My first experience with a real ghost?

[Scepcop]

I posted this last year on another forum:

Our house is haunted! We experienced a REAL ghost! (no joke)

Dear all,
What I'm about to tell you is no joke, I swear. I never make up these kind of things.

Last night, while Dianne was at her mom's house for a few hours and I was alone in the house on the computer in the bedroom, the doorknob in my bedroom turned and snapped back into place by itself. Ok well I didn't see the doorknob physically turn by itself since I was looking at my laptop screen, but the sound of it turning and snapping back into place was loud and clear, and emanated in close proximity to me from the bedroom door on my left.

Immediately I looked at the door and was startled. I thought that someone broke into the house or snuck in earlier. Cautiously, I looked around every room in the house and every bathroom as well, but no one was there. But regardless, the sound of the doorknob turning and snapping back into place was VERY REAL. By the way, this is a crude doorknob and mades a louder sound than most.

I realized that there was no natural explanation for a doorknob turning and snapping back by itself, so perhaps I have evidence for the first time, of a real ghost experience. Exciting, I thought, since I had wanted that all my life, but scary as well.

At that point, I was both scared and fascinated. But I didn't want to panic so I just went back to the dozen projects I had to do on this computer. While I tried to concentrate on what I was working on though, I heard a sound in the room next to mine, as though someone bumped into the door. But since that wasn't the first time I heard strange sounds from the next room, I thought it might just be something going on with the neighbor behind us.

When Dianne came home an hour later, I told her I had something scary to tell her, but she said it would be better to tell her tomorrow in the daytime. But I told her anyway, and when I told her about unexplained loud thuds I used to hear in my house back in California, she told me to stop it.

Still scared, when she went to the Spamalamadingdong she dragged me with her cause she was afraid to go alone, even though I was in the next room. When we both entered the Spamalamadingdong area together, suddenly there was a loud tapping sound on the wall right in front of us! As we both stared at it, I thought I was dreaming. "WTF!" I thought. Staring in shock and disbelief, I was startled to realize that although the loud sound was right in front of us, there was NO VISIBLE CAUSE of it! Now that was freaky, I thought.

After that, Dianne freaked and began retreating back into the bedroom, but I said that I wanted to go outside first to make sure that no one was outside on the other side causing that sound. So she went out with me, clinging onto me. Behind the house, two kids were sitting across the street at a sari sari store. We asked them if they saw anyone hit our house, and they said no. But their answer was irrelevant because even if they or someone was hitting or banging the wall from outside, the wall was so thick and of solid cement that we would barely even hear it. And plus, like I said, the loud tapping sound was in the INTERIOR of the house, not from outside.

So, there was no natural or logical explanation I could think of for the two explained but clearly audible sounds that I had witnessed right in front of me. For once in my life, I could think of no natural explanation that could fit.

Outside, Dianne sat at the sari sari store across the street, too scared to come back in. She told the lady behind the store window what had happened. Then she pointed to a big leaf outside the house waving up and down. All of us, Dianne and me, the two boys, and the sari sari store lady, could see it move even though there was no breeze and the other bushes weren't moving.

Normally I wouldn't think much of a big leaf moving, since there's an obvious natural cause for it, but after what we experienced tonight, it was more bone chilling than it otherwise would have been.

Terrified, Dianne said she could not spend the night in our house tonight and insisted that we go sleep at her mom's house. I tried to argue her out of it, but she insisted. Then I said she could go to her mom's house, but I wanted to stay here alone and see if I could experience more haunted activity, since to me, as a paranormal buff, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and might not ever come again! But she refused to let me stay there alone, esp since she never likes to be without me, even for one night.

Part of me was disappointed. I had read so much about ghosts and hauntings, but to experience it is quite another matter and shakes up your paradigm. But part of me wants it because to have confirmation that ghosts exist is powerful evidence of life after death, which many want deep down.

At her mom's house, while we were watching TV, Dianne explained what she thinks happened. You see, last week our landlady's husband passed away from multiple schlerosis. Since they live next door to us, his spirit would be haunting the area. And when the landlady moved out after that to be with her relatives, refusing to stay at home alone, she violated the custom here that says that when a spouse passes away, you should stay at home for 40 days in case his or her restless spirit was there. Thus, his spirit may be upset that she wasn't home, and so he came to our place next door.

Oh great, I thought. So maybe his spirit is wandering around, like that character in the movie "Ghost" or "Sixth Sense" or that newer one, I forget its name (where the murdered teen's ghost hangs around while near death to try to help others solve his disappearance).

Also, a few days ago Dianne told me that she saw his ghost talking to her in bed earlier that morning when she woke up. She said his body was laying down there and cold to the touch. All he said was thank you for renting our house and giving us the only income we have.

In spite of all this, I should note that when we first moved in here last January, a trike driver told Dianne's family that our house was haunted and that someone was murdered there once, and that the last renters moved out cause they couldn't tolerate all the haunted activity there. However, the neighbors told me that that they never heard of that. I thought that it might be true though, because the first night I slept there alone, I had a feeling that there was a presence there and that I wasn't alone. It wasn't a scary presence though, just a sense that something was there. But since we experienced no haunted activity til now, I never thought anything of it afterward.

But who knows if what we experienced was due to the landlady's husband passing away, or something prior to that. We don't know. But the timeline suggests the former.

Anyhow, the next day we came back and did a traditional Catholic blessing of the home with Dianne's mom and sister, using a cross, Mary statue, holy water and candles. Since then, all has been quiet and normal and there is now a pleasant energy about.

(By the way, Dianne's house is always full of pleasant positive energy since it's been fully blessed many times, and that's one reason, I think, why our baby likes it there a lot more and seems far more comfortable and happier there, whereas at our place he seems restless, annoyed and uncomfortable. Since he's there most of the time, probably by now, he thinks that Dianne's mom is his mom, and that we are just his babysitters. lol. Oh well, at least I have more time now to write to you folks and do the dozens of projects I have on the internet to make money and build my presence.)

On a final note, I know that those of you who strongly do not believe in ghosts or the paranormal may start to wonder if I've gone nuts or not. But honestly, I've NO history with hallucinating anything at all. And I never claimed to see any apparition here, only to hear real audible sounds in close proximity with NO visible natural cause. Dianne heard it too. And that is all I am claiming.

Besides this incidence, I've heard mysterious unexplained noises in the past. When I was 14, at our big house in Fremont, California, while in my room at night I heard a loud thud in the room next to mine, as though something heavy dropped on the carpet floor. But when I looked, nothing had dropped to cause such a loud thud. I checked the closet too. This happened maybe 2 or 3 times, and was very eerie. However, that house was newly built and we were the first residents, so it had no history. Dianne says though, that in Filipino tradition, if you don't bless a house first after you move in, you leave it vulnerable to hauntings and bad energy or spirits.

[antiskeptic]

Interesting story. Another possibility is that this is a residual haunting.

[Scepcop]

What is a residual haunting? This was the first time though and it's gone now. So how could it be residual?

[jamesbond]

[ProfWag]

[brett]

[ProfWag]

The "No Skeptics Allowed" is fine, if that's the way the leaders want to have it, however, it would probably be better to encourage skeptics to be more courteous in that forum than may be expected in others. However, we should ALL be courteous in ALL forums. I can understand where he's coming from though. Many skeptics ridicule rather than accept that people are very honest in their beliefs and experiences. It's all good though. Hopefully, I won't get booted...

[NinjaPuppy]

[NinjaPuppy]

[ProfWag]

[ProfWag]

[NinjaPuppy]

It seems as soon as skeptics find a suitable theory to explain away any possibility of paranormal existence, they apply it to every single experience. Hypnagogia is a perfect example of ample proof for a skeptic that obviously doesn't have ample study to prove much at all, yet it suits the skeptical game plan.

[ciscop]

well.. i am a skeptic
so all i am going to said is

congratulations on your first ghost experience



and... with the title, are you saying the ¨ghosts orbs¨ you photographed arent real ghosts?

[brett]

well - one of the reasons a lot of local groups don't want the likes of me around is BECAUSE I push for PROPER research ( i am told i am "too negative " ) - but , and I will keep on saying this till i am blue in the face - you cannot research a supposed haunting in one night , you can not do so with out looking at many many factors , including the psychological state of the claimants ( which ,is where a qualified psychologist With, AN OPEN MIND would come in useful ) and of course MOTIVE , MOTIVE , MOTIVE !! ALWAYS LOOK FOR MOTIVE , be this financial , ego, fame , etc etc etc - once you have ruled THESE out , and have a coherent story ( number of times that trips em up ) then and only then can you start to research a case properly

when we ( the late wife and i ) had a web site ,( offering proper investigation ) we used to demand the claimants kept a log for a month or more of all activity , allowed longitudinal research , AND full written accounts of supposed claims from everyone involved - needless to say we did not get any takers

why ?? well I recon it was because the claimants wanted a quick "entertainment " type investigation ( ala taps /most haunted / whatever ) OR they where worried that once we started probing - the real reasons for claiming a haunting would be uncovered - and of course a lot of these places making a "nice little earner" from all this don't want that ,do they now ??

however having said that a couple of places did let us do several visits free gratis - and not surprisingly , there was actually unexplainable / unverifiable stuff there - so GENUINE sites DO exist - but unfortunately they are far and few between

however , actual hollywood type full manifestations ?? - nope - not been that lucky yet - but funnily enough i HAVE seen a phantom cat in 75% manifestation , right here where i live , so they DO happen ,( but of course this is anecdotal so don't count )

any ways that's the way i like to work , and am happy to spend as much time as it takes to do an investigation to my standards - pity a lot of the so called researchers out there don't do the same

you know i am wondering how fine the line between sceptic ( note spelling ) and believer actually is ?? - certainly whilst I still "believe " - the level of scepticism ( or should that be cynicism ???? ) is certainly increasing proportionate to the number of claims that people DONT want investigated with due rigour - must tell us something ?? eh

[NinjaPuppy]

I totally agree with you on the MOTIVE. That's my number one question straight off the top.

Now I wouldn't discount someone if their motive seemed to be of a less than honorable nature but it has to be taken into consideration with the rest of the information before any opinion is made.

I like the way that you set up your procedures Brett. Very good list.