I've had a few of these myself. When I was young my mom would often catch me in my room talking to someone. Of course like anyone she assumed that I had an imaginary friend. But apparently my mom asked me who I was talking to, and I replied with "that man", and pointed out a picture of my great-grandfather, who by the way died a year before I was born. My grandmother told me recently that he was extremely proud of the first born male from his children, and I was the first born male by his grandson. Unfortunatly I have no recalection of this endeavor, but my mom and I had a parnormal conversation recently and told me this.

More recently, I was followed out of a cemetary by a spirit, I couldn't see it, but knew where it was. I could feel it, and ironically my friend who I was with pointed it out saying, "I feel like we're beeing followed.", then we both looked back, and I sense that it stopped. But it was in the same place watching us for awhile. Now I didn't see it, but I knew it was there.

More recently, I was followed out of a cemetary by a spirit, I couldn't see it, but knew where it was. I could feel it, and ironically my friend who I was with pointed it out saying, "I feel like we're beeing followed.", then we both looked back, and I sense that it stopped. But it was in the same place watching us for awhile. Now I didn't see it, but I knew it was there.



I had an experience like this myself, only it wasn't from a cemetary. I lived on a mountain and there was an old one-room school house about a half mile down the road. One night, coming home we passed the school. Both the guy I was living with and I felt something the closer and closer we got to the school. Then we felt "IT" follow us home. "IT" was outside our window most (if not all) that night and I think "IT" was around the next day, too. Later, we heard that the schoolhouse mysterously burnt down dacades earlier-TWICE but it was rebuilt both times. We didn't hear any other stories about anything paranormal but we KNEW there was something there.

Here is a pic of the school. I think the night "IT" followed us home was the night we took this pic. The strange thing was when we had the film developed, they didn't develop this pic. We had to have it developed seperately.



Cat

I had an experience like this myself, only it wasn't from a cemetary. I lived on a mountain and there was an old one-room school house about a half mile down the road. One night, coming home we passed the school. Both the guy I was living with and I felt something the closer and closer we got to the school. Then we felt "IT" follow us home. "IT" was outside our window most (if not all) that night and I think "IT" was around the next day, too. Later, we heard that the schoolhouse mysterously burnt down dacades earlier-TWICE but it was rebuilt both times. We didn't hear any other stories about anything paranormal but we KNEW there was something there.

Here is a pic of the school. I think the night "IT" followed us home was the night we took this pic. The strange thing was when we had the film developed, they didn't develop this pic. We had to have it developed seperately.



Cat




wow Cat, that is really freaky...it gave me chills (especially the part about the film developing). :o

wow Cat, that is really freaky...it gave me chills (especially the part about the film developing). :o



That pic also gives me chills. It could have been that it was taken at night but it does look kind of menicing, doesn't it?  I KNOW there is something there.




Cat

That pic also gives me chills. It could have been that it was taken at night but it does look kind of menicing, doesn't it?  I KNOW there is something there.




Cat



yes...it definitely looks rather creepy....wow, those kinds of things freak me out...but they are very intriguing!

Reminds me of a friend of mine who was walking home along a stretch of winding country road that lead to where we lived.There are a few random houses but mostly trees and fields and the back end of an airfield. One of the houses was a big manor house. He said as he walked he could suddenly hear someone whistling behind him, he said it got closer so he looked round but there was no one there.This was a stretch of road with a low hedge and an open field one side and the airfield with a fence on the other, so nowhere for anyone to be hiding. He started to walk faster but the whistling stayed with him, as if it was somone walking with him. So he broke into a run, when he went past the manor house it stopped. 

I have debated posting this story, as it's pretty personal for me, but as they say, what the hell.  My story isn't as scary as Gis or Cat's (both made the hair on the back of my neck stand up!) 

Desert Storm began when I was in the 7th grade.  In my Civics class, we had an assignment to write a letter to "Any Service Member."  I soon began corresponding with a Chief Petty Officer named Rick who was serving in the Persian Gulf.  When I think back, he probably wasn't that interested in writing to a 7th grader, but he was extremely nice and I really enjoyed writing to him.  Later, I began receiving letters from another guy named Clint that served under him, who grew up in my area.  One night, after a few months of writing to both of them, Clint called my house and asked to speak to my mom.  I was really weirded out by it, but I gave the phone to her nonetheless.  She hung up a few minutes later, and sat me down.  She told me that Rick had come home from the Persian Gulf, but after he'd gotten home, his wife had him murdered to collect on the insurance money.  Being only 12 at the time, this really freaked me out, not to mention the fact that, above all else, Rick had been my friend, and I was extremely sad. 

A couple of nights later I woke up in the middle of the night.  A figure in white was standing at the end of my bed looking at me.  I wasn't scared at all, more curious than anything.  We looked at each other for a few minutes, and then I reached out to try and touch him.  When I got close to him, he vanished. 

Since then, I've tried to come up with many rational explanations for this occurrence.  Maybe I was half asleep, maybe I imagined it.  But deep down, I know it was real, and I know it happened.  And I like to think my friend Rick came to say hello...

I have debated posting this story, as it's pretty personal for me, but as they say, what the hell.  My story isn't as scary as Gis or Cat's (both made the hair on the back of my neck stand up!) 

Desert Storm began when I was in the 7th grade.  In my Civics class, we had an assignment to write a letter to "Any Service Member."  I soon began corresponding with a Chief Petty Officer named Rick who was serving in the Persian Gulf.  When I think back, he probably wasn't that interested in writing to a 7th grader, but he was extremely nice and I really enjoyed writing to him.  Later, I began receiving letters from another guy named Clint that served under him, who grew up in my area.  One night, after a few months of writing to both of them, Clint called my house and asked to speak to my mom.  I was really weirded out by it, but I gave the phone to her nonetheless.  She hung up a few minutes later, and sat me down.  She told me that Rick had come home from the Persian Gulf, but after he'd gotten home, his wife had him murdered to collect on the insurance money.  Being only 12 at the time, this really freaked me out, not to mention the fact that, above all else, Rick had been my friend, and I was extremely sad. 

A couple of nights later I woke up in the middle of the night.  A figure in white was standing at the end of my bed looking at me.  I wasn't scared at all, more curious than anything.  We looked at each other for a few minutes, and then I reached out to try and touch him.  When I got close to him, he vanished. 

Since then, I've tried to come up with many rational explanations for this occurrence.  Maybe I was half asleep, maybe I imagined it.  But deep down, I know it was real, and I know it happened.  And I like to think my friend Rick came to say hello...




oh wow Ash...that...REALLY...gave me chills...all over.  What a sad but provoking story that is. :o

I had an experience like this myself, only it wasn't from a cemetary. I lived on a mountain and there was an old one-room school house about a half mile down the road. One night, coming home we passed the school. Both the guy I was living with and I felt something the closer and closer we got to the school. Then we felt "IT" follow us home. "IT" was outside our window most (if not all) that night and I think "IT" was around the next day, too. Later, we heard that the schoolhouse mysterously burnt down dacades earlier-TWICE but it was rebuilt both times. We didn't hear any other stories about anything paranormal but we KNEW there was something there.

Here is a pic of the school. I think the night "IT" followed us home was the night we took this pic. The strange thing was when we had the film developed, they didn't develop this pic. We had to have it developed seperately.



Cat


Just looking at that school gives me the creeps. I wouldn't go anywhere near it...

I have debated posting this story, as it's pretty personal for me, but as they say, what the hell.  My story isn't as scary as Gis or Cat's (both made the hair on the back of my neck stand up!) 

Desert Storm began when I was in the 7th grade.  In my Civics class, we had an assignment to write a letter to "Any Service Member."  I soon began corresponding with a Chief Petty Officer named Rick who was serving in the Persian Gulf.  When I think back, he probably wasn't that interested in writing to a 7th grader, but he was extremely nice and I really enjoyed writing to him.  Later, I began receiving letters from another guy named Clint that served under him, who grew up in my area.  One night, after a few months of writing to both of them, Clint called my house and asked to speak to my mom.  I was really weirded out by it, but I gave the phone to her nonetheless.  She hung up a few minutes later, and sat me down.  She told me that Rick had come home from the Persian Gulf, but after he'd gotten home, his wife had him murdered to collect on the insurance money.  Being only 12 at the time, this really freaked me out, not to mention the fact that, above all else, Rick had been my friend, and I was extremely sad. 

A couple of nights later I woke up in the middle of the night.  A figure in white was standing at the end of my bed looking at me.  I wasn't scared at all, more curious than anything.  We looked at each other for a few minutes, and then I reached out to try and touch him.  When I got close to him, he vanished. 

Since then, I've tried to come up with many rational explanations for this occurrence.  Maybe I was half asleep, maybe I imagined it.  But deep down, I know it was real, and I know it happened.  And I like to think my friend Rick came to say hello...



That is truely disgusting how anyone would want there spouse killed over money. But I must say that that's a very touching story.

Great story Ash.

Thanks you guys.  It really was amazing.  I'm glad I decided to share it.  http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/06/malelovies.gif

When I lived in New Zealand, my family and I moved into a house.......The lady who sold it to us said that she was selling it because her dogs,both named Zico and Pele, would actually stay up all night howling, for the whole 18 months she lived there.

We moved in, and were quite comfortable in the house for a while.

After a few months,strange things started happening.

Things from the laundry started to dissapear, not clothes, but washer rings, Full bottles of laundry powder,keys to the laundry door.

We also had a pool table, and one of the balls went missing.

One day I was at home sick, so I had a day off school, and I was on the computer playing pinball, I remember looking to my left, and seeing the sillouhette, more like a ball of dust glide past the glass door, it was shaped like a woman.

I didnt say anything.

One night I went to the toilet, and went upstairs to go.

As i turned off the bathroom light, It was pitch black and I had to feel my way back to my bedroom.

I remember turning off the light and as soon as I did that, I saw a sillouhette of a woman, and I remember her vividly.

She was an elderly looking woman wearing a floral petticoat ( or what seemed it) with a glasses, white hair and glasses.

I looked at her for 10 seconds, and she glided off back down the hall.

I was only 10, and it scared the crap out of me.


We eventually moved out of this house at the end of 1989, a year later after this encounter.

What I found out from my parents later is that we moved into a really old house that was built in the 1930's, the occupant of the house owned it for about 50 years before she passed away in the house.

My mum told me of experiences that she had where she could feel a presence behind her in the kitchen.
My Aunty who stayed with us once remembered waking up in the middle of the night and seeing this figure of an old lady standing above her.

The week we left,alot of these things that went missing in the house showed up in places we had looked for them numerous times.

I felt no fear or threat from this spirit, but due to this experience, paranormal activity has fascinated me because I have experienced it first hand, as have other people in my family, so I know I wasnt seeing things.

I will start off by saying, I don't believe in ghost. I believe in science and that all things can be
explained if you look hard enough. That being said, here is my story.

I get up 3 or 4 times a night to go to the bathroom, last Friday it was cold here in the Philly
area, 48 degrees so we didn't turn the fans on. When I returned from the bathroom my
bedroom fan was on high. My wife swears she didn't turn it on and I know I didn't either.
So what gives?

Two weeks ago my wife and I left the house for awhile to do some shopping. When The Boy
came home from soccer practice he found his air conditioner on, nothing else in the house
was on, just his air conditioner.

This has me thinking of other instances, a few years ago my wife put a box of chicken in the freezer,
it was going to be for dinner the next night. When she went to the freezer to get the box, it was
gone. To this day we have no idea were the the chicken is. Another thing is, my cable TV and tele-
phone have not worked right since I've moved here 3 years ago.

The last thing is, The Boy was video taping a thunder storm during the summer, he put the video
on the computer. When he plays the video on his phone, it sounds just like a thunder storm but
when he plays it on the computer you can distinctly hear a loud scream. He was the only one
outside and swears no one screamed.

When I lived in New Zealand, my family and I moved into a house.......The lady who sold it to us said that she was selling it because her dogs,both named Zico and Pele, would actually stay up all night howling, for the whole 18 months she lived there.

We moved in, and were quite comfortable in the house for a while.

After a few months,strange things started happening.

Things from the laundry started to dissapear, not clothes, but washer rings, Full bottles of laundry powder,keys to the laundry door.

We also had a pool table, and one of the balls went missing.

One day I was at home sick, so I had a day off school, and I was on the computer playing pinball, I remember looking to my left, and seeing the sillouhette, more like a ball of dust glide past the glass door, it was shaped like a woman.

I didnt say anything.

One night I went to the toilet, and went upstairs to go.

As i turned off the bathroom light, It was pitch black and I had to feel my way back to my bedroom.

I remember turning off the light and as soon as I did that, I saw a sillouhette of a woman, and I remember her vividly.

She was an elderly looking woman wearing a floral petticoat ( or what seemed it) with a glasses, white hair and glasses.

I looked at her for 10 seconds, and she glided off back down the hall.

I was only 10, and it scared the crap out of me.


We eventually moved out of this house at the end of 1989, a year later after this encounter.

What I found out from my parents later is that we moved into a really old house that was built in the 1930's, the occupant of the house owned it for about 50 years before she passed away in the house.

My mum told me of experiences that she had where she could feel a presence behind her in the kitchen.
My Aunty who stayed with us once remembered waking up in the middle of the night and seeing this figure of an old lady standing above her.

The week we left,alot of these things that went missing in the house showed up in places we had looked for them numerous times.

I felt no fear or threat from this spirit, but due to this experience, paranormal activity has fascinated me because I have experienced it first hand, as have other people in my family, so I know I wasnt seeing things.



wow, that's a really interesting story...ghost stories have always fascinated me!



I will start off by saying, I don't believe in ghost. I believe in science and that all things can be
explained if you look hard enough. That being said, here is my story.

I get up 3 or 4 times a night to go to the bathroom, last Friday it was cold here in the Philly
area, 48 degrees so we didn't turn the fans on. When I returned from the bathroom my
bedroom fan was on high. My wife swears she didn't turn it on and I know I didn't either.
So what gives?

Two weeks ago my wife and I left the house for awhile to do some shopping. When The Boy
came home from soccer practice he found his air conditioner on, nothing else in the house
was on, just his air conditioner.

This has me thinking of other instances, a few years ago my wife put a box of chicken in the freezer,
it was going to be for dinner the next night. When she went to the freezer to get the box, it was
gone. To this day we have no idea were the the chicken is. Another thing is, my cable TV and tele-
phone have not worked right since I've moved here 3 years ago.

The last thing is, The Boy was video taping a thunder storm during the summer, he put the video
on the computer. When he plays the video on his phone, it sounds just like a thunder storm but
when he plays it on the computer you can distinctly hear a loud scream. He was the only one
outside and swears no one screamed.




Ok, then Kevin, since you don't believe in ghosts..what could it be then? I understand the every once in awhile coincidence....but wow, it seems like a lot of creepy things have been happening at your house? Do you have any clues to what may be causing them?

Ok, then Kevin, since you don't believe in ghosts..what could it be then? I understand the every once in awhile coincidence....but wow, it seems like a lot of creepy things have been happening at your house? Do you have any clues to what may be causing them?


The chicken and the scream, I have no answers for, yet. As for the fans, I will blame sleepwalking.
The cable and the phones? The squirrels have it in for me, I am sure those little bas@#$ds have
something to do with it. I will get to the bottom of it, Science will explain all.

The chicken and the scream, I have no answers for, yet. As for the fans, I will blame sleepwalking.
The cable and the phones? The squirrels have it in for me, I am sure those little bas@#$ds have
something to do with it. I will get to the bottom of it, Science will explain all.




I've had some odd things happen to me in my lifetime...and I haven't been able to explain them scientifically....some things are just...I dunno, too strange! LOL!  I hope ya find your answers that you are searching for!! ;) :D

I've noticed that when we put Jason down for bed, he'll stare up at the ceiling with a look of concentration, like someone is talking to him. He also points at the ceiling and sometimes starts giggling. I'm pretty unnerved by this, but a lot of people (including an ACTUAL pediatrician that my mom talked to about my sister's behavior after our grandpa died) have stated that kids see more than we think.

I'm a skeptic about paranormal activity.  I am not dismissive of the supernatural.  I consider myself a skeptical believer.  I do prefer to apply Occam's razor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_razor
I have had a few possible paranormal experiences.  Foremost when I was about ten, I saw an apparition in my bedroom.  It was a little girl in a white nightgown.  She had golden ringlets and an otherworldly glow about her.  I just woke up and saw this phantom child standing in my bedroom doorway.  I thought possibly it was my sister.  I called her name a couple of times.  No answer.  Then the apparition just wasn't there anymore.  She didn't "walk" away.  She didn't dissolve into mist. She was just gone.

My guess, I wasn't really awake.  It was a dream.

BUT...I swear I was awake and cognizant.  I remember all five senses being in an awakened state.  I had a lot of nightmares as a kid.  A lot of fear of the dark, of bumps in the night, and what might be in the closet or under the bed.  I would figure such an experience would scare me crazy.  It didn't.  The apparition aroused no fear in me.  I have used this reverse logic to suggest it might have been a real supernatural encounter.  I still think it was just a dream, but I've never had another experience like that.*

We lived in a farmhouse, the front part of which was built in the 1770s.  We all felt strange presences in those upstairs rooms.  We thought it was haunted.  Two centuries, a lot of people were born, lived, and died in those rooms.  Perhaps it was sprit residue accumlated.
I'm thinking now of a few mundane explanations.  We are acculturated to believe old houses are haunted.  I always say, never underestimate the power of suggestion! 

A scientific hypothesis.  The human ear can detect very low frequencies.  However, we have trouble discerning frequencies under 20 hz as sound.  We may mistake it as "presence."  It's a kind of synesthesia.  In old houses, the structure itself is disintegrating with time.  Subtle shifts in pressure among floors, walls, drywalling, lath, stud, sill, and other structural components may release low frequency noise.  In combination with our prejudice in favor of the "haunting" of old houses, this may lead us to misinterpret the mundane as supernatural.  Once your mind is in a suggestible state, your imagination may play other tricks on you.  Humans also have wide peripheral vision, but what we see in the more distal peripheries may be unclear.  Again, if our minds are open to suggestion, who knows what we may come up with? 

Just a thought.

The power of suggestion--
I have a superstitious aunt.  Every home she has ever lived in has been haunted.  She reports not just presences, but clear and discrete visions.  That's right.  "I see dead people."  The difference is, it interests her, it intrigues her, but it never really frightens her.  That's not the case with everybody.  Fear can disrupt a person's ability to function in life if it gets bad enough.  For instance, earlier this year I was transcribing a psychiatric report.  A mother and daughter were trying to get along after a bitter divorce.  I remember this one line from the psychiatrist's dictation, she said: "....Sarah reports an increase in anxiety since she broke up with her boyfriend, and this is compounded by the fact that her mother recently developed  photographs in which they both saw apparitions.  Since then, they are nervous at their home, and find communication much more difficult..."  Of all the things they needed--ghosts!  Thus, I see it as important to parse the real from the illusory.  Skepticism is a necessary tool--especially for the nervous!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/13/icon_pale.gif

I'm a skeptic about paranormal activity.  I am not dismissive of the supernatural.  I consider myself a skeptical believer.  I do prefer to apply Occam's razor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_razor
I have had a few possible paranormal experiences.  Foremost when I was about ten, I saw an apparition in my bedroom.  It was a little girl in a white nightgown.  She had golden ringlets and an otherworldly glow about her.  I just woke up and saw this phantom child standing in my bedroom doorway.  I thought possibly it was my sister.  I called her name a couple of times.  No answer.  Then the apparition just wasn't there anymore.  She didn't "walk" away.  She didn't dissolve into mist. She was just gone.

My guess, I wasn't really awake.  It was a dream.

BUT...I swear I was awake and cognizant.  I remember all five senses being in an awakened state.  I had a lot of nightmares as a kid.  A lot of fear of the dark, of bumps in the night, and what might be in the closet or under the bed.  I would figure such an experience would scare me crazy.  It didn't.  The apparition aroused no fear in me.  I have used this reverse logic to suggest it might have been a real supernatural encounter.  I still think it was just a dream, but I've never had another experience like that.*

We lived in a farmhouse, the front part of which was built in the 1770s.  We all felt strange presences in those upstairs rooms.  We thought it was haunted.  Two centuries, a lot of people were born, lived, and died in those rooms.  Perhaps it was sprit residue accumlated.
I'm thinking now of a few mundane explanations.  We are acculturated to believe old houses are haunted.  I always say, never underestimate the power of suggestion! 

A scientific hypothesis.  The human ear can detect very low frequencies.  However, we have trouble discerning frequencies under 20 hz as sound.  We may mistake it as "presence."  It's a kind of synesthesia.  In old houses, the structure itself is disintegrating with time.  Subtle shifts in pressure among floors, walls, drywalling, lath, stud, sill, and other structural components may release low frequency noise.  In combination with our prejudice in favor of the "haunting" of old houses, this may lead us to misinterpret the mundane as supernatural.  Once your mind is in a suggestible state, your imagination may play other tricks on you.  Humans also have wide peripheral vision, but what we see in the more distal peripheries may be unclear.  Again, if our minds are open to suggestion, who knows what we may come up with? 

Just a thought.

The power of suggestion--
I have a superstitious aunt.  Every home she has ever lived in has been haunted.  She reports not just presences, but clear and discrete visions.  That's right.  "I see dead people."  The difference is, it interests her, it intrigues her, but it never really frightens her.  That's not the case with everybody.  Fear can disrupt a person's ability to function in life if it gets bad enough.  For instance, earlier this year I was transcribing a psychiatric report.  A mother and daughter were trying to get along after a bitter divorce.  I remember this one line from the psychiatrist's dictation, she said: "....Sarah reports an increase in anxiety since she broke up with her boyfriend, and this is compounded by the fact that her mother recently developed  photographs in which they both saw apparitions.  Since then, they are nervous at their home, and find communication much more difficult..."  Of all the things they needed--ghosts!  Thus, I see it as important to parse the real from the illusory.  Skepticism is a necessary tool--especially for the nervous!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/13/icon_pale.gif



I believe that not all "presences" or "hauntings" are scary. Some are very benign. There are spirits who just don't want to leave. Then there are some who are not so benign. When I first moved in with Carlos, he was living upstairs. We lived up here together until we decided to take the downstairs apartment (it was bigger because it had the basement). About 2 years ago, we decided to take over the entire house. Coming back up here, felt very uncomfortable to us. This was a place that we used to live but there was such a negitive energy in the place that even Carlos (who is not that senitive to stuff like that) felt it. We know it had to do with some past tenants. There was one guy who used to beat his girlfriend (I called a woman's shelter for her one day), there was also couple who did nothing but fight. All these tenants in just a few years left such a negative energy on the place it was unreal. A smudge stick of sage solved the problem and cleansed the place of the negitivity that was caused by the living!




Cat

I believe that not all "presences" or "hauntings" are scary. Some are very benign. There are spirits who just don't want to leave. Then there are some who are not so benign. When I first moved in with Carlos, he was living upstairs. We lived up here together until we decided to take the downstairs apartment (it was bigger because it had the basement). About 2 years ago, we decided to take over the entire house. Coming back up here, felt very uncomfortable to us. This was a place that we used to live but there was such a negitive energy in the place that even Carlos (who is not that senitive to stuff like that) felt it. We know it had to do with some past tenants. There was one guy who used to beat his girlfriend (I called a woman's shelter for her one day), there was also couple who did nothing but fight. All these tenants in just a few years left such a negative energy on the place it was unreal. A smudge stick of sage solved the problem and cleansed the place of the negitivity that was caused by the living!




Cat

Knowing terrible things happened at a place is enough to give it a sad or frightening presence.  Foreknowledge doesn't make the experience any less valid.  Other times people feel uncomfortable in a place without knowing why.  Later they find out something terrible happened at that location.  This happens too frequently to too many different kinds of people for me to dismiss as coincidental.  There are definitely senses at work we have yet to explain.

Knowing terrible things happened at a place is enough to give it a sad or frightening presence.  Foreknowledge doesn't make the experience any less valid.  Other times people feel uncomfortable in a place without knowing why.  Later they find out something terrible happened at that location.  This happens too frequently to too many different kinds of people for me to dismiss as coincidental.  There are definitely senses at work we have yet to explain.




You just reminded me of something that happened years ago. I was with my significant other at the time. There was this guy who lived up the road from us who had a perpetual yard sale to pay for fixing his house up. We became somewhat friendly with him and one day he invited us into his house. Both him and wife were very nice to us but I had such a feeling of dread in that house and HAD to get out. I don't think I ever had such a feeling like that before. Usually, my ex-significant other would spend HOURS talking to people as I TRY to get him to leave but not this time. He was ready to go very shortly which I was thankful for. When we got to the car, he told me that he had an uneasy feeling in that house and that is why he didn't want to stay very long. We never did learn WHY we both had that feeling (nor did we really want to). We never went to that house again.



Cat

You just reminded me of something that happened years ago. I was with my significant other at the time. There was this guy who lived up the road from us who had a perpetual yard sale to pay for fixing his house up. We became somewhat friendly with him and one day he invited us into his house. Both him and wife were very nice to us but I had such a feeling of dread in that house and HAD to get out. I don't think I ever had such a feeling like that before. Usually, my ex-significant other would spend HOURS talking to people as I TRY to get him to leave but not this time. He was ready to go very shortly which I was thankful for. When we got to the car, he told me that he had an uneasy feeling in that house and that is why he didn't want to stay very long. We never did learn WHY we both had that feeling (nor did we really want to). We never went to that house again.



Cat


Call it instinct, intuition, ESP - whatever you like - I think there is a separate sense for evil.  Just like when a dog's hair will stand on end or a cat will arch up.  I have had similar experiences that I could never explain, but I always trust my gut. 

You just reminded me of something that happened years ago. I was with my significant other at the time. There was this guy who lived up the road from us who had a perpetual yard sale to pay for fixing his house up. We became somewhat friendly with him and one day he invited us into his house. Both him and wife were very nice to us but I had such a feeling of dread in that house and HAD to get out. I don't think I ever had such a feeling like that before. Usually, my ex-significant other would spend HOURS talking to people as I TRY to get him to leave but not this time. He was ready to go very shortly which I was thankful for. When we got to the car, he told me that he had an uneasy feeling in that house and that is why he didn't want to stay very long. We never did learn WHY we both had that feeling (nor did we really want to). We never went to that house again.



Cat

Maybe he was selling the possessions of the seven wives he buried beneath the cellar!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/05/grim.gif

Call it instinct, intuition, ESP - whatever you like - I think there is a separate sense for evil.  Just like when a dog's hair will stand on end or a cat will arch up.  I have had similar experiences that I could never explain, but I always trust my gut. 




Me, too.



Maybe he was selling the possessions of the seven wives he buried beneath the cellar!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/05/grim.gif



With this guy, you never know.  ;) :D ;D




Cat

I understand it is an instinct we had back in the caveman days, self preservation basically. It is just stronger in some people than others.I have always done it, had strong feelings about places or people. My best friend is quite dismissive of such things but even she goes with my instincts now because I have been spot on most of the time.

I understand it is an instinct we had back in the caveman days, self preservation basically. It is just stronger in some people than others.I have always done it, had strong feelings about places or people. My best friend is quite dismissive of such things but even she goes with my instincts now because I have been spot on most of the time.

When I was a kid I used to whip myself up into terrible frights while walking home after dusk.  The power of suggestion was especially strong on those unlit roads and trails in rural New Hampshire.  Sometimes I would break into a frantic run, stopless until I reached the front door of my house all flushed and breathing ragged.  Something about New England.  I perceived it.  H.P. Lovecraft described it thusly,

...But the true epicure in the terrible, to whom a new thrill of unutterable ghastliness is the chief end and justification of existence, esteems most of all the ancient, lonely farmhouses of backwoods New England; for there the dark elements of strength, solitude, grotesqueness and ignorance combine to form the perfection of the hideous.

H.P. Lovecraft
"The Picture in the House"

Even as an adult traveling the networks of isolated back roads in NH by car I sometimes felt irrational dread welling up inside me, palpable within the passanger compartment of the car itself.  I was always glad no mechanical failures occurred at those times.  It doesn't make sense.  There is no reason to detect any malevolent force.  The land, the farmhouses, the dwellers in the farmhouses were surely harmless.

I can't speak for Lovecraft, but for me, more so than in Lovecraft's time, there is oxymoronic presence of absence in those woods.  A century ago, two centuries ago, three centuries ago, those woods were farms.  Very little of the New England forests are home to any ancient trees.  It's newer woods reclaiming long-vacated farmland.  Pasture turns to swamp.  Pines and birches shoot up at odd angles in the soggy ground.  Stroll through any of these areas, you find stone walls.  They are really just lines of boulders stacked two or three high as boundry markers.

The same way you feel strange presences in an abandoned house, perhaps you perceive them all the same where humanity once lived and labored, but no more.