Ghost stories

[beachbum1958]

.....

 

[BeachMomma]

He's not been around lately. My only story was on his thread, so I'm definitely open minded.

Would you mind telling us here too?

 

[BeachMomma]

I talked to my father about some of the stories on here, and he told me one of his own, about the house we lived in when I was a baby. My father was a Cardio-Thoracic surgeon, teaching at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, in the UK, and we lived in a big late-Georgian house in Clifton, the Regency part of Bristol. One afternoon, shortly after I was born, my mother was putting me down, when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs outside the 1st Floor bedroom, heavy solid steps, like my father, who she just naturally assumed it was. She called out to ask him what he was doing home, as it only late morning, bright and sunny, early Spring. The footsteps stopped at the open door, and mother turned, expecting to see my father standing there; what she saw instead was a man in a red tunic, with gold buttons, gold epaulettes, black trousers with red stripes, holding a white campaign helmet under his arm, waxed moustache drawn to points, and hair parted down the middle. This man stood in the doorway, smiling at mother, looking around the room, then turned and walked back down the stairs, the sound of his footsteps stopping half-way down. (I should explain, the house is built over 5 floors, father calls it Dracula's castle because the stairs are those 18th century stairs that spiral all the way from ground floor to top floor). Anyway, mother was rooted to the spot while he stood there, smiling at her, wondering how this man had gotten into the house, and why a soldier in full Victorian Redcoat ceremonials was wandering around our house in the first place. She carried me downstairs and checked all the doors and windows, all locked, and none of the dogs were acting up as they did when strangers came to the house. Mother had noticed that his helmet badge had a large '24' on it, and she told father all this when he came home. He immediately called the police, and a policemen came to the house, took details, and told father that he wasn't going to file a report, because this house was well known, this man had been reportd by previous occupants stretching back to at least 60 years. Father researched the previous owners of the house, and found a family who's only son had been killed in Natal, South Africa in 1879, at a place called Isandlwana, a very famous place if you were ever in the British army; it was where an entire British regiment was massacred by the zulu under Cetewayo. The regiment in question? The South Wales Borderers, also known as The 24th Regiment of Foot. We still own that house, but I've never been there except when I was a very small baby, have no wish to go there.

Did she ever see him or sense his presence again?

I'm originally from the Southern US. A lot of Civil War battles were fought near where I grew up, so ghost stories abound. The hospital that I was born in had been a hospital for the Underground Railroad during the Civil War. It's closed now and has been preserved as a historic site.

I remember hearing stories from nurses who worked their early careers at that hospital. Sometimes if they had to go into dark or deserted areas of the hospital at night, they supposedly saw wards with beds in neat rows filled with injured or sick soldiers and escaping slaves.

The state that I lived in (Tennessee) was Confederate, but the immediate area that I was from in East TN was predominantly Union. When they talk about brothers fighting brothers in the Civil War, that was very common in my particular area. The Civil War was a very dark era in US history. I don't know how much US history you're aware of, but when Lincoln was assassinated, Andrew Johnson took over as president. Andrew Johnson lived in my hometown.

His home, tailor shop, and birthplace are in my town. Right down the street from his home, there is a large, historic church. The church has a cannonball embedded in the outside wall. If I can find one, I'll post a picture at the end of this post. As the story goes, Gen. John Morgan was standing at one of the downstairs windows of the church when Confederate soldiers fired the cannon at him. They missed, but you'll be able to see from the picture that they didn't miss by all that much. Gen. Morgan was killed in battle later that day. The story of his death is quite interesting as well. A local family had sons fighting on both sides of the Civil War. While the parents remained neutral and often entertained officers on both sides of the war, the daughter-in-law was a staunch Union supporter. Lucy, the daughter-in-law, sent a message to the Union Army that Gen. Morgan was at her parents house. He was killed that day in battle in the mansion's garden outside their house - directly across the street from the "Cannonball Church." Lucy's ghost is reported to be seen walking deliberately between the house and the church. People believe that she felt remorse for turning Gen. Morgan in, and she's trying to warn him to stay away from the garden.

That cannonball is still there. It's protected by law, and as far as I know, nobody has tried to steal it or vandalize the church - which is a surprise in itself.

If you're interested, you can read the story of the Cannonball Church here. If you read the story, you'll read about the hauntings in the area, with specific mention of the Dickson Williams Mansion. That mansion later became Greeneville Hospital (the hospital that I was born in) and was later reverted to the Dickson Williams Mansion where it is still being preserved as a historic site. There is also a historic hotel a little farther down the street that is preserved as a historical site. "General Morgan Inn" is still open and in business today - or at least it was when I moved away from that area 12 years ago.

Here's a picture of the church with the cannonball still lodged in the facade:

http://tnjn.com/content/storyimage/2008/03/31/DSCN4227.512.JPG

 

[BeachMomma]

Usually when I sleep I sleep hard. I don't usually remember my dreams or quickly the are gone.

My coworker swore to us her house was haunted. She told us ther was a sealed off room in her house, and noises that would happen. Nothing malicious, just things. She has a husband and 3 kids in that house as well as 4 animales so if it meant to harm I think it would have done something to provoke the animals. I'm a strong believer in that animales senses with higher perceptions then humans.

Anyway one night 4 coworkers went to a concert and a bar we got drunk and walked back to Jill's house, the haunted house. 3 am I was, I believe, woken up to a man looking at me. He was tallish, his features blurry. I couldn't see the other 2 girls. He looked at my face and asked me in this crotchety old voice " what are you?" I automatically responded "I'm Indian. My parents are from India." He kind of floated away and I heard "Indian, eh?" It was so weird. I get like this when I'm drugged. I remember floating up like I'm looking down. I see the man kinda walk around the room, like he's thinking about something. I was terrified, I felt like he could really hurt me or something. I tried to wonder if it was a game. It was playing out like a movie. Guy turned and came closer to me like he's inspecting me. Everything was so clear but his face. My eyes wanted to dance away from him.
"Do you believe ghosts?" He asked.
I know I started freaking. I was struggling I had this force keeping me asleep in this state. Next thing I went into this black void. And honestly I started praying. I said 2 Hindu prayers and 2 christian prayers in my head. I blanked out saying them in my head.

I woke up to my phone Alarm next to my head going off. Right before I opened my eyes the mans voice was in my head. " you have a formidable mind. You are strong" I had goosebumps all over me.

I told my friend I'm not sleeping in her house again. I have goosebumps just writing this.

I got goosebumps reading it too! I have to agree with his assessment; you are a strong woman. I doubt many men would have the cojones (ghostly or otherwise) to disagree!

Back to the topic of animals, I also believe that animals can sense things we can't. As I mentioned elsewhere in the thread, we've had quite a few things happen here in this house that don't have a rational explanation. We currently have 2 labrador retrievers and 3 cats. The labs don't behave abnormally, but BB and I can't count how many times we've seen 2 of the three cats stare off into space - staring intently at something only they can see. We always look to see what they're staring at. It could be a lizard, frog, spider, or snake. Most of the time, we see nothing, but they sure as hell see something.

 

[BeachMomma]

I never believed in all this stuff before, but I have to say, out here, at the sharp end, I have seen some next-level, grade-A weird. The unit I work in is the isolation trauma centre, so-called beause so may of the boys who come in have live rounds or munitions still inside them, and we have to operate in armour and ablative packing, so the only people in or out are in whites or green scrubs, and yet I see what appears to be fully kitted-up combat patrol team members in desert DPM's strolling out, that I know didn't go in, and I find the boy in that particular bay has passed on. It just keeps happening. On one truly scary occasion, a boy, only 17, for god's sake, The Rifles regiment, stepped on a AP mine, severe abdominal trauma, right arm amputated above the elbow, most of his poor face gone, both legs vapourised, non-survivable injuries, and yet I SAW him walk out in full kit, DPM's, Osprey armour, SA-80 firearm, everything, as though he was going on patrol, he looked me in the face and grinned, and high-port saluted me with his weapon in his right hand, the right arm I'd amputated. I thought I'd seen everything this place could throw at us, can someone please tell me what I'm seeing, because I have no answers that make sense, and no-one wants to discuss it here.

First of all, BeachBum, may I please thank you for your service. I appreciate the job you're doing out there, and I appreciate the conditions you must work under. (I spent 20 years as a scrub tech before I became a nurse.) After reading your story, I'm a little ashamed of myself for all the times I bitched about having to wear a lead apron under my gown for x-ray cases. It's easy to take any job for granted, but we work in a pretty damn good environment. The most danger I had to worry about in the OR was a needle stick or a backache from a long, tedious case - or facing the wrath of a pissed off surgeon.

The next time I see the hospice social worker at the hospital, I'll try to talk to her about your stories. In the meantime, I hope you'll take advantage of your unit's Chaplain - whether you're religious or not. I'm sure you know they're trained to deal with people of all religions as well as those who practice no particular faith at all.

I have no doubt that the memories of the things you see will stay in your head for far too long. I hope you can someday come to terms with the things you have to witness. Trauma is bad enough under the best circumstances; I can't imagine what it must be like to deal with the trauma you see on a daily basis.

 

[BeachMomma]

As a surgical technologist (aka scrub nurse), I worked for quite a few years in both surgery and endoscopy. The story that I will soon tell happened in one of the endoscopy departments. The daily routine was as follows: Come in to work, set up the procedure room I was assigned to, set up the room where we cleaned the scopes, go get breakfast, come back and do a day's worth of endoscopic procedures, give the room a final clean at the end of the day, turn off all the equipment and restock the room. The equipment used in endoscopy is *extremely* expensive, and we'd get written up if we didn't take proper care of it.

One day in particular, I was assigned to the room at the far end of the department. My charge nurse sat at a table in the hallway a couple of rooms down the hall from the room I'd been in. Before I go any further, you have to know a little about my boss. She was an older nurse and about as no-nonsense a person as I've ever met. She could be fun to work with, but for the most part, she was deadly serious - especially about her department.

So this day, I finished my cases, cleaned the room, turned off all the equipment, and made a mental note of supplies I needed to restock. I went to the supply room to get my stuff, and when I returned to the procedure room, every single piece of equipment was turned on again - even equipment that we hadn't used that day. For some reason, I got annoyed. I figured somebody was playing a practical joke, and I wasn't in the mood to deal with practical jokes that day. (I'd already threatened - in jest - to kill the doc. He'd gotten all over my last good nerve pretty much all day long.)

I came out of the room and asked the charge nurse who went in there while I was gone. She didn't look up from her paperwork - just said nobody. I flat out told her I didn't believe her. At that point, she looked up at me, and I could tell she wasn't joking. She wanted to know why I asked. I told her about the equipment being turned on. She said, "Oh, that's Dr. So and So." (I can't remember his name now, but I didn't know that doctor.) I asked who the fuck was Dr So and So, and what the fuck was he doing messing with my shit. In all seriousness, she replied, "He's our ghost."

At that point, I burst out laughing. "Cmon, boss, don't shit me. It's been a long day and I'm not in the mood." She insisted that she wasn't shitting me. It seems that Dr. So and So had been the Chief of Endoscopy for many years. Upon his death, he bequeathed enough money to the department that they were able to build the department I worked in - and it was a damn nice department with state of the art technology. She said his "ghost" sometimes played jokes on the techs, and apparently he'd decided it was time to meet me.

I scowled but went back in the room and once again turned off the equipment. I made the boss come in with me to see for herself that I was leaving the room as it should be. (Cover your ass, ya know.) I eventually forgot about it.

Several months later, I got called in late at night to do a procedure. When we were there on callback, only a few people were there - myself, the patient, the doctor, the nurse, and anesthesia. The department doors were locked so the only way to get in was to either have security unlock the doors from their office or to badge our way in.

After we finished the procedure, I did my routine. Cleaned the equipment, turned everything off, and did a few odd jobs to have something to do. The doctor and anesthesia had already left; it was just the nurse, the patient, and myself left in the department. Obviously, the patient was still under anesthesia, so the nurse had to stay with the pt in PACU - post-op/recovery room. I went back in the procedure room to do one last check, and all the equipment was on again - even the radio blaring at top volume.

Now, I tend to be pretty grouchy when I'm called in late at night. My patience level is at an all time low, and I don't put up with very much bullshit at all. My sense of humor doesn't bother waking up with me. I remembered what the boss had told me about that doctor.

Out loud and in my sternest scrub tech voice, I said, "Dr. (and called him by name), you don't work here anymore. This is MY room now. You need to quit messing with it! Stop playing with MY equipment!" I didn't think much more about it, turned the stuff off - again lol - and went to PACU to sit with the nurse and patient until the pt was awake enough that we could take him or her back to their hospital room.

I never heard from Dr So and So again. I never had another problem with my equipment. Every now and then, one of the other techs complained about having similar equipment issues. I guess Dr So and So just needed to know that I wouldn't put up with his games. Many doctors have the personality that they like to push staff members' buttons to see how much they can get away with. Those doctors want the staff member to argue back; that's how they decide if the staff member is worthy of their respect.

I guess I passed Dr So and So's test. He never bothered me again.

 

[bluebomber]

OK, BlueBomber will have a few stories later about the house we're living in now. I'm going to tell you what I've seen and heard firsthand, as well as what my daughter has seen and heard firsthand.

But first, a little background. Right after BB and I got married, my dad passed away. I buried him 2 weeks to the day after our wedding. Thirty-three days later, my mom passed away. It was a rough start for newlyweds. It was even rougher on my daughter. She was just barely 8 when daddy died. She didn't try to talk to me about them for a long time because she didn't want to upset me.

Fast forward a few years. My daughter was going through a rough stage. She'd gotten involved in a group of kids that I would've preferred she avoid. This is what she noticed - and there were times that BB and I saw them as well.

Her bedroom is at the end of the hallway - next to our bedroom. If her door is open, we can walk straight through the hall and into her bedroom without making a turn. Many times, she'd be in her room and see a person walking into the room out of the corner of her eye. When she turned to look, there was nobody there.

One night in particular, she came out of her room looking for me. I was in my bedroom reading before I went to sleep. She asked what I'd wanted. Of course, I didn't know what she was talking about. She said, "You came in my room. Did you want something?" I told her, no, I hadn't gone into her room. I hadn't left my room.

She said, "I saw you come into my room. I was sitting on my bed playing my guitar and saw somebody come in my room. When I looked up, I saw you standing there. I asked what you wanted, and you turned and walked away without saying anything."

I repeated that I hadn't gone into her room at all and I'd been in bed for a while reading. She knew I was telling the truth, but she still didn't know what to make of it.

Other things happened around the house. The microwave screwed up intermittently. We'd program it to do whatever, but it did something entirely different. That happened several times to all of us - my daughter, BB, and myself. Alarm clocks displayed the wrong time, and the camera's timestamp would have a wrong time and date on it - even though none of us had messed with them. The alarm clock thing usually happened to me. I was always the one who noticed the timestamp on the camera being wrong; I was the only one who used that camera. BB and my daughter didn't even know how to use it - much less change the settings.

The strangest part of the whole thing was that these things only happened when my daughter was here at the house. When she went to her dad's, all was quiet again.

We finally chalked it up to my parents' being here to keep an eye on my daughter and trying to help her through the rough patch she was going through. The idea gave my daughter peace, so we went with that explanation. She began talking to the shadows or the person she "saw" in her room. It was her way of dealing with several stressors, so I let it be.

When she got past that rough patch, the strange happenings stopped. To the best of my knowledge, we've never had a problem since. I changed alarm clocks, and we don't use that camera anymore, but we do still have the same microwave - and we've never had a problem with it since.

BB will tell you other things that have happened in this house before we moved in. There is another possible explanation for the unusual occurrences, but my daughter wanted to believe it was her grandparents - so that's the explanation we used.

Ok 1st off let me tell you that a lady died in that room (of old age).she was the owner of the house before i bought it from they're family.

I have come across a few weird things before they ever moved in. The cats staring down the hall towards that room just sitting there looking at nothing,ok yeah, cats are weird and do strange stuff lol.but the cats have always had a fascination with that room.

One time i was laying on the couch just watching t.v. and the fucking fan blade off the ceiling fan snapped off at the bracket and flew across the room.i took fan to home depot and the guy didnt believe me he said those dont just break.yeah well this one did.(like i was swinging from it or something lmao)

When she says screwing up intermittently she really means-it would just turn on like it was cooking something,yet noone was in there,i'd go and open the door to stop it close the door just to have it come back on a lil while later with the display all screwed up showing weird digits. So i unplugged it plugged it back in lil while later same thing.so i unplugged it again and left it unplugged for a day.plugged it back in and yet again started running...so we left it unplugged unless we needed.couple days later plugged it back in and it has worked fine ever since (7 years later )

The alarm clock was weird too. It would just start blinking, again with weird digits. partial numbers. same song and dance unplug,plug back in,repeat pretty much everyday for a couple days then it just starts working fine.

 

[BeachMomma]

I have come across a few weird things before they ever moved in. The cats staring down the hall towards that room just sitting there looking at nothing,ok yeah, cats are weird and do strange stuff lol.but the cats have always had a fascination with that room.

One time i was laying on the couch just watching t.v. and the fucking fan blade off the ceiling fan snapped off at the bracket and flew across the room.i took fan to home depot and the guy didnt believe me he said those dont just break.yeah well this one did.(like i was swinging from it or something lmao)

I never thought about the significance of the cats' fascination with that room! The cats drive us CRAZY. If we can't find them, they're in that room. One likes to hide in the closet, another likes to lay on the bed, and the third cat lays under the desk. If I close the door, I have to do a kitty sweep first. I can't count how many times I've closed the door and missed a cat - and shut them in the room.

OK, BB, I know you weren't swinging from the fan blade. Who was she?

 

[bluebomber]

I can't remeber who she was. All i know is she didnt have a glowing pentagram on her forehead

 

[BeachMomma]

I can't remeber who she was. All i know is she didnt have a glowing pentagram on her forehead

Asshole!

Love ya!

(But you're still an asshole!)

 

[bluebomber]

compliments will get you everywhere

 

[dutchrain]

So he didn't even remember telling you that? Yeah, that is weird. It had to confuse the hell out of you as a little girl.

Welcome to the thread! Glad you like it! Stick around, come back often, and enjoy telling and reading shivery stories!

Thanks, I certainly will be back, I like a good shiver once in a while.

He remembers nothing, when we happen to talk about it and I mention what he said in the car, he stills says I have made that up, or dreamed about it, because I was just a little girl when it occurred In his opinion I am just telling a fantasy of mine like it is the truth.

"You think it happened like this because you was shocked and sought a way to deal with Mark telling us so bluntly that Bob had died."

One of my grandfathers could heal certain illnesses of cows. Just some, and only by cows, by putting his hand on the cows head and telling it to recover from the illness because he (my grandfather) was fed up with it and he didn't have money for the vet anyway.

 

[BeachMomma]

compliments will get you everywhere

Somebody will soon tell us to get a room.

To everybody else, I'm not scared of dead bodies. I've been around more of them than I care to admit. I've participated in hundreds of resuscitation efforts, worked in the Emergency Room for a few years, and have even pronounced several patients - determined that no signs of life are present, no pupil response, breath sounds, or heart sounds present, and the heart monitor reads asystole (flatline).

One night, a couple of the hospital engineers came to our department to check our call bell system. We typically have a full house. Our department is also VERY long and narrow. This night, we had one expired patient in a room near the nurses' desk, but the only empty room was way down at the end of the hall. The other thing you need to know is that we all carry phones that are programmed to our assigned patients' call bells. If I'm taking care of the patient in 204 and she hits her call bell, it rings my phone - and the PCT's phone (nurses' aide) who is also caring for her.

The engineers wanted us to go into a room and hit the call bell. The secretary was going to run down to the empty room at the end of the hall to turn on the call bell. I told her to just go to the room with the expired patient and just hit that call bell. She refused. I laughed at her and went into that room myself to hit the call bell. I didn't think about that call bell ringing the nurse's and aide's phones.

Everybody knew there was an expired patient in room 222. I went in there, hit the call bell, and went back to the nurses' desk. Almost immediately, both the nurse and the PCT who'd been assigned to that room came hauling ass to the desk. "WTF is going on? The bell in 22 just rang me!" Their faces were white.

I had to stop laughing before I could explain what had happened. I *should* have played it up. I'm mean, but I'm not that mean. I told them what we'd done. It scared the hell out of both of them when that call bell rang their phones. hehehe

 

[BeachMomma]

Thanks, I certainly will be back, I like a good shiver once in a while.

He remembers nothing, when we happen to talk about it and I mention what he said in the car, he stills says I have made that up, or dreamed about it, because I was just a little girl when it occurred In his opinion I am just telling a fantasy of mine like it is the truth.

"You think it happened like this because you was shocked and sought a way to deal with Mark telling us so bluntly that Bob had died."

One of my grandfathers could heal certain illnesses of cows. Just some, and only by cows, by putting his hand on the cows head and telling it to recover from the illness because he (my grandfather) was fed up with it and he didn't have money for the vet anyway.

Kids simply don't make shit like that up. Yeah, they make up a lot of stuff, but that's not the kind of thing a kid would think to say.

Kids are also often more intuitive than adults. Kids see things that adults don't see. For example, the kid in the hospital story that I told early in the thread. She saw the old-fashioned nurse when most others didn't see it. My daughter was 11 or 12 when the strange things happened in the house. She saw the "person," but neither BB nor I saw that.

I think kids are more willing to trust their instincts. Adults are programmed to be skeptical, so they often don't see it - or they're quick to offer another explanation.

 

[dutchrain]

I never believed in all this stuff before, but I have to say, out here, at the sharp end, I have seen some next-level, grade-A weird. The unit I work in is the isolation trauma centre, so-called beause so may of the boys who come in have live rounds or munitions still inside them, and we have to operate in armour and ablative packing, so the only people in or out are in whites or green scrubs, and yet I see what appears to be fully kitted-up combat patrol team members in desert DPM's strolling out, that I know didn't go in, and I find the boy in that particular bay has passed on. It just keeps happening. On one truly scary occasion, a boy, only 17, for god's sake, The Rifles regiment, stepped on a AP mine, severe abdominal trauma, right arm amputated above the elbow, most of his poor face gone, both legs vapourised, non-survivable injuries, and yet I SAW him walk out in full kit, DPM's, Osprey armour, SA-80 firearm, everything, as though he was going on patrol, he looked me in the face and grinned, and high-port saluted me with his weapon in his right hand, the right arm I'd amputated. I thought I'd seen everything this place could throw at us, can someone please tell me what I'm seeing, because I have no answers that make sense, and no-one wants to discuss it here.

A old song came to my mind while reading this: 'Camouflage'

I don't have an answer that makes sense, but: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
The Tragedie of Hamlet, William Shakespeare

Not discussing these things might mean others have made the same or similar experiences. If one doesn't talk about it, they don't get real, stay dreams, visions of a tired or occupied mind.

Like BeachMomma said, talk to the chaplain. Even if he doesn't want to discuss it, he will listen. So will I and others here.

I hope you don't mind me asking you something personal: What do you feel when you see them? Does seeing these people frighten you, or does it make you sad?

 

[BeachMomma]

This is more of a sad story than a ghost story, but it's still a good one. It happened 30 years ago, so please don't think it still affects me. I've since learned to "compartmentalize" the accompanying emotions for lack of a better word. I've also learned to accept that death is sometimes the better option.

When I was fresh out of LPN school, I worked one summer for a local camp as the camp nurse. I lived on site with the kids, and I went on all the excursions with them. One of the camp rituals was to take the kids (young teenagers) to a nearby cemetary - a very old cemetary on a church's grounds - for a scavenger hunt.

I was hanging out in a particular area with the camp director. If a counselor needed my services, they either sent a trusted kid or another counselor to get me and take me to where they needed me. That night, a counselor came to get me. It seemed that there was an open grave site for a burial the next day. One of the smartass kids got the wise idea that it would be funny to hide in the open grave and scare the girls.

He did, and he was successful. He scared on girl so much that she passed out. I responded to the call, took care of the girl, and as I got up to take her back to our "base location," I happened to look at the gravestone. It was a grave for a high school friend of mine.

I knew she was sick; she'd had leukemia. I'd even taken care of her when she was a patient in my hospital. That's how I found out my friend had died.

 

[fungatorgurl101]

We have a dear family friend of ours that passed away about 11 yrs ago from stage 4 Lung Cancer. This man brought light to everyone he ever came in contact with he also happened to be the most perverted man ever. We laughed and laughed over the things he would say. And I would always go and cook for him and watch shows with him and help to take care of him when he got sick.

One evening towards the end of everything I was sitting in his hospital room and he reaches over and I am thinking to myself he wants to be sweet and say something profound. He says to me how much I mean to him, how he appreciates all that I have done for him... and then he gets this grin on his face and chuckles. And I ask him what are you laughing about, he says to me... you know anytime you feel a draft in the shower that's just gonna be me standing in the back enjoying the view. I cracked up laughing but that was him.

SO everytime I feel a quick draft in the shower I laugh a little and tell him Hi!

 

[BeachMomma]

I don't have an answer that makes sense, but: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
The Tragedie of Hamlet, William Shakespeare

I have a similar theory, although I can't express it as well as Shakespeare. I compare Heaven and God to a small child with his or her parents.

Kids often ask questions that are difficult to explain in an age appropriate way that they'll be able to understand. Sometimes those questions are philosophical, but sometimes it's as simple as "Why can't you buy me the toy I want?" or "But why can't I go to the party with all my friends?"

No parent wants to explain that money is too tight for a toy, and it won't do any good to explain to a teenager that you're concerned about drinking, drugs, or sex at an unsupervised party. Sometimes the answer has to be a simple "Because I'm the mom and I said so." When the kids grow up and have kids of their own, they'll understand. For now, though, they can only understand their own wants and desires.

I think life and the afterlife are similar. God could try to explain the recent CT massacre, but we wouldn't understand. Therefore, there are no explanations. I think we will be able to understand someday, but right now, our minds just can't comprehend the vastness of eternity.

Sometimes the answer can only be, "Because I'm God, and you just have to trust me on this."

 

[jeff_is_smiling]

I was waiting to pick up my (now) ex-wife at her work so we could go to dinner. She had some projects and was working late that week. When I initially showed up, she told me that she had to close up and lock everything, and for me to wait outside by the car.

I went back up the stairs to the parking lot and waited a moment in the parking lot before seeing what I did.

It was really foggy that night, and the way I direction I was looking had me face the freeway and the hillside across the way.

All of a sudden, I was hit by a very bright light. A single very bright light. The freeway ran left-to-right across my field of vision, and the hillside had no roads and was a fair distance away.

This bright white light appeared to be from an angle of about 45 degrees up from the horizon, and seemed to be just on the other side of the freeway in distance - meaning very close. At first, I thought it might be a helicopter spotlight, but there was no noise (other than the typical freeway traffic).

The light was on continuously and not moving - until my ex showed up. I turned to see her walking up the stairs. When I turned back, the light was gone.

That weekend, I dropped her off at her work again, and could see clearly where the light had been spotted by me. There is no chance that the light came from the freeway, or from the hill side - since it was so far away.

Still do not know what caused what I saw.

 

[BeachMomma]

We have a dear family friend of ours that passed away about 11 yrs ago from stage 4 Lung Cancer. This man brought light to everyone he ever came in contact with he also happened to be the most perverted man ever. We laughed and laughed over the things he would say. And I would always go and cook for him and watch shows with him and help to take care of him when he got sick.

One evening towards the end of everything I was sitting in his hospital room and he reaches over and I am thinking to myself he wants to be sweet and say something profound. He says to me how much I mean to him, how he appreciates all that I have done for him... and then he gets this grin on his face and chuckles. And I ask him what are you laughing about, he says to me... you know anytime you feel a draft in the shower that's just gonna be me standing in the back enjoying the view. I cracked up laughing but that was him.

SO everytime I feel a quick draft in the shower I laugh a little and tell him Hi!

That's a great story! It was his way of giving you a tool to remember happier times with him instead of remembering him with sadness.

 

[dutchrain]

I have a similar theory, although I can't express it as well as Shakespeare. I compare Heaven and God to a small child with his or her parents.

Kids often ask questions that are difficult to explain in an age appropriate way that they'll be able to understand. Sometimes those questions are philosophical, but sometimes it's as simple as "Why can't you buy me the toy I want?" or "But why can't I go to the party with all my friends?"

No parent wants to explain that money is too tight for a toy, and it won't do any good to explain to a teenager that you're concerned about drinking, drugs, or sex at an unsupervised party. Sometimes the answer has to be a simple "Because I'm the mom and I said so." When the kids grow up and have kids of their own, they'll understand. For now, though, they can only understand their own wants and desires.

I think life and the afterlife are similar. God could try to explain the recent CT massacre, but we wouldn't understand. Therefore, there are no explanations. I think we will be able to understand someday, but right now, our minds just can't comprehend the vastness of eternity.

Sometimes the answer can only be, "Because I'm God, and you just have to trust me on this."

lol Why do you think I quoted Shakespeare?

Unexplainable things happen.
If God is behind them or the powers of the universe doesn't concern me, and is not important, they happen.

Important is though, that we accept them in the same way we would/do accept bacteria and the moon.
Ignoring them, or the tales of/by people who make such experiences, doesn't make them disappear.

They lead to the most philosophical question of all: Who are we, where do we go, what shall we meet?

 

[BeachMomma]

I was waiting to pick up my (now) ex-wife at her work so we could go to dinner. She had some projects and was working late that week. When I initially showed up, she told me that she had to close up and lock everything, and for me to wait outside by the car.

I went back up the stairs to the parking lot and waited a moment in the parking lot before seeing what I did.

It was really foggy that night, and the way I direction I was looking had me face the freeway and the hillside across the way.

All of a sudden, I was hit by a very bright light. A single very bright light. The freeway ran left-to-right across my field of vision, and the hillside had no roads and was a fair distance away.

This bright white light appeared to be from an angle of about 45 degrees up from the horizon, and seemed to be just on the other side of the freeway in distance - meaning very close. At first, I thought it might be a helicopter spotlight, but there was no noise (other than the typical freeway traffic).

The light was on continuously and not moving - until my ex showed up. I turned to see her walking up the stairs. When I turned back, the light was gone.

That weekend, I dropped her off at her work again, and could see clearly where the light had been spotted by me. There is no chance that the light came from the freeway, or from the hill side - since it was so far away.

Still do not know what caused what I saw.

Maybe you got to witness someone walking into the light?

 

[beachbum1958]

Fascinating stuff. I keep meaning to come to the southern United States, my famly has strong links with the south. My ancstors ame to America in 1685, from France following the revocation of the Ecict of Nantes, and as they were Huegenots they took refuge in South Carolina and Georgia, specifically Savannah. Somem of their descendants, my G/Grandfather umpten times removed, was a privateer fighting the British during the Revolution, (for 'privateer' read self-employed pirate, gun-runner, slave trader, with a little free-lance pillaging on the side; dig deep enough and eventually you'll encounter vermin...) The irony was that his brother was busily manufacturing gunpowder for the British in the huge arsenal in Dum-Dum, India. Some of the more civilised members served with the Texas Army during the Mexican War, in The Georgia Volunteers, getting captured at San Jacinto and murdered.
Their sister was my GGGG-Grandmother, she married my GGGG Grandfather in India, he was a Major in the East India Company army in Burma, and wrote a book called 'Vade Mecum', which is still available from Amazon, the annual listing of all promotions, demotions, cadetships etc in the East India Company. The family is the Trezevant family of SC and GA, of which I am a direct decendant. Apparently my GGG Grandfather paid for the rebuilding of Savannah after it was burned down, although that's apocryphal rather than attested to. So English as I am, with a family seat in Scotland, I'm just as much a southron, my family helped build the place, establish the cotton industry, and sadly, kept slaves and all that went with it

 

[BeachMomma]

lol Why do you think I quoted Shakespeare?

Unexplainable things happen.
If God is behind them or the powers of the universe doesn't concern me, and is not important, they happen.

Important is though, that we accept them in the same way we would/do accept bacteria and the moon.
Ignoring them, or the tales of/by people who make such experiences, doesn't make them disappear.

They lead to the most philosophical question of all: Who are we, where do we go, what shall we meet?

As a general rule, I don't question the why's very often. I'm not a "Oh, why me?" kind of person. I'm more of an "OK, this happened. How do I fix it and move forward" kind of person. While I'd like to understand why Newtown happened, I can fully accept that we may never know the answers. I'd like to understand why unexplainable things happen that I've witnessed, I don't need those answers.

There's a commercial on TV from Johnson & Johnson that explains my philosophical position very clearly. It's an ER nurse caring for a patient in the Emergency Room. She says, "As a nurse, I believe in science. As a human being, I also believe in stacking the deck." as she places a St Christopher's medal in her patient's hand. That's me in a nutshell. I'll do what I know to do to help the patient, but I'm not above using the power of faith, superstition, or whatever you want to call it to stack the deck in my (and ultimately my patient's) favor.

 

[BeachMomma]

Fascinating stuff. I keep meaning to come to the southern United States, my famly has strong links with the south. My ancstors ame to America in 1685, from France following the revocation of the Ecict of Nantes, and as they were Huegenots they took refuge in South Carolina and Georgia, specifically Savannah. Somem of their descendants, my G/Grandfather umpten times removed, was a privateer fighting the British during the Revolution, (for 'privateer' read self-employed pirate, gun-runner, slave trader, with a little free-lance pillaging on the side; dig deep enough and eventually you'll encounter vermin...) The irony was that his brother was busily manufacturing gunpowder for the British in the huge arsenal in Dum-Dum, India. Some of the more civilised members served with the Texas Army during the Mexican War, in The Georgia Volunteers, getting captured at San Jacinto and murdered.
Their sister was my GGGG-Grandmother, she married my GGGG Grandfather in India, he was a Major in the East India Company army in Burma, and wrote a book called 'Vade Mecum', which is still available from Amazon, the annual listing of all promotions, demotions, cadetships etc in the East India Company. The family is the Trezevant family of SC and GA, of which I am a direct decendant. Apparently my GGG Grandfather paid for the rebuilding of Savannah after it was burned down, although that's apocryphal rather than attested to. So English as I am, with a family seat in Scotland, I'm just as much a southron, my family helped build the place, establish the cotton industry, and sadly, kept slaves and all that went with it

So again, brother vs. brother. It seems to be a common theme. I'll admit that I'm fascinated by the Civil War. Like I said, I grew up on grounds that had been Civil War battlefields. Few wars have been fought on US soil, so the historical significance is greater for me than WWI or II for example.

I'm also fascinated by the cause and underlying cause of the Civil War. Depending on who's talking about it, it may not even be called the Civil War. Many from the deep south still call it the "War Between the States." The confederacy is still very much alive and well in the south - whether for the true reasons of the war or because of inherited racial tendencies is another story. I find it fascinating that there are also two sets of beliefs for the cause of the war. Some say it wasn't about slavery at all; it was about States' Rights. I can see both views.