Have you had a paranormal experience?

When I was about 10 my friend and her little sisters and I would like to sleep out on her trampoline at night. One night we were out there and we woke up in the middle of the night because we were all wet from dew. So, we came back inside and slept in the living room. My friend and her little sisters fell right asleep. I couldn’t though. I just lay there staring around the room.
All of sudden the potted plant near me came to life. Two of its leaves acted as hands and reached over and began banging on its own pot like a drum. I could even hear it. It made a very distinct rhythm. I was so freaked that I woke my friend up. I was so convinced in what I had seen and wouldn’t let it go and would not let her go back to sleep that she went and got her mom.
Needless to say her mom was pretty pissed that I was “making up” stories and keeping her daughters awake. They all think I was just dreaming. I swear I saw it and I was awake.

Ya I’ve had a few but I’m not sure I want to post them on here and get blasted by the disbelievers. I will say that it isn’t only ghosts I believe in or have experienced. I prefer to use the word spirits instead as “ghost” sounds pretty theatrical.

One experience is when I saw a little boy in the guest room I was staying in. It was clear as day. I told myself I was dreaming but I was clearly wide awake. I went back to bed and in the morning I was like “what the heck?” :)

More than once. Since I was in kindergarten I’ve seen spirits. More so when I was younger than now. I still catch glimpses every once in a while. People say ghosts or spirits don’t exist. They are wrong.

@uber, I love to watch the ghost stories, too. Ever watch “A Haunting”? Problem is, I’ve seen every episode like 5 times.

I like to look at them from a psychological perspective, i.e., “I know there weren’t ghosts, so what’s going on?”

A LOT of times the couple have money problems.

Personaly, I know one woman who believes she sees signs of her mother’s ghost. I really believe it’s because she can’t deal with her mother’s passing.

Slightly, I don’t believe it was ghost but I could easily just to conclusion that it was.

I’ll keep this short: My old computer room was next to the front door, I clearly hear what I assumed was my mum opening the door closing it, and the next door with the noise of her coat. A few minutes later I left to talk to her I couldn’t find her anywhere in the house, my step dad also heard the doors opening and closing.

That’s as spooky as it gets.

@Russell_D_SpacePoet : Do you see them like full on, without a doubt? For a few years I swore that I could see people out of the corner of my eye, but once I turned to look they were gone. It happened in certain buildings or areas.It seemed to be in places that I worked- mostly closing the buildings alone, but not always. It was totally weird. It hasn’t happened since I moved out of my hometown. I wouldn’t call those encounters though… I was never 100% positive.

My grandfather’s house is over a hundred years old. It first belonged to a doctor and he had patients die there. I have seen a ghost there.
In one house I lived in a lot of things happened. Drawers would slide out, faucets turn on, it felt like someone was watching you. My daughter was a baby and was scared by something. The vacuum would turn on, the cord would be knotted. I lost an earring once, searched everywhere. Weeks later I asked the ghost to return it and the next morning it was next to my bed.

@ubersiren When I was younger, I saw some that looked like people through mist. In more recent years it has been more like washed out shapes of people and shadows. I moved from a house a couple years ago that was haunted. Everyone of my friends experienced something. Plus my kids and my spouse at the time. I think part of it was my father. I inherited the house, (well, I had to pay it off) after he passed in 93. I also lived in a house in 1976 that was one hundred yrs. old then. I saw ghosts every night. It was a strange, surreal experience.

@elijahsuicide : Awesome! That’s what I’m talking about! I mean… sorry you were scared.

@Myndecho : I’ve had similar things like that in my current house. I would swear my husband was home from work early- I’d hear the door open and close and hear his keys being laid on the table. Once I was doing the dishes and head the doorknob jostling, and turned around and actually saw it moving- But again, it could’ve been anything. I want a ghost in my face saying “ooga booga!”

@Russell – Crazy!

No. And I never will. Oh, and fiction and folk lore are appropriate tags for this thread.

@Benny : You could’ve just skipped over this thread. There’s no need for you to be condescending.

@Benny So, nothing remains after we are gone? No energy, no nothing? I have to disagree.

@ubersiren Your question specifically asked if you ever had a paranormal experience. My answer is no.

@Russell_D_SpacePoet Of course something remains. The nutrients in our bodies go back to the Earth to help feed future life.

I have seen ‘spirits’ or ‘ghosts’ all of my life & they are not limited to people, either. I have had visits from some of my very beloved pets after they passed on. One of my cats visits on a regular basis. If you have ever shared your life with a cat, then you know the way the bed feels when your cat jumps on it to sleep by you. You feel the ‘give’ when the cat lands, & then you feel the slight impressions of the cat’s feet as it walks up the bed to where you are laying, & then you feel the warmth of their body when they lie down beside you, & frequently feel the wiggling movements your cat makes when they decide to groom themselves before they finally settle down to sleep. You can take my word for it, this is the same thing their spirits do when they visit you after they have passed on. The first time it happened it was a trifle startling, but I have gotten used to it now & I just tell Tiger to find a comfortable spot & go to sleep already! He was a marvelously funny & loving cat when he was alive, & he really has not changed his ways. I was also very close to my youngest brother & when he died a few years ago very unexpectedly at far too young of an age, his spirit came & stayed with me for quite a long time – I know that he knew how much his death had hurt me. In my house, where ever I have my computer set up, I always have a mirror of some sort on the wall behind my desk & I have seen him many times come walking up the hall after I have turned the radio on (we loved the same kind of music). I never get more than just a glimpse of him, but he is unmistakable. He was tall & thin & had wildly curly hair, he was an extremely attractive man – he always lets me see him, but never for very long. I have even seen a newly deceased spirit as it has struggled to manifest itself as a ghost for the first time since passing away (this seems to be something they must practice & learn in order to do it easily). A very short time after the death of my last husband, he came to see me & I had the opportunity to see him trying to materialize. I am not sure just why he came to see me, possibly to explain why he had allowed someone to get close enough to him to be able to poison my dog. We had been separated when he died & he had been driving in from Oklahoma to tell me about the death of my dog (he had taken my dog to take care of him when I had ended up in the hospital) & he was killed in a car accident on his way here. As I watched, I could see a slightly luminous area at the foot of my bed & it was trying to form itself into its man shape, legs, body, arms, head, etc. It was very odd to see. You can get an idea of what it looked like if you think about what it would look like if you put vaseline on a piece of clear plastic wrap & then pressed another piece of plastic wrap on top of it. You could see thru it, but you could also see that there was something there. I watched it for quite some time before I turned on the light & when I turned on the light it just slid away into nothingness. He still comes back from time to time, to see me & to see my daughter (he was just crazy about her). He does things like turning on the lights in the middle of the night, turning off the radio if he does not like the music that is being played, things like that. My daughter’s previous boyfriend was evidently someone that he did not think was good enough for her & he gave the boyfriend a pretty bad time. He would frequently ride in his pick-up truck with him & he would keep turning off the radio if the boyfriend put the station on hard rock music. He used to like to catch the boyfriend home alone after my daughter had gone to work & do things like turning the lights off or on, or turning the tv off or on. He REALLY spooked her boyfriend. You should never doubt that spirits are real, they are. Mostly you are going to catch glimpses of them out of the corner of your eyes. Oddly enough, science says that the vision out of the corners of your eyes is clearer than the vision thru the front.

@Benny : You’re so smart. You should be a lawyer.

never of any sort.

I’ve had many different experiences. Countless. Most of them happened in one house and I’m willing to share some of them, but not all.

@DrasticDreamer : Well, I’d love to hear some!

The oddest experienced I’ve ever had was when the porch light of our house was out for weeks and weeks—(The bulb just needed to be changed, but my folks were fighting all the time at that point, and who was going to change to bulb was probably the center of some stupid argument…so anyway it was out for every so long.) Well, I was about 16 and I was walking home one night, after dark, and the light was on. I didn’t think much about it, but I was glad to see it. We lived kind of out in the country and it was really dark! So I came in the house and thanked my folks for changing the bulb. They looked at each other and said, in unison, “I didn’t change it, did you?” Neither one had changed it….so I went back out to look…and it was out!! But I guarantee you it was on when I came home…..

I thought Fluther didn’t believe in ghosts. I’m very pleased that some of you do.

Lurve to those that have an open mind! :)

There were the small things – like hand prints on my bedroom walls, metal pepper tins being put into the microwave, doors opening and closing on their own (that drag on carpet, which wind could not possibly move), the fridge being wide open in the morning, lights not only going off and on but switches actually moving up and down.

Then there were bigger, more significant things. There was one time I was alone in the house – around age ten – and a bunch if my hair (about two inches wide) was floating in the air, directly above my head, completely vertical. My hair was long enough that I could look up and see the entire strand and it was not attached to anything. I stood there for about five seconds, then I turned and ran as fast as possible. When I was almost outside, I heard a raspy voice say, “Sara!”.

Then there were even more significant things and I start to get uncomfortable talking about them. I know how most people would react, which is why I’m not so okay sharing the stories with just anyone. I’m not insane, which is the conclusion most people would probably come to.

@DrasticDreamer I believe you. Thank you for sharing you story.

Glad to do it. I enjoy talking about my experiences with people who I know won’t ridicule me… Heh. :)

@DrasticDreamer I believe you too! Even tho I’ve never had anything that drastic happen to me. The house I live in now is over 100 years old. For the first 4 years, every morning at about 4 a.m. I’d hear someone walking around upstairs, where the kids slept. The first two times I heard it I went upstairs to see why one of my kids was up and walking around….they were both in bed, sound asleep. I went back to bed and just listened…and then I heard “someone” walking down the stairs….someone that sounded like they had on heavy boots. Just before they got to the bottom of the stairs the sound quit. This went on for years (obviously never told the kids about it!) but I never felt….threatened. Only interested. To this day I think it was the farmer that originally built the house (this is easily the oldest house within 10 blocks, and in 1901 it was probably nothing but farm land all around) getting up to milk the cows. Then one day my Mother was visiting….I told her about my farmer ghost and she said, “LEAVE IN THE NAME OF JESUS!!!” I was upset!! I said, “Mom!!! He was here first!! This is his house! He doesn’t have to leave!! He wasn’t hurting anyone!!”
Mom looked at me in surprise and said, “Oh. Sorry.”—I haven’t heard him since then. :( Well, maybe it was a good thing for him. I hope so.