Sunday, February 8, 2009

Ghost in the Snow

Sue from Wisconsin sent me this story about driving on a snowy night. When she came to an intersection, she encountered more than just a stop sign!

Hi, I'm Sue from Wisconsin and I noticed you had no stories from here, so I thought I'd send you mine.

I was driving home one night while a blizzard was going on. I was pretty worried about getting home, so I drove very carefully. I was out in the country, but lived in the city, and so I was ESPECIALLY careful as I did not want to slide into a ditch or get stuck in the middle of nowhere. Even though it was dark, the sky was bright because of the heavy snow falling. Slowly, I was approaching an intersection of 3 roads. This was a dangerous intersection even on a sunny day, so I slowed down even more. As I was squinting my eyes, trying to see the stop sign to see exactly where to stop, I saw the outline of a man in what looked to be a snowmobile suit, raising his arms up and down, signaling for me to slow down or stop. I got the distinct feeling there must have been an accident or that he was stuck. The only thing at this intersection was an old house, a church, a tavern and a little cemetery.

I slowed the car down just before this intersection so it would not get hit by another car, but my worst fear came true, the car began to slide down into the ditch. I was scared. I put the car in park, got out and ran to the intersection in the blizzard to find this guy because now he would need to help ME. When I got there, the silence was eerie, the snow was falling ferociously and there was no man in the intersection. I thought if I looked for his footprints in the snow, I could find where he went and get help.

THERE WERE NO FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW.

Just me, the cemetery and the snow falling. By this time, I was really scared because I was alone, out in the country, and how would I get help getting out of the ditch? What a mean mean trick to play on me. Why would someone play such a dangerous trick on an unknowing stranger? I was so mad. I charged back to my car and somehow, in my anger, I rocked the car to-and-fro, and I did get it out of the ditch, proceeded through that intersection and on to home. I carried this anger around for a long long time. I could have frozen to death! All at the cost of someone playing a trick.

Speed ahead about 5 years to a beautiful sunny warm day at this same intersection, where an open house in the little church was on this day because it was turned into a historical society and there were tours in the cemetery. I decided to go there. I walked up to the front door of the church and pasted on the door was a few news articles. I read the titles. One said: "GHOST PLAYS WITH TRAFFIC AT INTERSECTION" and another said: "PLATES THROWN BY A GHOST." Well guess what....it was about this same intersection where I had my mishap 5 years earlier. The article went on to say that the ghost would throw plates and glasses in the tavern when no one was around and run to the intersection and play with traffic, going back and forth from the church to the tavern. After reading that, a chill went up my spine.

I had seen a ghost! And for 5 years, I never knew it and was angry at a ghost! Up to that point in my life, I was pretty much not a believer, but not any more. Still, I'd like to find him and ask him why he did that to me.

Sue

Thanks for adding the scary state of Wisconsin to our list, Sue. Glad you made it home safely that night, despite your ghostly encounter!

Friday, February 6, 2009

The Box Under the Floor

Terry from Florida sent me this tale which took place when he was a boy in Indiana. It involves another boy who used to live in his house but died, then sent Terry a message from beyond...

My family moved to a small town in northern Indiana, into a large house where I got my own room. I was 15.

It started a few weeks after we had moved in. it was late and I was in bed ...really half asleep when I heard my closet door open. I quickly turned on the light and sure enough it was open. I just dismissed it and went to sleep . I truly did not give it a second thought until a few nights later it happened again but this time I was awake reading and watched the door slowly open. Ok now I freaked. But the rest of the family was sleeping. I didn't want to wake them and freak all of them too. So I just laid down on the couch. That is where my Dad found me the next morning. When I told him what was going on he just sort of laughed at me and told me it was probably just the air conditioning kicking on ..and causing a vacuum which caused the door to swing open. He said he would get to fixing the latch. I believed him.

So this went on for a while, the closet door just swinging open. Until one of the neighbors told me that the family that lived in the house before us had lost a son in a train accident two years before we had moved in. The boy had been in his senior year of high school--the same one I would be going to that September. I also learned that I was living in his old room.

Now I was either letting my imagination running away with me or I was tuning into something but I got it in my head that it was his ghost who was opening the door.

It kept happening, and strangely I got use to it ...until it was waking me up more frequently and I had school in the morning and was losing sleep so one night , that last night when it happened again ....I was mad ....and I said out loud ... I said his name ..... and told him he was dead .... he got hit by a train .... and he should go to heaven. The door never opened on it's own again.

Now for the really strange part ..... I started thinking about the closet door two or three weeks later ... if it was this kid's ghost, why was he opening the closet ... so I got out of bed one night ... turned on the light ... and looked in my closet. I moved my shoes and some boxes that were still unpacked from the move and peeled back the carpet. When I did that a section of the floor board popped up and hidden in the floor board was a cigar box. Inside of it was a bunch of stuff ...really nothing valuable, just things a guy would save, an old watch, a buck knife, pictures of friends and family and some cards and letters, just stuff. I just knew what to do with them. I put the box in a paper lunch sack and took it to school with me.

I knew from others that the younger sister of the boy that was killed was in my class. At lunch I went over to her. She was sitting with her friends and I told her who I was ....and after a strange look I let her know that I was living in her old home ... and had her late brother's old room and found something that I think belonged to him hidden in the closet of the bedroom. I slowly pulled the cigar box out of the bag and handed to her she smiled when she saw it and slowly opened it. A few tears came to her eyes..she thanked me as her girl friends comforted her, and I left.

A week later her mother came up to me as I was walking home. Her daughter had pointed me out, and she thanked me too ...and gave me the buck knife from the box as a reward ...I tried to say no but she was tearing up and I smiled and said thank you.

It's been over 30 years and I still have that Buck knife. I never told either of them that it was their son and brother that showed me where the secret box was.

That's it ...Not scary but a real Ghost Story

Terry

And a really touching one, too. You were very kind and I'm sure the mother, the sister, and, in his own way, the boy, appreciated your kindness. Thanks for sharing this one.

The Haunted Car Crash

Karen from Utah sent me this chilling tale about the day she saw an accident on the road. The only problem--five minutes later, it wasn't there anymore. 15 years later, the same thing happened again! The story is long, but well worth it:

Hi Jason:

I love your blog! Thanks for your hard work and dedication.

I would like to share an incident that happened to my brother and sister-in-law nearly 30 years ago.

It was a spring evening, just at dusk, it had been raining lightly and the road was wet and the surrounding area slightly misty.They were headed to Salt Lake from Layton Utah, about 30 miles north of Salt Lake.

As they drove along the divided highway, two cars ahead of them came together in a horrible crash! They both witnessed the flying debris and watched as one car flipped and rolled several times finally landing on it's top. My sister-in-law screamed and my brother swerved to miss it. He sped ahead trying to find a spot to turn around to go back and help. He was an undercover narcotics officer so he called for the local Highway Patrol. He found a spot to turn around, placed his light on top of his car and raced back to the scene. They were sure someone had died in this horrible accident. Coming to the spot where it occurred they found nothing! No debris, no car, no skid marks, nothing.

The Highway Patrol Officer showed up and thought maybe he was the brunt of some kind of sick joke. They were both shaking and upset. My brother exited from the car and walked half a mile along the road looking for some sign. There was nothing. They were freaked out to say the least. As they discussed what they had both seen, it was identical, however, they came to realize there was no sound involved. If this horrific accident had happened right in front of them they would have heard something. But there had been no sound.

For a long time they refused to travel this stretch of highway. They weren't sure what they had seen, if it had been a premonition of things to come or what. Fast forward 15 years or so. My husband, who was a state trooper, received a call one morning while on duty, that his father was gravely ill. He stopped to pick me up as we rushed to Salt Lake and the hospital. We spent the day. Things calmed down and my father-in-law was stabilized, so by late afternoon we could head back home. It was a spring evening, it had been raining, and was still misty outside. Over my husband's police radio came a call that a girl had witnessed a horrific accident and gave the approximate area of where the accident took place.

One of the other troopers sped off in search of the crash. A few minutes later the trooper returned to the radio and told the dispatcher he had been to the area three times but found nothing. At that point I said to my husband "he's sure having a hard time finding that accident isn't he?" We both had these funny expressions on our faces when we realized it was in the exact area my brother had also seen the accident. The trooper on the radio continued to say he had been back three times, and there was nothing to indicate there had been an accident anywhere. He wanted to know if someone was playing a joke on them. The dispatcher assured him the young woman was serious, she was very distraught as she was certain that someone had been killed in the accident.

I always have a strange sensation when I drive past the area. I'm sure there was an accident at some time right there. And now, years later, when conditions are right, whoever is there gets to witness it again.

Karen

Yikes! Thanks for the story, Karen. Talk about bad "Car-ma!" Very creepy indeed!

The Butt-Pinching Ghost of Florida!

Now I've heard stories about ghosts that were scary, ghosts that were sad, and ghosts that were helpful. But Laura shared a story about a ghost in Florida that was downright RUDE!!! Check it out.

My sister has told me several times about a ghost in her house in St. Petersburg, Florida. She told me this ghost would pinch her butt as she washed dishes. Although I am a believer, I did kind of think her love of Stephen King books was fueling her imagination. One day shortly after Christmas I went over to her house to see what the children got from Santa. As I was standing in her son’s room, with my back to a wide open closet, I was talking when I felt something pinching my rear-end very hard. I gasped and turned around, assuming my nephew was just being silly, but no one was there! I looked at my sis and said “I just got pinched!” she said “See, I told you!” I really was shocked.

Laura

Thanks for sharing that one, Laura. Wow! What's next? A ghost who gives wedgies? Not that I'm trying to give anyone any ideas or anything!!