a nun that lived in the attic. It's not that I didn't believe the stories, I had just never had my own experience with a ghost, so it was a cute anecdote.

Well, we drive from Columbus, Ohio to Bordentown, New Jersey. We get there at like 4 in the morning. We took our bags and walked to the house. As soon as we walked in the door, the heaviest scent of roses I've ever smelled hit me in the nose like Muhammad Ali. I asked my husband if he smelled it, and he said no. Then we went out on the porch for one last cig before bed. It was a screened in porch with chairs and a little table. While we were sitting there it felt like someone was pulling on my pant leg. I thought it might be road fatigue so I brushed it off, finished my cig, and went to bed.

The funeral was the next day and there wasn't much activity. The night before we left to come home is when I had my big encounter. We had been up in the attic looking through some old family relics. When we finished I was the last one down and as a courtesy I told Mary we were leaving and thanked her for allowing us in her space. Well, I was in the bathroom on the second floor where the only bathroom is in the house, and all the lights in the house were off. I walked to the top of the stairs so I could go down to our bed. I stopped at the top so I could get a good eye on the stairs so I could go down without falling and breaking my neck. As I stood there, I felt a strong presence standing behind me. I whispered to my husband that I couldn't see and he luckily had the Maglite in his hand and turned it on the stairs for me. I raced down those stairs like a kid running from a monster in the closet. I got to bed, and told my husband what happened and he told me that he felt that all the time at the top of the stairs, too. We were laying in bed talking and we heard movement up in the attic. We giggled and hid under the blanket for a second. All of a sudden, something grabbed my foot. I jerked my foot away snuggled into my husband and closed my eyes. I went to sleep and woke up the next morning to come home.

The story has it that Mary doesn't touch someone unless she likes them. She had touched my husband when he was a baby, and also touched my husband's blind grandfather. He felt her sit on the bed and grab his hand. He asked my husband's grandmother what she was doing and she yelled at him from her bedroom about who he was talking to.

So, I may have been totally freaked out, but it was very cool.

[SeattleGirl]

4. Great story, VR

A little spooky, for sure, but that had to be an awesome experience!

[VenusRising]

5. I'll never forget it!

It makes me want to go on ghost hunts. I like being a little scared.

[fizzgig]

6. i love scaring myself

i'm such a silly girl

[lutefisk]

7. How about cinematic? I highly recommend "Rouge"

It's a great Hong Kong film. One odd thing is that the two stars died young (in their 40's) in 2003.

http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/rouge.htm

[Bicoastal]

8. Oh, so you like scaring yourself, eh?

Do yourself a favor and go check out some of the stories here. All of them are supposedly true.

Now, a few of them are clearly told by paranoid fundies or folks who should be in AA, and a few by ordinary people who like reading too much into everyday occurrences. And then there are OTHERS...

All I can say is, my roommate is leaving on a two week trip. At no time will I be looking at these "True Tales" while the apartment is empty, or I will never be able to get asleep until the sun comes up. And I'm a 25-year old male skeptic with a college education!

Read these at your own peril!