Do you believe?
Last Thursday, I hosted a small one day retreat of university officials at the Casa Monica Hotel in St. Augustine. I went up the day before to meet with the event coordinator, catering manager, hotel staff, etc. and spent the night there at the hotel. The Casa Monica is 112 years old.
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That night my sleep was disturbed by the bathroom door opening/closing, opening/closing, opening/closing and the very strong smell of lilacs. Finally, around 3 a.m. I said out loud, "Will you please stop, I'm trying to sleep!" And it did. And the lilac fragrance disappeared. I think the lady spirit attached to my room just wanted to be acknowledged. St. Augustine is one of my most favorite places to spend time and one of the most haunted places in America so I wasn't at all surprised by her presence.
This is not the first time I've encountered a spirit. My own mother often rings my doorbell at 5:47 a.m. - the time of her death in 2001, and I've smelled my husband's aftershave (he died in 2009) on my cats.
These "visits" don't bother me. They don't frighten me. In fact, I am comforted by them as they are familiar to me. As a child, my father's people told me I was "fey" and that spirits are drawn to me because I am open to receiving them.
Please understand that I don't "talk" to ghosts. I am not a medium. I can't tell you what they are thinking or give you a message from beyond. But I do know when they are around me.
So do you believe?
Please share your thoughts and/or stories of encounters you may have had.
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Maybe.
My son, who was 4 at the time, came inside after playing outside and told me he had a wonderful time, playing with Grandpa. So, I don't know if it was my Grandpa, or my father... But, it was lovely.
My long dead family comes to me in my dreams. I know they're dead, and they know they're dead, but it's not a big deal. We have truly fabulous visits-- and I feel much better afterwards.
There are a lot of places where I feel a very heavy burden, a deep sadness-- usually battlefields, and old churches. Sometimes graveyards. Sometimes, I'll be out in the woods, and get a shivery cold feeling that something happened there. But nothing overt, that you can put your finger on...
Do I believe? I believe anything is possible, with God.
D
As an atheist, I hate it when religious folks try to discredit atheists by asking if we believe in ghosts - like believing in ghosts is somehow equally as irrationalas religion. It doesn't hurt anyone if someone believes in ghosts, sonobody should care if someone believes in ghosts. Religion, on the other hand, is an intrusive belief system that does have intentional impacts on others. Personally, I'm skeptical of ghosts, since if ghosts are a real phenomena that is an unavoidable byproduct of dying, then for every living human beingalive there should be thousands of ghosts from thedeaths in thepast, whichbrings theirsparse sightings into question.
I did have a strange experience a couple days ago, however. We bought a brass bell at an antique store a couple months ago. We keep it on the kitchen counter, and use it to condition the dogs as a precursor to receiving a snack - like Pavlov's experiment. We did this because they are a pain in the ass when they go outside - barking at the neighbors, eating their own crap, etc. - and they wouldn't come in when we would call them. Now that they associate the bell with a treat, they come running whenever we ring it, although the drooling that comes with the conditioning is pretty gross. Anyways, a couple days ago I was in the basement watching tv while the dogs were upstairs. There was nobody else in the house, and the bell started ringing, followed by the sound of the two dogs getting up and running to the kitchen. It was pretty creepy, since the bell is heavy and must be picked up and shook to make it clang.
I myself have had no encounters, but I am not so arrogant as to dismiss the possibilty. It falls into the realm of E.T.'s, though I have never encountered one, there is that possibility.
Color me, possible but doubtful.
Ah've never seen a $10,000.00 bill...but thaa doesn't mean they don't exist.
Ibelieve!
When my parents bought their second house in Wantagh, we moved into my German teacher's father in laws home. It was a nice house and he built it. My dad loved figs (no one else in the family liked them) and every Friday he would go to the Farmers Market with his pals and pick up a ring of them. He would eat a few each night until the ring was used up on Thursday, just in time for a new ring. When we moved into that house, he bought home his ring and the next morning half of it was gone! He would accuse us of eating it, but we all hated the fruit. This continued week after week and my dad became convinced we were messing with him, and we became convinced that he either sleep walked or we had a mouse that loved figs. But also during this time, doors would close, for no reason, and there would be weird cold spots you would walk into. Never gave it a thought. Then one night my sister, who was 12 at the time, swore she saw the bottom of her bed sink down. We thought she was nuts.
A few months passed and it was spring. My German teacher's wife was in the back yard, which was catty cornered to ours. So my mom and I got to chit chatting with her. She started to tell us about her dad. That my sister's room had been his after her mom passed, and how much he loved figs. "Could eat half a ring a night", she said.... and my mom and I looked at each other and we knew.
We remained in that house for almost 20 years, including Mr. Sommer. My parents sold the house and no family remained in it for more than 2 years. Last year my sister and I decided to ask the new residents if we could see our old home and they were kind and said yes. They had 2 daughters about the same age as we were when we moved in. They were whispering between themselves and the mom shot them a disapproving look. She said to usapologetically, "My daughters areconvincedthat the house is haunted". My sister and I smiled and inquired, "Would that bother you?". The mom laughed... and said well we've been here a year, and not much has happened so I guess no. So we told her that we thought it was and why. The kids laughed at their mom and were quite pleased to be shown to be right. The mom asked, if we knew who the ghost was and we told her yes, and the history and the fig eating... and this family just seemed cool with it.
So yes I believe.
I don't disbelieve you, GG. But here's the thing - nothing like that has ever happened to me, so I would have to conclude that I don't personally believe! Can I deny that an experience like yours is possible? Of course not! Maybe I fall into the same category of people as Charles. I noted his comment at the top of the article.
Does a belief in ghosts prompt anyone to discriminate against homosexuals, people of differing faiths, women, or choices women make about their bodies? Religion does all of this, while belief in ghosts is just innocent musings about the supernatural.