| Readers' Stories of the Paranormal | |
House Has a Mind of It's Own
I am an average 22-year-old new mother of a four-month-old with an average 23-year-old
husband. We have lived in a two-bedroom house on an air force base for about a year and a
half. We knew before we moved in that the young lady who lived here before us had passed
away in a car accident and was also pregnant at the time of her death. Since we have moved
in, strange things have happened, becoming more and more frequent. The stove light, stove
fan and gas stove burners all cut themselves on. This happens about three or four times a
month. The time before the last that it happened, a glass plate was sitting on the burner
while my husband cooked pancakes -- and it exploded. The radio in the baby's room cuts on
and off by itself, changes channels, etc. My books fell off the bottom shelf of our
bookcase on the night before my husband was due home from a deployment overseas. There are
cold spots in the baby's room, even during the summer. The fridge door shook terribly one
day after I thought I heard a male voice call my name from the backyard as I walked by it.
Of course, no one was there. The TV in the living area has cut on twice by itself and
often mutes itself. My daughter has started waking crying in the middle of the night since
we moved her to the second bedroom -- not a terribly frightened kind of cry, just crying
in her sleep. These things that happen really limit themselves to the kitchen and the
second bedroom. - Sheri.
Whatever It Was, It Scared the Cat
I'm from Melbourne, Australia. A long time ago, when I first became interested in the
paranormal, something weird happened in my room. It was quite late at night. I was
watching TV and my cat Oskar was lying on my bed. Then my TV started turning on and off,
so did my bedside lamp. Oskar stood up and started hissing and growling and ran out of the
room. From that day, I sometimes hear footsteps at night, when everyone is asleep. I hear
people talking to me, but there's no one there. People think that I'm going crazy, but why
would I make up something like that? Why would my cat start growling and hissing for no
reason? - Maggie
The Forest, the Wind, and the Cabin
I have had several "unexplainable" experiences in my life. This one was the
scariest. I was camping in a secluded area of Northern California with my family. I was
about 15 at the time. The area was beautiful, with lots of trees. I decided to go for a
walk. It was one that I will never forget. I was in what I would describe as an open
forest area, not all closed in like some forests are. It was very peaceful. I soon came to
a rather large clearing. Tall grass surrounded an old, dilapidated log house, complete
with fireplace. I was standing near the structure when all of a sudden, this great wind
came out of no where. The noise of the wind caused me to turn around to where the trees
where, which left my back to the house. The wind almost knocked me over. I felt real cold,
almost to the bone (it was a nice warm day) and I figured the wind did that. As the wind
died down, I turned back to the house, and it looked like someone had just finished
building it! There was even smoke coming out of the chimney! Well, I freaked out! I yelled
or screamed or something. That's when the wind picked back up again, and again I turned my
gaze to the trees. I don't know how long the wind kept up the second time, but when it
stopped and I looked back to the house, it was as it looked the first time. I left the
area post haste! I don't know how to explain this occurrence, or why it happened, or what
it meant. But it was one that I will never forget. - Kevin
The Ghosts of Bestwood Lodge
Ghostly goings-on back in the '80s still haunt Glennis Cuddeford to this day. She quit
her job as a chambermaid at Bestwood Lodge in Nottingham, England, after working at the
reputedly haunted hall for two years. During that time ghosts were said to stroll around
the premises before vanishing into thin air. Spooky voices were heard in the cellar where
bodies were allegedly buried, and some staff felt they were being watched. "Although
I never saw any of the ghosts," Glennis said, "the things I felt and heard about
will stay in my memory forever. I always remember when we had to clean the family room. It
always smelled strongly of oranges whenever children had stayed there, but there were
never any oranges or peels around -- and it was only when kids had been in, never adults.
Staff saw people dressed in medieval clothes who mysteriously disappeared. Once when one
of the barmen went to change a barrel in the cellar, the lights went out and a voice said
to him, 'Can I help you, Sir?' I remember him rushing back upstairs with his hair standing
on end, his face as white as a sheet and his body shaking with terror and asking which one
of us was playing tricks on him. Nobody had touched the light switch or had been down
there. But when he went back downstairs the barrel pipe had mysteriously been changed. I
finally left in 1985 after two years working there. The place scared me to death."
Bestwood Lodge was originally a royal hunting lodge. It was later used as a love nest by
Charles II and his mistress Nell Gwynn. Gwynn, of course, was famous for being an orange
seller before becoming an actress and meeting the king. It's strange how you can still
smell oranges in her home, 300 years after her death. - Johnnie 
Have You Had a Paranormal If so, I want to know about it. Send it to me via e-mail, and I may reprint it here to share with other readers. You have a standing invitation to tell me your experiences with the paranormal and unexplained. |
