It’s me again with some exciting news! I have started a new blog called The Haunted Writer. It’s a fictional blog about a ghost story writer whose muse is a sarcastic ghost named Leo. Check it out on my author website/blog, The Haunted Writer. I’m also working on other writing projects, which I will introduce in the future.
I will not be continuing with The Ghost Post at this time, although I will leave the website up so that people can read the previous posts. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you will enjoy my new blog and other ghost stories.
I am happy to announce that I have published my first book of fictional ghost stories on Kindle: The Spirit Hour – Volume 1.
Imagine if you could see and hear spirits. What would they say? How would they act? The Spirit Hour is a collection of five stories about the afterlife and how spirits interact with the human characters they meet.
I am also working on a ghost story novel that I am hoping to find an agent for after this draft is complete. Between these writing projects and promoting, I have not had as much time as I would like to devote to The Ghost Post this year. Please be patient. I will resume writing stories for The Ghost Post as soon as I can.
Thank you for your support as I continue to grow and develop as a writer.
Thanks to Toni from Virginia for sharing these stories with me!
Toni has had paranormal experiences her whole life. Both sides of her family have psychic abilities, so she is used to regularly receiving communications from spirits. Her earliest encounter happened when she was four years old. At the time, she lived in a house on Long Island. Built by a sea captain, it was always dark and creepy, no matter the weather. One cloudy day, Toni was going up to the second floor via the staircase that led to the maid’s quarters when she heard a woman’s voice call out to her.
“Toni, Dear. I need to talk to you.”
Toni paused on the stairs, searching for the woman. The voice sounded like it came from close by, but there was no one around. “What do you want to tell me?” Toni asked.
“Come upstairs to the attic,” the woman said.
Toni was not in the mood for this. “Can we do this later? I want to take a nap.”
The spirit of the woman did eventually come back to speak to Toni, but not until she was six years old. Even as a young child, Toni was not afraid of spirits. Her mother taught her to embrace her psychic abilities because it was a gift from God.
After her parents divorced, Toni went to live with her mother, Libby, in Cullowhee, North Carolina. The house that they stayed in was built by Toni’s maternal grandfather, Joe. A large house, it has an attic, four bedrooms, a parlor, dining room, living room, and a kitchen. The house is located on Cherokee land and was constructed using the wood from her grandfather’s various lumber camps. Over the years, many people have lived and died in this house, so it known to be haunted.
Sometimes Grandpa Joe’s spirit would drop by for a visit. One time, Toni and her mother were sitting together in the living room. Toni’s mother had been thinking about Grandpa Joe all day. As she was sitting there, Toni distinctly heard a male voice inside her head say, “Tell Baby that I’m here, that I love her, and not to be worried.”
Toni said that Grandpa Joe had come through to her just then and that he had a message. She then repeated the words back to her mother, who started crying. “Baby” had been Libby’s childhood nickname. Toni had not known that “Baby” was her grandfather’s nickname for her mother when she received the message.
Another day, Toni was sitting on the front steps having coffee when she heard her grandfather’s spirit calling for her mother from inside the house. “Baby? Baby? Where are you?”
Toni answered him. “Grandfather, it’s Toni. Mom is out shopping. She’ll be back later.”
“Okay. Tell her that I was looking for her,” he said. Then she felt his presence leave the house. Toni let her mother know about Grandpa Joe’s visit when she got home. Later that night, he came to visit her mother in a dream.
Toni liked to have sleepovers at her house when she was a teenager. One night around nine o’clock, she and her girlfriends heard footsteps coming down the stairs. No one else was home with them at the time and they didn’t see anyone standing there. From the bottom of the steps they heard a female voice call out, “Toni, Dear. It’s time to go to bed now.” The spirit had a beautiful voice but did not make a physical manifestation. The girls were so spooked that they were too afraid to stay inside the house. Instead, they all went to sleep outside in their cars for the night.
During another sleepover, Toni and her friends decided to use a Ouija board. Toni’s mother was not pleased with this, but she didn’t stop them from holding the séance. She encouraged them to say prayers for protection though. The spirit came through the board and told one girl that her boyfriend would have a car accident. Later, the board flew off the bed and hit the window, breaking it. Two months later, the girl’s boyfriend got into a terrible car accident just as the spirit had said. Thankfully, he survived it.
Toni wasn’t the only one who had encounters with spirits in that house. One evening, Toni’s mother, Libby, was relaxing in her bedroom. Toni had left for a date and the house was quiet. Libby could see the stairs from her bedroom. She heard a woman in heels walking back up the stairs.
“Toni, is that you?” she called out, thinking her daughter had forgotten something. When Toni didn’t answer, Libby knew that her daughter had left the house. The footsteps continued up the stairs. Even though Libby didn’t see anyone, she could smell lavender perfume in the hallway, which was not the kind of perfume that Toni wore. The room grew cold and the family dog, Pepper, started barking. It would seem that the female spirit walking around Toni’s grandfather’s house prefers to stay invisible. Perhaps she is the one who opens the doors and windows, and messes with the lights, even when the house stands empty and the power has been shut off.
Do You Have a Ghost Story?
Send me an email to theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview. I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story!
Want even more Ghost Stories?
Check out The Ghost Post’s YouTube channel for audio recordings of The Ghost Post. It’s perfect for camping out, sleepovers, or anytime you just want to hear a ghost story on the go.
Are you a paranormal writer, artist, or investigator?
Do you have a paranormal-themed business or Facebook group?
Maybe you just can’t get enough of the paranormal and want to connect with other like-minded individuals.
Then check out my new paranormal advertising group on Facebook, The Paranormal Hotspot: The Market for All Things Paranormal. There is no set promotion day, so you can promote your business, art, or group every day for free. You can also post links to sites where you sell your products or services. Our mission is to help paranormal businesses, artists, writers, and investigators connect with fans and consumers!
Get Your Ghost On!
Check out our CafePress store featuring The Ghost Post’s official mascot, Spook. We’ve got awesome coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more!
Thanks to Michelle from Northern Vermont for this story!
Many old houses in New England are home to the dead, as well as the living. In some cases, the ownership can be traced back to one or two families that have lived in the same neighborhood for generations. This leads to the current owners accepting the spirits of the previous residents as being connected to the house.
Michelle’s father-in-law’s home is over one hundred years old. It’s a two-story house with a full attic and basement. The house has furniture, antiques, phonographs, paintings, and firearms from as far back as the mid-1800s. The large home was built by Michelle’s father-in-law’s uncle, Nathan. Uncle Nathan is known for ‘haunting’ the house.
In 1993, Michelle and her husband, Shawn, went to visit his father for Christmas. Michelle’s father-in-law worked as a volunteer firefighter, so there was always the chance that he would be called away in an emergency. In the middle of the night, Michelle awoke to the sound of piano music coming from downstairs. She woke up her husband. Shawn said that he could hear the piano music too. Then the music stopped.
They heard footsteps walking across the floor and the carpet, and over to Shawn’s father’s desk. Shawn sat on the edge of the bed, holding his gun, and wondering if he should go see what was going on. At this point, they were worried that someone had broken into the house. The footsteps continued up the stairs and then halted on the landing next to the grandfather clock. Just as suddenly as it had all begun, the strange noises ceased.
The next morning, Shawn asked his father if he had received a fire call late that night. His father said that he had not. Michelle and Shawn told him everything that had happened. That’s when they found out that there hadn’t been a piano in the house for many years. According to Shawn’s father, Uncle Nathan enjoyed playing the piano when he was alive.
Media Announcement:
I recently did an interview with Tim Weisberg of Spooky Southcoast: Paranormal Radio Podcast. We talked about my interest in hauntings, why I write ghost stories, and discussed theories on the paranormal. Be sure to catch the show on SpookySouthcoast.com: Episode 524 – The Ghost Post – Tara Theresa Hill.
Do You Have a Ghost Story?
Send me an email to theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview. I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story!
Want even more Ghost Stories?
Check out The Ghost Post’s YouTube channel for audio recordings of The Ghost Post. It’s perfect for camping out, sleepovers, or anytime you just want to hear a ghost story on the go.
Are you a paranormal writer, artist, or investigator?
Do you have a paranormal-themed business or Facebook group?
Maybe you just can’t get enough of the paranormal and want to connect with other like-minded individuals.
Then check out my new paranormal advertising group, The Paranormal Hotspot: The Market for All Things Paranormal. There is no set promotion day, so you can promote your business, art, or group every day for free. You can also post links to sites where you sell your products or services. Our mission is to help paranormal businesses, artists, writers, and investigators connect with fans and consumers!
Get Your Ghost On!
Check out our CafePress store featuring The Ghost Post’s official mascot, Spook. We’ve got awesome coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more!
Spook – Official Mascot for The Ghost Post – Copyright 2017
Thanks to Jim from Brunswick, Maine for this story!
Losing a loved one is a difficult, but unavoidable part of the human experience. Whether you believe in an afterlife or not, we question where souls go and if there is a continuation of the consciousness after leaving the body. While there is no absolute proof of life after death, many people have experienced strange events where a departed relative or friend contacts them after their passing.
Jim has had multiple experiences of this nature. His grandmother was sick in the hospital. One day, all her pictures fell off the wall and the clocks in the house stopped. Right after this happened, the family received a phone call that Jim’s grandmother had passed away. These circumstances were repeated some years later when the grandmother’s sister died. While Jim was in the room when the first event happened, he was not present for the second one, but heard about it when the family contacted him.
Years later, one of Jim’s cousins died suddenly from a heart attack. He was middle age and the death came as a shock to the family. Jim was sitting in the living room with four of his friends when the phone rang. One of his friends offered to get it for him and put it on speaker. They heard a lot of static as the call connected. Wondering if they had a bad connection, the friend was about to disconnect the call when the static cleared. Jim and all his friends very clearly heard the cousin’s voice come over the line.
“I’m all right,” he said.
Then the line cut out. Jim checked the caller ID, but it hadn’t recorded anything and showed no signs of having received a call at all. This event occurred after Jim had already heard about his cousin’s passing. Hearing his cousin’s voice on the phone made Jim feel better and how the message was delivered matched the cousin’s jokester personality.
Do You Have a Ghost Story?
Send me an email to theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview. I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story!
Want even more Ghost Stories?
Check out The Ghost Post’s YouTube channel for audio recordings of The Ghost Post. It’s perfect for camping out, sleepovers, or anytime you just want to hear a ghost story on the go.
Are you a paranormal writer, artist, or investigator?
Do you have a paranormal-themed business or Facebook group?
Maybe you just can’t get enough of the paranormal and want to connect with other like-minded individuals.
Then check out my new paranormal advertising group, The Paranormal Hotspot: The Market for All Things Paranormal. There is no set promotion day, so you can promote your business, art, or group every day for free. You can also post links to sites where you sell your products or services. Our mission is to help paranormal businesses, artists, writers, and investigators connect with fans and consumers!
Get Your Ghost On!
Check out our CafePress store featuring The Ghost Post’s official mascot, Spook. We’ve got awesome coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more!
I hope that this letter finds you well. This will be the last blog post for the year. Thank you for all your support! I’ve got some more great ghost stories and hauntings to share with you in 2018, so stay tuned. Enjoy the holidays, and I hope the new year brings you much love, good health, and blessings!
Happy Holidays and a Blessed New Year from The Ghost Post!
Best,
Tara Theresa Hill
Guardians Beyond the Grave
Maybe it’s just the time of the year, but I always find my ancestral spirits on my mind more during the fall and winter. I believe that our ancestral spirits both from this lifetime and previous ones are always around, watching over us, and offering help and guidance whenever they can. Over the years, I’ve had a few amazing experiences with the spirits of my maternal grandparents, Grandpa Freddie and Grandma Tessie.
Grandpa Freddie used to watch me after school when I was a little girl. I was over his house almost every day. After my homework was done, we used to sit and read or watch TV together. Once a week, we would feed the birds outside of his house. He would sing to me, cook special meals for me, and watch over me while I played. He was the best grandpa that anyone could ask for. I adored him and was heartbroken when he died.
After graduating college, I got a job teaching high school English. Many people have a difficult first year teaching. In addition to juggling lesson plans and managing a classroom, you’re also dealing with parents and school politics. It’s a challenging, and often thankless profession. Couple these obstacles with a failing institution, and you have the perfect combination for burnout. Within a few weeks, I had a sinking feeling that teaching wasn’t for me. I did my best, but by the end of the first semester, I was let go. I refused to give 90s to the students who didn’t want to work, and that apparently with my struggles as a new teacher, was enough to fire me.
Unfortunately, this was just as the economy crashed. Being new to the workforce, I fell into the category of knowledgeable, but inexperienced. Constantly scouring the internet for opportunities that didn’t exist left me feeling useless. I didn’t have any inclination to do the things that brought me joy, like reading and writing. Eventually, I started to spiral into a deep, dark depression.
Then one night, I had a strange dream. I heard my name being called from my living room. I saw the shadow of a male spirit sitting on the couch. As I approached, the figure turned into my Grandpa Freddie. I remember that he was wearing trousers with a dark blue flannel, V-neck shirt. He even had on a fedora. This is the same kind of outfit that he used to wear when he was alive.
“Grandpa?” I asked in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“Tara, you have to stop crying. Everything is going to be okay, but you have to stop crying so much. It’s upsetting all of us.”
His answer implied that my other relatives in the Spirit World were concerned, as well. I was stunned that they knew about it, but I promised that I would do as he asked. That was all I remembered of the dream, but it gave me hope that things would get better. Within a few weeks, I had started writing, and then I found a part-time office job a couple of months later. It is important to note that my grandparents were children during the Great Depression, so they knew what it was to overcome real struggle.
Grandma Tessie died of a rare form of cancer three years before I was born. My grandfather had little, porcelain bird statues set up around his house that had belonged to Grandma. I used to beg Grandpa Freddie for stories about Grandma Tessie. He would tell me that she had been a deeply loving person who enjoyed nature, singing, reading, and helping others. I always wished that I had had the chance to meet her.
My husband and I had just bought our first home and were having issues with some of the appliances. The seller hadn’t told us that the refrigerator was on its last legs. Fortunately, we discovered this before buying groceries. We ordered a refrigerator that day, but the store said it would take another two weeks for delivery. Between the move itself and this mishap, we had been eating takeout and microwave meals for a while.
My husband and I are generally healthy eaters. I tend to be more diet conscious than he is because my body is sensitive to large amounts of salt or preservatives in food. We were still a week away from getting our refrigerator when my legs swelled up from the knee down. I discovered this at work and didn’t have time to see the doctor until the next day.
By the time I got home, I was panicking about whether I was going to be okay. I sat down on the couch, meaning to rest for just a few minutes before ordering dinner. My husband wasn’t home yet, so I was all alone.
I had just started to doze off, when I felt someone come into the room. A sweet female voice said, “Don’t worry, Tara. Everything’s going to be fine.” I made out the figure of a dark-haired woman wearing a bright yellow dress standing by the couch.
As I looked at the woman, I started to sit up. “Grandma Tessie…” I said, but she was already gone. I don’t know if I entered a semi-trance in my sleep somehow or if I was starting to dream, but she came through to let me know that I was going to be okay.
The times that their spirits appeared to me, I was not consciously asking for help or thinking about my grandparents. Also, even though I had never met my grandmother while she was alive, I still recognized her by the sound of her voice. While I had seen pictures of her before, her voice is what caught my attention.
The Spirit World has a marvelous ability to tap into our world at just the right moment. There is always someone out there guiding and watching over us, even if we don’t realize it. No matter how frightened we may be, we are never alone because love transcends death.
Do You Have a Ghost Story?
Send me an email to theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview. I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story!
Want even more Ghost Stories?
Check out The Ghost Post’s YouTube channel for audio recordings of The Ghost Post. It’s perfect for camping out, sleepovers, or anytime you just want to hear a ghost story on the go.
Are you one of the following: A paranormal writer, artist, or investigator?
Or
Do you have a paranormal-themed business or Facebook group?
Then check out my new paranormal advertising group, The Paranormal Hotspot: The Market for All Things Paranormal. There is no set promotion day, so you can promote your business, art, or group every day for free. You can also post links to sites where you sell your products or services. Our mission is to help paranormal businesses, artists, writers, and investigators connect with fans and consumers!
Get Your Ghost On!
Check out our CafePress store featuring The Ghost Post’s official mascot, Spook. We’ve got awesome coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more!
Jessica met her best friend, Barbara, during their freshman year in college. They lived a couple of rooms down from each other. The two young women only had one class together, but they made efforts to meet up for meals and hang out. They hit it off so well that they decided to dorm with one another the following year.
Jessica was going to school out-of-state. The airfare was too expensive for her to fly home to Florida for just a few days, so she planned to stay in the dorm over Thanksgiving break. She’d see her family for Christmas and the long winter break after classes were over. Even though Jessica knew that she wasn’t going to be the only one staying in the dorm over the holiday, she couldn’t help feeling a bit homesick. When Barbara heard about the plan, she invited Jessica to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with her instead.
Barbara came from a large family. Compared to the apartments that Jessica had grown up in, Barbara’s house was like a palace. Jessica had fully expected to stay in Barbara’s room or to bunk down on the couch, but they actually had a guest bedroom ready for her. Barbara’s family was so warm and welcoming that soon Jessica was feeling right at home, despite still missing her parents.
Thanksgiving Day arrived. Everyone was up early, cooking, and getting the house ready. Barbara cheerfully introduced Jessica to all her relatives. Jessica did her best to try to keep all of their names straight.
At some point during the evening, she noticed a woman wearing a lavender-colored dress sitting in the corner of the room. The woman had short, chestnut-brown hair, dark eyes, and round cheeks. She was smiling and laughing at everyone’s stories. Jessica couldn’t remember if she had met her earlier.
Jessica was about to approach the woman, when Barbara grabbed her by the arm. She and her cousins were going to go roast some marshmallows and wanted to know if Jessica wanted to join them. Jessica nodded and went to get her jacket from the coat closet. When she came back through the living room a moment later, the woman in the lavender dress had vanished. She shrugged, figuring the woman had gotten up in the few seconds that she had been out of the room.
The relatives left at 9:00pm. Then Jessica helped Barbara and her family clean up. Barbara and Jessica stayed up late talking and watching movies. Exhausted, Jessica figured that she would fall right to sleep once she got in bed, but she kept tossing and turning. After an hour of this, she decided she might as well try to do some of the homework that she had been putting off.
Putting on her robe, Jessica grabbed her textbook and went downstairs to the kitchen. Maybe some warm milk would help make her sleepy. She microwaved a mug of milk and then sat down at the kitchen table to do some reading. She had only gotten through a paragraph or two, when she heard humming.
Jessica’s back was to the living room entrance. Turning around quietly, she saw a shadowy figure moving around in the room behind her. Jessica carefully got up and crept over to the alcove. The woman in the lavender dress was walking around the living room and humming quietly to herself.
Suddenly, the woman turned around and padded up the stairs. Jessica followed softly behind her. She watched as the woman walked down the hallway, peeking into each room, and smiling. The woman continued to do this until she reached the room where Jessica was staying. Then she opened the door and went inside.
Jessica stood stock still. She didn’t know what to do. Didn’t the woman know that she was sleeping over? Jessica stood there watching the doorway, but the woman never came back out. Finally, she mustered up enough courage to go and look inside.
The room was empty. Jessica searched every corner. She even checked under the bed. She knew that the woman had never come out of the room. There was nowhere for the woman to hide. She had just disappeared.
At this point, Jessica was pretty sure that she had seen a ghost. She couldn’t sleep in that room knowing that the woman might suddenly show up again. Pulling the blanket and a pillow off the bed, Jessica went downstairs and slept on the living room couch with the covers pulled up over her head.
When Barbara and her parents found Jessica asleep on the couch the next morning, they asked if something was wrong. Jessica told them about the woman she had seen at the party and then again at night after everyone else had gone to bed. Barbara looked over at her parents. She went upstairs and came back down with a photo album. She flipped through a few pages, and then passed the album to Jessica.
“That’s her!” Jessica pointed to the picture of the woman that she had seen last night. She was even wearing the same lavender-colored dress. “Who is she?”
Barbara’s mother was crying at this point. “That’s my sister, Joanne. She died from cancer last year. This was our first Thanksgiving without her. It was always her favorite holiday.”
Barbara’s mother was comforted that her sister’s spirit had still been able to join in the family celebration, even if she hadn’t been able to see her. Everyone figured that Joanne had chosen to appear to Jessica. Since Jessica had never met her, she would be able to convince everyone that Joanne had really been there and was still watching over the family.
Do You Have a Ghost Story?
Send me an email to theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview. I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story!
Want even more Ghost Stories?
Check out The Ghost Post’s YouTube channel for audio recordings of The Ghost Post. It’s perfect for camping out, sleepovers, or anytime you just want to hear a ghost story on the go.
Are you one of the following: A paranormal writer, artist, or investigator?
Or
Do you have a paranormal-themed business or Facebook group?
Then check out my new paranormal advertising group, The Paranormal Hotspot: The Market for All Things Paranormal. There is no set promotion day, so you can promote your business, art, or group every day for free. You can also post links to sites where you sell your products or services. Our mission is to help paranormal businesses, artists, writers, and investigators connect with fans and consumers!
Get Your Ghost On!
Check out our CafePress store featuring The Ghost Post’s official mascot, Spook. We’ve got awesome coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more!
Thanks to Samuel Moralez from Long Island, NY for sharing his story!
Sam grew up in a large Victorian house that used to be a funeral home in the 1930s and 1940s. The two large rooms that had been used for funeral viewings were separated by wooden and glass sliding doors. The property itself was huge, with nine-foot-high lilac bushes surrounding the border and a circular driveway with a big tree in the center.
Sam had a frightening experience when he was a little boy. He had been very sick for a while and his mother had sent his siblings to stay at a friend’s house while he recovered. One night, he woke up to hear a sound coming from the kitchen. He rolled over on his bunk bed. Normally, he could see through the hallway and into the kitchen from his bedroom. Sam expected to see his mother walking about the kitchen, but the whole house was dark.
As Sam continued to stare, he saw a shadowy mass emerge and glide through the kitchen and down the hallway toward his bedroom. The dark form was twelve feet tall and looked like a “blob of twisting, churning oil.” Sam could hear the entity speaking to him as it approached his room, but couldn’t understand what it was saying. It appeared to be speaking in some other language. Eventually, he heard it say, “It’s not your time yet.” Hoping this was some sort of nightmare, Sam pulled the covers over his head. He wanted to call for his mother, but couldn’t seem to make a sound.
The house was quiet. After what seemed like forever, Sam poked his head out to see if whatever it was had disappeared. He gasped, tugging the covers about himself. The shadowy form was still in the room, keeping its silent vigil over him. Too scared to look away, Sam kept watch until the form shrank into the shadows and disappeared.
Thinking that it was safe to come out now, Sam pulled back the covers. That’s when he saw the lights in the driveway. He looked out of the window to see what appeared to be a Spanish soldier riding a white horse. The man seemed lost and confused. When the spirit spied Sam looking at him from the window, he started toward the house. Suddenly the figure grabbed his chest like he was in great pain and faded away.
Do You Have a Ghost Story?
Send me an email to theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview. I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story!
Want even more Ghost Stories?
Check out The Ghost Post’s YouTube channel for audio recordings of The Ghost Post. It’s perfect for camping out, sleepovers, or anytime you just want to hear a ghost story on the go.
Are you one of the following: A paranormal writer, artist, or investigator?
Or
Do you have a paranormal-themed business or Facebook group?
Then check out my new paranormal advertising group, The Paranormal Hotspot: The Market for All Things Paranormal. There is no set promotion day, so you can promote your business, art, or group every day for free. You can also post links to sites where you sell your products or services. Our mission is to help paranormal businesses, artists, writers, and investigators connect with fans and consumers!
Get Your Ghost On!
Check out our CafePress store featuring The Ghost Post’s official mascot, Spook. We’ve got awesome coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more!
I hope this letter finds you well. I will have another new story for The Ghost Post up next week. In the meantime, I thought I would repost one of my favorite Halloween stories with an additional update at the end of the blog. Thank you so much for all your support!
Have a Happy Halloween and a Blessed Samhain!
Tara Theresa Hill
One of my favorite ghost stories is “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving. So, when Mom was approached to do a ritual at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery for a kid’s paranormal television show, I was thrilled to go along. When our car first pulled into the cemetery parking lot, I was astounded by the sheer size of the place. The endless rows of old graves amongst the fallen leaves and stark grey sky were an impressive sight. We were given a brief private tour of the cemetery before leaving to grab some dinner at a nearby diner. As the shadows lengthened, I asked when Mom and Sandy were going to start the circle.
“Oh, that will take place later tonight, once it gets dark,” said Mom.
“What? How long are we going to be there?” I asked.
“All night,” Sandy sighed, sipping her coffee.
“You mean to tell me that we’re going to spend Halloween night in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery?”
“Yes. I thought you knew that,” said Mom, as if walking around a haunted cemetery at night was the most normal thing in the world. “I’m going to do a ritual that climaxes at midnight. We should start wrapping up at about one o’clock in the morning, unless of course the film crew wants to do multiple takes.”
“Terrific…” I mumbled.
Of course, growing up Wiccan, Halloween had always been a bit different in my family. While my mother encouraged me to participate in the secular activities of dressing in costume and going trick-or-treating, it was also a deeply spiritual event. One of my earliest Halloween memories involves sitting around a flickering jack-o’-lantern in our darkened living room listening to my mother tell me about the history of All Hallows Eve. She told me about how the veil between the Spirit World and the Living waxes and wanes throughout the year, becoming thinnest on Halloween Night. Mom raised me not to fear the dead, but to honor our ancestral spirits as they watch over and guide us on our life mission.
So, that’s how I found myself standing in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery at midnight on Halloween Night. While Mom tried to make contact with a trapped spirit, I went wandering off into the cemetery with my friend and coven member, Carrie. I had been instructed to stay out of the way of the film crew. This was before the creation of Smart Phones or Kindles, so I didn’t have much to do to keep myself occupied. I wasn’t interested in the screeching teenagers and it was too dark to read. I wore one of my mother’s heavy, hooded cloaks and had bundled up in multiple layers, so at least I was warm. Carrie and I were standing near a section of graves that were in-between the parking lot and the filming area. I could just make out the cemetery gates and the outlines of a few tombstones.
We had been silent for a few minutes when out of the darkness, there came a low moaning. My spine tingled at the woeful sound. “Do you hear that?” I asked Carrie.
“Uh huh…”
“What do you suppose that is?”
“I don’t know.”
The sound was coming from one of the nearby graves, but it was so dark that we couldn’t be sure which one it was.
“Maybe it’s a sick dog or some other animal,” I ventured.
“I don’t think so,” said Carrie.
My next thought was that it was a sound effect from the film crew. I looked over toward where one of them was standing in the parking lot. He seemed oblivious to the noise. Perhaps someone was playing a trick on us, but we were too far away from the staged area for that to make any sense. The unearthly wailing continued.
“Okay. Whatever it is, I’m leaving,” I said. I struck out into the darkness thinking that whatever lay in front of me was better than staying next to that moaning tombstone. I walked all the way back to where Mom was doing the ritual before I realized that Carrie wasn’t with me. To be fair, it was pitch black and I had sped away, so it was hard to tell.
I made my way back through the cemetery, trying not to trip over any gravestones as I went until I found Carrie again. The tombstone was still moaning.
“You left me with it!” Carrie hissed.
“I’m sorry. I thought that you were following me.”
“No…I’m too scared to move.”
“Well, come on. You can’t hear it once you step a few feet away. Let’s leave whatever it is alone.” I grabbed Carrie’s arm. “Sorry to have disturbed you,” I said to the invisible, but clearly audible spirit. “We’re leaving now. Have a Happy Halloween!” Then I dragged Carrie away as fast as we could go.
On the way home, Mom told us that she hadn’t been able to contact any spirits because of all the noise that the terrified teenagers kept making. The television crew had purposely spooked them to create an artificial atmosphere that wasn’t conducive to speaking with the spirits.
I nodded. “You can say that again. I think they annoyed any ones that were hanging out tonight. Carrie and I heard one ghost groaning. Perhaps, she or he did not like a bunch of noisy people tromping around the cemetery at night.”
“Yes. I wouldn’t have even done the show if I had known that they were going to make a spectacle of it.” Our eyes met in the car’s rearview mirror. “Remember, Tara. Always respect the dead for they are people too.”
Update 2017: One of my recent interviewees told me that the sound that I heard in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery might have been the Weeping Woman. She said that the Weeping Woman is a spirit who haunts the cemetery. Some people hear her moaning or wailing. She is supposed to be connected to a statue depicting a crying woman that is in the cemetery. I do not recall if I was near a statue because it was too dark to see, but some versions of the legend claim that she walks the cemetery at night. The statue is called the Bronze Lady and is located across from the tomb of General Samuel Thomas.
Do You Have a Ghost Story?
Send me an email to theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview. I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story!
Want even more Ghost Stories?
I have launched a ghost story magazine via Patreon called The Spirit Hour. For a dollar a month, you get complete access to all the stories in the ghost story magazine, so that you can read them whenever you want. A new ghost story will be posted once a month.
Also, check out The Ghost Post’s YouTube channel for audio recordings of The Ghost Post. It’s perfect for camping out, sleepovers, or anytime you just want to hear a ghost story on the go.
Are you one of the following: A paranormal writer, artist, or investigator?
Or
Do you have a paranormal-themed business or Facebook group?
Then check out my new paranormal advertising group, The Paranormal Hotspot: The Market for All Things Paranormal. There is no set promotion day, so you can promote your business, art, or group every day for free. You can also post links to sites where you sell your products or services. Our mission is to help paranormal businesses, artists, writers, and investigators connect with fans and consumers!
Get Your Ghost On!
Check out our CafePress store featuring The Ghost Post’s official mascot, Spook. We’ve got awesome coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more!
Thanks to Sandra from Rhode Island for this story!
Sandra often had this feeling that she was being watched by someone in her house. She was divorced and lived alone with her two children. Odd things would happen that made her feel that there was a presence around even when she couldn’t see anyone. Sandra didn’t mind too much until the spirit began making things disappear and reappear about the house.
One day when her kids were still young enough to need a babysitter, she asked their father to watch them so that she could go to a family event. He agreed to do it, but asked if she could order a Cable special for him that he really wanted to see that was scheduled for that day. She agreed to do it, if he would watch the kids. Being a very organized person, Sandra put the money aside in an envelope on her dresser.
Later, Sandra discovered that the money was missing. Whoever had taken it, had left the empty envelope on her dresser. Her son was eight years old and her daughter was five. She knew that they hadn’t taken the money, the house had not been broken into, and there was no one else home. Sandra searched all over, but couldn’t find the money anywhere. Giving up for the moment, she went out to run some errands. After she came back, she found the money sitting folded on top of her bookcase. She would have never left money around the house in that manner.
The disappearing acts became a regular occurrence. Sometimes the thing that was moved was harmless and more annoying than anything else. Sandra would be making sandwiches for her kids and then notice that the lid to the peanut butter or jelly jar had gone missing. She would check the kitchen for it, only for the lid to reappear later when she least expected it, usually in a place that she had already searched.
Once, the unseen hand took something that was more significant. Her son made a ceramic Christmas tree for her at school. She always kept it on top of her dresser during the holidays. One day, she woke up to find it missing. The kids were visiting their dad for the weekend and she knew that they hadn’t moved it. Sandra pulled apart the room searching for the little tree, but it was like it had just disappeared. Standing up, she felt like there was someone else in the room with her, watching her every move. Sandra decided to try to communicate with the spirit.
“I don’t know who you are, how you do what you do, or why you do these things. My son made me that tree. Please bring it back.”
Nothing happened, but Sandra felt like someone was staring right at her. She came home after a long day at work to find the tree under her bed. The amazing thing was that it wasn’t broken or chipped in any way, even though she had hardwood floors in her bedroom. It was like the piece had been hidden there. Sandra reasoned that had it fallen off her dresser, it would have suffered some sort of damage.
Another strange event happened when Sandra had company over. She and a friend were sitting together having coffee when suddenly all the wind chimes in the house started ringing. All the windows were closed and there was no wind or draft inside of the house that could have caused this. The ringing started in her bedroom and ended in the parlor as if someone had touched all the wind chimes as they walked through the rooms.
The presence remained invisible for most of the time, although Sandra did see a shadowy figure once. She felt like it had a masculine energy. The person was leaning with a hand on the door jamb and one hand on his hip. The energy that he gave off while not friendly, wasn’t harmful either. Sandra’s son also said that he often felt something staring at him when he was in his bedroom. He would also come in to find his bed messed up, but knew from the way the blankets were disturbed that it was not the cats.
MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT:
Big news! I recently did an interview with Jacquetta Szathmari and Katie Kazimir on their podcast, Hey You Know It. I had a great time talking about ghosts, the paranormal, and sharing some of my favorite ghostly encounters. Listen to the podcast for free here: A Reluctant Happy Medium.
Do You Have a Ghost Story?
Send me an email to theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview. I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story!
Want even more Ghost Stories?
I have launched a ghost story magazine via Patreon called The Spirit Hour. For a dollar a month, you get complete access to all the stories in the ghost story magazine, so that you can read them whenever you want. A new ghost story will be posted once a month.
Also, check out The Ghost Post’s YouTube channel for audio recordings of The Ghost Post. It’s perfect for camping out, sleepovers, or anytime you just want to hear a ghost story on the go.
Are you one of the following: A paranormal writer, artist, or investigator?
Or
Do you have a paranormal-themed business or Facebook group?
Then check out my new paranormal advertising group, The Paranormal Hotspot: The Market for All Things Paranormal. There is no set promotion day, so you can promote your business, art, or group every day for free. You can also post links to sites where you sell your products or services. Our mission is to help paranormal businesses, artists, writers, and investigators connect with fans and consumers!
Get Your Ghost On!
Check out our CafePress store featuring The Ghost Post’s official mascot, Spook. We’ve got awesome coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more!
The Ghost Post 