Ghost Stories

Growing up, I remember telling ghost stories around the camp fire.  Throughout my life, I’ve heard a variety of ghost stories, never really giving any of them much credit.  Here’s a ghost story that’s absolutely true.  How do I know you ask?  Because it’s happening to me!

Several years ago, I met my wife.  During the early part of our dating relationship, she would occasionally say something like, “did I ever tell you about the time . . . “.  Why yes I wanted to say, several times as a matter of fact, but as a good boyfriend I would respond, “no I haven’t heard about that”.  So she would continue telling me about the time when she was young and her deceased grandmother spoke through her little sister.  Or the time when a full glass of water flew out of her hands, while her other sisters looked on, paralyzed with fear.  My wife would tell me about the long conversations her four year old sister would have with her deceased relatives, while sitting in a corner behind a recliner.

Ghost stories, that’s all they were.  Young girls with wild imaginations and too much free time during the summer.

Now, several years later, I now believe these ghost stories may have been very real!

While we dated, my wife and I would spend most of our time at her house.  Nothing unusual for the first few months, only an occasional noise or two that had no apparent reason or source.  Then one day, while we were in the back bedroom, we heard something fall.  Walking out to the living room to investigate, we found a heavy metal picture frame laying on its face.  This frame had been sitting on a book shelf, leaning back at about a 30 degree angle.  The only way it could have been laying on its face was if it had been pushed from the back.  Although strange, we dismissed it and didn’t give it much thought.

Several days later, several board games came crashing down from a shelf in a guest bedroom closet.  Days after that, my wife came home to find her wine bottles had “fallen” out of a counter top wine rack.  More unexplained noises were heard, shadows seen under the bedroom door . . . people seemed to be in the house, when we were the only two.

We placed a bible on the kitchen table, but evidently it wasn’t on the right page, as pages would be turned.  Not until we hung a cross, blessed by a Catholic Priest, did the strange occurrences end.  Several months later, we married and moved out of her house and into a new house that was being built.

Nothing more was ever said about the strange happenings at my wife’s old house.  We were quite comfortable in our new house, which was only about a mile away from the house we moved from.  Except for a few unexplained noises, which we chalked up to the settling of a new house, all seemed well.  Until just a few days ago!

While working in my basement office late at night, I often hear my wife get up to use the bathroom.  The sound of distant footsteps can be heard coming from the far side of the house, easily recognizable as a late night trip to the potty.  A couple nights ago I heard footsteps that were much louder and much closer, almost directly above me in the living room.  Thinking my wife was having trouble sleeping, I immediately walked upstairs, only to find my wife sound asleep.  I gently nudged her awake to ask if she had just been walking around and all I got  in response was a faint “ugh”.  The next morning I asked her again and she said that maybe she had got out of bed to use the bathroom, but couldn’t remember.  What I heard wasn’t a typical bathroom visit.

Today, I arrived home at about 6:00pm to find my wife in the bathroom getting ready to go out for dinner.  Without even saying “hello” or “glad your home”, my wife simply said “I heard the footsteps”.  Evidently, while she was working out in the basement at about 5:00pm, she heard someone walking around upstairs and thought I was home.  After yelling upstairs to get my attention, she soon realized I wasn’t home.  The house was empty.

When do ghost stories no longer become just stories, when you become one of the main characters.  My wife doesn’t want to believe in ghosts.  I do believe in ghosts and don’t feel threatened or scared of what may be lurking in our home.  My question is “WHY”.

I need your help.  I’m looking for information about ghosts and their affiliation with families and/or objects.  It seems obvious that this ghost is following my wife.  Since she had experiences as a young girl, this ghost it seems has been with her for many years.  After some investigative work, I did learn that the house we lived in, prior to our new house, sat on or near an old Indian burial ground.  I suppose I could understand hauntings or paranormal activity isolated to that area.  But why has it followed us to our new home?  My wife and I had an unexplained house fire about three weeks ago.  Could it have been caused by an angry ghost.  More about the fire can be read here “House Fire – Be Prepared”.

Any information anyone can provide concerning ghosts, please post in the comments section below.  If you have similar ghost stories to share with us, please feel free to do that as well.