Anyone believe in ghosts?

[hsmamainva]

I hope I don't sound completely off my rocker! I assure you that I'm quite normal...well, at least with sound mind...but we're starting to believe that our house is haunted.

 

At first, it was just the kids, coming to me and telling me that they've heard or seen things, but we brushed it off. Then I started experiencing them and now my husband has been starting to have things happen to him .. and he's as rational as they come (he was an economics major in college, if that gives you any indication as to how humdrum and mundane he can be!)

 

We live in Virginia and there's a paranormal investigative team that I've found in our area -- or not too far from us -- and I'm tempted to contact them and see if they can help us. But I have no idea what to expect from the phone call! My husband is more along the lines of just waiting, as what we're experiencing is totally mischievous...nothing at all sinister / evil.

 

For instance ... We have toys that go off by themselves, when no one else is in the room, or sometimes even on the same floor of the house.

 

I'll go in to the playroom and clean up..when I return, some toys are back in the middle of the room - sometimes, they're arranged in a circle.

 

We have bedroom doors upstairs that open and close by themselves. We hear footsteps and stomping on different levels of the house.

 

I've seen a little boy, going up the stairs to the upper level of the house. He appears to be somewhere between 5 and 7 years old (and he's not one of our children!)

 

We've heard the laugh of a little child, at various places in the house, when my children are either asleep, or not even at home.

 

Can anyone out there relate to this at all? Or have any experience with this sort of thing?

[GreenKitty]

I cannot say that I don't believe in them. Though if I talk about it people would think I am crazy...:rolleyes: Sounds very odd, what's happening. Have you read books on ghosts to find out more info?

[A.J. at J.A.]

Oh my goodness! I'm with GreenKitty, I can't say that I don't believe in them but I'm glad they're at your house and not mine! I've got chills, goose bumps and shallow breathing just reading your account. :eek:

 

I'm glad it is just mischievous and not threatening.

 

Keep us updated!

Angela

[Milseain]

I don't think you're crazy. I believe anything is possible even if we can't see or understand it.

[Pajama Mama]

I've never experienced anything like you have. I don't believe in ghosts in the way that they are portrayed in most movies. I do believe that there are spirits that watch over us. I've been raised Catholic which tells us that we each have a guardian angel looking over us. When I was a younger adult I scoffed at that idea. But having a child with medical problems has changed my perspective. I have been so stressed beyond belief when all of a sudden I feel a hand on my shoulder or stroking my hair. Some might think I was imagining things. But I tend to think it's my grandmother who practically raised me.

 

Your experience is completely different than mine. I've never seen or heard anything like that. Have you looked up the history of the house? I'd be curious to find out who the kids are...umm, were. You could call the paranormal people(who I'm dying to call Ghostbusters)and see what they say. If you call them, let us know what happens. Good luck

[A.J. at J.A.]

I just remembered that when I was on a mission trip to Guatemala with my older son, my younger son (6yrs at the time) said he saw me as an angel when he was going to sleep (but he assures me his eyes were open). He said I just "poofed in and poofed out". He said (I just asked him again what it was like) that I was standing on the floor and waved to him and then was gone. I asked him if he said anything to me and he said I was too quick. It didn't freak him out or anything, he said I was there and then I was gone (he said it was me but I was more like an angel - I'm assuming he means like transparent or something), then he went to sleep.

 

WEIRD!

Angela

[Amy in NH]

My mother grew up in a haunted house. Her whole family saw "Joseph", the adult male ghost. He mostly hung around on the upper floor, where my uncle had his bedroom. He was nice enough at first. Then he asked my uncle to do "something" (uncle has never told what it was), uncle refused, Joseph got angry. He started making a lot more noise, and tried to push people down the stairs.

 

Many years after they sold the house and scattered to different parts of the country, they all had a dream the same night in which they went to visit Joseph because he was calling to them. When they compared notes, they figured he was unhappy with his house having been turned into an office building and he wanted to go home with one of them. But no-one has gone back. I guess we'll never know.

 

Joseph's house was a huge, 3-story, in Danvers, MA. It was a beautiful home.

[Night Elf]

I do believe in ghosts. (I sound like the cowardly lion in Wizard of Oz.) :)

 

I recently saw a show on tv, maybe called Paranormal?, where something similar was happening to a family. They had doors opening and closing, toys coming off a shelf and even being put in a circle, and footsteps. A paranormal group was called in who decided it was a child that was doing the innocent stuff. However, the mom was experiencing some negative stuff and the paranormal group decided it was another more sinister spirit. They did research on the house and discovered many things that made the stories even more laudable. The house had been a doctor's home and office. The husband was a total skeptic at first but grudgingly admitted at the end that something weird was happening.

 

If I were in your position, I'd phone the paranormal team and ask how they operate. It might be interesting.

[lynn]

When you find a penny someone a desceased loved one is near? When my Oma died it was a big loss for me. she was the only one that ever understood me and gave me strength and encouragement. For weeks after she passed I found penny's everywhere. I really felt she was there. sounds corny, maybe but I could never quite remember when her birthday was, November 14th on Nov 14 last year guess what I find all day, penny's, I called my mom to veryify Oma's birthday and yes Oma was reminding me that she was near and it is her birthday. finding those penny's make me smile, instead of bursting into tears thinking of my Oma. It's something she would do. She always made her presence known.

[Friederike in Persia]

For the last 12 years I've been living in (muslim) countries, where nearly everybody believes in the supernatural and it's much more part of life. Quite sometimes my "super-scientific" mind tells me that what I'm being told isn't true, but ever so often things happen to us or to friends, that are clearly not explainable in a materialistic way.

If you choose to look for help you can also try churches around you, some will very likely be happy to help with what they would probably call "deliverance". We got some spooky ghosts out of our last home in the name of Jesus!

 

Hope your home will soon be peacefull again,

Friederike

[lynn]

Give him a name and go along with him. Is it just him or do you think there are others?

[Krista in LA]

I've got goose bumps just from reading that. Matter of fact, my goose bumps have goose bumps.

 

<whispering> yes, I do believe in ghosts.

 

My bff grew up in a an old farmhouse. They often had strange happenings there. I can't really remember the details because it was many years ago, but the one thing I do remember is that sometimes when we were in her room, there would be sudden whisps of rose scented perfume. We got to the point that whenever that happened, we would just acknowledge that someone had entered or left the room. It was kind of creepy, but nothing truly scary every happened.

[AudreyTN]

I believe in them... I don't have any scary stories or anything to back it up... I just do. :) No one has been able to DISprove it to me... so why not?

[Rich with Kids]

I don't . I do not believe people "come back". I believe when you die, you go to heaven or hell and you stay there. I do believe in angels and demons. I believe they were never human and that they are very near. (Thanks Frank Peretti)

 

There are a lot of things in the spirital realm that we will never have answers, but my opinion is based on what I've read in the bible.

[Daisy]

I agree with "Rich with Kids". I do not believe in "ghosts". I do not believe in the spirits of dead people roaming the earth. I believe when you are dead, you are dead and you go to your eternal reward (one place or the other). I do believe in spirits though (angels and evil spirits).

[Montana Peach]

Have you looked up the history of the house? Might be something in old newspapers at the library that could be of some help.

 

As for believing in them, I definitely do and have seen several and no it isn;t crazy :)

[Jenn in Mo]

I agree. I believe in spirits, absolutely. Not ghosts. However, I've heard of stories of demons imitating the dead, which could account for many 'ghost' stories.

[OnTheBrink]

I'm with RWK and Jenn.

[Tarheel Heather]

We have experienced various things at my parents house. At times things have happened in our home. But we relate it to they came for a visit. And until it does happen and you experience it's hard to explain. They (my parents) use to be reenactors, apparantly they have brought others home with them. My dad has an office, and they wouldn't let me in the office. There is no lock on the door, and I couldn't get in. I had to knock on the door and ask if I could come in. We would smell horses, cigar smoke, coffee brewing, hay, aftershave. At times there would be music and the sound of cannon fire of in the distance.

 

Anyway that's our experience.

 

Heather

[jellybean]

Yes, I certainly do. If your interested in reading up on them there are some great books out there!!

[Tammy]

nt

[Tia in Wa]

I don't . I do not believe people "come back". I believe when you die, you go to heaven or hell and you stay there. I do believe in angels and demons. I believe they were never human and that they are very near. (Thanks Frank Peretti)

 

There are a lot of things in the spirital realm that we will never have answers, but my opinion is based on what I've read in the bible.

I agree. I have had some strange experiences with unexplained things. My mom used to run a street mission/ soup kitchen in a turn of the century hotel. Nothing ever happened there that did not stop when told to in the name of Jesus.

FYI this is just IMO what someone eles experiences or beileves is their business

[Excelsior! Academy]

I don't . I do not believe people "come back". I believe when you die, you go to heaven or hell and you stay there. I do believe in angels and demons. I believe they were never human and that they are very near. (Thanks Frank Peretti)

 

There are a lot of things in the spirital realm that we will never have answers, but my opinion is based on what I've read in the Bible.

 

That sums it up for me.

[Anne/Ankara]

No, I don't believe in ghosts. I guess I'm too "rational" for such superstitions, and frankly, I think such beliefs can really lead a person astray in many ways. Just not my cup of tea.

[Free Indeed]

I don't . I do not believe people "come back". I believe when you die, you go to heaven or hell and you stay there. I do believe in angels and demons. I believe they were never human and that they are very near. (Thanks Frank Peretti)

 

There are a lot of things in the spirital realm that we will never have answers, but my opinion is based on what I've read in the bible.

Me too! Frank Peretti's books were really insightful and eye opening to me! :D

[Mary H]

no there are not any ghosts. Just spirits/angels. I have seen angels and evil spirits. The evil spirits do go when you say the name of JESUS.

 

jmho

 

Mary H

[Tonia]

no there are not any ghosts. Just spirits/angels. I have seen angels and evil spirits. The evil spirits do go when you say the name of JESUS.

 

jmho

 

Mary H

 

I'm in agreement with this - I don't believe in ghosts.

[Night Elf]

No, I don't believe in ghosts. I guess I'm too "rational" for such superstitions, and frankly, I think such beliefs can really lead a person astray in many ways. Just not my cup of tea.

 

Isn't it funny how the same answer can work in more ways than one? I believe in ghosts and paranormal because it is rational. Religion, OTOH, isn't rational. For me. I'm not say I'm right or better. I just found it interesting that my reasons for believing in what I do are because of rationality. :D

[frogpond1]

In our Western culture we laugh off such things, but most of the world acknowledges this reality. As a Christian I believe there is a spiritual battle going on around us. If angels can enter our world, demons can too. That man not

help you at all, but for me, praying has been quite helpful in these situations.

[Tap]

We had rocking chairs that would suddenly start *actively* rocking and heard footsteps on the stairs often. We had small items disappear and reappear in the same spot later in the week, in obvious places, like the cleared dining room table. We also found a whole stash full of items that had gone missing under a built in bookcase. We had removed the trim piece to lay carpet and found a pile of keys, makeup, toys and other misc. items. The house was built in the 1880s and had little recorded history, other than previous occupants had died typical deaths but not in the house. We would catch a glimpse of a child and of a women in all black with a black veil who looked like she was in mourning. The ghosts weren't really a problem, well, until we found the stash of items, that weren't returned.

 

At one point in the 70s my parents had to have an exorcism preformed specifically on the one evil ghost that decided to visit the house. They felt he came to the house or became more active when my teen sister snuck home and Ouija board and her and her friends played with it. At different times after that several people (visitors who didn't know the history of the house) and my father (a very large strong man) felt someone/thing try to push them down the stairs. We then also had several other accounts of other evil happenings at the house so my parents had the church come out. The exorcism worked and only the sweet/mischievous ghosts stayed.

 

The ghosts we also helpful but those are very long stories so I won't go into it.

 

TWO huge words of caution! Be careful!

Really think through the risks before you start your research.

 

If you start to investigate the paranormal or ghosts, they will most likely become more active. Once you start to be able to see them and you get to the point that you are more comfortable with them, they will start to push the limits more! Your children will be especially vulnerable. Research into the occult is like opening a pandora's box. You will open yourself up to the good as well as the bad. I would look for books that have a Christian theme to them and do not research anything evil. Do not try to communicate, to stir them up, or to interact with them. Try to find someone in your area with experience before you start down the path of investigation.

 

I know people who work in related fields and I will ask them for book recommendations for you but please don't bring anything into the house to investigate it yourself. Do all your research out of your house.

[Mrs Mungo]

I believe there are spirits and/or forces and/or residual energies on earth that we don't generally understand. I don't necessarily believe they are "ghosts" as in they are the spirits of people who are died but I don't disbelieve it, either. Does that make sense?

[Barb_]

My grandparents owned a cottage built by a preacher in the 1930's (?) or so. It was their summer home in N. Carolina when they lived in Florida back in the 80's. Oftentimes, we'd go visit them for a week or two at a time and they were always talking about a ghost they'd named "Frankie". They believed she was female, even though they never saw her because things would disappear from the kitchen and turn up in odd places all over the house. When something would go missing, my grandma would call, "Frankie, quit messing around and give (what ever the object was) back." And it someone would turn it up. I remember once finding my grandma's favorite paring knife (she called it her Valuable Little Knife) on top of the refrigerator. Don't ask me what possessed me to look for it up there, but it was so odd that I still remember it.

 

One night, my mom and dad were awake and talking with the lights off in their room and my grandparents were doing the same across the hall. Dad saw a weird glow and they heard a shuffle of feet as if in slippers, pass their bedroom door. Before too long, they heard the doorknob of my grandparents door turn back and forth. My grandma yelled, "Very funny, Tom!" but he answered, "it's not me!" from his own room. The same happened again the next night, so the third night, my grandparents left their door opened. Whatever it was passed by Mom and Dad's room, shuffled down the hall, and through my grandparents' room and through the wall. After a few more nights, it stopped. After we got some photos developed, a picture of the house from the outside had a fuzzy face in the basement window.

 

On a later trip, my aunt and uncle brought their 9mo old daughter. Her toys turned on during the night, and they could hear a rocker creak back and forth at different intervals. My cousin April would giggle over my aunts shoulder, pointing and saying "baby". As they were leaving, April strained to turn around in her carseat and said, "bye-bye Baby."

 

Eventually the weird things ceased happening altogether.

 

Barb

[Lisa at Home]

I had several encounters in a house I grew up in, where the original owner ( a doctor) had commited suicide.

 

Nothing like what you said, though.:eek:

 

Wow.

 

~Lisa

[TravelingChris]

I don't believe in ghosts but I think some of the things could be related to electrical fields.

[Needleroozer]

I believe there are spirits and/or forces and/or residual energies on earth that we don't generally understand. I don't necessarily believe they are "ghosts" as in they are the spirits of people who are died but I don't disbelieve it, either. Does that make sense?

 

This is pretty much the way I have felt most of my life. If anything, I think I believe in ghosts more because of things happening to me in the last 16 yrs.

 

I have felt the presence (not really seeing, just *feeling*) of dead folks on occasion, especially in the first home we owned- a woman named Naomi Cross lived there, and I think she used to visit me on a regular basis- the neighbors said that she loved babies much the same way I do. I think she used to sit and rock in the nursery, watching the baby sleep, because I would come in to nurse him and the chair would be rocking.

 

I also used to get a warm feeling, like a hug, and feel like she was watching over me, and I think she visited more when I had tons of kids over or was doing daycare there.

 

The only time I *think* I saw her, there was a fuzzy, kind of shimmery something, standing in the doorway, waving goodbye, as we were leaving the house when we moved.

 

The man who had owned our current house died here, and although I haven't felt anything, to be honest, I have expected to,lol.

 

I wish I knew more than that, but I guess I am saying that I don't think you are crazy, and if you feel the need to research this, to do it out of your home, as already suggested.

[Karen sn]

I have seen them for years - usually out of the corner of my eye, a few times looking directly at them. I am so used to it now - that it doesn't phase me. I only acknowlege them when I feel the energy is not evil. There was a very bad house once - with very bad spheres of energy. I would see a blue ball of light energy (and a red one) going up and down the hall way - could very clearly see them out of the corner of my eye but never dead on. They were EVIL - I ignored them.

 

Have seen or felt good spirits or energy and I will talk to them. I think sometimes they just want to know they are seen and have the voice of the living address them. Once even heard the rustle of skirts and woke up to see an old time family at my bedside. I fell back asleep - told my friends the next morning - come to find out it was an old house with a history and I wasn't the 1st to see or hear them.

 

Recently - my db and dd were playing a game on the couch. My dd's rocking chair started rocking (hard and fast) and as soon as db said something out loud - it stopped dead in its tracks!

 

I think alot more people see them than realize. My mom (serious hard core Christian) said to me that for a while she had been seeing this evil presence around me. That several times she would think she saw me come into the room (out of the corner of her eye) and when she looked up - no one was there. But she felt that something evil was there and it was there to bother me.

 

Long story short - old family curse.

 

Anyway - sounds to me like yours are children.

[Mx5]

I hope I don't sound completely off my rocker! I assure you that I'm quite normal...well, at least with sound mind...but we're starting to believe that our house is haunted.

 

 

The bible says that it's appointed unto man once to die, then the judgment. In another place it says that to be absent from the body is to be present with God. There's no indication in the bible that ghosts exist, but there are plenty of instances of demonic activity, especially in the new testament.

 

What I would do is call some local pastors and ask them what they think you should do. It is not beyond them to come to a home and pray over it. My dh and I have done this with every home we've bought. We dedicate the home to the Lord, and ask Him to cast down anything that is not of Him that might be there.

[Sara R]

Weird. Another board I frequent is discussing the same topic. I'll link for you: The Haunted House