Month: February 2017

Grandma’s Necklace

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ 2 Comments
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Photo Credit – Tara Theresa Hill

Something like this happened to me once, so I decided to write a story about it.  Hope you enjoy!

Sarah was an imaginative child.  One of her favorite games was dress up.  She loved to put on her mother’s clothes and jewelry and pretend that she had been magically transported back to a different time period.  The only piece of jewelry that Sarah wasn’t allowed to play with was her mother’s silver locket.  The locket was oval-shaped with a floral leaf pattern.  Her mother rarely wore it anywhere, so Sarah didn’t understand why she couldn’t wear it instead.  One day she asked her mother, “Why can’t I wear your silver locket?”

Her mother put down the book that she was reading and gestured for Sarah to join her on the couch.  “That locket belonged to Grandma Rose.  It is one of the few things she owned that I still have left.”

“But I’ll be careful.  Don’t you trust me with it?” whined Sarah.

Sarah’s mother sighed.  “It’s not that I don’t trust you with it.  It’s just that it is too precious.  This isn’t a piece of costume jewelry, Sarah.  I would be devastated if something happened to it.”  Seeing Sarah’s disappointed face, she said, “It was my mother’s favorite necklace.  If it gets damaged or lost, it can’t be replaced.”  She put an arm around her daughter’s shoulders.  “Do you understand?”  Sarah nodded, but she didn’t really get it.

A few weeks later, her mother was away at a conference.  While her father was busy working on a project in the garage, Sarah crept up to the door of her parents’ bedroom.  She tiptoed up to her mother’s large, ebony-colored jewelry box and lifted the lid.  A shiver passed over her shoulders.  Sarah knew that she shouldn’t be doing this.  The pretty, silver locket felt cold in her fingers.  Fumbling with the chain, Sarah put on the necklace, closed the jewelry box, then snuck out of her parents’ bedroom before anyone could notice what she had done.

Sarah went down the block to visit her friend, Katie.  When she got there, Katie smiled, “Hey!  Want to see my new dollhouse?”  Sarah rolled her eyes.  Katie was always showing off some new toy.  “That’s kid stuff.  I have something way cooler than that.”

“Oh, yeah?  What is it?” asked Katie.

Sarah reached under her shirt to pull out the silver locket to show Katie, but it wasn’t there.  “Oh, no,” moaned Sarah.  “What’s wrong?” asked Katie.  Sarah unclipped the chain from around her neck and examined it.  It was bare.  “My mother’s locket!  It’s gone!” wailed Sarah.

“Where did you last see it?” asked Katie.

Sarah put the chain back on.  “I came here right after I took it out of her jewelry box.”

“You mean you stole it?”

“No!  I just borrowed it.”

“Did you have permission?” asked Katie.

“Not really…” mumbled Sarah.  “But that doesn’t matter now!  I have to get it back before Mom gets home.”

“Then we’ll have to retrace your footsteps.  It must be somewhere between here and your house.  Come on!  I’ll help you search for it.”

The two girls spent over an hour looking all over the block.  They even checked inside Sarah’s house.  The locket was nowhere to be seen.  The girls went down to the front porch.  It was starting to get dark out.  “I’d better head home,” said Katie.  “It’s almost dinner time.”

“Okay.  Thanks for your help,” said Sarah.  “I’m going to keep looking.”

“You’re welcome.  I hope you find it soon,” said Katie.

“Me too.  Mom’s coming home tomorrow.”

Sarah went back into the house.  After dinner, she went into the living room and grabbed the old family photo album.  Sitting on the couch, she flipped through the pages.  Baby pictures, birthday parties, Christmases, and graduations flashed by along with candid photos.  She stopped at a picture of a greying woman sitting in an armchair reading a book.  She was wearing the silver locket.  Grandma Rose looked back at Sarah over the top of her book.  Sarah had never met her maternal grandmother.  Grandma Rose had passed away three years before Sarah was born.  Sarah knew her mother had been too brokenhearted to name her after grandma, so she had given her “Rose” as a middle name.  “Sarah Rose…” she murmured her own name.  Then she had an idea.

Going into the storage closet, she pulled out three small candles.  She found a lighter and a small ceramic plate in the kitchen.  She filled a glass of water and placed that on her dresser along with the plate and the candles.  Then she took Grandma Rose’s picture out of the photo album, brought it into her bedroom, and shut the door.  Making sure it was a safe distance away, she placed the photo by the candle.  Her mother had taught her about praying to her ancestors and now seemed like as good a time as any.

Kneeling in front of her dresser, she started talking to Grandma Rose.  She told her all about the events leading up to the loss of the locket.  When she was finished, she said, “No matter what happens, I promise to tell Mom and Dad what I did.  I know it was wrong.  I just really wish that I could find the locket so that Mom wouldn’t be sad.  She loves you, Grandma Rose.  If you can hear me and there is anything that you can do, please help me find it.”

As she stood up, Sarah heard a soft, metallic swishing sound and felt something settle on her neck.  She looked down.  The locket had reappeared on the chain.

If you have a real ghost story that you would like to share with The Ghost Post, send me an email to theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview.

I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story! 

For more ghost stories, paranormal phenomena, and updates, follow Tara Theresa Hill on Facebook and on Twitter at @TaraTheresaHill.

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The Invisible Playmate

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ 3 Comments

This story was told to me by a friend who wishes to remain anonymous.  I have changed the names in the story for privacy reasons.

Paranormal investigators and ghost fanatics have many theories about spirits and the afterlife.  We scrutinize pictures, videos, voice recordings, and reports of eye-witness accounts for signs of hauntings.  While we may have different ideas based on our beliefs and experiences, we share a love for the exploration of the spirit realm and its mysteries.

One such theory is the presence of spirits around babies and young children.  Have you ever seen a baby or a young child carrying on a conversation, but you couldn’t see anyone next to them?  The child believes that this person is real and might even have a name for his or her friend.  Children are naturally more imaginative than adults.  Since they have not been conditioned to dismiss what others cannot see, they constantly live between the worlds of make-believe and reality.  While some may call it an “imaginary friend,” many in the paranormal field believe that there is a chance that this invisible person is either a spirit guide, guardian, or even a ghost.

Knowing that I love ghost stories, my friend recently told me about some things that are happening with her niece, Julie.  Ever since she was a baby, Julie has spoken to someone who none of her family can see.  Her parents would hear her moving around and making noise at two in the morning.  When they went to check on her, they would find Julie sitting up, clapping her hands, and babbling at a corner of the wall by her crib.  She did not look at her parents or involve them in this play.  Instead, she would keep up this game, all the while staring at the wall.  Then suddenly she would wave good-bye, roll over, and go back to sleep.  Although slightly concerned with this behavior, the parents figured she was just self-soothing by entertaining herself with a game until she was too tired to stay awake.

The family lives in a different house now.  Julie is two years old and learning to talk.  She still plays with this unseen friend, only now he has a name.  She has told her mommy and daddy that her friend is an old man named Jimmy.  Sometimes she wakes up in her bed and says that the “old man” scared her.  If her mom asks where Jimmy is, Julie will point out where she sees him.  Sometimes he is in her playroom, but other times, Julie will take her mother’s hand and search the house until she finds him.  She has also said that Jimmy is not here right now, but that he said that he would come back later.

“Jimmy” was the name of Julie’s great-grandfather.  He died before any of his great-grandchildren were born, so Julie never met him.  The mother has started experiencing some weird phenomena as well.  Sometimes when she is working in the den, the room will grow heavy with the scent of tobacco.  Neither she or her husband smoke.  However, Great-Grandpa Jimmy was a big smoker.

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Photo: The above photo is a baby picture of me with my father.  The reason why I posted it is because you can see some mist or other light anomaly by my feet and next to me on the couch.  The pajamas did not have any reflective material like sequins on it.  Perhaps there was a spirit or two next to me? 

If you have a real ghost story that you would like to share with The Ghost Post, send me an email to theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview.

I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story! 

For more ghost stories, paranormal phenomena, and updates, follow Tara Theresa Hill on Facebook and on Twitter at @TaraTheresaHill.

             

Adventures with Ghosts

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ 3 Comments

Thanks to Gafyn from Swansea, Wales for this story!

Gafyn has seen spirits ever since he was a little boy.  Walking down the street with his mother, he would do his best to maneuver around the ghosts passing by them.  Sometimes they even walked right through him.  When people asked if her son was okay, Gafyn’s mother would reply, “Yes, he just sees a lot more than you or I can.”

At one point, his mother decided to bring Gafyn to see his great-aunt, Phillis Mules, who was also a Medium.  She was well-known between the 1960s to 1980s and even helped with police investigations.  Aunt Phillis led Gafyn and his mother into a room and asked them to sit down.  Next, she called a friend in to talk to Gafyn.  Gafyn started talking to the person as if everything was completely normal.

When he looked at his mother, he noticed that she was tearing up.  His mother could not see the other person in the room like Gafyn and his aunt could.  At his aunt’s request, the spirit had entered the room and struck up a conversation with Gafyn to test if he had the gift of seeing and hearing spirits.  The ghost disappeared after a brief talk with Gafyn.  Aunt Phillis had been standing with her back to the door the whole time.  She nodded, smiling at Gafyn’s mother, “Oh, yes.  He has it.”

One time when he was in school, Gafyn saw a little boy standing by his classroom door.  The teacher gave no sign that she had seen him.  Thinking the little boy wanted to join the group, Gafyn started looking around the room to find him a seat.

“What are you doing, Gafyn?” asked his teacher.

“Trying to find a chair for that little boy.”

“What little boy?” she asked.

“The one standing over there by the door,” said Gafyn.

Of course, when he turned around to show the teacher, the boy had vanished once more.  The classroom door had been closed the whole time.  Gafyn wondered how the boy had been able to go through the door without opening it.  Years later, he realized that the little boy had been a spirit visiting the classroom.

As he grew, Gafyn became more accustomed to telling spirits apart from the living.  Seeing spirits almost everywhere he looked, he had to figure out how to manage his abilities.  Sometimes the ghosts scared him because they were “unusual, transparent, or ghastly.”  Aunt Phillis acted as a mentor, helping Gafyn master the basics of working with spirits.  She advised him never to welcome any spirits to follow him home.  Over time, he learned to look past their appearance and began to view spirits as people.  To read more about Gafyn’s adventures, check out Gaf’s Other Interests on Facebook.

If you have a real ghost story that you would like to share with The Ghost Post, send me a message via Twitter or Facebook to set up an interview!

I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story! 

For more ghost stories, paranormal phenomena, and updates, follow Tara Theresa Hill on Facebook and on Twitter at @TaraTheresaHill.

 

Too Many Ghosts

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ 1 Comment

Thanks to Jodee DeSimone from Grand Junction, Colorado for this story!  Jodee also shared some of the pictures that she had of her house and the surrounding neighborhood.

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Old Dance Hall – Grand Junction, Colorado

There are many theories about what causes a haunting.  Some think a person’s immense unhappiness, unfinished business, or a refusal to detach from material objects can cause a soul to become earthbound.  Sometimes the circumstances surrounding the death, especially if it is sudden or particularly violent, may influence a spirit to stay behind.  In other cases, a spirit may not even be aware of the passage of time or that they have died.  Perhaps they may fear punishment for things that they have done or worry that they will be alone when they cross over.

Paranormal investigators, ghost hunters, Mediums, psychics, and other ghost fanatics are still trying to figure out what exactly causes a haunting and how to help spirits find peace.  Another answer they are seeking is why some places seem to attract more hauntings than others?  One possible reason is that certain areas may be portals for spirits to pass through during their travels.

Jodee DeSimone is a psychic Medium who lived in such a place for three years.  Built during the 1800s, the house was teeming with spirit activity.  It had three stories, but only two of them were accessible, as the entrance to the attic had been closed off by a previous owner.  All the bedrooms were located on one side of the house.  The house also had a creepy, unfinished basement where the family found a cat’s skeleton.

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Possible Image of Little Girl Ghost, Anna

Two specific ghosts made their presence known to Jodee and her family.  One ghost was a little girl named Anna.  She liked to follow Jodee’s young granddaughter around.  The second ghost was a male who appeared as a tall, dark spirit wearing a top hat.  The little girl ghost, Anna, was afraid of him.  The tall man seemed to have some sort of control over the other spirits in the house as he would stop them from talking to Jodee whenever she tried to question them about why they were still there.

Things only became worse when the house next door to Jodee’s family was condemned and eventually knocked down.  The ghosts that were haunting that house moved into Jodee’s home.  Doors and cupboards would open and slam shut every night.  Lights would turn themselves on and off randomly.  The scents of coffee brewing, cigarette smoke, tobacco, and cooking would permeate the house at night, along with the echoes of ghostly conversations.  Sensing the spirits, the family dog would growl and bark throughout the night.

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Close Up of Apparition by Christmas Tree

During their time in the house, the family was sick or got injured often.  Jodee even once felt someone push her off a chair while she was trying to hang a screen.  The house never stays rented for long.  Jodee has tried doing research on the house’s history, but is unable to find anything about its background.  For now, the reason for the hauntings remains a mystery.

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If you have a real ghost story that you would like to share with The Ghost Post, send an email with your contact information to Tara Theresa Hill at theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview. 

I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story! 

Follow Tara Theresa Hill on Facebook and on Twitter at @TaraTheresaHill for more updates and paranormal phenomena!