To get in the Halloween spirit (no pun intended), I thought I'd start a thread where we can post any unexplained experiences you have had. Ghosts? UFO's? Post it here. I'll start. Now, you may or may not know I live in a 100 year old house. We have had a LOT of strange experiences here from loud noises (like glass breaking), lights and TV's coming on by themselves, to the bathroom water taps coming on full tilt on their own. Also, dogs get terrified on our house. I could go on and on about the house but I though I'd share an experience I had several years ago:
I cant remember what year it was, only that it was in the early 90's. I lived in London and commuted to Ingersoll every day to a factory job. I didn't like the 401 so I would take Hamilton Road, which goes directly from London to Ingersoll.
One morning I had the weirdest experience during my drive to work. It was mid to late October and still dark- about 6:30am. Hamilton road at that time would enter Putnam with a "jog" to the left, and you'd cross a bridge. The bridge has since been replaced with a straighter stretch.
Anyway, I was doing my usual 85/kmh towards Putnam. As I entered the "jog" and came onto the bridge there in the oncoming lane was a guy in a wheelchair. He looked about 21 years old, and had shoulder length black hair. I believe he had a beard. He had a white t-shirt on and jeans. It was pretty cool out and he had no coat. He didn't even look at me and stared straight ahead, wheeling the wheelchair-heading westbound. He was right in the oncoming lane, and not too the side. Any sane person would have flinched when I came around the "jog" as I was doing a good clip. I shouted "Holy S*it" as he really startled me!
I could see him in my rear view mirror when I passed. It shook me up pretty good as I felt if he was any closer I would have hit him!
A co-worker was always a couple of minutes behind me so when I got to work I waited in the parking lot for him. I said to him "Did you see that crazy person in Putnam, in the wheelchair, in the middle of the oncoming lane?". He gave me that "what the hell are you talking about?" look and said "No".
I commute the same road now so I'm always leary when I enter Putnam. I told a friend of mine about this and he told me that one of his friends works for the railway and the've seen many strange "apparitions" when passing through Putnam..
Just got back from a post Halloween party at our new neighbors who live a few houses down the street. All our houses on the block are well over 100 years old. As we was giving me the tour I jokingly asked him if he had any ghosts. He said "Don't even go there. We hear footsteps every night and things fly off the shelves all the time" It started when they began renovations (just as most of the strange things in our house) He said if it gets any worse he's bringing in the church. Scary!
Ok, here goes. Mine is not so much scary in a Halloween way but definitey spiritual.
21 years ago we held a Christening party at our home for daughter #1. After it was all done and it was late at night and we had cleaned up but all of the good china, silver service and wine glasses were on the dining room table, just too tired to put it away.
It was probably 1 or 1:30 am and I was sitting in our living room adjacent to the dinning room, lights out just relaxing before going to bed. My wife had put the baby down and was by this time sound asleep.
All of a sudden a whisp of cold air and a shiver down my back, hairs standing on end, the wine glasses tinkle, what a fright. As I look into the dining room I see a glow, then a bearded man wearing flowing white steps out, I get up as my entire body is in goose bumps, he raises his arms and smiles. As soon as he came he left.
I still get shivers and goose bumps just writing this.
My wifes sister in england lives in a 100+ year house and one early evening she was in her kitchen and she saw a person walk by her back window but she just saw the torso part like the person was really tall. There back yard is tottaly enclosed also.She went to the window and looked and saw nothing so she thought it was pretty weird. About three months later her husband saw the same thing and told her about it. She did not tell him at the time her experience so it freaked them out. They found out a little later that the back of there house was used as the pathway for when the undertaker would cart the dead body from the church behind there house to the graveyard down the road.
For ten years I worked at Osgoode Hall in Downtown Toronto. It was built in the early 1800's. Many rumours existed that it was haunted, many rumours of gruesome killings in the catacomes underneath, in the Treasurer's office a man was said to be run through with a bayonet during the 1837 Rebellion. If you know the place it is rather majestic but once inside you could believe it was haunted.
Almost every week for the time I worked there we would get recounts from staff and security staff who were there all night about "sightings". This is a place that employs some of the most educated and cynical people on, earth, no offense to Lawyers.
For me it happend very late one night near midnight as I was leaving to go home. I heard the gayity and laughter of a party, odd I thought so I started up the stairs to the Convocation Hall, a massive and beuatiful hall where we held such events, on my way up one of our security guards was coming down to investigate as well. "Who's having a party tonight" I asked. "Nobody" he said. As we peered in the hall there was a party going on, hollow figures dressed in mid 1800's dress, then in a instant, gone.
I asked the senior corporate counsel, a woman I had great respect for, who often stayed very late and into the mornings about this. She told me it was something she got used to. At first it freaked her out but since they were having a good time and not doing anything scary she got used to it.
Have a look at the photos and decide for yourself.
Back in the mid seventies, my father and I were laying in the backyard at about 11pm, it was during the Percid meteor shower that happens every year. I was about 15 at the time. We witnessed a great show and as it was pretty warm, we laid out for about two hours with a blanket and pillows. Just as we were about to pack it in, at exactly the same time, we saw two objects appear directly above. Seemed to be miles up. They were kind of white opaque, cigar shaped and appeared about the size of your thumbnail held at arms length. they held completely stationary, then moved apart rapidly out of sight. Then appeared again side by side, held perfectly still for about 20 seconds and then moved away together rapidly in a precice zig zag pattern till gone. It made the hair on both out necks stand up. We both turned to each other nervously laughing and said "what was that" at the exactly same time! A UFO sighting? No way were they birds. Too still.
One warm Sunday afternoon, in the summer of 79, My friend and I were up, parked at the local party parking spot, enjoying a couple of cold ones and other things (yes, we used to do this long ago!). His brother had just bought a brand new red Mustang GT 5.0. There was a long hidden uphill, teminating in some really nice twisties as it passed by the spot where we were at, and it was always a thrill to see bikes or hot cars come blasting or drifing through that section power on. And the spot affored a great view of it. Just like a racetrack really. I turned to my friend, and said " picture your brothers new GT rippin' through here" as I pointed over to the turns, simulating a car going through with my hand, and making some engine downshifting sounds. (I used to do that too!)
Sure enough, absolutely right then! his brother appeared, rippin' through the section with his new Mustang!
Needless to say we freaked out.
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65 Laurentian post, 67 Grande Parisienne 4 door HT.
Cool stories. Here's some accounts of what goes on in my house
-I got home from work and was getting changed in the upstairs bedroom. I heard what sounded like the ceramic toothbrush holder located in the bathroom down the hall being thrown into the sink. It was really loud. Thinking one of our cats was getting into mischief I rushed in there ready to yell at the culprit. To my surprise the bathroom was empty and nothing had moved. I checked the bathtub as well-nothing.
-Several times both my wife and I have found the taps in that bathroom sink on full tilt!
-We have a WWII era mantle clock above the china cabinet in our dining room. It was working but the gong started going off whenever it wanted. We let it run down. It's one of those clocks that you have to open the face to wind it. It's clasped shut so you have to pull the clasp and the glass face opens quite stiffly. A few months ago my wife called me at work to ask me if I was "playing with the clock" before I went to work. I said no. She said that she came down stairs after waking up to find the clock face opened wide open. She suspects "someone" was upset that we stopped winding it.
-My wife's parents have to keep their bathroom door closed as the the light comes on during the night (this bathroom is directly below our upstairs one)
-My wife's mom woke up a few months ago about 3am to find what she thought was my wife standing next to her however "she" was dressed in street clothes. My mother in law kept asking her what was wrong. Finally this person turned and walked out of the room. She slept with the lights on for a few nights after that and it took her quite a while to get over that. I've seen old photos of her deceased relatives and one of her sisters shown at a young age is a dead ringer for my wife!
-a few months ago my wife was sitting in the living room watching TV. The TV in our sunroom came on by itself. She got up, turned it off and sat back down in the living room. She no soon sat down and the TV came back on. This happened 3 times in a row!
-I was sitting on our deck which is located off our sunroom. Next to the sunroom is our kitchen. I was talking to a friend on the phone when all of a sudden I could here what sounded like someone pouring a bowl of cereal in the kitchen. Funny thing is the sound wouldn't stop. It went for about 30 seconds when I finally told my friend to hold the line while I checked it out. As soon as I walked into the house the noise stopped. The kitchen was empty!
-My wife often hears what sounds like someone clasping the lock on our front door early in the morning after I've left for work. Twice it's been so loud she goes downstairs to check the door.
-We've had friends visit with three different dogs. All three dogs are good natured. Two of these dogs got very upset in our kitchen/sunroom area. The second dog that did this kept lunging back like something was coming at him. I took photos but nothing showed. A neighbors dog stopped by to shoot the breeze. He had his Pug with him. He was at our front door landing next to the stairs leading upstairs. All of a sudden he started shaking and barking while staring up the stairs. My neighbor kept saying "What's wrong with you? I've never seen you act like this before". I casually said to him "We have a ghost" as if everyone has one! We looked after a friend of my wife's dog while she was on vacation. In the middle of the night he freaked out in our kitchen, again staring at something and barking. He also refused to go up our stairs.
-We've heard scratching downstairs that sounds like our cats in the litter box. We go down there -it stops and nothing is there. We walk upstairs and it starts again
-If anyone ever finds the remote to our surround sound, please let me know. It fell off the face of the earth about 2 years ago. Our neighbors with strange happenings in their house can't find the remote to their VCR
-My father in law (worlds largest skeptic) has been awaken several times in the night to the sound of something being dragged across their dresser
-the first night my inlaws spent at our place my mother in law said to my wife the next morning "You have ghosties here- the cupboard doors kept methodically opening in closing starting from the left cupboard and would move on to the next one until "it" got to the last one"
-my inlaws hear tapping on their patio doors in the middle of the night
-my inlaws were jolted by the sound of breaking glass in their kitchenette. They were both sitting about 6 feet away. My wife walked in to find her dad on his hands and knees looking under the cupboards trying to find what broke. There was nothing there.
-my son was working on our desktop computer which is located on the second floor in the hallway. He heard "click" and saw our bedroom light come on. He ran downstairs white as a ghost to tell us. I told him the switch was probably not clicked all the way off. When he wasn't around I checked the switch. It is one of those "decora" switches and it is impossible to have it partially on or off!
-Our cats go into our washroom and stair at a spot in the corner of the wall at the ceiling and start whining
-the latest (and scariest to me) incident I have experienced has happened twice. I've was sitting on the couch watching TV and surfing the web on my laptop (likely on here!). To my right past the dining room is the doorway to our kitchen. In the corner of my eye I caught a tall dark figure walk past the doorway! It was enough to cause me to turn my head and look. Whatever it is it's as tall as the doorway (about 7ft). Scared the crap out of me. My wife was upstairs ripping up and old carpet in the hallway at the time. Things always seem to happen when we are renovating. It happened a second time about 2 weeks ago. This time the "figure" rose from the doorway and moved to the right towards the side door. Last week my wife was petting one of our cats on her lap. All of a sudden he leaped up and started staring at the same doorway to our kitchen. His tail went all fat and his ears swept back in fear. It lasted a couple of minutes.
I'd think I were nuts if I were the only one experiencing these things!
If you wish I can share other stories friends and co workers have confided in me after I have told them about my experiences.
Do you ever actually feel threatened in your own house? Or do you take the attitude that you wish to be at peace with whatever this is in your place? Or do you just ever become angry?
Yes, share more with us.
Mark.
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65 Laurentian post, 67 Grande Parisienne 4 door HT.
I'm ok with it. My wife and I agree that if it ever got to the point that we felt threatened by it (or if I ever woke up to find "someone" standing over my bed) we'd be outta here! My wife hosted a psychic party here not long after we moved in. She did it as a favor for one of her friends who wanted to do one but her husband wouldn't allow it in their house). This guy was pretty good and he said we had the spirit of an older lady here. The interesting thing he said was that she was "grateful" we moved in. She didn't like the previous owners but really liked the owners before them. This is interesting as we have been told the previous owners really didnt do anything with the house in the 7 years they lived here (proof of this was a furnace filter that looked about as old). However, the people who lived here before them did extensive renovations.
Ok, here's some more spine chilling stories from friends and co workers. These folks have no reason to make this stuff up.
A former employee of mine lives in a small town near here with her boyfriend. He was previously married and lived in the same house for a number of years. Well, since she has lived there she has experienced all sorts of strange happenings. Last winter they would wake up to find the front door wide open and snow blowing in. It got so bad they would put a chair in front of the door before they went to bed. When they started doing that they would then find the back door open! In front of that door went another chair. The very next day after they did this she came downstairs and both doors were still closed. She breathed a sigh of relief and looked outside to find the trunk of her car open! Their dog often does the same thing dogs do in our house-get scared and bark at something that isn't there. Here's the scary part: Last "family day" her boyfriend had to work while she had the day off. He left for work about 6:30am. Shortly after while she was still lying in bed she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She thought perhaps her boyfriend forgot something and came back into the house. She was still half asleep and didnt think nothing of it. A few seconds later she opened her eyes to find a man in his late 30's wearing a 1970's style jogging suit standing over her! She screamed and closed her eyes. When she opened them he was gone. She thought she might have been dreaming but was really shaken. Her boyfriend called on his break and she told him about what happened. He didn't say much about it. When he got home he said to her "I didn't want to frighten you when you told me what happened but the same thing happened to my wife 5 years ago!". A few weeks later they had some friends over that had stayed at their place this past Christmas. They told their friends about what happened and one of the ladies looked shocked and said "I thought I was dreaming when I stayed over at Christmas, but I woke up in the night to find what looked like a woman standing over me!". They are still trying to determine the history of their place. I think some people are more sensitive to these things. Another story-same person who used to work for me.
She came into work talking a mile a minute. The night before she was heading home on a small country road. Up in the distance on the side of the road she saw what looked like a boy in his early teens walking on the side of the road. What struck her odd was he was dressed in 1800's style clothing. A first she figured he was a mennonite kid. She slowed down as she approached him. Just before she was to overtake him he looked over his shoulder at her with a blank expression and then he just poofed into the cornfield beside the road. She said he didn't run into the field. It was like was a apparition that changed shape into a ball of energy and whooshed into the field.
Another one from a tech that worked for me at the GM store. This guy is a Harley type, about 300lbs, covered in tatoos. Him and his former girlfriend rented a house just down the street from me about 3 years ago. He said one day he was in the basement loading the washing machine when he heard what sounded like a little girl say "I'd like that mommy". He said he dropped everything and ran up the stairs! A few weeks later him and his wife were lying in bed when all of a sudden they heard what sounded like someone trying to break down their basement door. They slept on the second floor and he said both of them just lie frozen in bed until the noises stopped! It went on for about 20 minutes. He had heard that a small child died on the site when the foundation was being laid 100 years ago.
Another girl I used to work with told me about what started happening last year when her parents decided to rebuild the foundation on their century old home here in town. They raised the house on special jacks in order to repair a section of foundation. After that started her younger sister (late teens) started hearing a voice call her name. She'd find the shower running full hot! The clincher was one night during the summer she apparently witnessed a fan in her room shut off. She claims she could see the switch on the fan move. At that point she left the house and stayed with friends for a few days. Her parents have also heard the kitchen cupboard doors opening and closing in the middle of the night. Seems these ghosts hate home renovations!
A sales girl I worked with says when she was young she woke up to find a "woman walk towards her bedroom window (2nd floor) and climb out the window". Her parents told her she was dreaming but later when she was grown up told her she probably wasn't dreaming and that house had all sorts of paranormal activity and didn't want to scare her.
Great stories, you tell them in such a way that when the wife asked me a minute ago, if I could go down and change the laundry, I had second thoughts as to say yes.
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65 Laurentian post, 67 Grande Parisienne 4 door HT.
Well, it happened again. I got up this morning and started eating breakfast. My wife got up and came down to the dining room. We're talking and then my wife stops and says "Look at the clock". Here's what we saw:
The damn face has been unclasped and opened! This is the second time in about 6 months. I swear, you have to physically unclasp the face and it's very stiff to open. A breeze or temp change couldn't do this. It's fairly high up and pretty much impossible for our cats to get to it. I think someone wants us to fix the clock! Freaky!!
Todd you just let us know if one of them ghosts touches the Laurentian, that's when i bring the ol' proton pack over and bust some heads, spiritually speaking.
My wife mentioned to the inlaws that it looked like we had a ghostly encounter and her mom says "YES! I heard someone shuffling around in here (their granny flat). I yelled over to dad "Can you hear that?" (they are both disabled and one sleeps in the bed, the other in a special chair). He said "No". But then it got louder and I said "Can you hear that now??" and He said "Yes, what are you doing? I said "Nothing!"" She said it was as if someone was shuffling around the room
