Group Discussion

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: But I Am!!!!! - @veronica

Sun, 30 Mar 2025 16:19:15 -0400

My mother recently passed away in my home. My sister stays in the room in which she passed and regularly complains that she is nervous that our mother is haunting my house. I continually tell her, our mother was in a hurry to leave this plane so there is no way she is still here. But the discussion continues every time she stays.
Recently, I have noticed that odd things have been occurring. My sister's slippers (which she keeps under the guest room bed) were found out by the side door. There had been no one in the house that day - everyone was at work. It was odd. The slippers were aligned just like someone had stepped out of them to put their boots on.
The alarms on our doors are tending to go off in the middle of the night. They should only ring if the door opens. The alarm has also set itself at night a couple of times. Just little odd things.
I have caught movement out of the corner of my eye when there is no one there. Strange shadows in my room at night. Just bizarre things that my sister says is my mother. I keep saying that she is not here. I can see no reason for her to be here. She hated it when she was at my house. I am not sure why, but she didn't want to visit or stay. She was resentful when we brought her from the hospital to my house. She only wanted to be with my sister. (I know I sound resentful - maybe I am a little - OK a lot).
The noises started about 2 months after my mother passed. Whispers, knocking, grinding and dragging noises. They usually happen when I am alone in the late night when I cannot sleep. I usually go into the living room, so my husband won't get disturbed by my restlessness. I sit there in the dark reading my Kindle. I hear the knocks and then a soft whisper I cannot quite make out. My cats jump into my lap and snuggle down deep, although their ears are perked. They seem nervous. I see a quick movement and the sound of footsteps down the hall. I think it's my husband going to the bathroom, but the light doesn't come on nor does the door close. I put the cats to the side and creep down the hall. I walk through a wall of cold. I am chilled to the bone. I peek into my bedroom and I see the shape of my husband under the covers. I then catch the sight of a shadow leaning over him. I shake my head and again heard the whispers.
I keep telling myself, my mother is not here. Lately it has become my nighttime litany. "My mother is not here, my mother is not here, my mother is not here".
One night last week as I was saying my litany, I heard in my ear "BUT I AM"!!!!

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: The Tunnel - @veronica

Sun, 16 Feb 2025 18:34:42 -0500

She hated using the tunnels to move from building to building. She normally would go outside to travel to another building, but today the wind chill was below zero and she was headed to a meeting and wearing her puffy coat would not look professional. She did not want the men at the meeting to have further ammunition against her. They were trying so hard to oust her from her job. The scuttlebutt floating around about her was demeaning and she had to work twice as hard to just maintain her position let alone to be promoted.
She quickly straightens her suit, slides into her dress flats, checks her bun in the door mirror, gathers her materials, and tries to not think of the scary tunnel she will descend down into. She walks down the corridor and reaches the door leading to the tunnels. It creaks as she opens it. She looks around hoping against hope there would be someone else headed to the Nursing Building. The corridor was empty. She drags in a deep breath and descends the stairs. The door slams shut behind her and she jumps.
She reaches the bottom of the stairs starts down the tunnel. She hears the door open behind her so she stops to see who was coming down. Footsteps on the stairs. She continues to wait. No one appears, but the footsteps walk past her. Her mouth drops open. No one was there. She presses her back against the wall of the tunnel and her fist to her mouth. After a while she hears the door at the other end of the tunnel open and close. She steels herself and once again begins walking down the tunnel. AT this rate she will be late and that will be another nail in her coffin at this place. Halfway down the tunnel she once again hears the door she came through open and close. She hears the descending footsteps and once again stops to see if anyone appears. The footsteps continue, but no person. She turns and begins to run down the tunnel. The footsteps also begin to run. Her thoughts become panicked as she runs faster. She trips over her own feet and her materials go flying as she sprawls on the floor. The footsteps stop two feet from her. She looks and her eyes go wide - a man appears - his face a was a rictus of horror. He approached her and she screams - She cries out for help and the face on the man sneers.......
An hour later a group of five men walk down the tunnel. "I told you she would bail. She doesn't have it. She probably ran out of tampons and had to go to the store." Laughter. Their gaze took in the piles of material littering the floor and walked around it. "We need to call Environmental Services. That mess may cause an accident."

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: A Return - @veronica

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 19:50:59 -0500

She sat in the living room, silent. Her mother lay in the other room, comatose. Attached to all types of monitors, beeping and droning. Her ragged breath the only human sound in the house. Beep beep, drone drone , breath breath..... It could drive a sane person insane. She sat in the living room, eyes focused forward, her mind desperately trying to decide which direction to take. Her siblings were absent when hard decisions need to be made. They told her that it was all on her when she could no longer afford the hospital & brought their mother home to die. They did not even visit. However, as the end neared they wanted to know about the finances. What their mother was leaving behind. Nothing - she had nothing.... except hospital bills, doctor bills. They didn't want to hear about those. She knew she had to get moving and accomplish something, but she sat there in silence....
THEN she heard it....over the beeping, over the droning - a simple word...."help"....then again... "help help help." She dashed to the other room - her mother sitting straight up - looking at her, then screaming at her "You're trying to kill me - help help help." She did everything to calm her down and finally resorted to the morphine. As her mother dozed off the words whispered "Help - you're trying to kill me"...then silence.
She quickly called her sister & told her what happened. Her sister said she would be over in a day or two. She didn't bother calling her brothers.
Later on she dragged herself to bed, after checking on her mother. She slept lightly & was jolted awake by the sound of something dragging down the hall. She flew out of bed and saw her mother walking down the hall dragging the gizmos behind her. She intercepted her mother and began to gently move her back to the room - her mother began flailing and smacked her under the eye. She thought "Well, that will leave a mark". She finally got her back into bed and her mother looked at her - her hazel eyes filled with hatred... "You are trying to kill me - help help." Her mother looked away. "No, Mother, I am trying to make you comfortable." Her mother's head slowly turned back - her eyes still filled with the hatred. "When is Janice coming?" (Her sister Janice said in a day or two), but she lied to her mother, "She will be here later."
The next two days followed the same pattern... her mother trying to escape her house & she was exhausted trying to stay awake. Her mother refused to speak to her, but the hatred remained. Finally her sister arrived & she went out just to get away. She went to a café to enjoy a cup of coffee. As she was sipping her phone rang - her sister. She wondered which one of her kids needed her at that exact moment so she would have to return to the house & be with her mother & her hatred once again. She answered the phone. Her sister said two words "She's gone."
She returned home & made the necessary arrangements. Her sister had left before she got home (she was five minutes away).
A week later she had the unpleasantness of the funeral to live through. Her siblings faux grieving, wailing, gnashing of teeth, the whole nine yards. She sat quietly in the corner. That was the night it truly began for her... every night the sounds - dragging in the hallway - the cries of "Help help you're trying to kill me" echoing though the house. The first time it happened she ran through the house looking for her siblings being the shitheads they truly were, but there was no one. The security system was still active. This became a nightly occurrence. She slept little and returned to work drained. Then when she was at work her home cameras began to alert to movement, but there was never anything there. The security company came out but found no glitch. That became a daily occurrence.
She thought maybe a night or two at a hotel so she could sleep would be an answer - but then the phone calls began "Help help you are trying to kill me."

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: The Wait - -A Short Story - @veronica

Sun, 23 Jun 2024 11:33:10 -0400

Casey climbed the stairs to the lounge with windows that looked out over the parking circle where her husband would pick her up in 30 minutes. It was her favorite place to wait because it was always so quiet. Today, however, it seemed the whole building was quiet as a crypt. She sat on the little sofa and pulled from her bag her water bottle, a snack and her book. She was halfway through this horror novel and it was really getting good. Just before burying her nose in her book she noticed the door to the classroom on her right was open. She had never seen that door open before. She got up and went to look through the doorway. Casey's movement caused the lights to pop on. There was no one in the room, so she went back to her seat and opened her book. She sipped her water and munched on her treats as she turned the pages. The words in the book were raising the hair on the back of her neck.
She caught a slight movement in the corner of her eye and she turned her head towards the open doorway. A dark mass, shaped like a head, peeked out around the door. It withdrew quickly. Casey thought to herself that someone must have gone in while she was engrossed in her book. She got up to scope out the room again. Again the lights popped on. No one seemed to be in the room. She went row by row of the auditorium seating and she checked behind the door twice. No one. She went back to her sofa shaking her head at her folly.
Ten minutes passed and a little noise took her attention from her book back to the room. Standing about ten feet from the doorway was a shadow. There was no light - so no movement. The dark shadow was darker than the room itself. It appeared to be wearing a fedora. It just stood there & appeared to be looking at her. Her body went cold and she shivered. She closed her book and stared back at the shape. It seemed to be closer. She was frozen in fear. She couldn't force her body to stand & move away. The shape came closer and closer until it stood in the doorway. Casey let out a shriek as the door slammed shut.
Casey gathered her things and ran for the stairs. She did not return to her favorite quiet reading spot, instead opted for ear plugs and the main lounge on the ground floor to wait for her husband.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: A Father's Day Visit - @pat-wilson

Sun, 11 Jun 2023 00:27:38 -0400

It was a lovely Sunday in mid June, sunny with a light sea breeze. The Jasmine was in bloom and it’s heavenly scent filled the air. It was right around noon and I was making my way home after my hour walk.
This is one of my favorite walks. It starts out through a beautiful neighborhood on a street with homes built during different eras. It then takes me to the coastal highway for a few blocks where I make a left down a wide, paved, tree-lined passage to an uber wealthy neighborhood. That street takes me up a hill with beautiful ocean views. At its dead end is the trail head of a path through a small nature preserve. The trail drops down toward the edge of a bluff that’s about 500 to 600 feet above a rocky beach.
It ends at a small Nature Center, at this point I’m heading back home.This part of my walk is along a street that is set back from the bluff. On the bluff side there is one restaurant thriving and another that has been shuttered since well before the pandemic. In between these are several residences and an empty lot that has hurricane fencing along the street edge of the lot.
The other side of the road has 10 to 12 residences, high end luxury condos. There are two properties that have three condos each. These condos are massive, three story units with second and third stories set back in a terraced fashion into the hillside. Every property on both sides of this street enjoy spectacular, 180 degree plus ocean views.
As I approached this area I was walking on the bluff side and I see an older gentleman across the street, standing in his driveway looking like he was waiting for someone. He was a nice looking man, slim build and nicely dressed. He wore khaki pants, a madras shirt and had quality leather shoes and belt. He was well groomed and overall made a smart appearance. He looked to be in his late seventies - early eighties.
He noticed me and called out but cars were passing and I couldn’t make out what he was saying, (my hearing isn’t what it used to be). I crossed the street and we had a chat. He claimed that he hated that hurricane fence and I replied that it may prevent a car from going over the side. He said there was a time a car almost went over but the rear wheel was caught and tangled in the fencing and it had to be winched back up over the edge.
I laughingly suggested if he didn’t like the fence he could write a letter to our city Public Works Department and complain. He chuckled and said he didn’t think he could write a letter anymore, he was afraid he would mix his languages. I did detect an eastern european accent while we were talking. Sounded like German, Polish or maybe Hungarian.He then told me he lived in the condo on the left of where we were standing. He said he was 84 and he had lived there for thirty years.I told him I thought that was great.
We never exchanged names but he told me he was waiting to see his daughter Betty. I saw him smiling and looking down the street where a 50ish couple were getting boxes and bubble wrap out of their BMW. I said “I hope you have a great visit” and resumed my walk home. I noticed the woman had been staring at us and was still looking at me as I was about to pass them. She abruptly asked me if I had been talking to someone, I said yes, the older gentleman that lives in that condo (I pointed to the building) and I noticed the man was gone. She was looking at me oddly and I said “He told me he’s waiting to see his daughter Betty”.
With that her face crumpled into tears. and I thought OMG what did I say. She told me “Only my dad ever called me Betty, I go by Liz or Elizabeth. He died a year ago today, Father’s Day. We’re here today to pack up the last of his things”. She was crying softly and I told her that he looked great and he was so happy to see her. I was really flustered and was praying I wasn’t saying the wrong thing but then she hugged me and thanked me. I wished her well and went on my way.
Continuing my walk home I pondered the question: How many other strangers have I chatted with that weren’t really there ?

Patricia H. Wilson © 2023 All rights reserved.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: The Old Barn - 1st Person Fiction - @veronica

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 15:26:47 -0400

When I was very young we lived in run down house in the boonies. I was the youngest of the 6 kids and shared a bed with my oldest sister. The boys and girls rooms were connected and so on nights with a full moon my oldest brother would tell us ghost stories by the light of the moon. On those nights I would lie awake and quiver for fear something would be peeking in the window as there were no curtains on them.
One night he spun a tale of the barn that was down the road from our house. It was old and the foundation was crumbling as the walls bowed out and the roof sagged. It still had the smell of stored hay and straw. Also a bit of cow manure. We would walk down to that barn every so often and swing from the rafters. We all knew it wasn't safe, but we were just dumb kids. The story he told was very different from what I experienced. His was about a kid falling to his death and then his ghost stalking the barn floor. What I saw....was no kid.
My sighting occurred on a warm summer day. My sister and I were walking up the road to my aunt's house to play Barbies with our cousins. We were carrying our Barbie luggage and were enjoying the warm sunshine. As we reached the barn my sister remembered that she had forgotten the pie my mother wanted her to take to my aunt. So she hurried back to the house. As I stood outside the barn I heard a voice calling.... my name. It seemed to be coming from inside the barn. I turned towards the barn as the door swung open slowly. It creaked. Again I herd my name. I began to think it was my brothers pulling a prank. SO I stormed into the barn and yelled, "You don't scare me". My voice echoed through the EMPTY barn. There was no one there. The door slammed shut behind me and I squealed. I whipped around and there was no one there to shut the door. I heard a voice from the loft inviting me up. I ran to the door and pulled hard to open it. It would not budge. I began to cry. I heard laughter and looked up to the loft. Standing there was an entity - full on cloak with a hood (kind of like the Grim Reaper, but no scythe). It reached out to me and crooked it's finger at me to beckon to me. I turned back to the door and began pulling harder. I heard a creak behind me and I turned to see the being floating down from the loft to the floor of the barn. When it landed it called my name again. I cried and pulled harder at the door. Even with my back turned I could feel it approaching me. As it touched my shoulder I fainted.
When my sister returned she found me lying in the open doorway of the barn. She asked what happened and I quickly looked around the barn (and saw nothing). I tried to make her understand what happened and she scoffed. When I got more insistent she became angry telling me not to try and frighten her. She started up the road towards my aunt as I sat there. I thought, maybe I imagined it all. I got up and began up the road following my sister. I turned back for a last look and there in the loft window stood the being. It waved to me.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Plant Witch - @veronica

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 10:09:07 -0400

Plant Witches delve deeper into plants than a Green Witch does. They dig into the history of plants, what they are (have been ) used for and their origin. They have a very deep connection with Mother Nature.
They study the history, traditions, and cultural associations of different plants and herbs as well as use them in rituals, potions, and spells.
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a37681530/types-of-witches/

Like many of the sprigs that have erupted from the base of Wicca, Plant Witches embody the over all characteristics of Wicca, but lean more toward working with and studying plants.
From the page of a friend:

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Hedge Witch - @veronica

Tue, 30 May 2023 12:11:32 -0400

Key Takeaways: Hedge Witchcraft

Hedge witchcraft is usually practiced by solitaries, and involves deep study of plants and the natural world.
The term hedge witch is an homage to the wise women of old who often lived on the outskirts of villages, beyond the hedge.
Hedge witches typically find magical intent in routine, day to day activities
https://www.learnreligions.com/hedge-witch-4768392

A Hedge Witch is a solitary practitioner of the herbal arts - both, medicinal and spiritual. She is the person you call when you develop a rash or get a toothache, and the doctor or dentist is unavailable. She is the person you consult when strange things go bump in the night, or you are certain that someone just gave you the evil eye.
Her cupboard contains the remedy for what ails you - physical and spiritual.
A Hedge Witch does not belong to a coven. She does not follow the tenets of any sect or organized religion. Her craft is her own - usually handed down to her by family and honed by her own experience and research.
You will not find two Hedge Witches that are alike. Each follows her own path. The common thread that puts us under the heading of Hedge Witch is our herbal remedies and our solitary spiritual practices
The name, Hedge Witch, comes from days of old when villages were separated by forests. The edge of a village where the forest began was called the hedge. In most villages there was an herbal practitioner, who lived in the forest or near the edge of the forest. This was the person the villagers appealed to when there was no doctor, or the doctor couldn't cure them. The practitioner who lived by the hedge and practiced herbal arts was called a Hedge Witch.
Today, a Hedge Witch may or may not live near the forest, but you likely will find her there at one time or another. Most Hedge Witches have a reverence for nature. They know the medicinal and spiritual properties of everything that grows, and they understand nature's balance. A wise Hedge Witch enlists nature to deal with natural problems. She harvests more weeds than she pulls. She invites wasps, spiders and other predators to kill unwanted bugs. She uses plants and animals to divert bunnies from the vegetable garden.
But the most definitive characteristic of a Hedge Witch is that she has a remedy for everything under the sun, and much of it was prepared by the light of the moon.

http://hedgewitchforest.com/

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Lucy Joyce' Short Horror Story - @veronica

Fri, 26 May 2023 14:42:02 -0400

https://blog.reedsy.com/short-story/v8ogp5/

Adelaide's Cemetery

Submitted into Contest #167 in response to: Start your story with a daydream sequence, before snapping back to reality. ... view prompt

Lucy Joyce

FOLLOW

176 likes 57 comments
HORROR LESBIAN COMING OF AGE

This story contains sensitive content

Death was accompanied by the patter of nurses’ rubber-soled shoes marching briskly along linoleum floors. The smell of antiseptic solution. A gurney wheel, in need of oil, squeaking rhythmically as another patient was rushed past. Starchy white sheets, and the sharp and angular shapes of nurses headdresses.

My body revolted against the crisp order in violent expulsions of browns, greens, and yellows against the bleached hospital whites. Veins stood out on my small, pale neck and spittle flew from my mouth as I screamed. The cool bed sheets, tucked with neat and stern hospital corners, were twisted into angry, damp knots against my writhing body. I am ordinarily a neat and demure person, so you can imagine my cringing in horror at this loud, violent, and messy departure. I shudder when my mind, invariably, drifts to remember it. I am happily brought back to the present by the distant iron clang of the cemetery gate.

There’s a reassuring and settled sameness about death. A contentment. Cool, mossy, and stone strewn. Calm and painless. Life was harder - stressful. My father worked long days in crumbling mining tunnels cut deep into the earth. He would return with his face etched deeply with coal dust, collapsing into wheezy snores on the small, hard bed. I remember, too, my mother’s mouth, tight lipped with constant worry, and concealing two chipped front teeth. I remember my baby brother screaming with hunger and cold. The frigid earth was chipped open by large-shouldered men with axes and spades when that brother died before the spring melt.

Of course there were some joyous moments; things I recollect with nostalgia. There is one thing I remember with a thrill of excitement: Alice Alderidge and I on that summer morning. The air was already thick, humid, and buzzing with crickets as we ran to the creek. It was our favourite place in summer, this particular spot, where water gathered - cool and shaded - in a gurgling pool of deep stone. That day, for the first time, we swam naked. Our girlish squeals were loud, we were exhilarated with the naughtiness of it - with the thrilling and mortifying possibility that someone might appear suddenly and see us.

When we got out to dress on the warm rocks, I turned to watch as she emerged, serpentine and lithe, from the water. Beautiful, was the thought that arrived - unbidden but suddenly completely obvious - into my mind. We were no longer squealing or giggling. Droplets slid over her small, round breasts. Her nipples were nut brown, and bunched tightly and sharply from the cold water. For a terrifying and intoxicating moment, I imagined licking off the sliding droplets which rolled over her honey-coloured skin. She watched me watching her. Her wet, dark eyelashes framed bold and knowing green eyes, like a a bewitching goddess.

It’s difficult, now, to ascertain to what extent Alice Alderidge knew about my sudden and sincere desire to lick her beautiful young breasts, because we both contracted cholera in the following days. She lived, but I died.

I waited, aching, but Alice didn’t arrive at Highgate Cemetery for another sixty years. As with all of the others, a pile of earth was disgorged for her, in dark and damp clods, worms struggling wetly in the too-bright air. Her body was wrinkled and thin, but those sultry green eyes had never dimmed. She had married a man - liar , I thought - and had five children.

I spent those first decades in hope, but she did not remain after death in a ghostly form, as I had; I remained alone.

Sometimes I trace the name I had in life, Adelaide Quail: 1898-1913, with a finger as translucent and light as a whisper. This simple summary of myself is etched in modest stone, now coated with moss. These days, my existence is mainly devoted to observing the predictable contours of the seasons. I sit for weeks on the shoulder of a stone angel to watch the snow gradually recede from sun-filled valleys; I observe the daisies, irrepressible, forcing their way through the frigid ground to greet the spring sun. I lie across the cracked stone of my own grave and watch as rain drops hurtle towards the ground from tempestuous, autumnal skies.

I am contained here, by unknowable forces, to the cemetery and the surrounding forest. I have little influence on the world around me, except maybe a slight parting of the wind as it moves around me. I am impervious to dirt and mud; invisible even after bathing in stagnant September moose swamps, or lying across summer-baked dirt roads. On swirling, freezing winter mornings, my bare feet leave barely perceptible prints as I wander across the lightest drifts. I am unnoticed by all but the lightest and most alert insects and birds, which I can occasionally convince to briefly perch on my insubstantial form.

I spend some of my time, in the warmer months, accompanying tour groups of motley children on school excursions. Modern people tend to burn their bodies - a morbid practice in my opinion - but it has had the positive effect of converting Highgate Hill Cemetery into more of a commemorative museum than an active cemetery. This is a relief to me. Although I am without a body, I am not without feelings, and I used to find the wailing of grieving widows and the cries of children at the graves of recently dead loved ones very distressing. I would stand with them as they cried, wearing an invisible expression of sober and respectful grief.

Now, instead, I join the children as they crowd around information boards about local history, or in front of graves and mausoleums. On one information board, entitled ‘Coal Creek Settlement: 1890-1957,’ there’s a photo of some children from my schoolhouse, taken two years before I started there myself. They see us, but they don’t really see us, these children of the present day. I’ve watched, mere inches from their faces, as they observe my contemporaries. I can sense that understanding is lost somewhere in the colourlessness of the black-and-white image, or in our straight faces (smiling wasn’t in vogue in photographs at the time), or just by virtue of the clothing - which seems strange and old-fashioned to them.

“We’re not so different, you know,” I explain; although they don’t hear me.

The tour guide does nothing to help. My grave, for example, is used to describe the cholera epidemic which gripped the valley in the early 20th Century. It was allegedly caused by the town’s water supply running through the corpses of men crushed in a mining disaster - not a fact that I revelled in finding out about.

“Well, there’s more to know about me than that,” I say, irritably, but this woman was born in 1981, so I can’t blame her for knowing very little about history. There is a fir tree near my grave which outdates this alleged expert of the past by two decades.

She tells the children about my tragic death, at only fifteen years of age. This death of mine, she points out, was one year before the outbreak of the Great War. This provides a convenient segue to shepherd the trotting children to the next stand of graves. Some days I find it insulting that my death is used as merely a pivoting point towards more important and famous deaths, but perhaps I’m being overly sensitive.

The children, by this point, are usually glazed. This is unsurprising. How can children root themselves in the shifting sands of the past with facts and figures? Sixty men dead in a mine collapse in 1913 at Coal Creek. Twenty million dead in the First World War. Better to tell them that Bert Lawrence, visible in the front row of the schoolhouse photo, has a visibly wet nose because he cried on the first day of school. Or that the frizzy-haired Maggie Alderidge (middle right), sister of the aforementioned Alice, was in love with Thomas Woodburne (back right). Or that we would all have snowball fights outside of the schoolhouse when school finished on the last day before our Christmas break. If only I could tell them, I think, with wicked glee, about Alice - wet breasts glistening - smiling at me with sultry confidence. Then they would understand, I think, that the young people in the faded photograph were not so different from themselves.

On a cool autumn morning, one girl, from among another group of shuffling and sniffing school children, looked at my grave and said, to no one in particular, “Adelaide Quail. Adelaide, like the city in Australia, and Quail, like the bird.” Her alert green eyes regarded my name with interest. I felt seen, recognized, celebrated.

“Yes!” I cried, unheard. “Exactly! That’s me!”

I followed the green-eyed girl, endeavouring to be helpful by giving unheard but correct answers to the questions on the worksheet secured in her clipboard. I reluctantly farewelled her when her group left through the wrought iron gates forty-five minutes later. I obsessed over the minutiae of this meeting for glorious and delightful hours afterwards.

Imagine my shock and joy when the girl, my new Alice, walked through again only a week later, wrangling an exuberant, golden puppy on a leash. I walked with them from one gate to the next, telling her about the changing of the seasons, about the hospital with its clean, white surfaces, about my family, and about the schoolhouse. I told her that we could run together through the long grass once the weather warmed again; we could run to the creek. I could show her the spot - the cool, sheltered spot where the water is deep. The air would be hot, and we could drape our dresses on the warm rocks while we swam together.

The first sprinkling of snow dusted the tops of the immense, distant ranges - an event I usually watch for - but I was too distracted to notice. Being unseen and unheard had previously only been a mild annoyance, but now it was torturous. Alice arrived most days in the evenings, dog on leash, travelling from gate to gate, presumably as part of a larger loop. I screamed in agonized frustration each day as she left me, yearning to be seen, to be known. To touch and be touched.

Inspiration came one morning when I observed a dew-covered spiderweb, branching and complex, ordinarily invisible, but illuminated by its wetness in the bright morning sun. Nearby, a hummingbird was extracting nectar from a group of flowers. I hardened my heart and reached for the small bird. Unsure what force my invisible fingers could produce, I was as shocked as the hummingbird when I was able to grasp its tiny, almost weightless body. I twisted its neck decisively. Raised it to my lips. My invisible and blunt but persistent teeth tore at the sinewy body. Feathers twisted and fluttered to the damp earth as warm, small organs burst against my lips. Blood and entrails ran down my chin, coating my mouth and face.

The wait for her was tortuous. I distractedly observed yellowed leaves fluttering to the ground from the oak trees on the hill. Finally, the light started to ebb from the afternoon, turning the sky into a dusty grey. I heard her approaching and stood at the gate’s entrance, willing my nervous mouth - the contours of which I hoped were now, at last, visible - into a smile of greeting.

At first I thought that my plan had failed- they were only a few steps away and continuing unconcernedly. Suddenly though, the dog stopped, eyes fixed on my face, and uttered a low growl. The girl, confused and worried, stopped as well. She looked at the dog, and followed its gaze to the space where I stood in front of them. My smile widened; I was exhilarated by my scheme, ready, for the first time in over a century, to be seen. My Alice stumbled backwards, her eyes wide and a scream beginning in her throat. There was a perfect moment, before she ran, where we looked right into each other's eyes.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Green Witch - @veronica

Thu, 25 May 2023 15:57:28 -0400

Green witches have great respect for Mother Earth. The green witch focuses on harmony, healing, and balance with the Earth, but also with humanity and yourself. Practitioners are naturalists, herbalists and healers.
They draw energy from the Earth and use plants, flowers, oils, and herbs for healing. These are witches that use their power to harness the energy of the natural sources around them, communing with plants and wildlife.

https://naturallymodernlife.com/what-is-a-green-witch/
The Green Witch

“You are the sister to the wolf and friend to the hawk. You know in your heart the language of the plants and the songs of the wind. You have an innate connection to the wild edges. You know the beauty of the bee in flight, and hear the call of freedom on the horizon. And yet, as you go through your day today, it may be easy to miss the drumcall of the Earth.”

– Wild Woman, The Sacred Pregnancy Journey Deck by Anni Doulter

The Green Witch embraces nature by drawing on the energies from the earth and of untamed things.
She communes with the land, with stones and gems. She relies on plants, flowers and herbs. She calls to nature for guidance and respects every living being.
She is the true definition of nature relatedness.
The Green Witch understands that the earth incorporates the planet and all living things upon it, including animals, plants, and people. She understands that humanity impacts the natural world , not only by how we treat it but also by the feelings and energies of individuals.
It’s likely the spiritual ancestresses of modern green witches who chose to live apart from the center of community life. Though they may have made their homes on the edge of town, they much would’ve preferred to make their homes in nature.
For it is harder to hear what Earth has to say when you are surrounded by the hustle and bustle of busy life.

Most witches rely on worship of Mother Earth, but Green Witches go that much further.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Cosmic Witch - @veronica

Mon, 15 May 2023 13:35:34 -0400

Cosmic witches are called "stargazers". They are drawn to the sky. They work through astrology and astronomy. They focus on the stars and the moon phases. They work their spells to amplify or protect from celestial events. They work with star signs and birth charts.

“As Above, So Below”- Smaragdine Tablet

This is commonly understood to mean that celestial movements and energies affect terrestrial events. Scientifically we can see this in the tides and seasons, but it also applies to many other things, including moods, behavior, and magical workings such as spell casting.
https://medium.com/witchology-magazine/cosmic-witchcraft-dd320f27982a

Other witch types practice cosmic witchcraft using the moon phases and other astronomical events for rituals.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: The Cornfield - FICTION - @veronica

Thu, 11 May 2023 11:42:32 -0400

Growing up in rural NY was nice. No hustle & bustle. You could run around outside until it was pitch black. No worries of someone stealing you or shooting you...it was completely safe or so I thought....
The house I grew up in lay on 19 acres of green & trees. It was quiet there. You could hear the birds chirping and insects buzzing. You could see the stars at night and hear the owls hooting. Serene. Across the dirt road from my house was a massive cornfield. We called it "cow corn" because it wasn't the kind you buy in the store to roast and eat. Every fall it was harvested and we watched the combines cut it down & swoop it into the backs of the farm trucks. The farmer who owned the field was a dairy farmer & every year he harvested & stored for his cows.
"Knee high by the 4th of July" as the saying goes for corn and by August the stalks towered over our heads. My 4 brothers, my sister and I used to play hide & go seek in the cornfield at night in late August. It was fun...until that moonless night I heard and saw something that made me NEVER enter that or any other cornfield again. I was "it" (as usual being the youngest). I covered my eyes against the big oak in our front yard as everyone else ran across the road to "hide". The way this game work, the "it" person had to sneak up on people in the corn and touch them - if 'it' didn't succeed before all the others made it back to the tree then 'it' remained 'it'. I was 'it' a lot.
This night I counted and then headed across the road. It was silent - no insects, no owls, no rustling of the corn. Dead quiet. I worked my way up the row and stopped to listen - still no sound. I continued on, crossing to the next row and I heard some whispering. Thinking it was a sibling I rushed through the rows, but no one was there. Again the whispering. I strained to hear what the words were & I could barely make them out. " ____ my corn____" was what I heard. I cut through another row and still no one - more whispers, but no person. I kept this up for awhile and then I heard my eldest brother shout "home free", so I knew he was safe. Silence again.
Then more whispering - a little clearer. "This is my corn _____". I stumbled through another row and saw movement down the row. I headed toward where the movement was, thinking it was a sibling. I heard the rustle a couple of rows over so I forged through. More whispering, "_____ my corn _____". I burst into a row thinking I had found a brother - not what I found...
In that row stood a tall creature... I heard it say "This is MY CORN. GET OUT!!". It stood on two legs, dark in color, arms hanging to it's knees. It looked scaly and it's face has some sort of beak like mouth... "MY CORN!!!". It started toward me and I let out a blood curdling scream and collapsed onto the ground.
When my father found me I was curled in the fetal position crying quietly and saying over & over "Go away, go away".

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Crystal Witch - @veronica

Sun, 07 May 2023 19:58:33 -0400

Crystal Witches make the use of crystals to focus their magick for healing and manifesting. Crystals are known for their healing energies. They raise the energy vibration within you. "C rystals emit this unwavering, constant high vibration, that when met with a lower vibration, has the ability to actually raise, in turn, providing a sense of healing qualities through an energetic level, which can therefore fast track our own physical healing."

https://thingsthatrocksd.com/products/the-crystal-witch?variant=39532642467923

If you are drawn to nature, crystals, rocks, stones, and color therapy you may be want to study more on Crystal Witches. I use crystals, color candles in my rituals. I guess this makes me a solitary crystal witch.

Different crystals have different healing properties:

https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/guide-to-healing-crystals#benefits

Healing crystals for health

Clear quartz: a clear crystal considered a master healer and believed to support the entire energetic system
Jasper: a nurturing stone said to provide support during times of stress
Obsidian: believed to help process emotions and experiences and aid in letting go
Amethyst: used for healing, purifying, and enhancing willpower
Bloodstone: said to improve circulation and provide support to blood-related issues

Healing crystals for wealth

Tiger’s eye: said to provide motivation and lessen fear
Citrine: believed to spark enthusiasm, creativity, and concentration
Turquoise: thought to soothe emotions and attract good luck
Sapphire: known as a stone of prosperity
Jade: another well-known stone for prosperity and luck

Healing crystals for love

Rose quartz: sometimes referred to as the stone of love and believed to encourage love and trust
Moonstone: said to prompt feelings of inner strength and growth
Ruby: believed to support sexuality and sensuality

https://news.stanford.edu/2018/08/09/understanding-peoples-obsession-crystals/#:~:text=The%20word%20%E2%80%9Ccrystal%E2%80%9D%20comes%20from,the%20light%20of%20the%20heavens.

Where does the use of crystals come from??? Across cultures, different stones can symbolize or provide aide for different things.

In Plato's time they were used for mind reading and transmitting thoughts.

Sumerians used them for magic.

Egyptians used the for jewelry fro metaphysical purposes.

Greeks thought amethyst was hangover remedy.

Native Americans use crystals to assist in diagnosing illnesses.

Europe healing powers of crystals persisted into the Middle Ages.

The most ancient writings that mention crystal include the accounts of the Roman historian Pliny the Elder, who described different precious stones, their origins and physical qualities. The word “crystal” comes from the Greek krystallos , literally meaning “coldness drawn together,” or a kind of ice.

In looking for a crystal it is helpful to touch them & feel them. I use this method to choose my crystals - when I touch & hold the crystal if it warms and then sends a tingling feeling through my hand then I obtain it. I use crystals in my rituals and feats day celebrations.

Feasts:

Yule - bloodstone, clear quartz, garnet, black obsidian, citrine

Imbolc - moss agate, sunstone, clear quartz

Ostara - g reen aventurine, pink opal, moonstone, bloodstone, lepidolite, citrine, rhodonite

Beltane - Malachite; Magnetite; Moss Agate; Garnet; Dendric Agate; Carnelian; Tiger's Eye

Litha - Citrine, Ruby, Carnelian, Garnet, Sunstone and Tiger's Eye

Lughnasadh - Aventurine, Citrine, Shiva Lingam, Sardonyx, Malachite, Carnelian

Mabon - Clear Quartz, Amber, Aquamarine, Opal, Aventurine, Citrine

Samhain - amethyst, citrine, spirit quartz, onyx, bloodstone, lapis lazuli, moonstone, and carnelian

Moon Phase:

New - labradorite, aquamarine, black obsidian

Waxing - rose quartz, citrine, tiger's eye

Full - moonstone

Waning - clear quartz, amethyst, black tourmaline, bloodstone

For physical healing rituals I use clear quartz. For other healing rituals I choose amethyst, black obsidian and moonstone depending on if it is spiritual, emotional or mental healing.

There are some crystals that should not be used together since their vibrations are counter productive.

Carnelian and Amethyst.
Blue Lace Agate and Red Jasper.
Clear Quartz and Green Aventurine.
Sunstones and stones that are associated with Saturn and Venus.
Gomed and Cat's eye.

Sometimes it is comforting just to carry a stone with me. Right now I am taking an amethyst with me for it's calming influence.

Crystals are pretty & useful (at least in my opinion).

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Hereditary Witch - @veronica

Thu, 27 Apr 2023 14:47:58 -0400

No one is "born" a witch. They may be born to Wiccan parents and raised in the ways, but there is no special DNA for witches. Wicca is an orthapraxic religion, which is a fancy way of saying to be a Wiccan you have to do and believe Wiccan ways. You can do that fresh out of the birth canal.
Not to say there are not people out there that display more traits of Wicca than others. But consider this: most people have some form of "psychic ability". If that ability is fostered & groomed it can become more prominent. Others have their abilities repressed.
Some people claim "hereditary" status due to an ancestor that was accused of witchcraft - doesn't make the ancestor or you a witch.
There are certainly hereditary traditions of witchcraft, learned not biologically inherited. These are typically traditions (beliefs and practices) that are kept in the family from generation to generation. Could range from herb growing, rituals, which gods to follow, to name a few family traditions.
Regardless if one calls herself/himself a hereditary witch it is best to understand Wiccan skills are learned, developed and honed over years - it's not something you are born with.
As for me, I do know both of my grandmothers had Celtic blood in them and both had some psychic abilities that they suppressed all their lives. Does that make me hereditary? Not in my eyes - we did not have any traditions passed down and for the most part it is something they wanted me to ignore - even as the urge came on very young.

So, after all that, could someone be part of a hereditary familial tradition? Absolutely, he or she certainly could. But if what they're claiming is some sort of biological superiority that makes them witchier than everyone else, consider that claim suspect at best.

Wigington, Patti. "Hereditary Witchcraft." Learn Religions, Apr. 5, 2023, learnreligions.com/about-hereditary-witchcraft-2562544.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Being a Solitary - @veronica

Tue, 11 Apr 2023 11:17:43 -0400

A solitary is a practitioner that works their magick alone. I am such a person.
I perform my Feast Day rituals, moon phase rituals and any other spell work by myself in the privacy of my alter room. Before beginning I cleanse my body & mind. I enter my alter room, don my ceremonial wear (cloak, necklace) and prepare the alter.
To begin any ritual or spell work the first thing I do is cleanse my area. I light some sage and call on the four elements as I make a circle. The North is the Earth, the East is the Air, the South is the Fire, and the West is the Water. With my circle cast I can begin my body of work.
I light my Black Power candle and speak an incantation. I light the candles for the deities (Goddess and God), I light an incense stick. I open my Book of Shadows to the appropriate page (depending upon what ritual or spell work) and begin.
For Feast Days I gather the food that will be prepared and any items that represent the feast (pictures, flowers, etc) and perform a self-designed ritual using candles and crystals. There are 8 Feast Days that I celebrate - Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltaine, Litha, Lughnasadh, Mabon, Samhain. Each feats has its own menu, colors, crystals and spells. Each Feast also has its own Goddess and Consort (God). I honor them with the pair of lit candles after I cast and open my circle.
For the moon phases I have four - New, Waxing, Full, & Waning. I honor Morrigan, the Triple Goddess when I perform my moon phase rituals. The New Moon I honor all three. The Waxing Moon I honor Macha, the Maiden. The Full Moon I honor Anu, the Mother. The Waning Moon I honor Badb, the Crone. Each phase has its own spells, colors & crystals that I work with. Each Goddess has her own strengths & power.

The Mórrigan, usually referred to with the definite article, was a great warrior-queen goddess in Irish-Celtic mythology . She was most associated with inciting war, then stirring up the fury and frenzy of battle, and finally, as the bringer of death.

Mar 18, 2023

libguides.com

https://westportlibrary.libguides.com

For spell work, it really depends on what I want to focus on and accomplish. I do health and healing spells, clear thinking spells and many others. Usually I do some divination work, either by pendulum or Tarot. I am looking to find a Crystal Ball. The thought intrigues me.

At the end of my ritual I close my circle and extinguish my candles. After closing down I usually meditate on my ritual.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Coven Based Witches - @veronica

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:57:44 -0400

This the first installment of "get to know the witches" series.
There are many types of witches ( I am using the word witch(es) to describe those practicing Wicca). I am a solitary and will be discussing that next week. This article is about coven based witches.
Covens are a group of people that practice the belief system of Wicca, who combine their magical powers and skills to create stronger, bigger spells and manifest outcomes for the group and beyond. Covens focus more on ceremonial and ritualistic magic. I am not going to discuss groups of people that call themselves a coven that worship evil. Covens strive to gain 13 members, but can have as few as 2. These members gather together to celebrate Sabbats and work magick together. They can include male and female members. They teach each other and learn from each other. Many covens hold classes which can include non-members. The main goal is to celebrate and practice the faith.
The leader of the coven is either a High Priestess or a High Priest. If there are two leaders of the coven it is called a "working couple".
( https://medium.com/human-witch/covens-witchcraft-in-groups-6b7ef5ea9fca )
Rituals are also a part of coming together as a coven. Usually the members appear in their ritual garb, bring their ceremonial tools (athame, wand or scepter for example). It is important to know that if a coven is going to perform a ritual, all members must be present. However, it is possible to work rituals and spell work on your own.
When a coven forms it needs to come to a consensus on what is important to the group. Some offer classes, some just gather for Sabbats, some get together for the phases of the moon rituals. There is no hard set rule on what your coven has to do.
Be forewarned that legitimate covens do not ask for fees to join.

A coven is there for you to learn from others and get to know them, not to pay for your education and potential friends.

https://medium.com/human-witch/covens-witchcraft-in-groups-6b7ef5ea9fca

The article below was written by a witch that belongs to a coven. A very good and informative read.
https://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article/3074
The Modern Witch's Coven

JANUARY 09, 2023 BY DEBORAH BLAKE READ TIME: 5 MINS
When someone mentions the word " coven ," you might envision thirteen black-clad, pointy hat-wearing witches dancing around a fire or cackling around a cauldron . I'm not sure that was ever the norm, but even if it was, times have changed. And covens have changed with them.
During the years when Wicca was the most common form of group Witchcraft practice (or at least the one you were the most likely to find if you went looking), covens usually followed specific outlines. They were led by a high priest and a high priestess , members progressed through levels like first degree and second degree, and there were formal initiations . Rituals were complicated affairs full of ceremony, and everyone wore robes or some other form of garb. None of this was a bad thing. I've been to a number of wonderful Wiccan rituals, and my first teacher/high priestess had come from a Wiccan coven and that's how she taught those of us who were in her own group (with some variations). We didn't do degrees or initiations, and when I got to the point where I was ready for my own training as a high priestess, she merely set me a number of tasks to perform in my " year and a day " of preparation, but there is no doubt that my witchy origins were firmly rooted in the Wiccan world. On the other hand, over the last couple of decades, modern Witchcraft practices have changed and shifted. It is, after all, a vibrant and blossoming spiritual practice—the fastest growing religion in North America. As more and more people find their way to a Witchcraft path, the variety of approaches to working within a group structure has changed and shifted, too. While there are still many traditional Wiccan covens, the desire for diverse forms of group work, along with the need for more flexible alternatives and the changes in Witchcraft itself, have led to a shift in what constitutes a coven, and a group of witches may look very different today than it did twenty or thirty years ago. Certainly my own practice, and my group's practice, have undergone a number of changes from where we started out in 2004. Here are some ways in which covens may vary. The Modern Witch's Coven—Variations on a Theme Size: While covens didn't have to number thirteen, they were often more likely to be larger groups. These days, a coven can literally be as small as two people, if they practice together on a regular basis. My own group started with three, and has been as large as twelve. These days it is usually five with the occasional guest, but not all of the members can attend every single ritual due to distance and scheduling, so it's not unusual for there to be three or four of us at any given ritual. How Often They Meet: The first coven I belonged to was a little unusual in that it started out as a study group, so it met every Thursday night, and we simply celebrated whatever occasion was closest to that night, if there was one. Otherwise our high priestess just taught us some aspect of Witchcraft. My own group, Blue Moon Circle, started out by meeting twice a month. We met for every full moon , and for the eight sabbats , and did new moons in the four months without a sabbat in them. But as our lives got busier and more complicated, we ended up just meeting on the sabbats, and observing the full moons on our own. I know covens that only meet on full moons, and others that gather on any and every lunar and seasonal occasion. This can vary from group to group, and will probably be based on what people want and can manage. Who Is In Charge: Some covens still have the traditional high priest and high priestess, but it is just as likely to only have one, or to have the person or people who lead the group use no titles at all. (I no longer do, for the most part. I might lead the rituals, but we're all equal.) Some covens don't even have a leader, and people take turns being in charge of ritual. How People Dress: Some covens still wear witchy garb (robes or some other clothing specifically reserved for ritual use), while others don't. Blue Moon Circle used to dress up for full moons and sabbats, but we've gotten more relaxed over the years (or lazier, depending on how you look at it) and mostly just show up in our everyday clothes. The only exception is our yearly Yule dinner party, where we get kind of fancy, but nothing particularly witchy. Again, this is something that the people within a coven can discuss and agree on. The Rituals: The formality of the rituals themselves will vary a great deal, too. Some covens still do a long, ornate ritual, including walking in a procession into the circle, casting a formal circle , lighting candles and calling quarters , invoking the gods, and so on. Others, especially groups that meet on a more sporadic basis and have a more casual approach, may just skip that part and just do whatever ritual they have planned. My group used to be more formal before Covid hit, but we were all so tired and frazzled, we shifted to a more laid-back way of doing things and most of the time that's what we've stuck with. It really depends on what mood we're in and what we're doing. No Wrong Way The most important thing to realize is that there is no one right way to practice with other witches. Whether you call yourselves a coven or not, whether you meet up regularly or just when people have time, whether you are formal or casual, what really matters in that you treat each other with respect, enter into a ritual circle prepared to do serious magical work, and follow whatever your path is with reverence and mirth. Witchcraft is, at its best, an accepting and welcoming religion, with something to offer to all those who come to it with an open mind and a willing spirit. If you can find people to share it with, that's just a bonus.

I truly love the last paragraph of the above article. It speaks to the heart of what I believe Wicca to be. I was invited once to join a coven and declined because the High Priestess made the rule that no men could join. That was not for me - besides I prefer to do my magick alone, at my pace. If you have questions, go ahead and ask. I will strive to do my best to answer them, it may take a bit of research since I am not coven-based. Thank you for reading.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: A Voice in the Dark - @veronica

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 20:48:41 -0400

The woman sighed as she settled on the bed. The house was locked up, her patient was tucked in and snoring away in the downstairs bedroom. The windows were open - it was a hot July night and the house had no air conditioning. She pulled out her historical romance and began to read. The chirps of the crickets drifted into the room as background music. Other than that the house was silent. She read for about 15 minutes when she began to doze.
SHe jerked awake and glanced at the clock. It was 1:30 AM. The bedside light was still on and the crickets still chirped, but she knew something else had pulled her from the deep sleep she had fallen into. She decided to go check on her charge. She crept down the stairs, but each one creaked under her weight. When she reached the bottom she heard the soft snores drifting across the stillness of the house. The only light in the main floor was from a night light near the bathroom, so she flicked on the living room light before entering the patient's room. She went over to the bed and checked the breathing & pulse. Everything seemed normal.
She left the room and moved into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. She headed back upstairs after turning off the light in the living room and she heard a movement behind her. She whirled around and turned on the stair light. There was nothing there. She went back down the stairs and turned on the living room light again. She moved to the kitchen & turned those lights on. She went through the whole main floor turning on all the lights. There was no one there. She chuckled at her imagination, turned all the lights off and moved herself back upstairs.
Upstairs she went back to her room and picked up her book. As she was getting to the "good part" she thought she heard a footstep on the stairs. The creaking was unmistakable. She looked around the room for some kind, any kind of weapon. There was nothing. She cowered in the bed, but did not hear another sound. Slowly she began to relax.
She continued to read and glanced at the clock. 3 AM the voice came. It was a deep voice calling her name from downstairs. She thought her patient needed her so she ran down the stairs and into the bedroom....the patient was still snoring... she then recalled that her patient couldn't have called her name - she had suffered a stroke and had lost her power of speech. She turned and ran back up the stairs with the sound of deep laughter following her all the way. She flung the door closed and cowered in the corner until morning came. At 6 she forced herself to go downstairs and get her patient up for the day.
When her replacement came - she was out the door and she never went back.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: A voice in the desert - @veronica

Thu, 09 Mar 2023 14:05:28 -0500

Two young men in their 20s, Josh and Dan, went on a camping trip together in a desert in New Mexico. They didn’t take much with them besides sleeping bags, food, and materials for a fire. After they cooked their dinner, they fell asleep as they gazed up into the starry night sky. The beauty and peace of the trip were short-lived, however. In the early, dark hours of the morning, Josh was startled awake by what sounded like Dan’s voice, but frantic.
The voice said, “Come here, quick! Look!” Sleepy and confused, Josh got up to see what his friend was talking about. He heard again, “Come here, quick! Look!” It sounded unnatural; a perfect repetition. Josh took a few steps forward, and then someone grabbed him from behind. He turned around to see Dan with his finger in front of his mouth, warning Josh to keep quiet. They rolled up their sleeping bags and left. They still don’t know who—or what—was trying to lure Josh away into the desert.

https://www.rd.com/list/scary-halloween-true-events/

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Fictional Scary Instead of Reality Scary - @veronica

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 08:59:06 -0400

Let's talk fictional horror to try and get away from the real horror that is sweeping our country and the world. If only for a little while.
Has anyone read this novel? I have multiple times. It is my July King read every year. The paperback is a little ragged, but is still together.
" After a construction accident in which he loses his right arm and his divorce, Edgar Freemantle moves from Minnesota to Florida to begin what his psychiatrist described as a "geographic cure." He rediscovers his love of painting and finds that he is good at it but his paintings seem to have something "more" to them. On Duma Key he also finds a new friendship with Wireman, a kindred spirit seeking refuge there as a caretaker for Elizabeth Eastlake. Elizabeth's past also contains painful memories that have been reawakened bringing all of them together to face an evil entity named Perse. "
https://stephenking.com/works/novel/duma-key.html#:~:text=After%20a%20construction%20accident%20in,something%20%22more%22%20to%20them .

Of course after the move it gets King crazy. And a little sad.
Please discuss this or any other horror NOVEL. Let's get out of heads and into the head of Stephen King and other horror writers, if only for the briefest of moments.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Oh the HORROR!!! - @veronica

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 15:32:41 -0400

I have had my fill today of total shit storms brought on by narrow minded bigots (the ones that make horror a reality).
SO I decided to write something fun.
Most people that know me here know that I love the paranormal, cryptids and generally anything scary. I love horror films (not gory, but scary ones), love ghost stories, love creature features. I love jump scares....
Throughout the year I have certain times that I watch or certain movies & read certain books. I am only going to mention the horror side of it in this article (I do a Mother's Day movie marathon, but they are not horror movies - well, my husband says they are).
In April I watch movies with Tim Curry (his birth month). Movies like the mini series IT, Legend, Congo.   I also watch Clue (not a horror film, but HILARIOUS).

On July 4th - it is Jaws because as the mayor says "Tomorrow is the 4th of July and those beaches will be open".

Every September (a few months away) I only read books (or short stories, serials) written by Stephen King (his bday is 9/21). I also watch movies adapted from his writings.

AND of course Halloween on Samhain. The original one, not the sequels, not the remakes - the 1978 version. Which has no blood in it, but is spooky as hell. For the rest of October I watch a lot of the Hammer films on TCM.

In December I read A Christmas Carol and watch as many versions on film as I can. My son buys me at least one new one every year - I have an awesome collection.

Twice a year my sister and I have a horror movie weekend where we seclude ourselves with a whole bunch of horror films. We sometimes go with series, such as one weekend it might be Conjuring connected movies ( The Conjuring series, The Nun , the Anabelle series) or it might be The Predator series. We have done Dracula weekends (so many of those out there). We have done Wolf-Man weekends. We have also have had weekends with just a hodgepodge of horror films (no theme).  This past April our weekend included The Shining and then Doctor Sleep. We do a lot of drinking and snacking on these weekends.
So lets here if for some horror. What is your favorite horror movie? What is your favorite horror book?
My favs:
Movie - the original Halloween - reason: it scared the crap out of me with little to no blood
Novel - Ghost Story by Peter Straub - reason: The hair still raises on my neck when I hear the description of the nightmare they all have.
Come on - join the dark side....

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Bigfoot, Yowie, Yeti???!!!! - @veronica

Mon, 16 May 2022 14:43:37 -0400

This week I am talking the bipedal cryptids called Bigfoot, Yowie, Yeti, Skunk Ape, and so many more.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/yowie
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sasquatch
These are 2 articles on 2 of the "creatures".
There have been Sasquatch sighting across North America from sea to shining sea. These animals may have different names and vary slightly, but for the most part fall under the heading "Bigfoot". There is the Skunk Ape of Florida, the Fouke Monster of Arkansas, the Grassman of Ohio, and the Mogollon of Arizona to name a few.
Across the world there are many of these animals. We have the orang pendek in the mountains of Sumatra, the Yowie in Australia and the Yeren in China.
https://freerangeamerican.us/lesser-known-bigfoot-legends/
I believe there is so much out there that we have not discovered yet, so I like to believe that these creatures are alive and out there.
Just some fun....

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Satan - @veronica

Wed, 11 May 2022 10:58:59 -0400

Found this to be hilarious for some reason.
So a discussion on who or what you think Satan is.

For me there is no designated entity as Satan. I know there is evil in the world, but I believe that evil is strictly committed by mankind. Humans do not need an evil entity to lead them astray - we are all capable of evil and we are all capable of good. What we choose makes us the people we are.
Just my take on Satan and evil.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Haunted Places - @veronica

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 14:48:26 -0400

The paranormal has always intrigued me. When I was a child my family found it odd when I would carry on conversations with things they could not see in a language they could not understand. As I got older I learned to hide that side of me, but the mysterious places have always had a hold on me.
Over the years I have managed to visit a few of these places on my bucket list, Waverly Hills in Kentucky, Hinsdale House in NY and Salem MA. I was supposed to head to NO in 2020, but fucking COVID...
What I am proposing is for everyone to add a mysterious place that they want to visit. Submit a pic, a little history and why they want to visit.
Just a little something to get away from all the crap floating around....
Here is one place that has been on my bucket list for decades:
https://www.myrtlesplantation.com/
The Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, LA.

I saw this on a haunted places program when I was a teen. The thing that caught my attention and has stayed with me all these years was a picture that was taken that showed a figure standing between two buildings. The figure appeared to be transparent and the picture taker said no one was standing there when they took the pic. See photo below:

It is now a B&B and one of these days I am going to rent one of the cabins and hopefully enjoy some frights.
A little hisotry:
Whiskey Dave
The drama of The Myrtles Plantation began in 1796 when General David Bradford, also known as "Whiskey Dave" of the Whiskey Rebellion, fled the United States to avoid arrest and imprisonment. Bradford arrived at Bayou Sara, then a Spanish Colony, and obtained a land grant of 650 acres from the Baron de Corondelet to begin a new life. In 1820 The Myrtles was sold to his son-in-law, Judge Clarke Woodruff, who remodeled the mansion.
https://www.myrtlesplantation.com/history-and-hauntings/history-of-myrtles-plantation

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Creepy Pic 02/21/2022 - @veronica

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 10:39:32 -0500

By: Beth Braden

It wasn’t a little girl

I was camping with my husband and his family at a small, remote lake in New Mexico. There were about 10 people in our group and another group of six people in the next campsite. It was nighttime and both groups were doing typical activities: making s’mores, having a few drinks and telling stories, when we all heard what sounded like a little girl yelling out for help. Neither group had children with them, but we were all positive we were hearing a little girl and decided to search the area we heard the noises from together.

There was a field behind our campsites, and we all saw a very tall, pure white figure standing maybe 100ft away from us in the field, making the noises. We all agreed this thing looked maybe 6 feet tall, skinny, and white as can be. We made our way closer to investigate, but whatever it was that we saw started backing off as we got closer, and it disappeared into the trees. All night we continued to hear a little girl calling for help as we tried to sleep.

https://www.travelchannel.com/interests/haunted/articles/11-of-the-scariest-ghost-stories-from-reddit

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Creepy Pic 2/14/22 - @veronica

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 13:07:44 -0500

The young boy hid his face in his pillow. He just knew something was there. He could still hear his parents talking downstairs, so it wasn't them. He slowly turned his head and opened his eyes. Nothing there. His room was lit only by his nightlight. His saving grace that his father wanted to take away. He felt safe knowing the light was there, but he still felt a menacing presence further back in the room. Back where it was dark. Near his dresser in the corner. He felt it there. He closed his eyes tight and mumbled the prayer his mother taught him. The presence remained. Hiding in the dark, across his room. He felt waves & waves of hatred flow towards him. He knew it was there, but as long as his nightlight kept it at bay he could sleep. He caught a glimpse of movement in the dark - like a dark shadow darting across the room. He threw his covers over his head as his saving grace went dark... all light was gone. He was in the pitch black. He told himself to be brave that there was nothing to be afraid offf & peeked out from under his blankets.... AND HE SAW....

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: 2/1/2022 Creepy Picture Of The Week - @veronica

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 16:24:24 -0500

Who or What are these figures waiting at the bottom of the stairs? They are waiting in the basement for you.... tell me your scary thoughts on what they are......

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: 1/24/2022 - Weekly Creepy Picture - @veronica

Mon, 24 Jan 2022 09:46:17 -0500

A little boy runs into the living room where his dad is watching a football game. "Hey Dad, you want to play hide & seek?" The boy looked at his dad with such hope in his eyes. His dad replied "Not right now, Bill. I want to watch the end of the game." The boy turned away, a little dejected and said "That's ok. Tommy will play with me." His father said, "ummm OK.... wait. Who's Tommy?" "There he is behind you." The father turned and looked over his shoulder over the back of the couch and saw what you see above.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: 1/18/2022 Picture Story Time - @veronica

Tue, 18 Jan 2022 10:43:10 -0500

My sister and I were strolling through the woods one summer evening. We were listening to the night noises amping up. Crickets chirping, frogs burping....all sorts of stuff THEN silence. We stopped in our tracks and spun around to look in all directions. Still silence. Then we heard a twig crack. My sister whispers "Just a deer". I agreed as we started walking faster. More cracking behind us. My sister sped up and leaves me behind. I heard a cackle and I whip around and saw THAT............ EEEEK!!! It screams at me and I turn and start running, passing my sister.... She starts after me shouting "what is it. what did you see????" I didn't bother answering because I felt it would slow me down.....I didn't stop to catch my breath until I was seated on my couch with a Jack and Coke in my hand.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: 1/3/2022 Weekly Picture - @veronica

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 12:48:07 -0500

The whole town heard the screams every night. They would emanate from the house on the hill. The house no one lived in, the house no one visited, but every night the screams would come at midnight. The words were clear. "LET ME OUT!!!!!"
The police went up there numerous times, but always came back saying they found nothing. However, one deputy snapped a pics on his cell to prove to his boss they actually went inside. When he took the picture it was merely a dark hall. When he showed his boss - well, you can see what he captured above.

"LET ME OUT!!!!!!"

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: New Year Coming - Let's Build Some Stories - @veronica

Wed, 29 Dec 2021 10:40:26 -0500

I am going to post a picture and I would like everyone to tell a story about the picture. Let's start the New Year with something fun instead of all the same shit different day crap.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Shadows In The Hall - @veronica

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 10:32:14 -0400

A story from Eve S. Evans’ collection The Ghosts Among Us. Published May 8th 2021. Kindle version via Amazon.

“Shadows In The Hall”

None of us can remember exactly when it all started. By the time that we finally acknowledged there were things happening in the house, we had been seeing the shadow figures for months. They started it all, and once it started, it never stopped.

At first, we thought our eyes were just playing tricks on us, but then we started paying attention. The way our house was designed, you could see the hallway past the kitchen while you sat in the living room. You could also see the shadows as they ran across the hall and up the stairs. The short gray one was always first, just a blur caught out of the corner of your eye as you sat on the couch. Then, once it was sure you were watching, the tall black one would run by. We would sit there in silence, my family and I, staring out into the empty hallway, before turning our attention back to the television, not saying a word about what we had seen. It would happen every night.

For a while, it was just the shadows, and they weren’t hurting anyone, so we tried to ignore them. But then things changed. My grandpa got sick and had to move in with us so that we could take care of him. With there only being so much space in our house, my dad turned our den into a bedroom for my two sisters and me to share. We absolutely hated it in there because things would happen at night.

It started with our cat, Poncho. In the middle of the night, when we were all asleep, he would jolt awake, ears tucked back against his head and eyes wide, panicked. He would hiss and meow at nothing; out into the open space beyond the foot of our bed, at the corner of the room, looking up at the ceiling. Occasionally, he would just take off running, the fur along his spine standing up, and start scratching at the door to be let out. He didn’t want to be trapped in our room any longer.

My sisters and I knew that there was something else in the room with us that we couldn’t see. We would lie there in bed huddled next to each other, sleeping with the covers pulled up over our heads. None of us wanted to see what was out there in the dark. But even that didn’t keep us safe. Instead of seeing it, we felt it. The three of us, Poncho included, would wake up simultaneously and look at the foot of the bed, where something had just tugged on our covers.

As time went on, other things started to happen around the house, and not just at night. One day, in the middle of the afternoon, the water started running in the bathroom upstairs. We were all sitting in the living room and stopped what we were doing to look up, listening to the water creaking and groaning as it ran through the pipes. It wasn’t just a drip, either; it sounded like someone was running a bath. My dad got up from his chair and walked up the stairs slowly, the four of us trailing some distance behind him. Of course, there was no one in the bathroom, so he turned off the water and walked back down the stairs, looking a little pale as he shook his head.

Things started to go missing around the house as well. Small items, like accessories, jewelry, even clothing items, would all disappear from where we left them. The three of us girls would accuse the others of taking or hiding our things, only for the missing object to turn up in the exact spot it was last seen a few days later. Our parents started to think we were sneaking out of bed at night, considering all of the strange things going on in our house. They even got a baby monitor to hide in our room, trying to catch us in the act, but we weren’t the culprits. We knew that they wanted to find a reasonable explanation for the things that were happening, but even though they would make us stand in the corner for half an hour every morning, none of us could confess. Of course, that routine only carried on until the baby monitor itself went missing and never returned.

Recently, I talked to my dad about all of this. I suppose since my sisters and I are adults now, he figured there was no use ignoring or downplaying what happened any longer. He told me that he and my stepmom had known the whole time that something wasn’t right with the house. They tried to shield us from their own fears and concerns since we were just kids when everything was happening, but they had their fair share of paranormal experiences as well.

My dad told me the story of how, one night, he woke up at around 3:00 AM, listening to the baby monitor as it relayed the sound of static into the room. He was just lying there, lost in his own drowsy thoughts and string at the ceiling when a voice came across the airwaves. “Mind your own business!” it hissed. A chill ran through my dad, and he jumped out of bed. Hurrying to our room to check on us, he walked in to find it empty. He looked everywhere, eyes scanning in the dark, but he couldn’t locate the source of the voice or the baby monitor.

That wasn’t the only experience he had, either. On multiple occasions, he would hear something cry out my stepmom’s name in the middle of the night. The first few times, he would get out of bed and walk down the hall, checking each room to try and find someone, or something, that could have called out, but he never found anything. He tried to ignore the calls after that, staying in bed and focusing on slowing down his heartbeat that was thundering away in his chest.

The incident that scared him the most, he told me, was the night that he heard a voice cry for help. Though it wasn’t the loudness of the cry or the terror in the voice that made his hair stand on end, it was the fact that the voice sounded just like mine. He threw back the covers, every nerve in his body on high alert, and ran to our room. When he threw open the door, the three of us were sound asleep, cuddled next to each other in bed. He was in disbelief. Shocked and confused, he walked back to bed and went to sleep. The very next morning, he announced at the breakfast table that we would be moving. He and our stepmom started looking for houses an hour after that.

Weird things happened in that house, sure, but it wasn’t the house’s fault. It wasn’t anything attached to the land that the house was built upon or energetic remains from some horrible past owners and their paranormal proclivities; that I know for a fact. And the reason I know that is because the same things continued to happen to us in all three houses that we lived in after that.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Just a discussion - @veronica

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 10:37:10 -0400

So, I was watching a show on hauntings (quelle surprise). Of course demons were brought into it. It seems all hauntings are demons. Since I do not believe in demons these shows really get on my nerves. Mainly because they usually happen to these ultra religious families that put all their eggs in the god basket. I keep thinking to myself "if your god loves you so much why is he allowing this to happen? If he is all powerful why not stop it before you (his beloved) gets hurt or scared. As a loving p[arent I would do anything to protect my children & if it were in my power I would smite...
Anyways in this one episode the woman is talking about how she began praying as a child because no one loved her except for god & then you find out her father had been molesting & raping her. If god loved her & she prayed that hard WHY allow this to go on? I see no purpose. It is cruel & uncalled for. If a loving father (god) had the power to stop it he should have.
So years later somehow the demon that forced her father to molest & rape her has followed & is now tormenting her children. She prays.... HELL - it didn't work for you what makes you think it will work for them? I mean come on - the definition of insanity?
I do believe in evil and that there are more than just humans that dwell in the realms we exist in & other realms we can encounter - but a demon that can be smited by an all powerful god - eh, not buying it.
Veronica has returned

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: The Face in the Window - @veronica

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 13:55:13 -0400

While we were on our last adventure my sister reminded me of an old tale. It was in the house I grew up in from the age of 3 to my wedding day (20).

There were six of us kids, plus mom & dad. 5 bedrooms upstairs. My 2 oldest brothers each had their own - 2 other brothers shared and my sister and I shared. The front of the house had a porch & 3 of the bedrooms looked out over the roof of the porch.
One night my parents had their bowling league and my oldest brother was supposed to be watching us (in truth he and my next oldest brother were in the second's room smoking pot). My two other brothers and I were watching TV downstairs. My sister was in our room brushing her hair at her mirrored dressing table. It was right across from the window. Movement at the window caught her eye & what she saw reflected in the mirror brought a shriek to her lips.

That was looking in the window at her. It had a light illuminating it - and then she said it was gone.
Now keep in mind our house was located in a very rural area, about a mile from our nearest neighbor. No street lights so when it is dark - it is DARK.
She came screaming downstairs looking for my older brothers who were conspicuously absent. The four of us younger siblings carefully climbed the stairs,then we heard it... the laughter. She went from scared to angry in a split second. She stormed into my second oldest brother's room and demanded an explanation. They didn't offer one & so she said she was going to squeal on them about the pot. Boy they became conciliatory in a hurry. I don't know what bargain they came to, and she doesn't remember now, but it had to be something good.
Just a little funny scare!!

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Haunted Forest - @veronica

Thu, 29 Jul 2021 13:23:37 -0400

I wouldn't mind taking a peek at this place.

Usual rules of the group apply...

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Shadow People - @veronica

Tue, 27 Jul 2021 14:48:40 -0400

The thought of shadow people is creepy. My sister saw one at Waverly Hills. I have not had the good luck (some would call it bad luck).

RULES:
No politics
No judgments (no calling someone's story hogwash)
If you don't believe - don't join
All in the name of fun

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: A Call in the Night - @veronica

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 10:55:21 -0400

In 2002 my mother in law suffered a stroke (she passed away in 2018). We never had a very close relationship, but there was mutual respect. The summer following her stroke I went to stay with her during the week, since my job was off for the summer (and my brother-in-law & his wife, who were also off for the summer, camped the months of July and August - but that is a whole other issue & story).
Her house was creepy to put it mildly. No air conditioning and of course it was July so very very hot. I was "sleeping" upstairs while her bed was downstairs in the spare room. I had all the windows upstairs open to try to catch a cross breeze. I would drag the phone upstairs so I could talk to my kids, hubby and best friend after I got her settled. I had a TV, VCR and movies to keep me company, but I did a lot of reading. I walked to library every other day while she was at her day "camp". But no matter what I was doing I always felt as if someone was watching me. It always felt heavy in that house.
One day when I was approaching the house after a trip to the library and I swear I saw someone moving in an upstairs window. I always locked up the house and made sure all the windows were closed and locked because the neighborhood was a little sketchy. I unlocked the door to the porch and grabbed ther baseball bat I kept there. I unlocked the house door and crept inside (although as old as the house was it creaked and groaned with each step). I went through all the rooms downstairs and made my way to the stairs. I was avoiding looking in the basement cuz it was yucky down there. I did check to make sure the bar I had across the basement door was in place & it was.
I slowly climbed the stair to the top floor. I checked the trap door to the attic space & it was closed. It was too high to reach without a ladder and there was nothing under it. I quickly went through the two bedrooms & there was no one there. I shook my head and went back downstairs to make some lunch and read on the front porch. As I was making my sandwich I hear creaks above my head as if someone was walking around upstairs. I ran back upstairs with my bat and again - no one.
I called my hubby at work and asked him to stop by on his way home. He was happy to do it & said he would pick up a pizza for dinner. My MIL got home about 3:30 in the afternoon. She showed the crafts they did as I made her coffee and put together a fruit plate for her. Again the footsteps upstairs. I glanced at my MIL as she had stopped talking and appeared to be listening. I asked if something was wrong and she shook her head and started drinking her coffee and spooning fruit into her mouth.
By the time my hubby arrived with pizza in hand I had heard numerous bangs and bumps from upstairs. I told him what I was hearing and to humor me he went through the house - top to bottom. There was nothing to see. He said it could be mice & I said they must be wearing work boots. He laughed and helped me get his mother to bed.
9 PM - still light outside, but I had to go upstairs to relax since my MIL couldn't sleep unless she knew all the doors and windows were locked. I was watching a movie and trying to relax. A nice breeze went through the house. I began to doze when I heard my name being called... Of course I thought it was my MIL. So I headed downstairs & when I reached her room I could hear her snoring. I looked in on her closely & she was definitely asleep. I never knew her to talk in her sleep so I was perplexed, then I heard my name called again - this time from the kitchen. I slowly turned, grabbed a cane from next to the door and walked to the kitchen & flipped on the lights. Nothing. I then heard it from the upstairs. I know I had turned the TV off. Then I thought maybe someone is calling from outside to spook me - I went out onto the porch - no one out front. Went to the back door - no one out back. When I came back inside I heard laughter from upstairs. Deep, guttural laughter.
I slept in the recliner in the living room from then on & blocked the door to the upstairs. My sister-in-law spent the weekends taking care of her mother so when she arrived that Friday I was more than ready to go home. She looked at the blocked upstairs door and said, "You too? I never sleep when I am here." Neither my hubby or their other brother ever hear anything when they stayed there. As frightened as I was I was back down there on Monday morning to relieve my 2nd BIL (not the one that camped all summer). As I said I did not sleep upstairs again, in fact I rarely slept at all.
The good thing that came out of that whole summer was my MIL and I grew closer.
RULES:
No politics
No judgments (no calling someone's story hogwash)
If you don't believe - don't join
All in the name of fun

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: The House Down the Road - @veronica

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 11:50:59 -0400

I grew up in the rural area of the Southern Tier of NYS. We lived in the boonies, on a hill with neighbors a good ways away. Our property was surrounded with farm land - growing potatoes and corn, mostly. We used to play hide & go seek in the corn field across from out house. Spooky at night.
About a mile up the road from our house was an abandoned farm house. Our parents always told us NOT to go in there, because it was falling down, so of course we went in there. Two of my four brothers used to dare me to go in, so trembling I went in. It was dark in the bright summer sun filled day, but light enough to see. My brothers leaned in the doorway and told me to go to the kitchen because they did before. The floors were rotted so I had to be careful where I put my feet. I was in the main room and looked around and saw two doorways. One led to a massive farm kitchen. The old style stove was still there (the kind you would put wood in to cook). No fridge or icebox, but the sink was a massive old farm sink. Deep & there were plates sitting in it. I saw rodent droppings on the counters and I shuddered. It was cold in there even though the outdoor temp was at least 85. I looked out the window over the sink to see the farm fields at the back of the house. The corn waving in the breeze.
I moved from the kitchen into a little "mud room" that led to the back porch. More rodent droppings and a snake slithered past. ~Shiver~ I went back through the kitchen and my brothers were still in the doorway. They said "go upstairs - we did". Bear in mind that my brothers were 6 and 3 years older than I was, but I refused to be called a chicken. I turned towards the stairs . In the other room (second doorway on the first floor) I thought I saw a shadow move, so I headed over there. I looked in the room and there was nothing in there. I walked in to look out the windows to see if a tree or something caused the shadow, but I don't think so. My brothers called ot me to go upstairs. I turned to head out the door and I heard a thud behind me. I turned quickly, but there was nothing there to cause a thud. I hurried out of the room and headed to the stairs.
I gingerly put my foot onto the bottom stair and made sure it was sound. Then the second. My brothers taunts were ringing in my ears as I climbed slowly. All of a sudden from at the top of the stairs a laugh rang out - one of those maniacal laughs that you hear in horror movies. I froze and I heard my brother ask "what was that?" The laugh came again and I spun around to head down the few stairs I had climbed to see my brothers running up the long driveway away from the house leaving me to fend for myself. I ran. I heard the thud of feet coming down the stairs after me and I ran faster than I have ever run. Out the door and up the driveway I flew. I turned back halfway up the driveway to see if anyone was behind me and I saw the front door slam shut.
I ran all the way home and went straight to my room to write the incident down in my "story" book. A chronicle of experiences that I have had. My brothers were so scared I was going to squeal on them. I didn't and after a couple of days of them laying low things returned to normal. I never went back to the house, but whenever I would pass by in a car or on the bus I always look down towards it. And sometimes I would see or think I see a figure in an upper window.
RULES:
No politics
No judgments (no calling someone's story hogwash)
If you don't believe - don't join
All in the name of fun

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Another Quckie - @veronica

Wed, 02 Jun 2021 10:47:43 -0400

1. 'This new old house' by BatoutofHell821

We bought an old house, my boyfriend and I. He's in charge of the "new" construction – converting the kitchen in to the master bedroom for instance, while I'm on wallpaper removal duty. The previous owner papered EVERY wall and CEILING! Removing it is brutal, but oddly satisfying. The best feeling is getting a long peel, similar to your skin when you're peeling from a sunburn. I don't know about you but I kinda make a game of peeling, on the hunt for the longest piece before it rips.Under a corner section of paper in every room is a person’s name and a date. Curiosity got the best of me one night when I Googled one of the names and discovered the person was actually a missing person, the missing date matching the date under the wallpaper! The next day, I made a list of all the names and dates. Sure enough each name was for a missing person with dates to match. We notified the police who naturally sent out the crime scene team. I overhead one tech say "yup, it's human." Human? What's human? "Ma'am, where is the material you removed from the walls already? This isn't wallpaper you were removing."
https://www.scoopwhoop.com/world/short-scary-stories-reddit/

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Pig mask - @veronica

Sun, 16 May 2021 16:46:03 -0400

“Our old house was on a corner, and in lieu of a backyard had a side yard, with a small deck that wrapped around the back. The dining room had patio doors that lead out to the back and we would have BBQs and such back there.
When I was about 14, we only had one desktop computer and one laptop for the family. My brother and I would fight over the desktop (that’s where Diablo 2 was installed!) so I would use the laptop to write music.
On one particular night, my brother had a friend over and they were downstairs doing whatever and I was at the dining room table on the laptop.
As I was wrapped up in my writing, I didn’t pay much attention to my surroundings.
I heard a knock on the patio door, which startled me. I looked up, expecting my brother or his friend (the basement had a door that lead to the back deck as well.)
Standing at the door, and waving was a person (could not tell sex or age) wearing a Halloween pig mask.
Thinking it was my brother or his friend I mouthed “good one” and gave the person the finger and they walked away.
As soon as they left I went downstairs to give them shit, and to my surprise and dismay… They were both sitting on the couch playing PlayStation. They swore up and down it wasn’t either of them, and there was no way one of them would have had time to get downstairs and unmask before getting on the couch.
To this day, I have no idea who it was that knocked and waved.” — shanster925

A group to tell scary stories, display paranormal pics or to relate paranormal experiences with no judgment.
RULES:
No politics
No judgments (no calling someone's story hogwash)
If you don't believe - don't join
All in the name of fun

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Quick Scare - @veronica

Wed, 12 May 2021 11:01:55 -0400

This quick scare was posted on Pinterest by various people.

A group to tell scary stories, display paranormal pics or to relate paranormal experiences with no judgment.
RULES:
No politics
No judgments (no calling someone's story hogwash)
If you don't believe - don't join
All in the name of fun

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: What the Camera Caught - @veronica

Thu, 29 Apr 2021 10:44:04 -0400

DISCLOSURE: PURELY FICTION
2 AM and again my 4 year old daughter, Tonya, barrels into my room. My husband, Ed, groans. I ask her what is wrong. Tonya replies "The man in my room won't let me sleep."
"There is no man in your room," I state.
"There is, there is," she insists.
I sigh and throw my feet over the side of the bed & pad out of the room after her. I get to her doorway and flip on the light. There was nothing out of the ordinary in her room. I look down at her and say, "well, where is he?"
She points to the corner near her closet, "He is right there". I look again and there is nothing there.
I take her by the hand and lead her to her bed. "Tonya, there is nothing in here that will hurt you."
But, Mommy - he scares me on purpose."
"Honey, there is no one here, but you and me." I tuck her back into bed & I see tears sliding down her cheeks as she stares at the corner of her room. I feel a wave of love fill my heart as I take her by the hand and lead her to the guest room where we spent a restful five hours of sleep.
The next morning Ed says, "We have to do something about her nightly visits."
"What would you like me to do?" I snapped.
He looks at me and says, "Nothing. I am going to put up a couple of cameras so we can show her there is nothing to be afraid of."
I looked at him skeptically. "Do you honestly think she will believe a video?"
"Yes, yes I do - she has my skeptical and scientific mind. We need hard facts. AND that is what I am going to show her."
Ed spent the rest of the morning installing a camera in her room and one pointing at her doorway. He explained the process to Tonya every step of the way and I have to admit she seemed to be relaxing a bit. He told her that the cameras were motion detectors and would only turn on when they sensed movement and that he would set them every night.
The first night passed with no issues at all. Tonya and I both slept through the night. I thought to myself - this may work. A week went by and things were completely settled down and life seemed normal.
Ed and I thought that the cameras had done the trick, until the night of her 5th birthday. At 2 AM she came screaming into our room and through her sobbing I heard her say, "He said he was going to eat me now that I am 5."
I stroked her hair and held her close. Ed said - lets go look at the cameras. So he pulled up his phone app and as he watched the pictures the color drained from his face. I asked him what was wrong and he simply handed me the phone & took Tonya into his arms whispering "I'm so sorry" into her hair.
I looked at the phone....icicles went through me... there it was... a face in the doorway of my baby's room...

A group to tell scary stories, display paranormal pics or to relate paranormal experiences with no judgment.
RULES:
No politics
No judgments (no calling someone's story hogwash)
If you don't believe - don't join
All in the name of fun

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Over My Shoulder - @veronica

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 11:07:20 -0400

The water of the shower was hot, just the way she liked it. It sluiced down her body and she began to relax as the demons of the day melted away. She soaped her body and stepped back under the spray. As she washed the soap from her body she thought she heard something move outside the shower curtain. She peeked out and saw nothing. She went back to her rinsing. She shampooed her hair and was applying the conditioner when she heard a slight shuffling once again outside the curtain. A shadow passed by the curtain and she squeaked and pressed herself to the wall of the shower. Her breathing became labored as fear swept through her body. She waited. No more sounds or shadows. She rinsed her hair, turned off the water and weakly reached outside the curtain to grab her towel from the rod. She wrapped it around herself and ripped open the shower curtain. The bathroom was empty.
She laughed to herself - how silly she was. She stepped onto the bath mat and took another towel to wrap her hair. Then she dried herself and put on her robe. The mirror was fogged over from the heat of the shower and she wiped it clear. She took the hair towel and began rubbing her hair dry. She bent over and threw her hair over to dry the underneath. As she straightened and looked in the mirror it was there. Looking over her shoulder - something that was not behind her in the room, but behind her in the mirror.....a face - a mean looking scowl - it was there, but not there... She screamed and crumpled to the floor in a faint.

A group to tell scary stories, display paranormal pics or to relate paranormal experiences with no judgment.
RULES:
No politics
No judgments (no calling someone's story hogwash)
If you don't believe - don't join
All in the name of fun

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: The Ghost of La Parva Ski Resort - @veronica

Thu, 22 Apr 2021 13:57:00 -0400

Storyteller: Drew Tabke, professional skier

Throughout Latin America, you’ll hear variations of the story of La Llorona, or the wailing woman. Sometimes she’s lost her husband. Sometimes she’s lost her children. Sometimes it’s both. But in La Parva, a ski spot in the Chilean Andes, the wailing woman is named Lola, and everyone in the area swears they knew her before she died. “A local restaurant owner said he dated her,” pro skier Drew Tabke says, adding that the ski patroller he heard the story from pointed at the exact hut where this tale takes place.
The story starts on a nice day in peak ski season. Lola and her young son planned to spend the day on the slopes. “As can happen in the Andes, a thick fog rose up from the valley, which often precedes the arrival of a real storm. The clouds enveloped the two as they were making their way down from the top of the mountain, and they lost contact with one another,” Tabke says.
Desperate to find her son, Lola began screaming his name as she ran through the thick fog. Unable to see clearly, though, she stumbled down a steep slope and began sliding toward a rocky couloir.
“By chance, a local lift operator who was returning to his cabin came across her body. He was afraid she was dead, but on closer inspection, he found she was still alive, just barely,” Tabke says. Her body was covered in lacerations from sharp rocks, and the only word she said—in the faintest whisper—was her son’s name.
The lift operator worked to carefully pull her body to his cabin, which was just up the hill. He bandaged her cuts as best he could and then ran to fetch the doctor. Together the doctor and lift operator made their way back to his hut, the fog hanging thickly in the air. When they arrived, though, the bed was empty. Just the bloody sheets remained.
“Neither the woman nor her son were ever found,” Tabke says. But locals report hearing her wail for her child whenever they’re near that lift operator’s cabin.
And here’s the thing: Tabke does not believe in ghosts. Something, however, changes when he arrives in Chile each winter. Maybe it’s the fact that, from La Parva, you can see up to Cerro el Plomo , an Incan child-sacrifice site. Maybe it’s because Tabke has simply read so many magical realism books by authors like Juan Rulfo and Gabriel García Márquez. But sitting alone in his cabin in the Andes, with the wind whipping and the candles flickering, he swears that every now and then he just can’t tell if what he’s hearing is a woman or the wind.

A group to tell scary stories, display paranormal pics or to relate paranormal experiences with no judgment.
RULES:
No politics
No judgments (no calling someone's story hogwash)
If you don't believe - don't join
All in the name of fun

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Was It People or Was It Aliens? - @veronica

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 11:31:17 -0400

Storyteller: Doug Averill, retired owner and manager of the Flathead Lake Lodge

Doug Averill grew up as one of eight boys on his parents’ sprawling dude ranch, the Flathead Lake Lodge, in rural Montana. As a teen, the Averill boys ran wild. “We rode around as a little gang of cowboys,” he remembers. They’d saddle up and head off to check cattle on the three giant tracts of land the family managed, which formed a triangle around some of the state’s most remote rangelands.
One summer in the 1960s, the brothers came across a ghastly sight. There, on the ground, were three dead cows neatly arranged in a circle. No obvious wounds were visible, but their reproductive organs had been removed. “But there was never any blood. It was almost surgical removal,” Averill remembers.
During this decade, America was obsessed with aliens, and write-ups in the local newspapers posited that perhaps this was the work of extraterrestrials. People mused that aliens had taken the reproductive organs for testing. But one day, Averill and his friends came across a lance in their path. Attached to it was a cryptic note with a threatening message. “That’s when we thought, It’s gotta be people doing this,” he says.
Then things got really strange. Over the next few days, a series of odd events unfolded. First, the brothers stopped in at a local bar to grab a hamburger, leaving their horses in the back of a stock truck. The horses were packed in tightly, and the Averills were only gone for a few minutes. When they came back, the horse packed into the middle of the truck was mysteriously out—with no signs of a struggle. “We had no idea how they possibly could have gotten that horse unloaded without unloading all the others,” he says.
The next day, a new wrangler on the ranch fell off his horse and was badly injured. They’d all been riding together, but not a single other member of the crew saw the accident. “It was the weirdest thing,” Averill says. The man’s injuries were so severe that he was left permanently disabled.
Finally, the last terrible thing happened. An old camp cook drove out to meet the brothers and ride for a day. But when he arrived, the tailgate on his stock truck had somehow gone missing, even though it had been there when he’d loaded up. His horse, Betsy, had fallen out of the truck and been dragged behind the vehicle for who knows how long. They had to put her down on the spot. “To be honest, it just killed him to see what had happened to Betsy. We probably should have put him down, too,” remembers Averill. “Those three events were just boom, boom, boom—three things in a row that were so weird all tied together, because they were right after we saw that spear,” he remembers. Three things: like the three dead cows left in a circle.
Averill used to tell the stories from that summer around the campfire quite a lot. But over the years, he’s gotten new stories, and so they’ve been shifted out of rotation. Besides, they’re awfully grim. But he recently got a call about a downed bull, a buffalo. It was out in one of the most remote parts of his ranch. “A neighbor had seen a pack of 16 wolves, and normally, wolves don’t bother buffalo, but 16 of them? I thought, Well, maybe.”
He went to investigate. There, lying in a snow-covered field, was the bull. But there were no bullet holes or teeth marks or gashes on its corpse. Even stranger, scavenging animals and birds hadn’t touched it. “Not even the buzzards, which is really unusual,” he says. One other thing was amiss: its reproductive organs were gone. And there wasn’t a single footprint in the snow around it—or anywhere along the mile-long walk into the ranch from the nearest road.
Ask Averill whether he thinks he’s dealing with aliens or humans, and he’ll tell you he’s pretty sure it’s humans. “But I’d rather it was aliens,” he adds. After that summer back in the sixties, seeing what humans were capable of, he’d pick aliens any day.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: The Ghost of Oxford Milford Road - @veronica

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 13:53:09 -0400

The storyteller: Writer and editor Brad Culp

When Brad Culp was a student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, there was a rumor that the town was one of the most haunted places in America. When Culp started an on-campus magazine, he couldn’t wait to write about several of the area’s most famous phantoms. Not long after his story published, though, he kept finding himself thinking about one ghost in particular—the ghost of Oxford Milford Road.
As the story goes, many decades ago, probably sometime in the 1940s, there was a young man courting a young woman in a rural part of town. Because the woman’s parents didn’t approve of the match, each night he visited under the cover of darkness. After her parents went to bed, the young woman would sneak out of her farmhouse and flash the lights of her parent’s car three times. Then her young suitor would ride his motorcycle down the road.
“One night he took the turn right before her house a little too sharp,” says Culp. The motorcycle went one way, he went the other. His injuries were so severe that he did not survive. Rumor has it, however, that his lovestruck ghost still haunts this stretch of Milford Road.
Curious, Culp, his girlfriend (now his wife), and a friend decided to head out there one night to see if they could verify the tale. His girlfriend was worried she’d be completely freaked out. “She believes more in that stuff than I do,” Culp says. But he was mostly concerned that his suspicions—that none of this was actually true—would be confirmed. On this particular night, as Culp passed the abandoned farm, an idea came to him, and he pitched it to his girlfriend (how could she not say yes?). Though reluctant, she relented, and Culp turned a short way into the farmhouse driveway.
He killed the engine and flashed his lights three times. “No joke, there was a single headlight that appeared three-quarters of a mile down the road,” Culp says. “You saw it start to come, going pretty slow. It kept coming and coming. My wife was freaking out. It was coming closer and closer.” As a collision seemed imminent, Culp turned on his car’s lights. He expected to see a kid on a bike, bailing out from his prank now that he’d been caught. “But there’s nothing there. The light is just gone,” he says.
They got out of the car. They walked around, trying to figure out what it was they could have seen. “To this day, we still talk about it. I saw something I cannot explain,” he says. If you get him and his wife around a campfire, they’ll swear up and down that the story is true. And if you’re ever in Oxford, Ohio, consider parking for just a few minutes on Oxford Milford Road at night to test your own nerve.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: A Fever Hallucination or Real Ghosts? - @veronica

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 15:02:19 -0400

The little girl lay on the couch in the TV room. Her mother swabbed her forehead with a damp cloth. The fever had not broken in a couple of days and mom was at her wits end. No money to go to the doctor or get meds. St. Joseph aspirin remained the treatment. Her mother leaves the room to get more cool water and the things were back. Crouching in the corner. They were wearing cloaks - different colors. When she first saw them she thought her brothers had put blankets over their heads & were trying to scare her, but when she pointed to them her mother told her "nothing is there, sweetheart. It is just the fever playing tricks."
The beings stood up & started to approach the couch. She screamed. Her mother rushed in and she frantically pointed to the corner of the room. Her mother saw nothing, but the cloaked figures remained. Again her mother told her it was just the fever. As her mother swabbed her forehead again she drifted off into a fitful sleep. In her dreams she saw the cloaked figures outside hiding behind trees & then running to another tree to hide themselves. Then they were in the house looming over her. She awoke with a start - her mother dozed in the easy chair next to the couch. A cold cup of tea sitting on the table next to her. The little girl felt a little better - sweaty, but better. The fever had broken. No sign of the cloaked beings in the room, so her mother must have been right - all because of the fever. She snuggled down and fell asleep.
In the morning her mother was happy that the little girl was able to keep down some tea and broth. The girl was soon settled into her room upstairs and her mother went about running the household (getting her brothers & sister) ready for school. The girl laid in her bed consuming a mystery novel and hugging her ragged teddy bear. Just as she was getting to the good part, she heard a click - as if a door latch was opening. She looked up from her book to the closet. The door was ajar. Then she saw it open wider and she froze in fear. As the door swung wide open the cloaked beings moved towards her bed. She couldn't scream, her throat closed with fear. The figures kept moving towards her - their arms reaching out...

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Delving Deep - @veronica

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 10:35:48 -0400

When I was very young we moved into the house I grew up in (a different one from the article "Let Us Begin"). It was an old farmhouse sitting on 19 acres with 2 barns and a chicken coop. My sister and I shared a room, but we got new twin beds. Two of my brothers shared a room and the two oldest each had their own room. I hated the closet in our room - it was one of two closets in the whole house.It always freaked me out - as if there was always something peeking out at me. It didn't feel friendly. Of course with brothers thinking that scaring the shit out of me was HILARIOUS I was very skittish.
When I played in my room I always felt as if someone was watching me from that damn closet. Sometimes I would think I heard whispers. I was always too scared to go look, but my sister always checked the closet and under my bed before I went to sleep. She didn't see anything. My parents never believed a word I said, but when I was older they often told stories of how I was always talking to an "imaginary friend".
We used to play Hide and Go Seek upstairs with the lights off (against my mother's rules) when my parents had their weekly bowling night and my oldest brother was in charge. He stayed in his room, listening to music & smoking weed - his door was closed. One night I was the seeker and did my counting downstairs. When I came upstairs I went to the room of my second oldest brother and looked around in there. He had an old bureau for his clothes and I went to check the other side of it. There crouched down in the corner was something. It was not any of my siblings. My mind tried to make sense of what I was seeing & eventually it formed into Jesus. I screamed and ran out of the room. All the lights came on as my sister came out of hiding to find out what happened. I told her & we went back into the room. We walked to the other side of the bureau and she said nothing was there. I went over & looked as all my brothers piled into the room. I told them all what I saw and they all looked at me as if I was crazy. In fact my one brother said I was nuts. My sister smacked him. I ran to my room and went under the covers & cried. None of us told my parents. I was told later in life when I would relate that story and other things that happened in that house that "the devil" wears many clothes.
In the basement of that house (horrid place) was the furnace and a root cellar. I hated going down there to get jars of food or the root vegis we stored down there, not just because of the spiders. As I descended the stairs I began hearing scuffling (my parents said mice - I always thought "BIG MICE). It would start behind the furnace and move towards the root cellar as I made it to the bottom of the steps. Of course there was nothing to see when I got to the door. I would prop open the door, but 9 times out of 10 t would slam shut with me inside. The worst of the worse was when the lightbulbs blew. It was pitch black down there. At those times every sound was amplified. There was also a crawl space near the furnace that allowed access to the pipes. I never went over there. I just knew that is where the scuffler came from.
As I got older I heard the noises less - I think I became immune to them. I guess being told that if you hear or see things others cannot means you are nuts has a way of making you not hear or see them. It makes me sad to think that I may have missed an important conversation.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Was It a Sign? - @veronica

Fri, 02 Apr 2021 10:28:59 -0400

So, I spoke of how out all of the animals I have had that have passed on, only one has not "visited" me after death and that was Darkness who passed 2 years ago. His death broke my heart and I felt such guilt - he was only 7. I still feel the guilt and wish I had stayed home that day. I think to myself maybe he stayed away because I did. This has been in my head for 2 years.
Most of you know that I am a practicing witch. I look for signs, cast spells and chant mantras. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. So the sign I saw (maybe it was - maybe it wasn't) came to me on FB. Now the past few weeks I have been very weepy over my lost Darkness. I am not sure why now, but I do know my heart is aching even more than usual.
One night I dreamed that the reason Darkness has not come to me is that the pet that usually ushers my passed babies to Summerland would be my familiar, Mutt. Mutt is a dog and Darkness was intensely afraid of dogs (even barking from outside sent him into hiding). So instead of going with Mutt, Darkness ran into the black abyss and is lost there. I know I should have told Mutt to bring our cat Nike with him to help with the cross over, but I did not (more guilt).
I awoke & knew I had to find a way to get Darkness out of the black abyss and into Summerland. I did not know how to do this, so I scoured the Wiccan pages for help. I did not find any until I found a post on my FB with a quote from The Raven - EA Poe

Here I opened wide the door; Darkness there, and nothing more.

I thought to myself "by the Goddess Morrigan there it is..."
That night I went to my alter - lit my candles - praised the Goddess Morrigan and chanted the Poe mantra three times. Nothing.
I did the same the next night. Nothing.
I did it again last night - while I slept I felt the touch of soft fur on my skin. Thinking it was Ghost or Onyx I reached down to pet them - neither was there. I thought to myself "Darkness there, and nothing more". I fell asleep quite easily after that and awoke this morning feeling lighter. I am hoping that this was the sign that Darkness has made it back from the black abyss.

I do not expect people to believe me, but I also wanted people to see that they are safe to contribute whatever story that they want regarding the paranormal, supernatural, strange encounters or whatever and that I will not judge or ridicule.
Blessed Be!

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: A Spine Tingler - @veronica

Wed, 31 Mar 2021 14:21:03 -0400

This is not my story. It is one I have found to be a little hair raising when you picture the words....

"The Rocking Horse"

One night, when I was maybe 10-12, I had trouble falling asleep. My bedroom was the entire top floor of our house with my bed and such being on the left side and storage closets and a play area being on the right. I was lying in bed when I heard a noise from the other side of the room and see a rocking horse begin to rock. It was sitting just outside one of the storage closet doors. It proceeded to rock its way halfway across the room and stopped dead under the ceiling light. At this point I was freaking out and just buried my head under my blankets and never peeked out again until morning.

It was all confirmed to not be a dream as the rocking horse was still in the middle of my room when I woke up. Furthermore, I got a stern reprimand from my parents for being up out of bed playing with my toys well past my bedtime. Their bedroom was directly below the storage closet/play area and had heard the creaking of the rocking horse shuffling across the room.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ghost-stories_b_8296528

Now just picture that horse & hear the squeak squeak.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: For the Love of Pets - @veronica

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 10:45:36 -0400

I am not sure about the rest of you, but when a pet is brought into my home it becomes part of my family. They are just furry kids. I have a tendency to treat them like babies. And I love them so. I am an empath so I feel the emotions of other people and often the feelings emanating from animals. I feel pain, and confusion when I happen to pass by an animal struck by a vehicle. I feel hurt and love coming from my own pets.
So I guess it is not all that strange to feel such overwhelming emotion when one of my beloveds pass on. My familiar, (my beagle/border collie mix) Mutt passed into Summerland in the summer of 94. He was 14. I often get "a dog was your familiar?" Yes, he was. He was attuned to my feelings and knew just how to lighten my life. He was with me as I communed with nature. He was with me when I danced in the moonlight. He is with me today.
Our cat, Nike, became attached to my daughter. He was a tuxedo cat and we had him in out lives for 17 years. When my daughter went away to college he would go up and down the hall calling for her - is sounded just like him screaming "Cheryl". He crossed over to Summerland in 2007. He also comes back to visit - he used to sleep between my husband's and my pillows. I still feel the pressure of that body & t is not the cats we have now - none of them dare take that spot. They try & then look scared & move.
Spike (beagle/fox terrier mix) was the dog we got shortly after the passing of Mutt. My son (2 at the time) wanted a dog & he named him Spike. They were very close. They grew up together. Spike often got in trouble for going after anyone he thought was hurting my son. He passed onto Summerland after 17 years with us. My son was devastated. Spike had the habit while he was alive to come up behind me when I was at the kitchen sink and press his whole body against the back of my legs. After he passed I was up early packing my husband's lunch & was standing at the sink. I felt that familiar pressure against my legs and said the thing I always said "Spike, I love you too, but I have to get this done", however halfway through I remembered he was no longer with us in physical form.
Eight months after Spike passed we adopted 2 black kittens. They were brothers & did everything together. Little fuzz balls. We named them Ghost and Darkness. They fit into the family so well. Ghost was the bigger boy and he had the "tom cat" attitude, with a soft side when it came to cuddling with mom. Darkness was my little pixie. He was sweet and loving. He was not a lap sitter, but would lay beside you and preen. I loved them so very much. Ghost has become my new familiar. He watches as I do rituals and loves the chanting.
In 2019 Darkness had some issues and after a few months passed. My heart was broken & still is. My little pixie was gone. I try to tell myself he is waiting for me in Summerland, but it doesn't help. Unlike the ones that came and went before I have not felt him with me after his passing. I miss him so very much. So did Ghost. He began to lose weight and lose interest in all things (even his catnip). The vet suggested we find a companion for him so four months after Darkness passed we adopted Onyx.
She is a black active, mischievous soul. She gets into some of the strangest places & positions. She is a cuddler of sorts, but does have the tendency to nip. She has earned a place in my broken heart.
So why post this here? I know that my furry babies are still with me (for the most part) and tend to let me know it when they feel like I have forgotten them or have not thought of them often enough.
Nike Spike Ghost with his Yule scarf
Darkness with his bowtie Onyx on her arrival day

Sadly I do not have pictures of Mutt that I can upload today - I will have to scan them in & then post them.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Several Paranormal Personal Experiences - @msaubrey-aka-ahyoka

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 15:26:21 -0400

To begin, I've always had an open mind and heart. While I still try to debunk things that occur to or around me, there have been several things I could not. My home was built in 1906, in Wyandotte, Michigan. This is a small city about 10-15 miles south of Detroit. The land was once occupied by several Native Nations; however, the one that was pretty constant was the Wyandot... hence the name of the city. There were smaller battles that were outside the main battle in 1812 that occurred in or around my home's location. I have not felt or witnessed any activities that would be from that period though. Most of what I've experienced is 19th or 20th century experiences. At least for this first part... in my home.

One night, my husband and I were sleeping, we sleep on the main floor while our children are on the 2nd floor. At the time, our son was about 5 or 6 years old. He would occasionally come to us at night because of a nightmare or he would sometimes sleepwalk. That night though, we were both awoken by a little boy whispering, "Daddy... Daddy..." and when my husband sat up [which prompted me sitting up] and asked, "What's up bud?", we both saw the boy run out of the room and we heard footsteps going up the stairs. My husband got up to go ask our son what was wrong... our son was passed out, under his covers. No indication of him leaving his bed, which would've happened had he been sleepwalking, which would explain lack of answer.

Well, when we redid our bathroom, there was a cabinet above our toilet and when we took it down, it had a name written on the back with a death date. Later, I had asked my neighbors if Alex [the previous owner] had a son or grandson that had died in 1974. Our neighbors were in their 90s at the time and had known several people that lived in our home, including my neighbor's mom who died at the age of 99 here. Dona [the neighbor] said, "Yeah, I think it was his grandson, but I don't remember what happened."

We would occasionally hear our piano softly being plinked in the middle of the night to find no one there. My daughter thought her brother came into her room one night... he'd occasionally go into her room if he didn't want to go down the stairs... nope, she checked his room and it wasn't him.

One day, it was just my daughter and I home and we were in the kitchen when we heard my son's recorder playing [the flute type recorder] and we just looked at each other and said, "Holy crap! Did you hear that"?

We haven't heard from Alex's grandson since Alex passed away. The only reason we knew that Alex passed away was because the neighbors on the other side of us were related to him. I think Alex may have helped his grandson cross over.

My son was 2 when our dog, Samson crossed over the rainbow bridge. One day, I was making dinner when I heard my son [about 6 months after the dog passed] saying, "No... don't eat that. It's a magnet. You can't eat a magnet. Okay. See you later." When I asked him who he was talking to he replied, "The 'goggie'. He was trying to eat the magnets." I got teary eyed and I told my husband about it and he cried. Samson was raised from an 8 wk old pup by my husband. I didn't know Samson until he was 10 or 11.

Our cat Sylvester... technically he was my husband's, because like Samson, I didn't know him until he was 10 or 11. He would do this thing would sniff our eyes, nose and ears while we slept. There was a good few weeks that I could have sworn I was awoken by Sly sniffing my ear, but I didn't say anything. My husband told me the following week that he was awoken by what he thought was Sly sniffing at his eye. I think it was him saying goodbye. I can't find a picture on my pc of Sly. I know that I have some, I'm just not sure where.

This one... I need to preface it a bit. I found out I was pregnant with my daughter the day of my grandfather's funeral. I was very close with my grandpa... probably the only one really that close to him. I always accepted him for who he was... he was kinda gross sometimes with blowing out "snot rockets" or his white undershirt was coffee-stained.... those things really bothered my grandma for sure; she thought it reflected poorly on her somehow. I didn't care. He was a great man that worked hard for his family and loved all of us dearly. Anyways... my daughter is from my first marriage. My grandmother had called me to tell me that he might only make it for another day, so we headed up north, where they lived and while he was still alive, he couldn't speak, move, eat, nothin. I actually got pissed at my family for ordering pizza, because he could smell it, but couldn't eat it. To me, that was torture... so I didn't eat. He died only an hour before the last family member had gotten there, my uncle [the one only 8 years older than me]; I truly think that my grandpa tried waiting until everyone was there, but couldn't quite hang on that last hour... it's okay though, my uncle was the last one [besides my grandma] that had spoken to him the day before.

Well, about a year after my grandpa passed, I had gone out with my friends and had some drinks and didn't want to wake my [now ex] husband up in the wee hours of the morning so I slept in the spare room. I had what I thought initially was a dream, but I think that it was him saying his goodbyes. In this "dream", he was talking to me, telling me that he needed to go, but didn't want me to feel bad about it. He was wearing his typical white coffee-stained undershirt and navy blue Dickey's work pants; he smelled like coffee and vanilla pipe tobacco. I felt him hug me tight as I cried. I apologized for soaking his shirt and he laughed, kissed me on my head and said goodbye and that he'd see me again. I "awoke" shaking, uncontrollably sobbing and still smelling the vanilla pipe tobacco. Hell, I'm tearing up writing about it.

My grandma would visit after she passed too; not for very long though. I think she missed my grandpa no matter how much she bitched about him. We'd hear my son wake up from a nap and exclaim, "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" When I went to get him, I'd smell her perfume, but it was quickly gone and I would ask him who he was saying hi to and he told me, "The lady. The one from the picture on the "pinano" [piano]." There's two pictures on our piano of her... it had been her piano after all.
<-- My grandma holding my son shortly after he was born and not long before she passed.
I think that's all I'm going to share for today. I have more, but this is long enough for today.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: The First Road Trip - @veronica

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 10:24:10 -0400

A few years ago my sister, fresh from her divorce, and I decided to take our first road trip together as adults. It was the first trip we had taken just the two of us. We were headed to Lilly Dale. When we got onto the freeway we both yelled "Towanda". We just looked at each other and burst out laughing.

It’s an otherworldly community of some 250 more or less permanent residents situated above Cassadaga Lake, 60 miles south of Buffalo, New York. Most true Lily Daleans live in gingerbread Victorian cottages standing haphazardly along a maze of narrow, rough lanes laid out in the 19th century for horse-drawn carriages. The village is overshadowed by groves of century-old oaks, maples and hemlocks, under which proliferate a rich variety of mosses, ferns and fungi. A fairy-tale ambiance pervades the place, something a bit fey and toadstoolish, which is perfectly in keeping with what Lily Dale is all about.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/in-good-spirits-43969706/
Lily Dale was incorporated in 1879 as Cassadaga Lake Free Association, a camp and meeting place for Spiritualists and Freethinkers . The name was changed to The City of Light in 1903 and finally to Lily Dale Assembly in 1906. The purpose of Lily Dale was to further the science, philosophy, and religion of Spiritualism . [3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lily_Dale,_New_York#:~:text=Lily%20Dale%20was%20incorporated%20in,philosophy%2C%20and%20religion%20of%20Spiritualism .
Besides its Spiritualist activities and many entertainments such as billiards, swimming, ferris wheels, and boating, Lily Dale was known for its support of women’s rights. Marian H. Skidmore, a leader of the Spiritualist community, was a great proponent of woman suffrage. At her invitation Susan B. Anthony frequently spoke about women’s rights at Lily Dale and participated in the town’s activities.
http://susanbanthonyfamily.com/susan-b-anthony/why-did-susan-b-frequent-lily-dale/

That is just a sampling of the history. There are nature trails, park like settings and meditation areas. One of the trails is called the Fairy Trail. Along that trail visitors leave objects such as fairy figurines, fairy houses, gnomes, and other fae items. I even saw a Barbie dressed as a Fairy. There were whole little villages set up.

We walked the trails, went to a healing session, meditated and a thoroughly wonderful time. We spent the whole day there and were scheduled for the night's "Ghost Walk". We were given flashlights for the walk and we made the rounds of many of the old buildings. The history was fascinating. We saw the retreats Elizabeth Cady Stanton stayed as well as the house Susan B Anthony stayed.
The last part of the walk was optional. We could go & take the trail to Inspiration Stump or we could end our walk at the last building. We went to the stump snapping pictures as we walked. It was pitch black on the trail. We stopped at the pet cemetery where orbs appeared in our pictures (could have been flying insects). We continued on and took pictures of the wooded area on both sides of the trail. My sister took pictures of the right side - I took pictures of the left side. When we reached the stump we sat in silence, listening to all the night sounds and feeling relaxed.

Inspiration Stump is a retreat found at the end of the calm and quiet trail of the Leolyn Woods. It is not unusual to become more aware of the spiritual energies while in an open and receptive state at the Stump. You are invited to participate in the service held twice a day in the grove at no charge.

Demonstrations of mediumship are presented by the mediums giving short messages to those in the audience. These services have been held since 1898. As well as possibly receiving a message of meaning at Inspiration Stump, you may well renew your own Spiritual energies. Spiritual awareness is available to everyone.
https://the59club.blog/2019/08/25/inspiration-stump/

A few days after we returned home my sister emailed me a picture she took while we were walking toward the stump. She asked me what I saw & there in the pitch black was a face. I took the picture to my hubby & asked him what he saw & he said "what that face?" It was very weird, for when I printed the picture the face was gone - but was still on her phone. Sadly she dropped her phone into the ocean on a trip with a friend of hers & the picture is no more and I only have the printed one.
Now for our B&B adventure on that trip:
We stayed in Brookside Manor (which unfortunately is permanently closed).
It was nice. This was our room. Private bath & the food was astounding.
Here we are.

So in our room we had the double bed and a rollaway. We turned in and fell asleep. AT about 2 in the morning I felt someone shaking my shoulder. It happened three times and finally I asked "What?", thinking it was my sister. Lo and behold she was in her bed across the room snoring. I shook my head and got up to eat some Pecan Sandies. Read for the rest of the night. When I told her in the morning she told me that at about 1 the previous night she was awoken by a bouncing ball in the hallway & then a knock at our door - she opened the door after peering through the peephole and no one was in the hall & there was no ball. She actually got some Pecan Sandies and went back to bed.
On our way home we stopped at the Dunkirk Lighthouse - but that is a story for another day.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Unexplained Happenings at America's Most Haunted Hotel - 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa - @trout-giggles

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 10:21:59 -0400

I had the opportunity to take a tour but backed out because I had too many beers at lunch. Mr. and our friends took the tour, but honestly I can't remember what they said about it.
Next time I will go

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: The Hinsdale House - @veronica

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 10:11:25 -0400

In October of 2020 my sister and I made a road trip to the Seneca ALlegany Casino to spend a couple of nights to get away. Very close to there is the Hinsdale House. It is reported to be one of the most haunted houses in Western NY, but there are those that do not agree. We decided to check it out (fall foliage was brilliant anyways). The history we were told at the house has been in dispute for years. It was a creepy house and we got some strange pictures.
The history:
Told To Us Disputed
Native American Burial Mounds No running water, so no villages near there - no burial grounds
Seneca Indians massacred other tribe Not in Seneca Indian oral history
2 brothers ran an stagecoach stop Inn
& raped, robbed & killed passengers House not situated well enough to be a stagecoach stop
Another 2 brothers owned the property - fratricide Those brothers' name never on deed
Exorcism by ST. Bonaventure Priest No record of this
Dandy's terrified in the 1970s Owner book in 2000 says no way

There are a lot more instances of the disputed history, but I will move on. Now for some pictures:

The first two show a white "blob" in the window that seems to change position from one shot to the next (mind you I am taking pics one right after the other). Also keep in mind there is NOTHING on that screened in porch.

The next two are of two spots that looked like eyes & appear to change the direction they are looking in.

The last pictures of the house I am going to add is the one with the dolls. My sister said the one doll's eyes followed her around the room & she felt it was going to follow her.
One other thing: As we were walking out to the pond where supposedly a woman drowned & now tries to pull people in I heard a "wood knock" - just like in all the Bigfoot shows. Our guide said "Oh, there goes sasquatch."
Pictures of wooded area behind the house:

It was still a good place to visit & I did get to mark it off my bucket list. I just wish the history they tell was not disputed. I prefer true history - that is creepy enough.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Waverly Hills Sanatorium - @veronica

Wed, 24 Mar 2021 09:35:02 -0400

Since my husband is not a traveler and I would like to see as many places as I can before I move along to Summerland I travel a lot with my sister. We are both very interested in all things paranormal and unexplained. She loves things like UFOs and hauntings. I am more a Cryptid and hauntings. But we both like to be spooked.
In one of our trips we arrived in Louisville, KY to explore Waverly Hills Sanatorium. First a little history (from the Waverly Hills Website):
https://www.therealwaverlyhills.com/about/

Waverly Hills Sanatorium sits on land that was originally purchased by Major Thomas H. Hays in 1883. Major Hays was in need of a school for his daughters to attend, so he started a one-room schoolhouse that was located on Pages Lane. He hired a woman named Lizzie Lee Harris to teach at the school. Her love for the tiny school, in addition to her fondness for Scott’s “Waverley Novels,” prompted her to name the little schoolhouse, “Waverley School.” Major Hays liked the name, and chose to name his property “Waverley Hill.” The Board of Tuberculosis Hospital kept the name after purchasing the land and opening the Sanatorium.

Originally, Waverly Hills Sanatorium was a two-story frame building with a hipped roof and half-timbering. Construction on this building began in 1908 and opened for business on July 26, 1910. The building was designed to accommodate 40-50 tuberculosis patients safely. At the time, Tuberculosis was a very serious disease. People who were afflicted with Tuberculosis were isolated from the general public and placed in an area where they could rest, stay calm, and have plenty of fresh air. Sanatoriums were built on high hills surrounded by peaceful woods to create a serene atmosphere to help the patients recover.
Tuberculosis was becoming an epidemic in Valley Station, Pleasure Ridge Park, and other parts of Jefferson County in Kentucky. The little TB clinic was filled with more than 140 people, and it was obvious that a much larger hospital was needed to treat those afflicted with the condition. Because Tuberculosis was so extremely contagious and at epidemic proportions, those living with it could not be allowed to live and exist among the general population. It was not known at the time that Tuberculosis was an airborne disease.
Waverly Hills was a self-contained community. A city in and of itself, complete with its own zip code. It had its own post office, water treatment facility, grew its own fruits and vegetables, raised it’s own meat for slaughter, and maintained many of the other necessities of everyday life. Everyone at Waverly – patients, nurses, doctors, and other employees had to say ‘goodbye’ to everything they knew on the outside world. Once you went to Waverly Hills, you became a permanent resident “on the hill.” Oddly enough, despite that fact, many patients received visits from loved ones on visiting day. When the visit was over, the visitors left Waverly and ventured back out into the community.
The massive, collegiate, gothic style Sanatorium that you see in the 1926 photo (above) remains standing on Waverly Hill, today. It could accommodate at least 400 + patients and be considered one of the most modern and well-equipped facilities at the time. Construction of this Sanatorium began in March 1924 and opened for business on October 17, 1926. The facility served as a tuberculosis hospital until 1961 when the discovery of an antibiotic that successfully treated and cured TB rendered the facility obsolete. It was closed down and quarantined, then renovated. In 1962, the building reopened as Woodhaven Medical Services, a geriatric facility. WoodHaven Medical was closed by the state in 1981.
Over the next few decades, Waverly Hills would fall into more dark times. Vandalized, damaged, nearly condemned. Previous property owners had no desire to maintain the luster of the building and did little to stop people from slowly destroying her. It is sad that a place that played such a vital role during this period of history and medical discovery was not only over, but now disrespected. But in 2001, Waverly Hills Sanatorium was purchased by historical and paranormal enthusiasts Charles and Tina Mattingly. Since then, there have been many changes and improvements to the building and surrounding property. Charles, Tina, and the Waverly Hills Historical Society continue to work tirelessly and devote their lives to restoring the historic gem that is Waverly Hills to its once amazing splendor!
Waverly Hills Historical Society is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of Waverly Hills Sanatorium, the history of its past employees and patients, as well as the education of the public of the history of TB and the effect on the area.

The tour was awesome. We learned so much and of course heard the about the deaths and ghost stories, but the history of the place was astounding. Of course we were on a ghost tour, so we took a lot of pictures in the dark and tried to see things. At one point in the tour in one of the halls we stopped and watched shadow play down the hall. One visitor was chosen to walk down the hall by himself and walk back with his arms spread like an airplane - it was weird to see the shadow following him and flapping its "arms". So the guide asked if anyone else would like to do it and my hand shot up and I moved to the front of the group. My sister (who is really short and was at the front of the crowd) watched me come forward and exclaimed "You aren't doing this!" I replied "This is the stuff I have been waiting for all my life" and I headed down the hall and back up with my hands first over my head and then arms spread like an airplane.. Sadly I felt nothing - no hair raising, no creepys, no tingles - nuttin. When I got back to the group my sister said that I had a dark shadow following me with its "arms" straight out even when mine were over my head & she said it looked like it was flapping its arms.
From there we went to the surgical suite/morgue. I was in a corner because that is where the crowd pushed me & my sister was beside me. As the guide was speaking of what happened in those rooms (in regards to TB treatment of the time) I felt something touch my back. I thought it was one of those big icky Kentucky spiders so I turned my back to my sister and told her to brush it off. She flashed her light onto my back and said nothing was there & there were no webs around. She said there was a dimple in my shirt as if someone tugged on it. She swears to this day a spirit tugged on me. I am more skeptical about that.
From that area we went to the "Death Tunnel" or the "Body Shoot". That was first used as a way to bring supplies into the hospital, but eventually became the way to remove the bodies. It was less stressful on the patients if they didn't see the bodies wheeled through the hospital & into the waiting trucks. I have to say in this area I did hear squeaking like wheels on an old gurney and some mumbling.
I don't know if the place is haunted with ghosts or just memories, but it is a fascinating place to visit.

Paranormal Stories & Stuff FOR FUN: Let Us Begin - @veronica

Tue, 23 Mar 2021 11:03:36 -0400

I figured I would start with a story from my past.
When I was very young we lived in aa old farmhouse that was very dark. We weren't allowed to use the upstairs because of raccoons (or that is what my dad said). So all of us (4 brothers, 1 sister, my parents & I) all slept downstairs. There was a large kitchen, we used the dining room as the living room, we used the living room as my brothers' bedroom, my parents slept in the alcove off the kitchen, and my sister and I slept in the back room off of my brothers' room. At night the noises over head were bothersome. I am not sure if I am the only one that heard them, but I am the only one that said anything. I was told it was raccoons.
One night I woke up and gazed out the doorway into my brothers' room. There were no lights on so it was pitch black. I noticed aset of glowing white hands gesturing from the darkness next to one of my brothers' beds. They kept beckoning to me. All I saw was hands. I woke my sister (we shared a bed), but she didn't see anything. She did get up and go out to look so I could go back to sleep. All my brothers appeared to be asleep, but she told me it had to be one of them pulling a prank. She let me sleep on her side of the bed furthest from the door so I could fall back to sleep.
That has stuck with me all these years. And I have to say I have no clue as to how any of my brothers could have made their hands glow white. It was the late 1960s so I am not sure what they could have put on their hands to cause that effect.
Just one of many strange things in my life.