I have always felt or heard 'things'.
Nothing malevolent really.
Childhood
As a child, I grew up with Poltergeist activity.
It was nothing new to hear footsteps on new carpet, lights being turned on in the middle of the night, timers going off when no one turned them on, or 'misplaced' articles being found where they had not been before.
My Mother always thought it was the spirit of a young man, who was killed in the Korean War, and had lived there before we moved into the house.
Young Adulthood
When I got married, and moved into our own place, we had a picture of my husband's late mother on top of the television. While we were watching tv and talking, he noticed that the picture frame had moved about 45 degrees. We knew it was too heavy of a frame to move from any vibrations coming from the tv. I figured that somehow I had forgotten to put it back the 'right way' after I had dusted the tv. My husband straightened the picture out, and then we went into the kitchen to eat dinner.
When we went back into the Living Room we again noticed that the picture frame was at a 45 degree angle. My husband thought I was playing a game on him. I had not touched the frame.
I think it was his mother's way of letting him know that she was there, and was happy for him.
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Motherhood
Then, when our oldest daughter was 1 year old, she kept saying the name "Bobby" to me.
No one in our family or circle of friends were named Bobby.
I asked her to show me Bobby. She brought me her beloved Teddy Bear.
He keeps that name to this day.
Family Life
When we moved into our house, things began to change a bit.
I would hear voices talking. I could not make out what the voices were saying, but it seemed as if they were arguing.
As the years went on, We would hear doors open and children calling us. When we would answer, the children were not there, but a few minutes later we would hear the door again and the children calling us, and this time they were there.
We would hear cars pull into the driveway. (You know how you can tell what your car 'sounds' like?) We would wait for the other spouse to come in the house, but after a few minutes of waiting for them to do so, we would go out to see what the hang up was, and there was no car in the drive.
About 15 - 30 minutes after we would hear this, the other spouse would come home.
This happened so many times that we would joke about knowing when each other would be home.
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One afternoon, while I was trying to take a nap my husband and 2 daughters were in the dining room playing a game and talking. I could hear them as I tried to get some sleep.
I heard a female voice call out our youngest daughter's name. This really bothered me, as I felt I was losing my mind. (I never told anyone about the voices.....would you have? ;) )
Anyway, my husband told our youngest daughter that "Mom is calling you".
I JUMPED out of the bed! I said to him "you heard that too?!"
Needless to say, that freaked him out. We decided that it would be a good idea to keep a little closer 'eye' on her for a few days. Nothing bad happened to her though :)
Dark 'things'
There was only one thing that I felt that I could say was 'dark'.
It is just a presence that can be felt by the bathroom door. It is like almost walking into something solid...it makes you hesitate for a second or two. It feels big and tall and not too nice.
When I feel that, I envision myself surrounded in a white light that is surrounded in a blue light.
(For protection)
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'It' lessened after my oldest child moved from home.
She is psychic.
Psychic Daughter
She has told me about hearing 'Angels' singing, an impending pregnancy, an accident involving her elementary school bus, when friends would drop by to visit, a predator on the loose, etc.......
She says that when she 'sees' something, it is like watching a television screen in her head.
Needless to say, when she tells me something of importance...I listen to her.
Cats
Our cat can make me nervous at night. She follows 'something' around the room. Her eyes squint just a bit, her ears perk up, and she moves her head as if following something.
Aromas and Cold Spots
There have been numerous times that I will suddenly feel cold spots. I feel them mainly in the Living Room.
The smell of Roses and Honeysuckle will happen also......even in the middle of winter when the windows are closed shut and no flowers are blooming.
(I have yet to see Roses or Honeysuckle grow in the middle of a N.E. Ohio winter) ;)
Work
Only one time did I notice anything at work.
I was working in a hospital and a call light would keep going off when no patient was in the room.
The last patient to have been in that room had died a few days before, and no other patient had been roomed in there since. It was a holiday, and hospitals use to be very quiet during the holidays. It happened just one day and never happened again.
(Maintenance assured us that there were no problems with the call light system in that room)
The Fan
My Mother passed away in Sept. 1999 after a brave battle with cancer.
Our daughter and her husband were visiting us the night my mother was buried. It was a warm Sept. evening, and my husband had put the small fan that we had in the living room on to cool the room down a bit. After awhile it got a bit cooler and our daughter turned off the fan.
When my husband came back into the living room and noticed that the fan was off, he got a bit upset that we had turned the fan off. We told him it was getting too chilly with it on. He went over to the fan and made sure it was turned off and just not put inbetween 2 settings that sometimes happens. After he assured himself that the fan was indeed turned off, we forgot about the fan and just chatted a bit until our daughter left for her home.
About 30 minutes after she had left, my husband and I were in the living room watching tv and reading sympathy cards that were sent to us. I suddenly realized that the fan was blowing, and I asked my husband why he had turned the fan on again. He looked up and said he hadn't turned it on. He then went over to the fan.
Now he *knew* he had turned it off...but here the fan was now blowing on HIGH!
No one else could of turned on the fan.
We decided that this was a sign from my mother, telling us to "chill out".
;~)
So.....Those are my stories.......in a 'nut shell'.
I have a few pictures of spirits, or ghosts.
I have 2 of them below.
Picture #1:
This picture was taken a few years ago. I was taking
a picture of our son's Karate Awards that I had put on the couch (to take
the picture).
You can see where the flash of light hit the glass
on the awards. That is NOT what I am talking about.
There are 3 different entities seen.
1) Towards the right of the picture, between the hutch
and couch.
2) On the back paneled wall (believe me...this is
NOT on my wall as part of the wood grain)
3) In the middle of the doorway..transparent in front
of the refrigerator.
To me this appears to be somewhat 'military'....I
wonder if it could be my childhood spirit?
Picture #2:
I was told that if I made the color pictures b&w we could see the images better.
So that is what I have done on this picture.
My cat Syl, was running all around the house one night and decided to come to rest at the front door. I happened to have a camera nearby and decided to take a picture and see if anything would show up. (Syl was just starting to turn her head when the picture was snapped. She had been looking at the front door.) The huge white spot on the bottom right is from the flash from the couch. This picture was taken in the 'wee' hours of the morning.
The paneling has its own markings......but this is not what I have marked on the picture. As in the first picture, these images are NOT on the paneling when you are in the room.
The first X on the front door: It appears to me and others who have seen this picture, that it is a bearded man.
The second X: by the plaque...I can not make out exactly what this image is.
The third X: on the bedroom door appears to me and others as a child-like image with their head at an angle.
This picture was taken in December of 1999.
A Very Special Thanks To My Good Friend, Rosemary For This Background.