Seriously, have you encountered a ghost before?

2015-05-19T17:03:31-04:00

Some people claim that ghosts do exist and even that they can communicate with them. Some say their deceased loved ones or maybe battle buddies are ghosts who 'watch over them.' Others say ghosts do not exist. What do YOU say? And have YOU ever encountered a genuine ghost? If so, are you willing to admit so? Are you able to describe what that was like?

Response by GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad made May 19 at 2015 5:04 PM

2015-05-19T17:04:27-04:00

Not that I know of. Oh wait ...

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 19 at 2015 5:13 PM

2015-05-19T17:13:53-04:00

Not that I know of. I do enjoy watching Ghost Adventures, though. My cousin is a paranormal investigator. Someday I want to take the haunted tour of the Old Missouri State Pen.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 19 at 2015 5:19 PM

2015-05-19T17:19:14-04:00

I cannot say beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have, but I have experienced some pretty weird things in a multitude of different places... Everything ranging from hearing footsteps on the floor above me when no one else was home, items being moved around in my room while away for just a few minutes, to my oldest daughter talking to a mysterious woman she called "the lady" the entire time we lived in one apartment complex to never speaking of this woman again the day we moved out.

I've heard stories of some really weird stuff at a local cemetery. One story in particular gives me chills. A county sheriff was patrolling a county road near a cemetery called the "Fargo Cemetery" when he encountered a woman in a white dress walking down the road. The sheriff stopped and confronted the woman thinking she was in duress. The moment he caught up to her and she turned around, she vanished.

I am not certain I would actually LIKE to encounter an apparition. It would likely scare the crap out of me.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 19 at 2015 5:20 PM

2015-05-19T17:20:16-04:00

I didn't believe in them, until I experienced it myself. I had a neighbor who was always claiming that she could communicate with the dead. I used to make fun of her about it because I thought she was crazy. One day she invited me over, and out of curiosity I went. She lit some candles, turned off all the lights and pulled out a Ouija board. She started talking and put her hand on the board. All of a sudden a huge wind blew through the house, and the candles went out. A super bright blue light started glowing in the hallway that lit up the entire house. Then she removed her hand from the board, and the little mouse thing on the Ouija board started moving around on its own. I freaked out and ran out of the house. I refused to ever go in that house again, but I became a believer.

I will admit that its possible that the entire thing could have planned out and setup. Rather it was or not it felt real, and I believed it.

Response by MSgt James Mullis made May 19 at 2015 6:57 PM

2015-05-19T18:57:18-04:00

Here's my "ghost story". It was 1983 at Holloman AFB in southern New Mexico. I was working the early morning shift for line delivery in the Bomb Dump (Munitions Storage Area) and it was around 2 am. To make things even creepier, there were coyotes howling inside the fence (FYI: the week before one approached within 10 feet of me while I was carrying a 2.75 rocket in both hands), tarantulas were crawling on the ground, and bats were flying through the air. So far...a normal desert morning...if just a little bit chilly (which is good because it slows down the rattle snakes). I had just been let into the area by the Munitions Controller on duty and we were the only two people inside a barbed wire fence with a high security lock 7 miles into the desert from the main base. Being a good Airman, I picked up the keys to a Bobtail truck (munitions tow vehicle) and went outside with a flashlight to conduct its daily checkout. I did my walk around, kicked the tires, then popped the hood and reached into the engine compartment to pull out the oil dip stick. At that moment the engine of a forklift two feet behind me turned over. I Literally dove over the Bobtail! When I stood up, I was yelling to whoever was there that "I was going to kill them when I caught them", but there was no one there. The engine then stopped by itself. I walked up to the forklift, saw that there was not a key in the ignition, then lifted the engine access panel. The engine started up again...then it stopped...then it started again...then it stopped. I reached in and pulled the battery cable (which was loose) and nothing else happened. Ghost? Maybe, however it could also have been dew in the ignition system...or space aliens...or a cloaked desert Sasquatch...either way I'll never know for sure.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made May 19 at 2015 7:15 PM

2015-05-19T19:15:14-04:00

Sorry about hijacking your thread, but this is a beautiful letter!

July 14, 1861
Camp Clark, Washington

My very dear Sarah:
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days—perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more . . .

I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution. And I am willing—perfectly willing—to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt . . .

Sarah my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistibly on with all these chains to the battle field.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them for so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood, around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me—perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar, that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battle field, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often times been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness . . .

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights . . . always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again . . .

Sullivan Ballou was killed a week later at the first Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861.

Response by MSgt Brian Welch made May 19 at 2015 9:02 PM

2015-05-19T21:02:08-04:00

Another opportunity for my peers to feel I'm nuts... I was incredibly close to my grandmother throughout my childhood. Even when other teens were growing apart from hanging out with family, I was with my grandmother nearly every weekend even up thru high school. I'd golf with her, help her in the garden or play cards. I entered the military and went to my first duty station; Maine to California. One afternoon in 1988 I'm mowing the lawn in the California heat. I go to take a shower, there I go to a knee crying for no reason, then the phone rings and my mom tells me Memere passed away. I've always felt her presence.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made May 19 at 2015 9:33 PM

2015-05-19T21:33:15-04:00

I really, truly wish I believed in ghosts. All I have are wisps of encounters that I can't adequately explain:

During my last trip the cemetery back home, my mother and I were walking around at night, looking at my sister's grave. (We had placed beautiful lighted globes on it.)We wandered away and came to the old, moss covered grave of a Confederate vet.
There was a small flag near the headstone. I knelt down and put my hand on top to try and read the inscription. The flag started flying. No wind anywhere. The little stick was practically horizontal. I pulled my hand back, and the little flag stopped.
I whispered, "Hello, soldier." The waving started again. I had chill bumps all over my body. I even video'd some of it. It was still waving until we stepped away, when it fluttered to a stand-still.

The first "encounter" I had was a child. We lived in Germany. It was in the middle of the night and I started screaming. My mother came rushing in and found me blabbering about the "man with the big, funny eyes." Obviously, I was terrified. My father went pale when my mother told him. She noticed and asked him what was wrong. Apparently, we had moved in to the apartment shortly after the previous occupant hung himself in the living room. Which would explain the eyes. We moved right back out that week.

Response by SPC Eddie Espejo made May 19 at 2015 10:00 PM

2015-05-19T22:00:36-04:00

yes several times including shadow people

Response by COL Jean (John) F. B. made May 20 at 2015 3:13 PM

2015-05-20T15:13:18-04:00

My family and I had just moved into a house we built in Fayetteville, NC (near Ft Bragg) and were eating dinner one evening in the breakfast room off the kitchen. As is my habit, I was facing the entrance to the kitchen and I could see into the dining room and the hallway (I never sit with my back to the entrance at a restaurant, etc.).

As we were sitting there eating and talking, I looked up and saw an old lady standing in the dining room. I saw her just as clear as day. I stood up and started walking toward the dining room, asking if I could help her. I wondered who she was and how she had gotten in my house. As soon as I stood up, she turned and disappeared. I walked into the dining room and throughout the house and could not find her. I should also note that I checked all doors and they were locked from the inside (deadbolts).

My wife had gotten up and asked me what I was doing. I told her I was looking for the woman I had seen. Nobody else had seen her. She laughed at me and told me to stop because I was scaring the kids. I told her that I was not kidding and that I had seen the woman. I described her and the dress she was wearing.

Three years later, I was visiting a relative who lived in my great-grandfather's/grandfather's old plantation home in Alabama. I was looking through some old pictures and saw a picture of the woman (wearing the exact same dress I had seen that day in Fayetteville). It was my grandmother, who I had never met (she had died many years before I was born). I had also never seen that picture before. I pointed it out to my wife and told her it was the same woman in the same dress and she refused to believe it, however, it is absolutely the truth.

I never saw her again, after that one time, and have no clue why she would have appeared to me there.