Ghost Stories & Paranormal Encounters

I was about ten at the time, and my family had went down to Charleston, South Carolina. It was about midnight on Halloween, and our Aunt had been studying the hauntings of Charleston. So she took us by a nearby theatre that was under renovations. It used to be an old hotel.(I cannot remember the name at this point) Our Aunt said, before we even came to the street it was on, that when you passed by the ‘hotel’, you could smell cheap lilac perfume or burning tobacco. The hotel was right in front of a small graveyard, and residents say that when you passed by the building at night, you can see the figure of a lady looking out one of the windows. I still get the chills from this experience.

As we passed by the hotel, I swore, and so did my father, mother,Aunt, and brother, that I smelled perfume. We smelled no tobacco. I looked in all the windows but I saw no figures.

The story of the hotel is that one night, A young maiden had gotten a job. She was indeed beautiful, but she was over the age of marriage (This was back in the 1800′s). This hotel had one room that was used for Bible study, and she was the ‘Church’ maiden. Every night, she would go to the balcony and watch the storms, which quite often happened. She started going insane, and the Preacher knew it. One night, the Preacher came to the balcony. Indeed, the maiden was standing there, mumbling crazy words to herself. “My beloved child, you are no longer sane. You must come inside now. I will help you.” The Preacher gestured to the maiden to come inside. “You cannot help me.” The maiden said, still looking out at the storm. “For all I know, I could jump and no one will help me still. I will just lay there on the ground, with my rotting flesh, and no one will help me.” As she stood there, an eerie silence was between the two of them. Suddenly,a crack of lightning split through the sky. The maiden was still holding on to the metal railing. The lightning struck the railing and she was electrocuted to death.

As I was standing there, I gave up on the ‘Figure in the Window’ thing, and decided to turn around and look into the graveyard. I was intrigued by a small arch where roses once grew. I watched it carefully. I don’t know why I liked it so much, I guess I just thought there were still roses on it.

As I stared at the small rose arch, I saw something white,very spherical like, move behind the arch in a sort of zig-zag, motion. I just assumed it was my brain teasing me, because I was indeed scared. I stared again, and it happened again. I pulled my mom’s shirt and began to cry. I told her to look. She said she saw nothing. I looked again. There it was. I tugged on my mom’s shirt and burst into tears. She watched patiently. Suddenly her eyes opened in amazement. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. She called my father over, but it then stopped. My mother and I were practically speechless the rest of the night.

It was very scary and I did not forget that night. I still have nightmares that it was the ghost of the maiden and that she wanted to be freed. Here is one of my dreams:

I was looking in the graveyard and saw the ‘orb’. It then turned into a woman’s face. Then it took full body. It walked toward me saying, “Please help me. Please.” She would say things like,”I am not sane.” Or, “I wished to be freed.” I could not run and my family was no where to be seen. I have always been a believer, and now I know that I am.

I have wanted to see a ghost, but after that experience, I don’t think I want to. But I am much older, and I think I will investigate the habits of the paranormal.

Written by Sydney, Copyright 2009 TrueGhostTales.com