Ghost Stories & Paranormal Encounters

Since I was 15 or 16 it seems I have experienced large amounts of paranormal activity.  Over the years I have seen things that cannot be explained, in several different homes.  My family moved around a bit when we were young.

One house I lived in when I was fourteen had a lot of activity. At night I would hear footsteps up and down the stairs every night, all night. One time I heard the steps and lay absolutely still in my bed. As I lay there the bed dipped and I became very cold. Then the bed released as if the person got up, the cold went away and the footsteps receded.

A lot of the time I would be home alone while my brothers were at b-ball practice and parents were at work. I would hear lots of voices and laughter downstairs. I would go down there and no one would be there. Faucets would turn on. We had a burner that would only turn on if you lit it with a match. One day while mom was cleaning the stove, it turned on and almost burned her.

Then a few months later we moved to a new home. It seemed like there was nothing going on at the new place.  Then one night 6 months to a year after moving in, I woke in the middle of the night. There across the room stood a woman in a white gown. She was bathed in a white light. She started walking towards me, I was scared so I jumped out of bed and ran to the light switch. I looked back and she was still walking towards me. I turned on the light and she was gone.

A few days before and after I would wake up and would feel like someone was watching me then my whole body would feel weird, and it was like a was frozen in place. I couldn’t move, my ears would clog up, and I would scream but nothing would come out. Then after about 30 seconds of struggling to be free, I was. I have had that happen several times over the years. I know that sometimes  your mind wakes up before your body does and you kind have that type of experience and experts will write it off as that, but I had been moving before that. I hadn’t just woke up and felt paralyzed. I had been moving around before that. Also the same day I saw the lady, I was so afraid that I left the light on for the rest of the night, and went back to sleep. Well I woke up later and noticed the time on the clock.

A few days later I had two things happen. One, a friend from high school was killed in a car crash, she was 18.  And two, my aunts husband died peacefully in bed.

While at work, I was discussing what I then called them my dreams, and I told her the time I saw on my clock. The next day my friend came up to me and said, “You remember the time you told me you saw on the clock.” I said I had, why? She told me that she had looked on her caller ID and told me that the time I told her about was the time she got the call that her cousin was dead. I was so freaked out. I mean was it coincidence? I don’t know.

I have lived in several houses and a couple of different states since then. I moved back about eight months ago.  I am in a different home now, but while on the road, I have seen  shadows and felt as if I was watched. While living in South Carolina I used to take long walks with a friend after work. It would be dark when we walked. One day we were walking past a cemetery, I looked over and stopped. I said to my friend, there’s something there, I can sense it but I can’t see it. He said yes there is, I feel it too. We kept walking.

Well now back in New York at this house, I have felt and heard things. A lot of the homes in the town are quite old. The one where I live used to be a tannery way back in the day. Our light in the livingroom goes off on its own a lot. Always the same one. One night I lay down on the couch and my parents were leaving to go to my brothers for a visit. I could hear them talking (muffled) as they went down the stairs. Right in my left ear I heard a man say loudly, “They’re leaving.” Startled, I jumped up, and then laughed because my parents were outside and I was alone.  Other things have happened.

I am a very light sleeper and am woken up at the slightest noise. I now put ear plugs in my ears so that I might get a little sleep. But at night sometimes I see shadows moving around the room even though I use a night light, they still come. I know there are skeptics out there, and I must tell you that at that time I was going to church. I kept telling myself, its not possible that these things are happening. In church you are told that you pass from death unto to life. That there is no stopping in between. Which would mean there are no spirits, and I know that a lot of Christians believe that there are angels among us. But if that is true than that also means that there are demons around us. You cant say that there are angels but no demons. Not saying that spirits are demons, because they aren’t. But as Christians say about God, “just because you cant see him, doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist.”  Can’t that also apply to other beings as well? Because although some of us have great imaginations, I don’t think my imagination is that creative. Anyway, I would love feedback from anyone who has experienced some of the same paranormal activity as me.

Written by Ann Bailey, Copyright 2009