Andrew / March 1, 2006 10:48 AM

Question suggested by reader Ben.

I definitely believe in ghosts, and have had more than my share of experiences. I'll post a story or two later.

Naz / March 1, 2006 10:56 AM

Yes. A lot of stories. In fact, if we tell 77, one of them may come true.

NSH / March 1, 2006 11:06 AM

I didn't believe in ghosts until I walked through Bachelor's grove

slb / March 1, 2006 11:08 AM

No, and no.

sarah / March 1, 2006 11:17 AM

No, I don't believe in ghosts, and I think most people who say they do just want to believe in them. If I said, "hey look, there's a ghost eating breakfast with us," admit it, you would think I'm nuts.

Roni / March 1, 2006 11:23 AM

We have a ghost. Didn't really make itself known to me until yesterday morning when I was making breakfast and thought I heard Ella crawling out of bed. Went to check on her and she was out cold. The hubby was in the shower.

Scooby Doo voice / March 1, 2006 11:27 AM

GHOSKS????

matty / March 1, 2006 11:30 AM

no

MikeH / March 1, 2006 11:30 AM

Yes, I believe in ghosts. I think if you believe in the existence of the soul (i.e. lifeforce), then you almost have to believe in the possibility of ghosts as well...

anon / March 1, 2006 11:36 AM

When you die the body immediately gives off energy. The brain, spine and heart all stop producing electricity. The lungs stop working. Everything shuts down. What’s left of you, the personality is gone. Now according to what we said before when that happens the personality or soul has left one way or another. However isn’t it possible that something has left behind an impression? The energy that was your mind has to go somewhere. It isn’t destroyed, it can’t disappear. So it has to go somewhere. The theory I’m offering is that energy is absorbed by the surroundings. An impression is left behind on the area around you. Normally this doesn’t matter. But in a few rare cases a very strong impression is left behind.

elena / March 1, 2006 11:45 AM

No, I don't believe in ghosts. I wish that, before someone decided that we lived in a post-modern age, we had taken the time to finish the Enlightenment.

For the record, I do not believe in:
- ghosts
- werewolves
- vampires
- elves
- gnomes
- trolls
- leprechauns

And as for that pseudo-scientific "giving off energy" crap: my ficus died last week. Did it leave behind an aura? No, it left behind rotting matter. If you believe in ghosts, just admit that you have an irrational belief and don't try to justify it using half-assed logic. You're a romantic, anti-rationalist, so you don't need or want any logic anyway.

Y A J / March 1, 2006 11:52 AM

I do believe in ghosts, though the word ghost instantly brings to mind both scooby and cartoon caspers. I'd prefer to say I believe in spirits or maybe just the force. I don't have any specific stories to share, but I do believe.

leah / March 1, 2006 11:52 AM

Yay judgement is being passed already. A new Gapers record, I think.

I believe in ghosts b/c I like to believe I am not a plant and I am definitely not a robot. I'll come and spook the haters after my work here is done.

oOOOOoooooooooOOOO!

MikeH / March 1, 2006 11:55 AM

Elena -

Is it really necessary to be so close-minded and condescendingly bitter? Do you not believe in aliens as well? That the entire universe was created just as window dressing for us humans here on earth?

People also used to believe that the earth was flat and that the sun revolved around the earth. To proclaim otherwise was an invitation for torture, if not death. Fortunately, there were those who had the intelligence and courage to question the establishment and seek truth out for themselves...

fluffy / March 1, 2006 12:01 PM

i think elana is already leaving rotten matter and she's still alive

hey- lighten up!

hench / March 1, 2006 12:17 PM

used to back in the weird old days.

looking back it seems like anything that i thought that i experienced would have been due to the combination of daily drug/alcohol use, daily sleep deprivation & daily high stress levels...

so no. and no.

elena's ficus / March 1, 2006 12:20 PM

booooooooooooooo!

p / March 1, 2006 12:23 PM

one of my friends in grammar school (and his entire family) believed he had a ghost in his house. The mom got a priest to come out and sprinkle water around. The ghosty was ultimately assigned the identity of Jimi Hendrix. I was forcibly exited with haste and banned from the house one time for voicing the opinion that Stevie Ray Vaughn had more skillz. That said the family all wore the uniform of Free With 2 Packs Newport shirts and beat each other with bbq tongs. Oh and there´s definitely a ghost up in the beverly castle and that´s on the real. Or not.

Andy / March 1, 2006 12:38 PM

I don't think you have to be a romantic/ anti-rationalist to believe in ghosts. You just have to be open to the possibility that the universe is much more complicated that any of us understand, and our current science is inadequate to explain everything. Personally, I don't believe in ghosts, but I'm not closed to the idea either, and if someone were to come along with hard, quantifiable data proving that they exist, I'd be like "cool, ghosts!"

Andy / March 1, 2006 12:42 PM

No, I don't think I believe in ghosts. I think our minds are very powerful and play tricks on us. But I do love a good ghost story around the campfire because they still freak me out! I'm also open to the possibilty that a very rational and closed mind doesn't allow itself to be open to such phenomena.

Psychic IL / March 1, 2006 12:46 PM

Not as much a ghost story as it is creepy:

http://www.prairieghosts.com/gasser.html

elena / March 1, 2006 12:53 PM

Oh, and I also don't believe that every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings or that if we all close our eyes and wish, Tinkerbell will come back to life. Or that the position of the stars tells us about ourselves or our future.

You're right. I am closed-minded when it comes to ghosts and many other things. Partly, it is just because I'm mean (I wouldn't say I'm bitter; I've never been let down or disappointed by a ghost).

And I do believe that the universe is more complicated than we understand, and that we should try to understand it. The people who don't believe that are the same ones who want "Intelligent Design" taught in the schools and who think that hurricanes are caused by insufficient numbers of right-living Christians.

Also: I killed the ficus, so it definitely has a reason to come back from its ceramic grave and seek vengeance.

anon / March 1, 2006 1:00 PM

Elena- I think what's closed minded is your attempt to lump in the people who believe in ghosts (and apparently, those who read Gapers Block) with the religious right. Give me a fucking break.

elena / March 1, 2006 1:06 PM

I was just comparing two kinds of superstition. I don't see how it is more rational to believe in ghosts than it is to believe in divine retribution. But again, I have a closed mind on this issue.

Now, a more important question is who's going to stand up for a belief in leprechauns? And angels? Anybody been touched (appropriately or otherwise) by an angel lately?

Carrie / March 1, 2006 1:16 PM

I do believe in ghosts. Ever been to Red Lion and gone up the stairs and no one is behind you except it feels like someone is standing right behind you? Yeah, that's what makes me believe. And I know it sounds stupid to everyone who doesn't believe and you all can think I'm crazy, but it was the creepiest feeling I've ever had

And really, we don't anything about what happens after we die. Why can't ghosts or spirits exist? Why can't someone's soul roam around for a bit? And you know why else I believe? It's the little stories where someone in a hotel room reports someone knocking on their door in the middle of the night, getting up and no one is there. They tell the manager and the manager says they're the only people in the hotel. Next guest reports the same thing. Same deal, they're the only ones. And then after doing some research, it turns out that the room these people have been staying in is the same one where someone committed suicide like 50 years before. And I'm sure all the non-believers can come up with a theory on the knocking (manager playing a trick?) but whatever, I believe.

anon / March 1, 2006 1:18 PM

The difference is this: believing in ghosts is a benign sort of belief. It doesn't hurt anyone. Believing in devine retribution (or intelligent design) implies that you have an agenda.

eep / March 1, 2006 1:19 PM

Yes, I believe in ghosts, due to a combination of family history with them, and having an experience myself. My story is this: A friend and I were completely alone by the side of the road in the country, and we both heard footsteps approaching us. She heard them first and went to sit in the car, as she was freaked out. At the time I thought she was going to get drinks from the car, as she didn't say anything to me when she got up (either about the footsteps or why she was leaving). I heard the noises a moment later and started looking around for the approaching person. I could see for miles in every direction, as it was right after the harvest and all the fields were plowed. There was absolutely no one else there, but the sound of gravel crunching on the pavement under someone's shoes was unmistakeable. I didn't believe it, as I could plainly see there was no one in sight, but when the footsteps were only a few feet from me I got goosebumps all over and my stomach lurched. I jumped in the car and my friend peeled out instantly, as she had been freaking out the whole time that I was standing outside without her. If I had been alone I might doubt what I heard, but having another witness to this makes me all the more certain that I heard footsteps on the road, and there was no person there to make them. I can't think of any other explanation for what happened that night besides a ghost. It may sound ridiculous, but after having an experience with something you can't explain away, it makes you a believer.

Amazingly Randy / March 1, 2006 1:19 PM

Heh --- why dogpile on Elena for saying what any reasonable person knows to be true? Her tone was a little harsh, but come on. Open mindedness doesn't require anyone to *stay* open minded after giving due consideration; I held out for Santa Claus for a long time, for instance, but now I'm done with him. I still get presents, too!

It's also funny that the superstitions of the American right (born-again Christianity, angels and devils that are active on Earth) are spoken of separately from those of the left (Wicca, "goddess" worship, crystals, neopaganism, etc.). People need to believe in something, so they choose something that suits their personal and/or political style...Ghosts and astrology can go either way, I guess.

But deep down everyone should know it's all just made up. Jane's tattooed woman in the earth isn't more real than John's bearded man in the sky, and vice versa. George's horoscope isn't less real than Mary's St. Jude prayer...Right?

MikeH / March 1, 2006 1:52 PM

Nah...

I don't categorize ghosts with Santa Claus, vampires, horoscopes, etc. Personally, I believe in the soul (and not necessarily in a religious sense either). I also believe that the soul is energy--what some cultures might call chi or qi or prana...

Therefore, I don't think it's a far stretch at all, scientifically or otherwise, to consider that it's possible for this residual energy to linger. After all, energy can't be created or destroyed, so it has to go somewhere, right?

Dino / March 1, 2006 1:52 PM

Yes, I believe in ghosts. Especially when I have gas and there is no dog in the room to blame.

mike-ts / March 1, 2006 1:53 PM

Stop the arguing - you asked for ghost stories, dang it, so here are a couple of true stories (as in nothing is made up, the details are as what happened) that I think qualify:

My mother had planted lilacs in the back of her & my father's house when they first moved there. The day before she died, they had been in almost full bloom; she died in the morning at home, and my father had to spend the day taking care of arrangements. When he got home in the afternoon, he saw that all of the pedals had fallen off - there was no shock frost or anything (it was the end of May) to explain this, and this fall-off never happened in one day ever again. You could've knocked him over with a feather - and it's something that stayed with him for the rest of his life. Also, from then on, he was replacing light bulbs once every other week or so, when previously, it was once every six months, if that. And this was random, all over the house. It was like I couldn't go over and not find a "dead soldier" in one of the garbage cans.

When we were kids, a bud had his favorite uncle die. He had a dream where a boy and a girl dressed in white told him to let grandma know that Uncle (I don't remember the name) is up here with us. It shocked his mom to the core - his grandma had a boy and girl who died in childhood, but he was never told about them.

Crash Davis / March 1, 2006 2:06 PM

Ghosts? no

But I DO believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.

Bill / March 1, 2006 2:17 PM

personally, i dont think saying "im mean" gives anyone an excuse to act mean, but hey, what do i know? i have class.

ghost stories: once, when i was maybe 9 or 10, i was up really late watching friday night videos (remember that?). i finally got tired and went upstairs to my room. one of my pillows was in the middle of the bed, and, right before my eyes, it slid off and onto the floor. it wasnt balanced precariously on the side of the bed, it wasnt the house settling, it wasnt wind. it slowly slid from the middle of the bed and onto the floor as i entered the room. i was a little freaked, but i was tired. i just thought id go to bed, and i did...nothing like that ever happened again.

that particular room always was a little creepy. my parents liked to tell a story about how, when i was 5, i came downstairs crying, saying that someone had been in my room touching my face. i said that someone had been brushing their fingers against my cheek, and i was too scared to move.

same room, much later: my dad died. this was when i was 23. that night, i dreamed that he was laying over me in bed, hugging me. i woke up crying, and i sensed a presence going up through the ceiling and out of the house. grief, stress, vivid dream? sure, but i know what i felt.

my mom died a year ago and i expected her to come back for a visit in a similar fashion, and visit me or at least one of my brothers, but she hasnt. she has appeared in my dreams from time to time, but mostly just to tell me to get off my ass and stop blowing my inheritance.

granny / March 1, 2006 2:31 PM

I moved to chicago in 1991. I lived over near St. Alphonsus church in the top floor of an old two flat with a friend. Both of us had had lots of ghostly things happen in our childhoods, and so it didn't surprise either of us to find that we had a ghost in our apartment.

We loved to explore the attic of this house, and even though this house had been an apartment building for probably 50 years since, we found the belongings of a woman from the 40's, clothes, sewing notions, letters, all kinds of stuff. Everything fit my roommate perfectly. It was amazing.

One night I went into the kitchen to get a drink of water... it was the middle of the night. Our kitchen window looked out onto the back stairs, leading up to the attic, and down to the yard. I saw my room mate coming down the steps, in a pale colored robe. It was the middle of the night... what in the world was she doing coming down the attic steps?

Well of course you can guess the rest of this story, I turned around to find my roommate coming out of her bedroom, sleepy, heading for the bathroom. The girl on the steps was gone.

a ghost? who knows?

or, maybe it was all of the acid.

Hey Dino / March 1, 2006 2:34 PM

Just tell everyone "I stepped on a barking spider."

slb / March 1, 2006 2:58 PM

I'm with elena.

if ghosts exist, show me some solid proof. and then i'll believe in them.

though i do believe in the boo buddy.
he kept me from saving the princess.

JasonB / March 1, 2006 3:05 PM

I believe in Ninjas.

Lil Millah B / March 1, 2006 3:42 PM

A ghost stole my bike when I was a kid, and I never learned where it lived =(

CarrieD / March 1, 2006 3:52 PM

Hmm, 36 posts and about 3 stories. I'll up the total a bit with my story:

One night I was staying in a hotel in the capital of Georgia (the country). Unusual for a ghost story, but the room I was staying in was part of a new renovation and wasn't particularly old.

I had already turned out the lights and was lying in bed when I rolled over and looked up. Hovering in front of me was the head and torso of a white figure. I couldn't see a face, but I knew it was a female. I looked at it, bemused, and reached up my hand, which passed right through the figure. Suddenly I freaked out, jumped out of bed, ran and turned on the light. When I turned back around, it was gone. I kept the light on all night.

I really believe I wasn't asleep because everything except the "ghost" was so normal and mundane and I never dream of real, detailed places like a hotel room; it's also wierd that I had no sensations or emotions during the incident (no unusual cold, no fear). It was such a normal, non-eventful feeling experience...except for the ghostly figure, of course! Also, I want to add that the whole story sounds ridiculous even to me and I'm a very non-fluff, down-to-earth person. Plus, I don't even necessarily believe in ghosts despite what I experienced.

mike / March 1, 2006 4:14 PM

I don't believe in ghosts, but I believe in Chuck Norris.

jen / March 1, 2006 4:24 PM

please note that elena left unicorns and dragons off of her list...

anyway, though i have no good story to tell, i also have no reason to believe ghosts do NOT exist.

isn't this basically like arguing if you believe in god or not?

mister white / March 1, 2006 4:30 PM

GB has for the last year been haunted by the ghosts of u of c - freakin' irritating! get over yourselves, the stuff isn't that interesting!

Carrie / March 1, 2006 4:52 PM

Sheesh, I was hoping to hear some good, for real ghost stories but everyone is being saucy and sassy instead. Glad the people who have stories posted them.

the skeptic / March 1, 2006 4:53 PM

jen-

not to prolong this unwinnable argument, but i have no reason to think that bigfoot, dragons and unicorns (etc) do NOT exist, except that a) there's no evidence that they do, and b) their existence is illogical and highly unlikely. see also: ghosts.

leah / March 1, 2006 5:02 PM

only illogical if you don't belive in some kind of life force or energy.

which is what chinese medicine is based on, so go crazy convincing people who've practiced medicine based on this life force that it's hooey.

Nessie's Cousin / March 1, 2006 5:02 PM

I'll bet no one believed in a 28 foot Giant Squid either, but here it is:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4756514.stm

leelah / March 1, 2006 5:11 PM

I believe in them.
I've heard tons of stories, but have none of my own. Two former friends of mine have the creepiest story ever, but since they aren't my friends anymore, I feel odd recounting their tale, so I won't tell it.

Carlotta / March 1, 2006 6:18 PM

Here's mine:

In the latter half of the 1980's I was traversing the long east-west vestible of the Prudential Bldg. when I heard someone softly hail me in what seemed like a loud whisper: "Carlotta! Carlotta!" I looked around to see where it was coming from, thinking it strange that someone was trying to get my attention like that in a noisy public space.

Then, ahead of me, I saw a total stranger looking around him, and on a hunch I ran up to him and asked if he had just heard someone calling him by name in a loud whisper. He was dumbfounded -- that he had had the same experience I had!

NSH / March 1, 2006 7:04 PM

Elena do you believe in the color orange?
If so could you convince me that it exists?

Heather / March 1, 2006 8:24 PM

Here's a story:
When my Mom and Dad first started dating they went out to a diner for dinner. They were sitting in a booth when my Dad excused himself to use the bathroom. While he was gone my Mom felt a tap on her should and her name whispered in her name. She quickly turned around and no one was there. Quite soon after that my Dad came back to the booth. My Mom was pissed at my Dad thinking he had played a joke on her to scare her. He insisted that he didn't. Forward to when she came home and my Aunt informed her that her ex-boyfriend had died in car crash that night...at the exact same time she felt the tap and whisper in her ear.

Angie / March 1, 2006 9:01 PM

I want to hear Andrew's story!!

Angie / March 1, 2006 9:36 PM

Also, leelah's sounds intriguing

Dorothy Zbornak / March 1, 2006 10:02 PM

In high school, some friends and I went to this notoriously haunted graveyard in the next town over (in Connecticut). It was a Saturday night at midnight, of course, and when we got there, almost everyone chickened out. Three of us went through the gates and walked around. Out of the corners of our eyes, we all saw the little white church and rectory intermittently flashing a fluorescent blue color . It happened a few times before we realized that we all were seeing it and ran back out. Although the church and rectory were clearly visible to the 8 or so people waiting for us in their cars, no one had seen it... spooky.

dm / March 1, 2006 10:32 PM

Yes, I believe in ghosts. I've never seen one but have had some strange encounters, including with my dad, who passed away a few years ago.

He himself was the king of ghost stories, one of the creepiest being:

Back in the 1960s, he, his first wife, and their kids rented an old farmhouse near Aurora. They were always hearing footsteps from an unknown source in the house, and their dog often acted strangely at odd moments, as if it saw/sensed someone that they couldn't see.

The farmhouse was owned by a guy named Wilson, whose wife had mysteriously disappeared some years before. One day, while exploring a crawl space underneath the house, my dad came across a small mound with a makeshift headstone that said "Marie Wilson"--the name of the farmer's wife...

God, it creeps me out to type this. He used to scare the bejesus out of us when we were kids!

Andrew / March 1, 2006 11:22 PM

OK, here's a story.

So, when I was 14 I found these tarot cards in the basement of my grandmother's apartment building in a small town in Ohio. I thought they were cool, so I took them home with me.

There were certain cards that freaked me out. Especially the moon -- my stomach turned whenever I saw that card. In general, I just got a very bad vibe from the deck. I mentioned the cards to a friend on the bus, the daughter of a preacher. It turned out that she read tarot cards and was very interested in seeing them. So she came over and read them for me and two of my friends. The readings were surprisingly specific and eerily accurate, especially for my friend Dave -- he was actually in tears by the end. Each reading contained information that the girl reading could not possibly have known.

She had a similar reaction to mine to a number of cards, and declared them haunted. She told me to burn them. Being 14 and skeptical, I didn't.

That night a little before midnight, as I was trying to fall asleep, I heard what sounded like someone slowly rifling through a deck of cards with their thumb. The sound came from my desk -- but the tarot cards were in a box on my dresser, diagonally across the room. I was petrified, afraid to move. I don't remember falling asleep.

From that night on until I left for college, at odd hours of the night, something would ding the brass shade of a floor lamp in my room. Like it was reminding it that it was still there.

paul / March 2, 2006 1:13 AM

The easter bunny scared the shit out me once.

unmake / March 2, 2006 8:14 AM

no, and no.

Prince of Denmark / March 2, 2006 9:11 AM

"There are more things in heaven and on earth, Horatio, than are dreamt up in your philosophy."

Justin / March 2, 2006 10:02 AM

I believe the soul is in the blood and when the blood stops moving there ends the soul. Against my own desires, I believe dead is dead, and against logic I believe the promise that the same God who sets life in motion* can and will restore it even from ashes. If here I part ways with my co-religionists, so be it. My God is not so petty. Still, I sense there are vague forces or energies among us.

The first night home after my sister was killed, I dreamed the family house was a wreck -- walls down, windows missing, strangers harassing us. Through all of this I heard her voice calling my name. I walked outside and saw her seated on a bus or train packed with grayhairs. She was reading a magazine, didn't acknowledge my response, and then the vehicle left.

I'm reluctant to call this a ghost story, first because it was a dream, second because I'm skeptical in general, third because it reeks of wish-fulfillment. But I am certain this dream was more vivid and real than any I recall, that it brought me tremendous comfort, and that I am not that clever. Whatever it was, I took it as a gift.

(For elena's ficus)

* No flames, please. I despise ID like you.

m / March 2, 2006 10:58 AM

My old landlord was a psychic and she said she sees and/or feels the energy of people who have passed on all the time. Some good some bad. I didn't think she was making it up. I've never experienced ghosts but I know rational people who have moved out of apartments because they were convinced they were haunted. Sometimes that makes me wonder how many horrible or sad (or wonderful too I guess) things have happened in the ~100-year-old spaces we live in.

Krissy / March 2, 2006 11:40 AM

I worked the night shift (restocking) at the haunted Tiys R Us in Sunnyvale, CA when I was twenty. Since then I've seen it on "Unsolved Mysteries" reruns. There are a lot of stories on the web, too. The ghost, according to my coworkers, was friendly and harmless but liked young women, so I was always a little paranoid when I'd go off by myself to do something. I felt things on my neck and saw things out of the corner of my eye, but there was nothing Poltergeist-y.

mike / March 2, 2006 11:41 AM

I think that when people die, they stop believing in ghosts.

Pete / March 2, 2006 11:41 AM

Andrew - actually that was me fucking with you.

Baldeesh / March 2, 2006 11:44 AM

Hey Justin - I don't know if it's considered a ghost story or not, but I've experienced similar things - close friends and relatives that have passed on do come and drop in on my dreams sometimes, especially when things get really tough.

Maybe it's my subconscious that conjures up friends and family, maybe it is really them. One thing I can't discount is the immense comfort it brings. I believe they still care and still hang around.

frank / March 2, 2006 12:07 PM

i don't believe in religion, but i've had many a run in with other powers. maybe some people are more in touch with these sorts of things? maybe we like to beleive beacause we want it to be true just like people like to believe the bible is true? not really sure, but to each their own. i'll believe what i want to believe.

A / March 2, 2006 12:49 PM

I've got two stories to share.

My grandmother (God rest her soul) had passed away and my family was staying in her house after the funeral. My grandfather didn't want to sleep in their bedroom anymore, so my mother took to sleeping in it. Sometime after the funeral, my mom and brother noticed that the pillow and side of the bed my grandmother slept on was sunken in, almost as if someone had layed down on it. But everyone had been at the funeral that day, with no one in the house. My brother fluffed the pillow, but when someone would return to the room, the pillow would be smooshed down again.

Many years later, when I was visiting my grandfather, I was trying to fall asleep in the bedroom across the hall and I heard someone come into the room. I tried to open my eyes and move, but it was like I was petrified. Then I heard my grandmother's voice above me, whispering prayers, which is something she used to do when I was little and would spend the night. I wasn't scared, more disappointed that I couldn't see her.

J / March 2, 2006 1:19 PM

About 20 years ago, my aunt went to New Jersey to visit her sister, my other aunt, in her new townhome. She slept in the guest bedroom, and that night had a dream that a black man was sitting at the end of her bed, with his head in his hands sobbing. The next morning she was telling her sister about the dream, and her sister was visibly freaked out. My aunt then found out that her sister had purchased the townhome for cheap because a black couple used to live there, and the wife died of some disease, and soon after, her husband committed suicide in the room my aunt slept in.

AZ / March 2, 2006 1:45 PM

When my husband and I were first shacked up about 15 years ago, his father died. The night after the funeral, I dreamed he came to our house. This was important because I'd always wanted him to visit while he was alive, but he had been too ill to do so. I dreamed that I showed him around the house, then back out to the front porch. In the dream, the wind was blowing the wind chimes, and he looked up at them and said, "Well, I've got to go," at which point I woke up; from outside I could hear the same wind chimes. It was not at all a scary or unpleasant experience, but it did convince me that there are "more things in heaven and earth than are dreampt of" in my philosophy.

believer / March 2, 2006 2:49 PM

ok here's one -

I had a friend, PJ, in college, who had a rough time of being gay and basically killed himself because of his family's reaction. It happened in summer so none of us really got a chance to say goodbye as we found out weeks later, and of course we all felt guilty that we hadn't done more, seen the signs, etc. At pride parade about a month after his death, I swore that I saw PJ wearing this silver coat he'd always wear - obviously, that didn't make sense as it was the middle of summer. I convinced myself it was my mind playing a trick on me, and never told anyone.

Except - the next year, and every successive pride parade since, the same thing happened - I see PJ in the distance, but when I try to go and catch up to him, he's gone. I've also seen him in crowds downtown, on El platforms, etc. All these years, I think, its just my mind trying to make sense of a tragic death.

Fast forward to a few months ago - I reconnected with a college friend I haven't seen in five years, who also was friends with PJ - over several beers, I confessed that I "saw" PJ several times a year, wasn't I silly, etc. My friend tells me that the same thing has happened to her, independently, and that she always thought it was her mind playing tricks too... Until she ran into another college classmate who told her that SHE saw PJ around Chicago once in a while too.

Three independent hallucinations from people who hadn't seen each other in five years doesn't seem likely, so I have to believe PJ's up to some mischief somehow.... that would be just like him.

Allan / March 2, 2006 2:54 PM

When I was a teenager I got my first job in a mom and pop hot dog stand run by greek immigrants. It was a husband and wife who ran it. Tthey had a son in college who used to work there after school but stopped when he went to college out of state, I took his place. I worked there for three years and they were wonderful to me. Every day I worked, Sal, the husband would tell me to take a break and proceed to fix himself and me a hot dogs (Chicago Style) and we would sit at the counter and eat and he would tell me to do good in school and ask about my family. The funny thing was on the hot dogs he would always pile on all the trimmings tomatoe, green relish, onions, sport peppers, mustard etc. but would always scrape them off onto a napkin before eating his, tomatoes first then the relish, mustard, onions topped by the sport peppers. While I scarffed mine down as it was. One day when I came to work after school The son was there from college running the stand and said his dad had died over the weekend in his sleep. Soon after they sold the restaurant. Ten years later I happen to be in the area and the stand is still there. I go in and it is owned by a Mexican guy who had split the menu between taquieria and hot dog stand. I ordered a hot dog it came just the way Sal used to make. I went to the bathroom to wash my hands and when I came back all the condiments on my hot dog had been wiped off and neatly placed on a napkin. The owner was behind the counter scraping the grill I heard him doing it the entire time I was in the bathroom and there was no one else in the room. I sat there for a long time and I swear I felt Sal sitting next to me because in that instant I could remember him so vividly I was making me feel like I was suffocating in his presence. I couldn't eat the hot dog. I left the food on the counter and left. The thing is I wasn't scared but I was something.

skerdy / March 2, 2006 3:35 PM

No ghost-y experiences for me but this gave me chills when I first heard it.

A friend of mine used to live in an old coach house. One night while laying in bed he felt something punching up from underneath the mattress--like someone was under there trying to kick their way out. It stopped for a minute and he thought he'd been dreaming or that it was the falling feeling you sometimes get as you're going to sleep. Then it happened again. Having no pets or kids, he totally freaked out, jumped out of bed, locked the bedroom door, pulled it shut, and slept on the couch.

After talking with the landlord he found out that there was a story of a kid who had died in the house 100 years prior and that the previous tenet had brought out an excorcist. Apparently it hadn't taken and my friend moved. He says he'll never forget that awful moment of realizing there is something very wrong under the bed. And not in a Fred Savage/Little Monsters kind of way.

Onid / March 2, 2006 8:58 PM

My grandfathers cousins all came here from the old country in the 1930s. All of them were picture brides and came here and were married off to people that their brother met while he worked here in Chicago.
All of the husbands were older than the wives and they all died in the 40s and 50s. Once the sisters were all widows they all went to live in the house in Edgebrook and that is where the house they all died in.
All of us kids thought that the house was weird and gave us weird 'vibes' but we all kind of thought that was fun. We played hide and seek all the time.
Two experiences:

~My mom was brought here from the old country (sponsored by one of the aunts) and one night everyone was retiring to bed and everyone heard the front door open and slam shut and then they all heard footsteps up the stairs and in the twins room.
One aunt had twin daughters that were coming home from a ski trip that night. No one was in the twins room and the front door was closed and no one was on the driveway.
About a half an hour later they got a phone call that the twins were killed in a car crash.
My aunt Stella always insisted that the twins made it home. And my cousins always said noises came from the twins room.

~This one is my experience. I was spending the day with Aunt Stella. At this point she was very old and my mom made me take out the garbage. I took it out back to the alley and I heard noises from the garage. There was nothing in the garage and it hadn't been used since the 70s when the Aunts stopped driving and sold their car and is was 1987.
I got closer to the door to see what was going on and I heard a loud slam. I practically flew back to the house. As soon as I walked in my Aunt Stella said,"You know Onid...your Uncle Mike used to love to putter around in the garage."
That fucking freaked me out.

Natasha Schmidt / May 11, 2006 7:41 PM

i wouldn't say i believe in ghosts because it sounds as if they are killers but i do belive in spirits of dead people because i saw my grandfathers spirit and so did my brother. when i was alseep i felt my grandfathers hands and trust me it was cold.
This happened after his funeral .

so if you say ghost,then i do not believe but spirits, yes i do.

shauni haughian / May 23, 2006 9:45 AM

i belivwe in ghosts and me and my friend here things in our school hall . but can u help me because every night i have to cross my fingers becase i think that some one will jump out at me. plz help

All that / October 27, 2006 3:24 PM

I really don't know if there anything like ghosts but I havent seen one.