More on the Jasper County Home! 9/25/05  This information was submitted  by Sarah   {Thank you, Sarah, for providing us with more information!  Let us know if you find out more.}

(See our Investigations of the County Home by clicking here & here.   Our investigations there also appear in the new book " Encyclopedia of Haunted Places"}

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THIS PROPERTY IS NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC -PERMISSION MUST BE OBTAINED TO INVESTIGATE INSIDE OR OUT.  FAILURE TO DO SO COULD RESULT IN YOUR ARREST!   

Paranormal Experiences 10/06/05 This account was sent to us by

Byron W. of Kossuth County, IA

Although in the past 10 years I have not experienced any paranormal activity, that goes to say that I have had my experience with the unknown in my earlier stages of life back in my high school days. 1982 - 1990  was
filled with what I would call paranormal sightings and activities not just from my view point but from a handful of friends who can tell you exactly what they have seen just as good as I can tell you. 
Most of the time we traveled in a group, not looking for anything to happen, in fact our mind the furthest from paranormal activity, just out having fun on the weekend, but sure enough something weird would happen
every once in awhile.
What do I mean by weird?? Things like unexplained fog on a clear night about 5 feet away from the back of the car we were all leaning against. Which happened to be near a local cemetery. Noises in houses that hadn't been
lived in for a year or two. Apparitions walking down the side of the road that kept reappearing in a certain 2 mile stretch of blacktop. (A lady in a black dress to be exact) A friend and I witnessed this one.
Not to mention a friends dead grandfather standing down by the family garden behind their house. The list goes on and on. Like I said we didn't believe our group to be ghost hunters at all. I would say that we just saw more than others. Out of all our experiences as a group and as individuals I can say that our encounters have not been met with any violence or of any threat to our well being at anytime. They were more mesmerizing and of awestruck to us all. We never felt threatened in any encounter to my knowledge, although, a couple of us did die young and uncanny type deaths that didn't seem natural for the person that died and especially the way they died. However, I don't think any of us survivors held that against the paranormal realm.

Haunted Apartments 10/06/05 This account was sent to us by 'Anonymous' 

I live in a flat were weird things happen. a few month ago some of the teenagers saw a figure at the back of the flat. when they went to investigate there was nothing there. then a few nights after that the little girl that's lives next door woke up and said there was a man in her bedroom but once again there appeared to be nothing there. then a few weeks ago when we were sitting in my house we heard the front door open and two of us saw a figure in the hall way but nothing was there the only thing was the front door was wide open. then the other day my friend was up with her little sister of two who was playing in my daughters room when she came in screaming saying there was a man in the room. when we went and checked there was nothing there we asked the child were the man was and she pointed over by the window. she could see something that wasn't there. ever since then I have heard noises as if someone is walking around the house, I have had cold shivers down my back and the feeling someone is watching me. my young daughter screams when ever some one leaves the room but its a scary horrible cry like she is scared of something.  I have lived in the flat for three months and as far as I know there has been no deaths in this block. These weird things have been still happening for example the other day one of my friends were up visiting me. She was helping me tidy my daughters bedroom. When she went to come out the room she felt something really cold grab her arm with real strength but nothing was there. The real thing that worries me is that it always seems to happen in my daughters bedroom.  My friends young sister claims she saw a man. It's the same with the girl who lives right at the bottom her mother is a clairvoyant so she has the gift to she hears things and has also saw a man in her home. The other night when she was in her bad she saw I figure standing at the top of her bed it was a man. When she tried to move she couldn't all she could move were her eyes she felt a great strength holding her she felt as though her whole body was paralyzed but when she had a really good look at the man he was standing looking at her through metal bars like prison bars. This has happened before it happened away last year when her dad took a really bad stroke she thought at first it was a sign that her dad was going to die but luckily her dad was ok but now it has happened again she knows that was nothing to do with her dad. She knows how to contact them and how to communicate as her mother was a clairvoyant but she is terrified of what the spirit might do especially when she has two young children in the house. the other thing is that at night I can hear someone walking about in my hall and that is also were I saw the figure with the white t-shirt but when I investigate there is nothing there. The other thing I have noticed is that it always seems to happen in the kids room.

Calico Ghost Town (silver mines) 9/20/05  This photo was  submitted  by Jesse Blackburn

 I am from Oklahoma and took a month trip to Riverside, California and we went to some silver mines and there is a ghost town, this is a pic of the school house.  I swear its real, I took this photo on July 1, 2005 during a private tour.   {The orbs appear to be dust, but it does look like there is ecto!}

Duncan Canyon Ghost? 9/20/05  This photo was  submitted  by Investigator Steve B 

Been out panning for gold in California.  Did real well.  Took some photos at the claim where I panned and was very surprised to find this photo a while ago.  The claim has a very long history that goes back to the 1850s.  It was worked in the early days by Greek miners and sets next to an old mule & donkey trail.  I was merely taking a photo of Jim's sign and found this anomaly in it. 

ARKANSAS HOTEL 9/20/05  This photo was submitted by Investigator Signa H 

This picture was taken in a Motel Calanderin room by a  3year old girl. The lady walking is Betty Hesse, my husbands sister and the girl is her grandaughter. We were there for a funeral. The kid must be a budding ghost hunter.  Signa

 "OLD HAG" 7/04/05  This account was sent to us by 'Anonymous' 

I have a question and maybe you can help me since you have heard a lot of paranormal activity. I really don’t believe in things like this. I always hear stories about ghost from relatives and they tell me their experiences. For instance I have a cousin who claims that his house is haunted. He lives in a small town in Georgia . It’s a rural area where neighbors live about ½ a mile away. He said that there is a ghost that usually makes noises around the house. One example would be while watching TV he would hear someone in the kitchen as if someone was washing dishes. He would go check and nobody would be there. He also mentioned that this spirit has manifested his body. One night as he was sleeping he felt a presence of someone; he opened his eyes and was motionless. He said he couldn’t move or talk he tried calling his wife who was sleeping next to him, but nothing came out of his mouth. This took a few seconds then gained control of his body, he said he was scared and started preying , just as he did he was released. I’ve been to his house on vacations and never experienced any paranormal activity which is why I didn’t believe it. It could have been a bad nightmare. I’m the type of guy that has to see to believe it. Let me get to the point, I’m currently in the ARMY and deployed to Iraq . I’ve been here for a few months doing my duty for this country. I’m stationed in a area where it once used to be a small town. It has lots of buildings that Saddam supplied for his army there is also a huge palace which is one of a few where Saddam resided.  There were lots of deaths in this town during the take over of this regime. Now the buildings are used to run US Ops. Well last night as I was sleeping the same thing that happened to my cousin happened to me. I live in a trailer with a room mate. It was around 12:30 AM when I felt someone standing over me. I opened my eyes and didn’t see anything but I realized I couldn’t move anything but my eyes. I was motionless. I was yelling for my room mate but nothing came out. In my mind I was yelling as hard as I could but nothing. I was also trying to beat on the hollow wall that we have to make some sort of noise to wake my room mate up, but like I said I couldn’t move. I was having a hard time breathing as it was as if breathing into a bag. I closed my eyes and tried to control my breathing and just waited. I was in this state for a little less than a minute but seemed like eternity. I finally started preying and asked for god’s help. When I gained control I sat down and woke my room mate up and told him what had happened. He said he heard noised coming from me as if gasping for air. Must have been when I was trying to call him. I guess he didn’t think nothing of it. I was a little light headed and sweating profoundly. But I guess my question is what happened? 

Our Reply: We think there is a good chance that what you & your cousin experienced may be what is referred to as "Sleep Paralysis" or the "Old Hag Syndrome".   We're not saying that there are or aren't spirits involved otherwise, but we would base that more on any experiences out side of this one.  We can understand your concern regarding where you are staying.  Any place where there has been numerous & violent deaths can harbor confused & lost spirits.  Praying for your protection, & for those spirits to move on, can't hurt either situation.    Please consult the Q & A page for more information about Sleep Paralysis.

HAUNTED DREAMS?  7/04/05  This account was sent to us by JR in Iowa

I have to admit that I have always been very skeptical concerning paranormal activity, but various incidents that occurred in a house I was renting in Davenport, IA until a few months ago are making me reconsider.

I just found out that when we were living in the house, my daughter was having recurring nightmares about a girl hanging herself in the house.  She never told me about this, but her boyfriend just informed me, since we are
concerned about her not wanting to sleep at night.  Her boyfriend told me that he had a police friend run a check on the house for police calls to the address and found that a girl did commit suicide by hanging herself in the house.  Being somewhat skeptical, I do feel the need to do an independent verification of this information.

Our Reply: Please consult the Q & A page for a full article on researching the history of a home.   The best sources of information such as this are usually police reports, or old newspaper reports found in the local library, or newspaper company.

"OLD MABEL"  6/26/05  This account was sent to us by 'Anonymous' in Indiana

CIVIL WAR Soldier  6/26/05  This account was sent to us by Barbara

GHOSTLY FOOTSTEPS  6/26/05  This account was sent to us by Nick

SPIRITED FAMILY  4/16/05  This account was sent to us by Jane M

My five year old grand-daughter has told us about her imaginary friends.  There has been a same-aged little girl, an invisible horse in the backyard, etc. 

Recently she told her mother the following:

She said she had an imaginary friend name Bucky,  He is a 16 year old boy.  When asked how long she has had this friend she answered (rather exasperatedly) that he has always been there, since she was in Mommy’s tummy but he never spoke to her before.  Now he talks to her and they talk about baseball.  The day after that she announced she was not going to root for the Boston Red Sox anymore.  When asked why not she answered (rather coyly), “just ‘cause”.

Background:

My grandfather was named John but all of us kids called him Bucky.  This was because he was a diehard Pittsburgh Pirates fan.  As a young man he was on a traveling baseball farm team for the coal-mining company he worked for.  Note that he died 5 years before my daughter (granddaughter’s Mother) was born so she never met him.  My daughter has never talked about him since she has no memory of him.

Also, my daughter has seen and heard a ghost in her home.  They purchased the house less that a year ago.  The ghost she has seen is that of a pre-school aged child that she encountered once.  The ghost was running circles around her (literally) while she was standing up doing something and she thought it was her daughter until the ghost ran down the hallway, turned and waved to her before disappearing in front of the attic door.

 All of these experiences were in the same house.  In addition to all this, the day my grandfather died he 'visited' me.  His spirit appeared to me for a brief few seconds. About 1 minute after that I received a phone call telling me he had passed.  My family has a history of very strong intuition and ESP type activities.  Family members refer to me and my sister as 'Two Women-One Brain'.  We keep buying the same greeting cards for the same people for the same occasion, we constantly say the same thing at the same time. Frequently I will think my sister said something to me aloud and I will answer her only to find out she was only thinking it.  We laugh and think of it as normal while it frequently 'creeps out' people around us. 

What do you make of the ‘imaginary friend’?  It seems that the house is a receptive place for those on another plane!

Our Reply:  It sounds like your grand-daughter may indeed be communicating with spirits.   Since spirits can appear any age they wish, he may have chosen to be a 16 year old either because this was a happy time for him in life, or because he thought she would relate better to him if he appeared around that age. But, her knowing these facts about him, when she wouldn't have had that information otherwise, certainly point to a strong possibility of it actually being him. 

 You & your daughter might want to read the recent book by Allison Dubois, "Don't Kiss Them Goodbye". I just finished it, & she deals extensively with child 'mediums' & children who can see spirits & communicate with them. It talks about how to recognize the signs & how to handle the situation. {The TV show "Medium" is based on her & her family}

INVISIBLE HOUSEGUESTS 4/16/05  

This account was sent to us by Janet F

I have lived in my home for 16 years.  Many unexplainable things have happened during that time, but none harmed anyone so I have accepted life in my home with others.  Recently, however, a couple of things that have happened have caused me a little more alarm.  Please let me explain some of the instances we have experienced:

 Smoke alarm going off in the house with no battery in it and no electrical connection.

 Doors wildly rattling when closed.  Like someone has a hold on the door handle and shakes it back and forth.

 Sudden cold spots in the house.

 Orbs of lights in a pitch black basement.  When the basement door is closed and all lights are out, there is no light that can seep into the basement as all windows are painted over and then stuffed with insulation.  I have had two groups of guests who have left because orbs of light dance in the basement bedroom.  I have never seen this and was shocked in the morning to find out my guests had left.  Neither group of guests know the other group and it’s not something that was known or shared.

 I was lying on my side on the couch very late one night and a glob of off-white stuff (about the size of a quarter) fell onto the side of my face.  My immediate reaction was to wipe it away and when I did it landed on the floor and the dog gobbled it right up.  I awoke my daughter and had her come out to help me look to see if there might be a bird or a bat in the house that had dropped on me.  That’s when she pointed out to me that the drippings were all down the front of my black sweatshirt and the drippings were from shoulder to shoulder since I had been lying on my side.  She smelled them and said they smelled sweet.  

We have an X Box and have had it for a couple years.  Just last week we had turned it on and opened the door to the machine.  We had not inserted a disc or begun playing one.  We had turned the television on to the area where you have to have it for X Box.  After about 10 minutes we began hearing noises and discovered it was coming from the X Box.  We turned the television up to the highest volume and discovered there were strange and very eerie noises being played through our television set.  We have heard them since now.

 I had an egg fly out of my hands and land on the floor when I was holding it with both hands just before I was going to break it.  The egg was very rotten!

 These are some of the things, at least the ones I remember best, that have happened in my home.  Up until recently, with the “sliming” and the X Box, I have not been uncomfortable with the situation.  Do you think I  should have my home checked or should I ignore what has gone on and leave things alone so that I don’t upset my “guests”?

TRAILER COURT SPIRITS   4/16/05  

This account & picture was sent to us by Robyn in IA

The people in the trailer park are starting to all come forward because I admitted what I knew, so now they can admit what they know.   Many people in the park say they have experienced waking up to figures by their beds.  I've never experienced this.  I've had many other experiences in my life, and for the last 6 years have had a collage of items by my front door as protection.

You know, I've only ever had one of those creepy "I'm being watched" times... and that was this week.  I usually just thank spirits for letting me share their area, ask them to leave me alone, and it goes away.  However, they do seem to like our silverware...

The picture I'm attaching was taken around the time of the northern lights last fall/early winter.  Right before it.   Temp: 43-45 degrees, about 8-9pm.  Taken outside my house, by my 14 year old daughter... <sigh> after she and her friends played with a ouija board... <deep sigh>

NOT SO VACANT HOUSE? 3/13/05

This account was sent to us by Dan  in IN

Something occurred in Oct. 2003 that is probably the only remotely ghost-like experience I've ever had.   My family and I were visiting a tiny town in north east Iowa, where I  spent many days there as a child.  There was a kindly old spinster landowner at that time that lived in a beautiful brick house her parents built.  I used to visit her frequently over the years, however she passed away in a nursing home a few years ago.  Over the latter years of her life, much of the land she owned was basically taken away from her by an unscrupulous farmer in the vicinity.

When we visited the house, it was in shambles, but was still a solid house.  I wanted to see the inside I had visited frequently so many years ago.  The inside of the house was a complete mess with things of no value strewn everywhere.  I went inside her old parlor that she never allowed anyone to enter.  There was an organ that was sinking through a hole in the floor.   I also found a bible that I had given her long ago.

Upstairs we found an odd sight.  In what I assumed to be her bedroom was a lovely bed with dry rotted quilts on it.  It seemed very strange that the people who ransacked the house would leave this piece of furniture behind.  It was very creepy in the house and we decided to leave.

Later in the hotel room, my 10 year old son said to my wife something about it being so weird about that rolled up paper moving across the floor by itself in that house.  My wife looked at me and said that it was chilling that he said that- -  she saw it too, but thought he hadn't and not wanting to scare him, didn't say anything.    He again explained that he looked at the floor, and this small, rolled up piece of paper just moved away from his foot across the room by itself.  There were no drafts of air in the room.  We had left the house just after this.  I didn't see anything of the sort.

Our Reply:  If the lady loved the house that much, she may be watching over it.  & she probably remembered you!   It might have been her way of saying "Hi".  It makes you wonder what was on the paper....   ;-)

 A VISIT FROM GRANDMA?  1/12/05

This account was sent to us by Lisa S. in WI  

In 1993 I lived in a rented a turn of the century farm-style house on Main Street in Huxley, Iowa. I lived with a boyfriend who traveled during the week. I grew up in the City and this little town was so quiet that it made
me nervous to be in the house alone. Whenever I came home I would open every closet and look under every bed until I was satisfied that I was indeed alone and safe in the house. The house didn't have central air or air
conditioning, but I didn't want to chance it by having someone crawl through a window. Even though it was terribly hot outside, I kept the house tight as a drum.

One night way past dark, I was studying for my Spanish class. I was sitting Indian-style on the far end of the couch with my right arm resting on the arm of the couch. You know that feeling when you are concentrating and all
of a sudden you sense someone is walking towards you - you look up to greet who ever it is? Well, I was reading and I sensed someone was coming from the kitchen to the right of me. Had I thought it was an intruder I would have been on full adrenaline and totally freaked out. Instead of being terrified, I simply watched as the following unfolded in front of me.

The object in my view was about 7 feet tall was transparent, but undeniably there. It did not have a "human form", rather it seemed to be like a cone shaped veil - tighter at the top and wider at the bottom - the stereotypical "ghost shape".  It floated past me from my right, past me and then to the left where it disappeared into the corner of the wall on my far left side. Like I said, it was dark outside.  I had the windows closed and locked and the curtains/shades pulled tight. There was no ceiling fan and the only lights on were the lamp next to me and another lamp on the other side of the room. The room itself was long a narrow - 8 feet by 20-25 ft. The object floated by me the long way. It went rather slowly. I remember being able to see through it. After it disappeared into the corner of the room, I felt a hard, full-on slap to my right arm, just below the elbow and it ran down my arm toward my wrist. It was like to say, "Yes, you did just see me!"

The next week I saw my Grandfather.  I asked him if anything interesting had happened to him that week. He looked at me and said: "Yes, I'll tell you because you'll understand.  I was in bed and I saw a figure come from the
bathroom to my bed (he always used a night light in the bathroom).  Then I felt a hand rest firmly, but gently on my arm." I shared with him what happened to me in Huxley. We both believe it was the spirit of his wife (my
Grandmother) who died suddenly a couple months before.

I lived in the house another 6 months. I didn't have any other sightings
(that I know of) while living there.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE SPIRIT KIND 1/12/05

These accounts were sent to us by Michael in CA

First, I am not a ghost hunter yet but the area seems very fascinating. I am not a psychic but just a poor soul whom has many experiences.   So I will share a few different one. Here goes.1. I was sitting one evening with friends playing cards, and we heard paw prints come up the wood basement stairs and scratch on the door to be let in. The look on our face was priceless as the dog was dead for about aweek.2. I was talking with a friend and a ghost pushed right thru us and moved thru a wall. That was very cool.3. I was driving home early one morning from Davis, ca. It was about 5 am and I saw a ghost out in the field waving at me. I heard at that moment the radio saying someone found dead and then I drove by the body and police. It was the same guy whom was in the field waving.4.A cat woke me up one nite while I was asleep It was on my chest. I went back to sleep and looked for it in the a.m.. The lady of the house said there was no cat that it had died but when it lived ,it would sit on the front porch and watch people .5. I slept overnight at a friends cabin in Columbia ca. I woke up to someone choking me. Later the guy said it was miner whom had been killed by partner.6. I have a fun one. I was working at a fast food place and saw a friend walk by. Another friend called me to see what I was doing and I asked her what was Barbara doing on this side of town? My friend called back and told me she awoke Barbara from a dream and she was walking past my place in her dream. I have sooo many more. I did not detail these experiences as it would take alot of space on the email.

HE FOUND HIS WAY BACK HOME  1/11/05

This account was sent to us by Doris in Gilman, IA

A man from central IA was killed in a pedestrian accident on the interstate a few weeks ago.   A few nights ago, a son of my girlfriend, was at a house across the street from the newly deceased house.   As they were outside on the front porch having a cig, a light  in the upstairs window went on in the dead man's house. all of a sudden there was a silhouette, in the window, looking very much like the dead man, it was only there for about 5 seconds, then it was gone, and the light went back out, next day, family checked out the house, it was not broken into, still locked tight.

WHAT IS IT?  & A HIDING ORB 11/26/04

Investigator Greg shares 2 photos with us that he took last year.   The first one was taken in an abandoned home in Iowa.   Note the odd "thing" that seems to be coming up from the floor, {circled}, in the center of the fallen plaster.  Greg had just walked across this area a short time before taking the picture.  Nothing was there except a pile of plaster.   He didn't see the odd protrusion while taking the photo either, he only saw it when reviewing the photos on his camera.   Your guess is as good as ours as to what it is, but it does seem paranormal in nature.  Notice how it looks solid in some places, transparent in others, & very dark where it 'comes out of the floor'.  

Investigator Greg's other picture demonstrates an example of a stationary orb with proof of it being valid, {circled}.   This photo was taken in the basement of his late Grandmother's house.  Note that the cord casts a shadow across part of the orb.   This would not happen on a false positive orb.

"GAGA" THE TRAVELING SPIRIT  11/26/04

This account was sent to us by Lisa in Michigan.  We were unable to reach her with a reply by e-mail.  

My name is Lisa and I'm a single mother of two small little girls, ages 2 1/2 and 1 /12.  When my youngest was three months old, we moved from Michigan to Kentucky and I moved into an apartment.  Everything was fine the first few days but, by the third night, things were happening.  I would hear water running in the bathroom, there were instances where I would hear someone downstairs going through the cabinets in the kitchen and more eerily something would crawl into bed with me at night.  This went on for a week when I invited my uncle over, who claims to be psychic.  He said that it was a little girl who had been murdered by her mother's boyfriend and placed in a closet under the stairs.  When I searched the closet, I found scratch marks on the doorframe and the wall.  Well, as time passed I slowly got used to the strange occurrences in the apartment, which would range from missing objects to seeing things run from one room to the next out of the corner of my eye.  Then my children started calling each other Ga-Ga.  I just assumed they had given a nickname to one another.  After my youngest turned a year old, I would awake in the middle of the night to hear her in her room talking to herself.  I just assumed she was playing and shrugged it off, but she was doing strange things, things that no ordinary one year old would ever do.  Like before her first birthday, she learned to cross her fingers.  My grandmother had witnessed my youngest doing this and asked me how long it took me to teacher that.  I told her, I never taught her that.  So, eventually, I moved from Kentucky and went back to Michigan and I've been back for four months now.  The children were still calling each other Ga-Ga.  Or I assume they were calling each other Ga-Ga, until last night when my boyfriend and I went out to dinner and were talking about haunted houses.  I told him about the apartment in Kentucky and all of a sudden it was like Ga-Ga was talking through him.  Ga-Ga had told us that it wasn't a girl, it was a mischieveious spirit, it hated my oldest daughter and liked my youngest.  It only wants attention and it had followed my daughters from Kentucky back home to Michigan.  So, I was freaked.  This morning when my daughters woke up, I asked my oldest to find Ga-Ga, and hoping she would point to my youngest, I was shocked when she pointed to thin air.  I asked her about five more times and she would point at thin air.  In different spots, but in the same general area, which is over by the front door.  I'm scared for my children.  I don't want to expose them to this spirit, and it hasn't exactly told anyone what it wants, other than attention.  What should I do?

Hi I had emailed you last month regarding our new house be haunted and you wanted to know if anything more has happened and yes, last week my husband and I were eating at the kitchen table and we heard what sounded like something fall off the wall in one of the rooms so we went to investigate and nothing! I noticed one day after work a heavy book that I have on a stand on my entertainment center was turned around, it was a daughter book from my mother and my grandson's picture always leaned up against it and it was on the floor. Also I have been alone in my house for the past few days as my husband and son are gone hunting and I have slept with a few lights on and TV. on well this morning about 1:00 A.M. the power went off so I jumped out of bed to open the shade to check if neighbors down the road were without and then the power came back on, also we have motion lights out our front door and one morning I was peeking out the door to check the weather and the light came on, now it was dark and 5:00 a.m., so I thought this is weird cause usually doesn't come on until  I walk out on the deck and get to the bottom step, so I looked out again about 1/2 hour later peeked thru the glass on the front door and it came on again!!

A VERY HAUNTED HOUSE  10/31/04

This account was sent to us by Betty from Griswold, Iowa

Basically we think we have a couple ghosts in our home which is over 100 years old.

One we feel is a little girl, and my 3 year old granddaughter talks to it.  She calls the girl ghost girl when we asked her name.  She said girl has yellow hair.

We feel a woman from around the turn of the 20 the century is here too.

When we first moved here ten years ago, my son Robert A. was put in the east upstairs room. 

He complained of ghosts making noises keeping him awake.  We just spaced him off.  Later on he was moved to the west bedroom, and never complained of ghosts again, but still insisted ghosts in the other room in the closet.

We would find huge pictures that had fallen off the living room wall, and wonder why.  We'd put them up again more firmly, and wasn't long before they'd be down.  Finally they broke.  We didn't think a whole lot about it at first.  I am a doubter so I am person who says "Prove it People"

I was sitting in a chair using the phone, and mentioned to a friend of mine, I was beginning to think we had ghosts.  A huge picture of a wolf came straight out from the wall then slammed in the floor.  I froze, and was unable to move for a minute.  I think that is when I began to believe. 

I got in touch with the lady who had this house before, and had rented it out.  She admitted she had renters complain of securely fastened things come off the walls.

We started noticing the light string in the kitchen would click, come down, but light didn't go on or off but the string would sway back, and forth.

We replaced it thinking that was it but it still happens.

My son Robert, and I were having a heated argument when, we saw the plugged in coffee pot come thru the air right between us, with the plugged in mixer, and stand coming right behind it.  They fell in to the middle of the table, and broke.

One day a pill bottle came from around the corner of the darkened kitchen and hit my  10 year old granddaughter on the arm.  No one was near the kitchen or in it.

The ghost/ghosts seems to be more active when the grandchildren are here.

We can sometimes hear footsteps, going up the stairs and across the room up there.

One day my girlfriend was staying for a few days, and she laid down in Robert's old room. She felt someone watching her.  She opened her eyes, and saw a kind of wispy woman, dressed in turn of the century clothes.  She had a questioning look on her face, but my friend said she means us no harm.

My girlfriend drew two pictures of the lady, and both pictures disappeared even though the one was locked up.

My youngest granddaughter has lived with me most of her life.  When a tiny infant her head was always trying to crank toward a corner of the living room, and ceiling.

She now goes to that corner, and talks to what she calls ghost girl.  She says the girl has yellow hair, and asked what her name is, and how old she is.  Freaks my daughter out!  My granddaughter is 3 years old.

One nite I was sorting thru some stuff in the east room, and the ghost began throwing stuff off the walls in the West room (Robert's).  My son told me to quit it, and finally realized it wasn't me doing it.  One item off the wall wasn't found for 2 weeks, and then under the bed under a throw rug.

My son in law, and daughter stayed in the east room for a few months, and things were always disappearing, and reappearing later on, or being moved.

He thought Robert was doing it so he had a lock installed.  It still kept happening.

My oldest son from Texas who is physic told me there is a ghost in my house, and was very uncomfortable when here.

He said he saw out of the corner of his eye a flash of a sweater  moving in the closet of the East room, and the hangers were swinging in there, and he came unglued, and refused to sleep there.  He slept on my living room floor instead. 

 My other son Robert kept saying the ghosts were in the closet.  I told him it was probably squirrels or birds, and he insisted it was ghosts.

Well even after we made absolutely sure nothing could get in my son  Robert still said ghosts in there.

She hasn't been as active since I told her one day to "Stop throwing my stuff Now!"  Haven't had nothing come off the wall since which has been months.

I also told her  several times she doesn't live her anymore, that we do, and she needs to go to the light.  No luck.

I'd like to know how many ghosts we have, and who they might be.

I have tried to look up things off my abstract, and check old newspapers,  talk to old neighbors, but so far nothing except that no one seems to think anyone died here in the last 50 years or so.

I found out the grandma gave the house to her five grandchildren, with her daughter being able to live in it until she died.

From newspapers I've read it shows the daughter ended up with the house, but  the house was sold after she died.  She was not living in this house at the time though. 

Something tells me it is connected to this family somehow, as they seemed to have lived here the longest.

 

GRANDMA SHOWS HER LOVE FROM THE "OTHER SIDE"  10/27/04

These pictures were sent to us by Susan

Susan took these pictures in September 1998, shortly after her Mother passed away.   The girls in the pictures would be her Great-Grandchildren.  Susan used a Vivatar digital camera.  She asked if we thought the anomaly that showed up in these 3 pictures might be her Mom.

Our reply:   I would say it is a very good chance that the 1st group of pictures is your Mom.  From what I can see that definitely looks paranormal in nature.  I take it that there was nothing that could have got in front on you lens to cause that 3 times.  The trail is also different in all of them.   It is common for loved ones to show up like this in family photos.  It looks like she was very focused on the grandchildren. 

  HAUNTED WOODS  10/27/04

This story was sent to us by Leanne in Hiawatha Iowa

I am 18 now. Me and my friends used to hand out in some nearby woods back when I was around 15 and 16 and 17 and all kinds of odd things used to happen.  most of my friends moved away and the owners of the woods have since put up a "no trespassing" sign.  I haven't been into the woods in about a year but I have a few questions I was wondering if you might be able to answer. I wonder sometimes if the woods were haunted pretty much all the kids in the trailer court I live in that used to live here and go in the woods thought it was definitely haunted.  Do or can ghosts make dramatic changes in temperature or gusts of air?  I realize the woods are outside, but one summer night we felt hot and then cold gusts of air rushing and brushing past us, only in one area. Then, when we turned to go back, the path we had come into the woods on had a big dark figure crouching in it.  We ran through a bunch of thorn bushes to get out.  Can ghosts be dark figures, or are they more transparent?  Do you think that this was more likely just a person?  A lot of times we were chased by footsteps that had no person or animal.  Once we saw a man in a hunting outfit and he walked straight towards us right through a barbed wire fence and a thorn bush. we were telling this to an old man we were friends with, and after hearing this he told us that a friend of his got shot in around that same area while hunting and died a long time ago.  There are many other weird things, but too many to tell. There's a story that some kids went into the woods a long time ago and found a pool full of blood, but I don't know about that one.  There are some other stories also. What do you think?  Does it sound like it may actually be haunted and what do you think in regards to my questions?

Our reply:   Check out our What's What page.    This will answer a lot of your questions. 

The things you described can be indicators of a haunting - especially if more that one person saw the disappearing hunter & you were able to confirm the hunting death. 

Spirits can appear in many forms-  mist {ecto} & light energy {orbs, odd lights} being the most commonly witnessed forms, the next would be "shadow ghost" which can appear in any shade between white & black.   More human appearing ghosts can be anything from gray & transparent, colored & semi-transparent, so solid they look real, or even a combination of these forms.   Some have been reported looking like a living person from the waist up- but trailing off to nothing wear the legs would be. 

The pool of blood one would be highly uncommon -not impossible- but spirits seem usually not to go for the highly dramatic stuff.

ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL   10/12/04

These pictures & story were submitted by one of our site visitors, Jim of Iowa.  

 I took this picture earlier this year when I was in St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC. I have a 4 mega pixel Nikon Coolpix 4300. It was near 5 in the evening and it was already dark outside. I took other pictures in the cathedral all with flash and this was the only one that had anything like it on there. None of the other 150+ photos I took in NYC have anything remotely like it on it.

 

I have shown it to a photographer friend who just wrote it off. Says it is nothing and that he has seen stuff like it before. Just something like a lens flare, etc. I then showed it to two animal communicator friends of mine and both said it was definitely a spirit. I am also attaching another photo taken in the cathedral for reference.

 

I didn't even reduce the size or do any other editing to the photos. They are as they were the day they came off of my camera.

 

I did have other photos on the Empire State Building when it was raining/snowing. I know what the weather was and I know the reflections and orbs in those were reflected from the snow. I thought possibly this was dust in the church, but none of the others I took there had any dust. You had to enter through a side door and not the main two doors behind me so there was no wind blowing anything up from that door. All stained glass windows were already dark. I did notice that the flash definitely reflects blue on objects and this object in question is the same color of blue as the flash hitting other things. However, it appears to have some kind of motion going on meaning it had to have moved faster than my shutter right??

OUR RESPONSES:    {We cropped & enlarged the anomaly for better viewing}

I have not seen a flare like this one.  The person in the pew is photographing, but there is NO flash in front of him on the surrounding furniture or atmosphere.  As for blue reflecting off in his letter, this is only sometimes true.  Other colors are in the spectrum, but predominately reds, oranges, and yellows.  I believe it is in motion!  I would say the photo is a "Keeper".  {Investigator Steve}

 

It looks like the real deal to me.  The person to the left looks like she is shooting straight on, the movement is far to the right.  It doesn't quite look like a reflection to me.  {Investigator Lynnette D.}

 

HAUNTED NEIGHBORHOOD?  10/12/04

This story was submitted by one of our site visitors, Michael of Clive, Iowa

 

 Hello my name is Michael and I live in Clive, Iowa.  Strange things happen in my house, but it's not just my house that it happens in I have 2 friends across the street that also have strange things happen in their homes. 

    Certain places in my house have always freaked me out (particularly the dining room, my room, and occasionally the basement especially the back rooms.)  First I find this to be something creepy, I didn’t not know this until after I started telling my mom about strange things happening but when I was three I once claimed I had seen a little boy in our dining room (the by far scariest room of our house) and that he knew my grandpa (who had not much earlier died) but it was only once that I saw him.  Now onto the things that makes me believe that my house is haunted.  I first suspected it one night when something very weird happened.  It was about 10 o'clock in my dining room when I was on the phone.  Some weird banging noise came out of the phone and I heard something behind me.  I turned around and out of the corner of my eye in the window I saw my own reflection and something else behind me running past me.  I went completely cold.  The phone went instantly back to normal and I left that room and called back my friend and he claimed he was disconnected. I still get chills thing about that time.)  It was not for months that I told anyone the story of that night.

    When I did finally tell the story it was when I had three friends spent the night (Ryan, Mitch, and Austin were their names.)  I told them and we walked into the dining room and got terrified.  Mitch got freaked out enough to pick up a cross that was on the ground lean it against the dining room table and say something like be at peace and go or something to that effect (he had more experience with this then I did because his old house was haunted.)  We left the room but were spooked the rest of the night.  We had to turn on music videos and try to calm down.  That was it for that night but this wasn’t done for me.  They could let it rest but I couldn’t in my own house.  I was incredibly interested in this paranormal activity in my own house but still not quite sure that it was all real.  The next time convinced me for sure.

    The next time I had people spend the night was just Ryan and Mitch.  Mitch and brought a digital camera so we could try to get pictures of anything.  After taking pictures for a while we realized the area around a lamp was black (not just dark but literally black) we took about 4-10 more pictures all turning out the same way (I would have given the pictures but unfortunately his father deleted them from the camera.)  Then standing by the small entrance from the kitchen (the other is large and from the front door) the camera just died being on full batteries.  We kept charging the batteries to full and walking through the same spot did this about 5-7 more times that one night.  Once Ryan said he felt something grab the weight of the camera and just drain the energy from his hand and then the camera died. The windows in that room were all fogged up.  Parts of the room were so cold that just by walking through them you would come out shaking.  Other strange things that night were this plant fell over twice and we thought we saw a shadow run across our family room.  I was terrified so much I didn’t want to walk through the kitchen to get to the bathroom but I did anyway.  And out of not the corner of my eye but more of to the side of it still in fairly good eyesight.  At first I thought it was my dog.  It was either a dog or a raggy child dressed in old dirty clothes. That was it I stayed in my family room the rest of the night and curled up and wouldn’t leave that room.  After that whole night I was convinced something wasn’t right about that room.

    The next morning Mitch left early and it was just me and Ryan.  A friend of mine was on-line (her name is Jenni) and gave me the idea or trying to make these metal things out of a hanger (dousing rods) that detect ghosts by points to them and crossing over there exact position. The last time Ryan said he saw the shadow of a human figure on the wall behind me but I did not notice it. Every time we did it (about five times) we found in slightly different spots but relatively the same area. always over a chair or couch.  I also tried it in my room and found that there was nothing until I put it over my bed and it crossed (o great I've been sleeping on a ghost! I thought)  as Ryan was leaving the same plant which had fallen over before did so again, but this time no one was in there and I dared not enter the room and fix it alone so I left.  So I sat in my house terrified for a good portion of the day until my mom and sister returned home.

    By the way I should also mention that at Ryan's house ghosts have been seen and before he got a password lock for his garage door it would open on it's own.  His mom has claimed to see a little girl holding a candle and other strange things like the tv being turned on the front door slightly open and things moved about but nothing gone when they returned home.  And matt (another friend) has seen ghosts in his house and had doors open and slam.  His grandparents have also seen them.  Matt's grandpa is going blind and cannot see much of anything.  However sometimes he sees people made out as figures of light walking around of sitting on the couch.  He will ask if someone is sitting there and no one will be.  They both live just across the street from me.  There are other houses in between the 3 of ours and sometimes I wonder if anything ever happens there because I find it unlikely 3 houses would all be haunted so close without the whole area being haunted.  Mitch's new house is normal and just down the street roughly 10 houses down.  His old house was very strange but a story better told by him then me and is not important since it's not around this area.

    Also twice I have heard a dog sniffing me when my dog was no where around.  We have had many labradors since we lived there but only one that was still with us when she died.  Casey was a state award winning retriever, black lab.  She was the greatest dog ever.  Sometimes it comforts me thinking that maybe she's still walkin' around here possibly.  It's more of a guess but it would make sense based on some things that my dog does.  I just thought this is possible by putting a few things together.  My dog especially in the dining room will look as though he is watching something move across the room all though I can see nothing there.  Another thing besides the sniffing and this is Comet (our dog) usually seems comfortable despite us freaking out from time to time.  Also walking past the plant that always falls over he commonly knocks it over so it would make sense for another dog to have the same problem.  I know no history on my house except we've lived here for about 12 years and it is about 24 or 25 years old.

    I should mention that me and my friends are all 14 and not crazy or paranoid.  Really weird things happen around her that you just can't explain the feeling you get when it happens.  Scary but the adrenalin rush is amazing (but I don't just like it for that but the interest in the spirits and would never do harm to one).  I find this very interesting please help me out.

    Something else happened recently.  We were using the dousing rods and instead of turning towards each other they went away from each other.  All though these were crude hangers I was holding onto these things as hard as I physically could and I'm a football player.  I've heard that this is a sign of an evil ghost if they go away from each other.  While doing this the first ever orb to be seen in my house showed up on the digital camera.  Just on the screen the flash drowned the light if you tried to take a picture.  Then the camera died (so it wasn’t the camera's fault that time.)  Leaving again with no evidence we became discouraged as anyone would.  I had 15 minute charge batteries so I charged them and we tried again.  The results were strange but true.  The dousing rods started facing away from each other the whole way until they came back and pointed at Mitch (who was holding them) and the camera died on full batteries.  We turned it back on and it had been drained to half power. 

    Something else happened after that.  once again we were in my basement with the dousing rods.  I was right next to a wall.  Suddenly I feel the right one being pulled.  After the sensation of being pulled goes away the get closer.  I figured whatever is causing it is on the other side of the wall.  Then the ends tip, and then they cross and the point of crossing slowly gets closer to me.  I back up and it continues to move closer to me. until they went in until the point where they pointed at me.  I held them straight, turned around, closed my eyes and took a deep breathe  I turned around to face it again and it was gone.  (I had two witnesses.  They were Matt Mitch or Ryan but I don’t remember which of them wasn’t there.)

Around the beginning of summer we got our house remolded.  The only things in my story that happened before that were seeing the ghost when I was 3 and the incident with the phone.

    I just thought I'd mention that actually just a few minutes ago I tried talking to the ghost. (It sounds crazy but I heard it works.)  I started asking it about Casey (the dog I mentioned in my story that died while we still owned it.  She had bone cancer so we had to put her to sleep.) and I heard noises not from any particular place but from all around the 1st floor of my house.  It just sounded like clicks.  Noises like that come from my house every so often but not this much these were a lot coming fast.

Also I thought I'd let you know that as of late the light at the top of the stairs to my basement keeps turning off and on.  It is doing this sometimes every 5 minutes or so and sometimes it will turn itself on and off ever 30 seconds or so.  Its only the one light and a lot of time it will flick on and off if you shut a door.

OUR RESPONSE:

We referred him to the article "Do You Know the History of Your Home? "  in our Ghost News Section and advised about the dowsing rods:

Concerning the dowsing rods separating instead of crossing - this doesn't necessarily signify an 'evil' presence.  I've found that sometimes it just means I'm headed in the wrong direction & I should turn around.  Or that the area it is detecting is too large to be signified by crossing.     Another way of using 2 rods is, before starting,  to ask them to show you 'yes'  {they may cross or go apart}  & then ask them to show you 'no'  {they will usually do the opposite}.   This may help you in determining if you are getting 'warm' or 'cold' in your hunt, by having an understanding of what the rods are trying to tell you.  We've found it helpful to sometimes just use 1 dowsing rod & ask it to point in the direction of activity.  {Investigator Lynette B.}

 

An unseen roommate?  09/18/04

This story was submitted by one of our site visitors, Jason of Iowa

Hello  I live in Iowa and my name is Jason. I feel like there is
a presence in my house at times. Strange things has happened that is really
unexplainable. I have a feeling that it could be my father who passed away
in 1976. Some of the experiences me and my roommate have experienced are: I
have a picture of my dad on the bookshelf sometimes we find it turned all
the way around facing the back, we had left one night locked the door come
home later on and my dog was sitting outside on  the steps, which is a
inside dog and never gets out by herself, and the inside door open and
screen door closed, that was freaky because no one else has a key.  I see
shadows or something out of the corner of my eye, we here noises at night
sometimes and then last night the shelf on the book shelf fell of the to the
floor why I don't know? I found my glasses on the kitchen floor folded up and
I had left them on the top of the TV. Am I nuts or is there a spirit in my
house?

We responded with a few questions:

When did these things start?  Has it been going on for awhile?   How long
have you been living in this place?   Had your father lived in this house?
Has any one else known to you passed away before this started?   Maybe even
someone who had a quarrel with your Dad or you?   Or have you done anything
that might have upset your father if he was alive?
I ask these questions to help determine if this might be a spirit that was
already attached to your home before you got there, or if it is the spirit
of some one known, who might be upset about something.
The things you describe have a slightly mischievous or angry slant to them.
Most loved ones who visit do things to get our attention, but not cause
intentional harm or damage.   When they do get a little more forceful, it's
usually to let us know that we are doing something that upsets them.  {see
Dad's Page on the website- when Mom is doing something Dad doesn't think she
should be doing, he will pound on things, lock doors,  or try to do it
himself!}  You may also have more than one spirit.
If you can answer some of these questions, & advise if there have been other
times in the past where things have happened, it might help us have a better
idea of what is going on.

Jason's response:

Hello again, to answer your questions, this started really happening about
a year or so ago. Here lately more things are happening. I have lived here 8
years and my roommate has lived here for about a year and a half. No one I
knew before lived here. I have a  had a few people I known pass away before
this happened. A few friends, ex girlfriend, grandfather and grandmother and
father. My roommate had a step dad that committed suicide over her mother who
wanted a divorce. That is a very long story to that deal. My roommate
believes it could be him we just don't know.  We have remembered more things
that had happened: One day my roommate, Stacy was taking a shower and the
light bulb exploded and shatter into a million pieces, I stopped at the
store and ran in real quick, had the radio on a good station and I came out
and the radio had been changed to a am blank station, myself and roommate
has heard somebody walking across the floor which squeaks, we know it wasn't
the dogs because they were laying down at the time. We also hear rattling
noises in the basement. My keys are always missing or just happened to be
misplaced. Sometimes we think were going nuts, oh and the radio one night
when we was playing cards turned  the volume up all the way up, it did that
3 times or so. And we also catch stuff out of the corner of my eye. Last
night I was on the puter and Stacey was talking to me and I turned around I
could have swore there was somebody looking at me behind the chair, sounds
nuts I know. It just seems to be happening more and more. It has happened
when my ex wife move out 2 years ago, but then I thought it was my
imagination, again it sounded like somebody was walking around in the house.
One more thing I don't know if it has any thing to do with it. We have had
many numerous gnats I m talking quite a bit just all of a sudden. A while
back we had alot, more than a normal person house would have. And a hell of
alot of mice we caught 21 in 2 weeks, now whether that means anything I don't
know, I have never had any mice before, or lots of gnats. we also do have
cold chills in the basement. If it is a spirit that's bad I don't want it to
destruct things or hurt us.

We asked Jason if they ever felt threatened by the spirit, but he advised us, no -it was mostly just "freaked out".

LOVED ONE THAT STAYED CLOSE AFTER DEATH    08/30/04

This story was submitted by one of our site visitors, Jim of Texas

Hello,

  I would like to tell my ghost experience.

  In July of 2000, my girlfriend, her 4 kids and I, moved into an apartment in Texas.

   After the kids got out of summer school that year, their father came to get them for a month, finally having the apartment, sans the kids.

   The second night we were watching the tv, the local news came on and time for bed.  Tammy, went into the bed room (which was behind a screening wall), I was left with the arduous task of locking up and turning out the lights.

    I turned off the television ( an older style push/pull, on/off, turn for the volume ), I took three steps to the front door to lock it, then turn out the lights,  as soon as I turned out the lights, the television came back on!  I stood there for a brief second or two, walked over to the television and could only pull out the knob to turn the television back on! 

   After that I would only walk around the apartment at night with the lights on.

     My second ghost story has to do with the oldest of "our" kids, the oldest Christopher, was killed at his fathers, 07/31/02, in Texas, the following week after the funeral, I was again in the living room, watching television, and a brilliant bluish.white light appeared beside the television then went through the wall into his room, I ran into his room and the blue/white light was not in there but the room was 25 to 30 degrees cooler than the rest of the house.   The following week-end, we went to his grave site and there were blue/white marbles on top of his grave, that his uncle had placed there the very night that I had seen the light in our living room.

    My next ghost story, we moved from that apartment into another one in September, 2002, we have had apparitions(?), the grey shadowy figures follow us through the new apartment, but no poltergeist.   One day after we came home from the grocery store, we had bought some Natural Vanilla Bean ice cream, (my favorite, and Chris later picked up the taste for it, and we would joke about hiding it from the other so he or I could hog it all, as we had a freezer on the fridge and a chest freezer), I put the ice cream and the frozen fish, veggies, etc into the chest freezer as the fridge freezer was FULL!!,  The next night, I went to the chest freezer and couldn't locate the ice cream.   I looked all over the chest freezer for it, I yelled out "Chris where's the ice cream?", at that exact second, the freezer on the fridge opened up, by itself, and I walked in and there it was,  un-opened, and in the freezer on the fridge.  

  My last ghost story, has to be that Chris has been a great loss for us, we do miss him, but he is with us at all times, I will go check the mail at night, when I walk up to the apartment, I see him from a distance on the front stair, waiting for me to return, but as I get closer to the apartment, I can still see him until, I blink and he's gone.  I know its him, because Chris had a way of sitting outside, and he's the only one I've ever seen sit the way he does. 

If you are any one has had the same experience with a loved one, please let me hear from you.

Thank you for letting me get this out

Jim

Follow-up by Jim of Texas

 I just read about your father. I didn't realize that there were other people who have had similar experiences!  I thought we were the only ones.