Home   2012   Aliens Annunaki   Cats   Cryptozoology   Crystals & Talismans   Demons   Electronic Voice Phenomenon   Fairies & Elves   Ghost Books   Ghost Lights   Ghost Pictures   Ghost Stories   Halloween   Imaginary Friends   Lilith
Native Americans   Ouija Boards   Paranormal Investigations   Poltergeists   Questions/Answers   Sage   Shadow Creatures   Sleep Paralysis   Vampires   Werewolves   Wicca & Witchcraft   Submit A Ghost Story

A Different Kind of Ghost?

Posted on May 13, 2010

This is the true story of my dad’s experience of a very different kind of ghost.

I am sure that there are different types of ghost; going from the accounts of people’s experiences, there seem to be ghosts of people, animals and inanimate objects which appear to be just shadows or reflections of something or someone who was once there. There is normally no apparent reason for them to appear. Perhaps they are something like a mirage? Or “time-slip”? (I am thinking of the famous case of the Edwardian ladies who found themselves spectators in the 18th-century for a time during a visit to the palace of Versailles.) There are also similar phantoms from the past, but this time with perhaps a reason for their appearance, such as strong emotions or a tragedy. They are often said to appear on the anniversary of a particular event but, like the other sort, do not appear to have any kind of awareness – at least no awareness of the here and now. There are so many old stories of phantom coaches and horses or ghosts repeating the same actions in many folklore of the world. I have even heard of a modern occurrence of this phenomenon in the “ghost” of a plane crash (in Florida I think; but I’m not sure). Maybe these ghosts are spirits stuck in some kind of loop that don’t even know they are dead? Some ghosts are more obviously spirits of the departed and communicate with the living, often causing fear, either deliberately or coincidentally. This site is full of stories about these. They may or may not be aware that they are dead. A classic example, of this, albeit fictitious, are the characters of the mother and her children in the movie “The Others”. Other ghosts may be beings from another planet or dimension, or even “angels” or “demons”. Poltergeists could also be these supernatural creatures, spirits trying to get attention, or the result of some kind of psychic energy emanating from the living. As you can tell, I do think about these things and try to make sense of them as I have seen ghosts from time to time.

I am proposing that there is also a very different kind of ghost; that living people can have a visible ghost too. What this ghost could actually be or what makes it possible I don’t claim to know, although I have a few ideas, which I will briefly set out later.

Here is the occurrence which brought me to this conclusion:  please bear with me while I give the background to this; the paranormal bit comes later on.

I was about 14 years old. It was the early 1980s. For a few weeks I had been suffering on and off (depending on what I had eaten and when) with extremely painful acid indigestion in my stomach. My doctor did treat it successfully after a while but until then I was from time to time woken up at night by severe burning pain in my stomach. Sometimes sipping hot water or peppermint tea would help, and sometimes I would throw up and the pain would eventually calm down. It mostly seemed to happen at night, so I would often be awake while my mum and dad were asleep. This was one such night. I began to feel nauseous and went to the bathroom. But this time, being sick didn’t take the pain away. Instead, it flared up worse than ever and although I was not afraid because I knew it wasn’t a serious illness, I felt really desperate because of the awful pain. I was literally squirming around in my bed with it. By this time I didn’t feel I could even walk to the kitchen to get hot water, the pain was so overwhelming. I vividly remember starting to sob in utter frustration. Then I discovered, while squirming around, that if I sort of crouched forward on my knees and leaned on my pillow I got some relief. I stayed as still as I could, and the pain did eventually subside. I even dozed off or maybe passed out in that position and awoke who knows when (minutes or hours?) later. I carefully stretched out and pulled the duvet over me and went to sleep very thankful it was over. I have no idea how long the pain had lasted, but I woke up fine around 7am and went to school as usual. (We are so resilient as teenagers- that kind of thing would have me off work for a day now that I am older!) I’m giving these details in case you have any ideas about the cause of the paranormal event that also happened that night.

I was completely unaware of what had happened while I had been in such pain until I saw my dad at breakfast. He looked a bit tired and worried, and asked me if I was okay. I told him that I had had that pain again in the night, but that I was okay now. I asked him how he knew I had been feeling ill; if I had woken him up with my crying or going to the bathroom. He said no, he hadn’t even known I had been awake ill that night and paused as if not sure whether he should keep talking or not. This was unusual for my dad, so I paid extra attention. I think I had to encourage him to speak further. I guess he may not have wanted my mum to hear in case it freaked her out too much. (Of course, I told her later anyway!)

Dad told me that he had woken up suddenly in the early hours, around 1:00am. This was no surprise as my dad was something of an insomniac anyway. As he lay there awake in the dark he saw a white figure in a knee-length nightshirt with long fair hair appear in the open doorway of the bedroom where he and Mum were sleeping. It moved to the foot of the bed. It did strike him at the time that it was odd how he could see these details in the dark. He immediately recognized it as me, and I could confirm that I was wearing that same white nightshirt that night, as I usually did. Concerned that there was something really wrong, and wondering why “I” didn’t say anything, Dad quietly asked “me” what was the matter. “I” didn’t reply, just smiled at him. I definitely didn’t visit my parents’ room that night; I only went to the bathroom once and back to my own room. There was nothing they could have done for me, and I would not have wanted to wake them up anyway. In case you think I may have been sleepwalking, read on: my dad then noticed that my feet were several inches off the ground! I don’t know exactly how long “I” was there, but Dad said that after a short time the figure just faded away. He was 100% sure that he was awake, but was so scared that I had died or something that he tried to convince himself it was just a nightmare and attempted to go back to sleep (which he eventually did).

Was he dreaming about me because as a parent he instinctively knew I was suffering? Or was the “ghost” actually there? And if so, was it “my” ghost or the ghost of a dead girl who just happened to look like me? He always maintained that he was wide awake and it was no dream. Or is it possible that extreme pain can push you out of your material body to travel astrally in a visible form? Did I have a Near-Death Experience unknowingly? Did I really die, and is my whole life since then merely an illusion? (Not likely!) I wish I had been aware of what was happening, but perhaps I was asleep at the time. I do believe that the soul which inhabits our body has nothing to do with our material form, but that there is an etheric form of our material body. Kind of like the Ancient Egyptian belief in the “Ka” and “Ba”, two “souls” which inhabit the body; one is the real immortal soul, and the other the astral body which, like a bird, can fly in and out of the body. Maybe some people can even do this at will. That would explain the stories of the apparent bilocation (seeming to be in two places at once) of some powerful yogis.

Do you have any ideas? My father, although a practical joker at times, was also a great skeptic of the supernatural and not given to wild imaginings, and I believe his story because I could tell he was genuinely shaken up. Has anybody else had someone see a “ghost” of them? Do you think it is possible for a living person to project their own “ghost” even if not about to die? I do.

Sent in by Sarah, Copyright 2010 TrueGhostTales.com




More Ghost Stories and the Paranormal

Image of Coast To Coast Ghosts: True Stories of Hauntings Across America

Coast To Coast Ghosts: True Stories of Hauntings Across America

Image of Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story

Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story

Image of The Ghost Next Door: True Stories of Paranormal Encounters from Everyday People

The Ghost Next Door: True Stories of Paranormal Encounters from Everyday People

Image of The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories

The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories

Image of Classic Ghost Stories: Eighteen Spine-Chilling Tales of Terror and the Supernatural

Classic Ghost Stories: Eighteen Spine-Chilling Tales of Terror and the Supernatural

Image of The Best Ghost Stories Ever (Scholastic Classics)

The Best Ghost Stories Ever (Scholastic Classics)

Image of The Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories

The Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories

Image of This House: The True Story of a Girl and a Ghost

This House: The True Story of a Girl and a Ghost




Do you like to talk about the paranormal world?

Check out our paranormal forum at www.TalkParanormal.com

Comments

20 Responses to “A Different Kind of Ghost?”
  1. goththom says:

    There are also dopplegangers . Something that looks like you but isn’t you, some sort of entity that mimics people.Or bi-location, the ability to appear in two places at once, doing two different things. We live in a wonderfully odd world. Who knows.

  2. Sarah says:

    I just wanted to ask if anyone else knows if they have been seen as a “ghost”? Or have seen a “ghost” of someone they know who is still alive? Maybe unless it is seen by someone who knows and is in contact with the person it is hard to prove that they are living people? It could be that this sort of thing happens more often than we think.

  3. myn says:

    Hi! I think i do experience something nearly similar to yours. Last year in December , i don’t remember the exact date, i was having a pain. My back really hurt,like there is something tugging on my back and pushing it hard. I cant sleep and was very restless. Anyway i got to sleep after a few hours.. My friend at work asked me if i was okay the next morning. I asked him why? He said i came to him last night asking him to help me because of the pain on my back. I was shocked. How can it be? As if my soul had gone to get help from my friend . I too don’t understand how this things happened.

    • Sarah says:

      Thanks for commenting Myn. I was really interested to know you have had a similar experience, as did Martha, who also commented. It feels good to know I am not the only one, and that neither of you were dying either!

  4. Elden says:

    Hello,Sounds to me like you had a out of body experience to get away from the pain. And then went back when the pain stopped.

  5. martha says:

    Sarah,
    Great story, I don’t know what it is, but my mom called me at work one day and ask if I was OK. She said she was in the den and saw me through the window going to the front door, so she went to meet me and couldn’t find me. She was so afraid something had happened to me at work she had to call and check. I wasn’t asleep or in any pain, I was just at work and had been for several hours. Mom has also heard different ones of us kids calling to her in the yard, when we wouldn’t be there. If you find out more please let us know.
    Thanks for sharing

  6. Berna says:

    Hello Sarah,
    Thank you for sharing your story.. I thought I was going out of my mind when I was small, having the same kind of problem that you experienced, if it wasn’t pain, then it was ugly ugly nightmares, having me screaming my lungs out for my mother to fetch me (even though my older sister was right next to me) from my room.. when I close my eyes I would see the stuff..Not that I ever thought of ghosts or funny things, but what is it called and where do they come from??? Word, my parents took me to doctors and all that, but they would give medication, but I would be fine during the day, but come to wee hours of morning, the pain starts and stuff that I saw…
    What is that ? I thank God that I’ve outgrown the torture, but sincerely hope and pray to God that one day when I have kids, I won’t sit with the same problem… Oh no!

  7. cookie says:

    hi sarah,

    i am not quite sure what it is ur dad saw, but as to ur stomach burning thing in my country some doctors call it acid reflux…..my grandfather has it but it gets it anything not jus nights, the tea and warm water helps but also some baking soda….try a teaspoon or even half a teaspoon in some warm or cold water and see if it helps…….other than that this was a very interesting story

  8. Midnight says:

    @ Sara, First off, Hello, and I hope you are well now. As to your story, I believe you; more over, your story is only some what unique, do to the fact you were’nt miles away when it happend. A good and loving parent, as your father must be, can tap in to what is happening to their child, especially if its something out of their emmediate control. Many parents have had various types of visions, that lead to them feeling like they need check on their children, even grown up children that can be hundreds of miles away. Most of them are due to a catastrophic situation or sickness that has taken them home, but some are just as you discribe. To your father, no matter if it was a serious illness to you, it was serious. His child was having trouble that he could not fix, and that botheres the heck out of parents; especially fathers. So, that is what I look towards being the case. Un-conditional love has that ability!

    • Sarah says:

      Hi Midnight!
      Thanks for your comment. I am well now; this was many years ago. Unfortunately, both my parents have now passed away. They were both very loving and I was so lucky in that respect. I really like what you said about unconditional love, and I guess it was a vision he experienced through care for me. I am a parent now myself, and once when my daughter was about a week old, I actually saw a thick silvery cord of energy between us, keeping us together. Maybe this energy is never broken?

  9. AnNa says:

    SARAH—i did like the story kind of long.I’ve never had that happen to me before.but maybe you were sicker then you think and when you feel asleep was the way you kind of died.because you didn’t know how long you slept.so when you went to your body you felt kind of better.thats scary if you died for a little bit and came back.you said you told your mom later on what did she say about of all this?thanks for the story and i agree i hope your better know.

    • Sarah says:

      Anna,
      As I remember, my mum was not upset by hearing about it; she often saw ghosts and what she called “visions” herself, and I guess she was not worried about me because by then I wa all right.

  10. trolldoll says:

    i think that you needed them just that much but didn’t want to bother them. so i think it was astral projections. sylvia browne know alot of this subject, try looking up her explanation!

  11. Jennifer Mills-Young says:

    As you said yogis and I’m aware even some catholic saints and buddhist monks have been known to produce ” doppelgangers ” or copies of themselves that went to other locations and interacted with people who recognised them and spoke to them…..meanwhile they sat in deep prayer or meditation back in their original place and are witnessed to have not moved! So its obviously a phenomena that is possible – like you, one does wonder what the trigger is, which in your case was unintentional. Like yourself I managed phenomena quote unintentionally in my life – I astral travelled to locations, but thought I was dreaming ( see stories under my name ) until I spoke to people and realised I had witnessed real locations and real events in real time.
    One person in particular can always tell when I am ” there ” – he doesn’t see me like your father did – he just senses my presence when I am there ( on the other side of the world! ) and he’s usually right 99% of the time. I suppose if you can astral travel from one side of the house to the other – one side of the planet to the other isn’t much of a stretch. LOL
    Being a human being is an exsquisite paradox at times!

  12. Matt says:

    Hey there, i have had a situation like yours also!! One night i when i was younger, around 8 or 9 im guessing, i went over to my older sisters house to stay the night. In the middle of the night she suddenly awoke feeling someone watching her. She looked towards the door and saw me in “ghost” form standing in the doorway. “Whats the matter?” she asked not yet noticing that it wasnt me in my “human” for (i guess you would call it). I just smiled at her. “What is it Matt, are you ok?” she asked again. But i just stood smiling at her. It was at this point she noticed something wasnt right. Then she heard me call out from the bedroom i was staying in. She quickly ran in to find me sound asleep in my bed! I knew nothing about it until i heard her telling my mum about it. My mum told her that i had done that a few times. It scared me alot and i went around asking my sisters friends who were into ghosts etc what it was. I found out i was doing something called Astro Travel. I found that some people can do it on purpose, but if you dont get back to your body before you wake, they say you lose your soul. Apparantly i have done it since then also, but i dont remember it any time it happens, i just prey i get back to my body in time!! I hope this information has helped in some way Sarah!

  13. strong says:

    Hey! Everyone talks about doppelgangers, but there is also something known as a vardoger. While a doppelganger is a replica of a person, and is said to be a sort of heads up to impending doom for the person it resembles, a vardoger is a replica of a person in a future situation. And, a vardoger does not signal imminent danger. Three years ago, I saw what I thought was a doppelganger of my oldest daughter. It was strange to me how it was her, but she was older. Of course, I was freaked out a little, always watching her, hoping nothing bad would happen to her. Recently, I was googling this occurance because even after all this time, I still think about that day, and really wanted more insight into why she looked older. That’s when I found the info on vardogers. It’s a projection of that person in a future tense, and is also correlated with out of body experiences and sleep paralysis. My daughter experiences both of these phenomena. Now it makes sense to me. Maybe this insight helps you, too.:)

  14. Karen Dawson says:

    It may have been an astral projection. You may have been subonsciously letting him know I had an experience of the same thing, only no pain.

  15. Camila says:

    Hi thanks for sharing your story I found it very interesting. When I was 18 I was living with my aunt and uncle and their 2 young kids ages 5 and 3. I lived there a couple of months and after I got married I moved a couple of minutes away from them. Anyway one night I was feeling very upset and sad because my grandmother was very sick and due to work I couldn’t go visit her right away and she also lived in Mexico. Well that night I cried myself to sleep, and the next morning my aunt called me very worried because the youngest boy, whom I had gotten very attached to, told her he dreamed about me crying but seeing as how he was young that’s all he could explain. I told her what was going on, and we both found it kind of creepy for my little cousin to dream about me like that and then remember it and tell his mom. My aunt said he was moved to tears and he was asking to see me.

  16. Anonymous says:

    this is baeutiful but not scary ok but it also baeutiful

Cool Movies

Image of Tangled

Tangled

Image of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

Image of Megamind (Single-Disc Edition)

Megamind (Single-Disc Edition)

Image of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader [Blu-ray]

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader [Blu-ray]