This forum has been too long without a ghost story, so I thought I'd throw one in: About three years ago a dear friend of my brother's was under some degree of stress because one of her children was diagnosed as being terminally ill. There was a chance that the cancer would go into remission, but it was a slim chance at best. The stress on her wasn't doing her health any good and she needed a rest badly. One day she had left her kids with her sister and came over to our house just to relax among friends. We were having a barbecue. As she walked up the driveway with the snacks she had brought, she told us about a dream she had where a woman had entered her home while she was watching over her sick son. The woman picked up her son's hand, then looked at her and said "Everything's going to be fine. You can relax now." She had awoken with a strange feeling of calmness about her. When she checked in on her son, he relayed a similar dream where a lady came into his room, held him and sang him a song that made him feel better inside. We took the snacks into the kitchen and headed back outside to introduce her to the rest of the family. (She had only ever met my brother before this day.) As we cut through the front room she stopped right in her tracks. With her jaw on the floor, she pointed at a picture on the piano. "That's her!" she exclaimed. "That's the woman I dreamed about!" She was visibly shaken, so I got her some water and we walked her outside so she could sit down in the fresh air. My brother explained to her about the picture. The picture was my mother's graduation photo from high school. She had died about one month before. The child's cancer soon went into remission and he now lives a healthy normal life. This is a true story.
In May,1999 members of my family, along with neighbors and friends gathered to celebrate the life of our beloved Aunt, the family matriarch. She passed away just two months prior to her ninety-eighth birthday. A couple of day's before the funeral, some family member's decided to travel to an old family cemetary. I was wandering aimlessly around the cemetary reading the headstones when I came upon the headstone of a great-uncle that had saved my life by jumping in and pulling me out of an irrigation ditch I had fallen into. I was about three and one half years of age, circa 1930-31. He was the only adult around that saw me fall in. I saw him on his death bed in January, 1949. I placed both hands on the headstone, and with closed eyes and bowed head, in silent prayer, I thanked my Uncle for giving me a long and happy life. As I stood there I felt a slight chill and a presence. I thought my wife had walked up behind me. I turned to my left and there stood my Uncle, an apparition of my Uncle. This was not a filmy, floating ghost but a flesh and bones person. He had an old slouch hat on his head, a faded pair of bib-overalls with a white shirt open at the collar. We made eye contact, he smiled at me, he looked down at his grave, and he was gone. A TRUE STORY
That's an interesting story indeed, all the more so since it's first hand. I have a second hand ghost story that involved my best friend some years back. He was making the long drive back up to his folk's home in the country. His sister was with him on this trip as well as his friend Roger. Well, it was along this windy country road that nature called and my friend had to pull over to relieve himself. Unfortunately, there weren't any facilities nearby other than those afforded by Mother Nature so my friend pulled off onto an overgrown side road. He got out along with Roger and walked a little down this road to find the appropriate tree to relieve himself by while Roger did the same. My friend's sister stayed in the car waiting for the two of them. My friend, having finished, headed back towards the car hearing Roger's footsteps coming up behind him on the road. My friend sits down in the car and hears the passenger door handle being lifted and dropped twice or so. My friend calls out to Roger that "it's open" i.e. unlocked "let's go" while his sister sits amused in the backseat not paying too much attention to the figure outside the door. Around about this time, here comes Roger up the road having just finished his business and still making his way toward the car. On seeing Roger on the road, my friend looked to see who was outside the car trying to get in; whoever was there simply wasn't anymore. Needless to say my friend was quite confused since he thought that the footsteps behind him on the road was Roger's and both he and his sister had glimpsed a figure outside of the car trying to get in, whom they both assumed to be Roger. This figure simply disappeared once Roger started coming back up the road and it was still daylight when all this transpired. As for this side road that they pulled over on, my friend said it simply look like some overgrown road probably going towards a farm house or such, nothing atypical about it other than the overgrowth suggesting it hadn't been traversed in awhile. This is also a true tale, but my friend's folks didn't seem to believe it when he relayed it to them on his arrival.
The following story’s are not as dramatic as the ones already told but they are first hand and I believe to be true. One Friday night when I was in my early 20’s I came home from being out late. I had ran out of money and was really in need for a cigarette. Unfortunately I had a pack at home. My mother had gone to baby sit and stay over night at my brothers house, so I was alone. Anyway I believe I went to bed smoking a cigarette and as you can guess the bed caught fire. I was in bed at the time asleep when I herd someone call my name. It was Saturday about two AM, but I was sleeping and thinking someone was trying to wake me up to go to work. I simply ignored the call of my name which was normal for me since I am not a day time person. Anyway the name calling came again a little louder, and as usual I ignored it again. Then all at once it seemed as if the room was filled with the screaming of my name by a male voice (I think) that simply scared the hell out of me and I came out of the bed like a person jumping off a trapeze. When I hit the floor I turned around to see the sheets, curtains, and wall paper burning on one side of my bed. I must have went into a mild shock since the next time I became aware I was still standing there and the fire was spreading. To make a long and somewhat funny story short the fire department was called after I failed to put it out and it did extensive damage. I felt very lucky to have been awakened by the Voice, and can only think it was my father, or another spirit who woke me. My father had passed away sever months prior to this time. In my thirty’s I was in the habit of coming home from work and laying down on the bed and meditating , knowing I should sit up and do it since I fell asleep on occasion. At this time I was having problems and trying desperately to get a job in my home area, or somewhere else that was more to my temperament and liking. I didn’t think I had fallen asleep, and I herd a knock on my apartment door and got up and went to and opened the door to find no one there. I went back to my meditation and the same thing happened, and again no one was at the door. Confused I went back to the meditation and after what seemed like several minutes I herd a voice say “don’t worry, it will be OK”. This time I was freaked out and got up and stayed up and went out later that evening only to return to bed later that night. Within a week I received a call for a job offer in my home town area which I accepted. I took notice of this incident since I had the experience only week prior with the voice, and my field of work was pretty saturated at the time and it was very hard to find a new job, no matter how much experience you had. During those years I felt as if I were physic in some way, but how I didn’t know. I had many experiences that are too long to go into now. Since that time it seems as if it has left me. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I think it is in part because of my work. My work requires a lot of logical thinking, and I think after working in the field these many years I have become toooooo much of a nick picker. It seems to me I pick the hell out of everything and seem to overanalyze things. I like this in some ways since it keeps me from accepting everything I read or hear, but at the same time I think I have lost a part of myself because of it. Wish I could have it both ways. [This message has been edited by Zappers (edited July 17, 2000).]
