haunted house

Living with Spirits

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ 6 Comments

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. 

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

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!

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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 of The Ghost Post
Spook – Artist Credit – Mara Cordova

 

 

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The Haunted House Experiment

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to Skip Gibson for sharing his story! Skip is a paranormal investigator and has worked with The Society for Psychical Research on various cases. This story is about Skip’s experiences while investigating the historic Bolton Mansion in Levittown, Pennsylvania.  

When Skip was taking a psychology class in college, one of the assignments was to come up with an original experiment.  He decided to study people’s reactions when they stayed overnight in an allegedly haunted house.  He chose the Bolton Mansion, a historical house in his town that has a reputation of being haunted.  Built in 1687, the Bolton Mansion has twenty-seven rooms and was home to the highly respected Pemberton family for many generations.

By the time Skip was to conduct his experiment in 1971, the house had been vandalized and needed extensive repairs.  For safety precautions, the participants had to sign waivers and emergency personnel had to be kept on standby.  Skip documented reactions of fifty-six believers and non-believers, ranging from 18-70 years old.  The whole project lasted several months and included the assistance of staff from Drexel, Temple, Princeton, and Pennsylvania University, as a well as a grant from the psychical research society.

The locals knew about some of the ghost stories surrounding the Bolton Mansion.  Some have heard and seen the spirit of a black woman calling for help from one of the windows.  There is also the story of the ghost of a woman who is constantly searching for a lost child who disappeared while wandering the grounds.  The night that they did the experiment, no one had any paranormal experiences, although Skip did notice something interesting.  The people who believed in ghosts were less afraid than those who stated that they did not believe in the paranormal.

After the initial experiment was complete, Skip and the various university staff continued to study the house.  They wanted to see if they could capture anything on film.  They did an initial walk-through of the premises to make sure that they could map out how they would proceed through the house.  This was done so that they would never enter the same room twice.  They had a special kind of film back then that was revolutionary for the time.  It would pick up heat, electrical charges, and radioactive energy.  Since the film was highly sensitive, they sealed the house up for thirty days before filming to make sure that the rooms had had a chance to cool down.  They took three shots of each room.

Some of the pictures came back showing dry rot in the wood.  Others showed funny shapes like a glowing, white triangle with some sort of tail.  They did manage to catch fully developed apparitions on the second and third floors of the house.  In one of the rooms on the third floor, they captured an image of a man wearing a civil war uniform, standing with his back to the camera.  Then another photo revealed the figure of a woman holding up her skirts as she walked up the stairs.  None of these apparitions were visible at the time that the pictures were taken.

There is some historical information that supports the two figures that appeared in these pictures.  A family diary kept in the Bucks County Courthouse in Doylestown, PA later revealed that there had been two suicides in the house.  One of the Pemberton sons who had fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War had returned home to ask forgiveness of his family.  When his request was refused, he hung himself from the landing on the third floor.  His body had been discovered by a young female servant.  Three weeks later, the same servant shot herself.  It was rumored that she and the son had been in love with one another.  Suicide was considered both a sin and a scandal at the time and public knowledge of this would have been suppressed.  At the time that the pictures were taken, neither Skip, nor the rest of the university staff knew about the events that had occurred in the house.

Sources:

http://www.boltonmansion.org/history-of-the-pemberton-family.html

http://www.boltonmansion.org/history-of-the-mansion.html

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. 

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

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!

Spook Giant Coffee Mug
Spook – Coffee Mug – Copyright 2017

 

 

Calling on The Angels

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ Leave a comment

Thank you to Sandra for this story!  If you would like to read more about Sandra’s paranormal and spiritual experiences, please see Invisible Forces. 

Sandra is a Reiki Master/Teacher in Canada.  She does Reiki sessions, psychic readings, and creates beautiful jewelry that is specially designed for spiritual healing.  One time, she got a call from a client who was having trouble and suspected that there was an unhappy spirit residing in the house.  While Sandra doesn’t normally work with spirits, she will do a house cleansing if the occasion calls for one.  Sandra can make contact with spirits through deep meditation and she works to help them resolve any issues that are holding them from crossing over.

When Sandra arrived at the client’s house, she sensed a darkness hanging over the rooms, making everything seem drab and muted.  As she went through the place, she encountered some trapped souls who were happy to be guided into the light.  Still, there was something hiding in the house and Sandra focused on preparing herself for the eventual meeting. Everything went smoothly until she entered the kitchen.

The ghost of an old Italian woman with curly hair appeared to Sandra.  The spirit had a grey color that matched the heavy energy that had infused itself into the home.  When Sandra asked her to leave, the angry spirit tried to scare her away.  Knowing better and refusing to be afraid, Sandra opened up the pathway to the light, but the old woman refused to go.

Sandra asked the woman why she remained here.  The woman answered that she had been unpleasant during life and feared that she was going to be judged and sent to Hell if she crossed over.  Over time, her spirit had become attached to the furniture in the house and now she didn’t know how to separate herself from it.

Sandra nodded, many spirits feared punishment after death.  She explained to the female spirit that religion is a human-made construct.  There was no judgement to be met in the afterlife.  She said that the woman would be met with unconditional love and understanding, and that she would be healed of the pain that she had carried with her into the afterlife.  The ghost was still too frightened to move on.

At this point, Sandra felt that it was time to call for assistance.  She has a strong bond with Archangel Raphael and often works with the archangel to help trapped souls find release.  In her mind, Sandra saw a brilliant emerald light that signified Archangel Raphael’s arrival.  He came over and embraced the spirit of the old woman, covering her with his shining, deep green wings.  As he did so, the grey fell from her like an old, discarded cloak leaving the woman’s soul cleansed and glowing pure white.  Then Archangel Raphael took the rejuvenated soul’s hand and helped her crossover into the Spirit World.  This was an amazing moment for Sandra because while she works with the angels regularly, it is a rare occurrence for her to see one.

The client, who was accompanying Sandra around the house during the cleansing, suddenly burst into tears saying, “I have the feeling that I have to say that I am sorry.”  This was the spirit’s way of sending the message that she was sorry for everything that she had done and for creating a disturbance in the person’s home.  Once the spirit had moved on and Sandra had completed cleansing the house, the heavy atmosphere was dispelled, and the home was peaceful and happy once more.

If you are interested in contacting Sandra for spiritual work, including Reiki sessions and other types of psychic readings, please check out her website at Serafina Fae. 

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 new ghost story magazine via Patreon called The Spirit Hour.  I’ll be uploading a new ghost story or the next part of a continuing story every week.  For only one dollar a month, you get complete access to all the stories that I post on Patreon. 

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. 

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

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!

In celebration of The Ghost Post’s 1 Year Anniversary, I have launched a CafePress store featuring The Ghost Post’s official new mascot, Spook.  We’ve got awesome coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more!

White Spook T-Shirt
Spook Logo, White T-Shirt, Copyright 2017

The Hidden Entity, Part 2

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ 4 Comments

Thanks to Gafyn from Swansea, Wales for this story!  You can also read Gafyn’s other stories: Adventures with Ghosts, Haunted Roads in South Wales, and The Hidden Entity Part 1.

Thinking that the incident with whatever negative energy that was in the house was over, Gafyn and Angela brought the kids back home.  A few days later, the youngest child was doing a craft while watching T.V. when suddenly the sellotape went missing.  The family searched all over the living room, only for the tape to mysteriously turn up in the refrigerator hours later.

As if this wasn’t weird enough, other more disconcerting things started to occur.  Money went missing and items were constantly found broken or knocked to the floor.  When the family started arguing over these events, Gafyn responded that “It” wanted them to turn against each other.  A small ornament whizzed through the air missing his head by a millimeter.

Rattled, they called their friends again.  They decided to do an investigation and a house cleansing to get whatever this was out of the house.  Doors were constantly opening on their own.  Something was banging around in the attic.  It was done playing its cruel game of hide and seek.  This thing wanted them to know it was there and that it wasn’t leaving.

The investigation took place while the kids were in school.  Gafyn and his friends went into the back room.  Gafyn’s friend, Colin, began by saying, “Whatever you are, you will eventually have to leave.”  Right after he said this, some invisible force picked him up and threw him aside.  Even though they were terrified, the group knew that they still had to confront this negative force.  Whatever it was, left the bedroom and proceeded to follow them about the house.  The extreme rage and negativity emanating from this being only subsided enough to give it a chance to replenish its energy.

It was clear that they weren’t going to be able to stay there, so Angela started packing while Gafyn and their friends continued the investigation.  The phone rang.  When Angela went to answer it, there was a high-pitched ringing so that neither her or the caller could hear each other.  It turned out that it was her mother calling to tell them to leave the house and to come and stay with her until they could find another place to live.

Suddenly, Gafyn felt like he was about to have a headache.  He remembered being held up by his friends, his partner crying and shouting, “Leave him alone!” but she wasn’t actually yelling at him.  Afterward, he was told that he started growling at Angela and his friends to “Get out.”

The next thing Gafyn knew, they were at Angela’s mother’s house.  He didn’t remember what had happened after his head had started to hurt and his friends had grabbed him by the arms.  They decided to move out of that house as fast as possible.  The children never went back.  They stayed with Angela’s mom while Gafyn, Angela, and their friends got the rest of their belongings.  Even then, the entity kept up its presence, half opening and closing the doors to make sure they knew that it didn’t want them there.  Gafyn said his view of the paranormal changed drastically after this experience.

Dear Readers,

The Ghost Post will be taking a break next week for the July 4th weekend. However, there will be a ghost story on The Spirit Hour on Friday, July 7th. The Ghost Post will resume posting on Monday, July 10th!

I wish everyone a safe and happy July 4th!

Best,

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?

I have launched a new ghost story magazine via Patreon called The Spirit Hour.  I’ll be uploading a new ghost story or the next part of a continuing story every week.  For only one dollar a month, you get complete access to all the stories that I post on Patreon. 

Also, check out The Ghost Post’s new 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. 

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

Get Your Ghost On!

In celebration of The Ghost Post’s 1 Year Anniversary, I have launched a Café Press store featuring The Ghost Post’s official new mascot, Spook.  We’ve got awesome coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more!

 

Spook Giant Coffee Mug
Spook – Coffee Mug – Copyright 2017

 

The Hidden Entity, Part 1

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ 1 Comment

Thanks to Gafyn from Swansea, Wales for this story!  You can also read Gafyn’s other stories, Adventures with Ghosts and Haunted Roads in South Wales. 

Gafyn is an experienced Medium.  At the time this story took place, he had been working in the paranormal field for many years.  The trouble started when Gafyn and his partner, Angela, rented this big, beautiful house.  It was everything that they had ever wanted.  Gafyn was most interested in the garden and the garage, so he didn’t spend much time in the house before deciding to rent it.  Later, when they were unpacking, Gafyn kept getting the feeling that he was being watched.  Gafyn dismissed this because it didn’t feel particularly menacing and he felt that he would be better able to tune into whatever it was after they were finished settling in.

Ten days passed before the presence decided to make contact.  One night, after the kids were in bed, Gafyn and Angela were sitting on the couch talking and enjoying their new home.  As they turned to kiss, one of the ornaments suddenly fell off the T.V. and broke.  Despite the event, the atmosphere in the room didn’t feel foreboding.  They cleaned up the mess and sat back down, only to hear the pictures shifting.  When they turned back around, all the pictures that lined the staircase were slanted.  These were the first signs of activity.

At around 3:20am that night, Angela woke up screaming from a horrible nightmare.  As Gafyn was trying to comfort her, he heard one of the kid’s bedroom doors close.  The door was not slammed, but it was loud enough to make him decide to go check on the kids.  He looked in on them, only to find that everyone was still sleeping.  Afterward, he went back to bed.  Both he and Angela agreed that while strange things kept happening in the house, neither of them could sense anything.

The next day, Gafyn asked his friends for advice.  They set up a meeting time for 6:30pm that night.  He and his partner made sure that the kids were out of the house for this.  As they entered the house, they were met with a blast of negative energy that made the place feel unnaturally cold.  Whatever had been hiding before was definitely making its presence known now.  Despite their best efforts to warm things up, the place remained ice cold.

As Gafyn was trying to get his thoughts together for what lay ahead, Angela pointed out the window into the garden, and said that she just saw someone in their garage.  Sure enough, their garage door was open, even though Gafyn had locked it earlier.  Leaving Angela safe in the house as a lookout, Gafyn went to go check out the situation in the garden.  As he approached, he heard what sounded like someone picking up one of his big gardening tools.  Before the person could come out, Gafyn kicked the door shut and locked them in.  The lock had not been cut or damaged at all despite someone managing to get inside the garage.  Then he told Angela to call the police.

The police arrived, only to check out the garage to find it empty.  Once back inside, the officers asked, “Who is upstairs?”  When Gafyn replied that he and his partner were the only ones that were home, the police responded that they had seen the upstairs light go on when they were in the garden, so they went to check the back bedroom.  They came back down a few minutes later, commenting on the frigid temperature in the house.  After making sure that everything was secure, the officers took their leave as Gafyn’s friends arrived.  The cops agreed that there was something off about the house and were glad that the group was going to discuss what could be done.

The friends sat down to tea and talked over what was going on in the house.  During this time, the atmosphere became pleasant again and stayed that way for the next couple of days.  One of their neighbors came over and told them about the history of the home.  The prior residents had not had any issues.  However, the man who lived there before them had ended up in a psychiatry ward after jumping out one of the back windows.

Stayed Tuned for Part 2 Next Week!

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?

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

Also, check out The Ghost Post’s new 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. 

Get Your Ghost On!

In celebration of The Ghost Post’s 1 Year Anniversary, I have launched a Café Press store featuring The Ghost Post’s official new mascot, Spook.  We’ve got awesome coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more!

Spook Giant Coffee Mug
Spook – Coffee Mug – Copyright 2017

 

 

The Banishing

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ Leave a comment

While this story is my own, I have changed the names of those involved to protect their privacy.

Growing up with Wiccan high priestess, Lady Rhea, for a mother made for an interesting time.  Aside from glittering Enchanted Candles, crafting perfumes, and giving clients psychic advice, my mother occasionally performed banishing rituals to remove negative energies from close friends’ houses.  This was much different from the spiritual cleansings that she did to purify a space.  These spells involved deeper, older magick.  For those of you who don’t know, Wiccans and Pagans often spell magick with a “k” to differentiate from the stage “magic” that magicians use as entertainment.

When I was a teenager, a close family friend of ours, started experiencing a lot of problems.  Anne had a big house with several people living there.  Over a few months, her family experienced a slew of bad luck with illnesses, financial setbacks, and a rise in heated arguments.  While various circumstances could lead to this happening, Anne felt that something in the house was “off,” so she asked for my mother to give her a reading to see what was going on.

Mom shuffled her cards and turned them over.  Taking a final drag of her cigarette, she shook her head.  “Oh, no…This is not good.”

“What is it?” asked Anne.

Mom turned over more cards.  “What I’m going to say might sound ridiculous, but I need you to listen to me.”  Anne nodded.  My mom paused before continuing, “The cards indicate that there is something inside of the house that is causing the problem.  It’s a negative entity of some sort.”

Anne’s adult son, Peter, who was also seated at the table turned his head at this news.  He said that he had recently woke up and saw an apparition of a bat-like creature with a human face hovering over his bed.  He hadn’t mentioned it before because he thought it was just a nightmare.  Mom looked back at the card reading.  She turned to Anne’s son.

“Can I see your room?”

He nodded.  Even I tagged along upstairs.  After hearing Peter’s story, I didn’t want to be left alone.  Mom entered the room.  After a minute or two, she nodded.  “Yes.  Whatever it is, it’s upstairs and it generally stays in this room.”

We went back downstairs.

“What can we do?” asked Anne as she made more coffee.

“You can light some white candles and incense to help cleanse the space, but ultimately, I’ll have to do a banishing spell for you,” said my mother.

I almost choked on my soda.  Mom always prescribed candles, prayers, incense, that sort of thing.  She only spoke about conducting rituals for serious problems.

“Great,” said Peter.  “I’m staying downstairs on the couch until this thing is gone.”

After Peter went to hang out with some friends, Mom asked Anne about the history of the house.  A large, three-story, white, Victorian house, it was the kind that you see iced with snow on picturesque Christmas cards.  The house had been remodeled in the years following an older relative’s death.  Mom asked if there were any strange events that had happened in the house.  Anne said that there was one.

The last owner of the house had met a tragic end.  Two hours before his daughter’s wedding, he had excused himself saying that he would be right back.  While everyone was in the house getting ready, he left the car engine running and sealed himself inside the vehicle with the windows shut.  Without any warning to his friends or family, he had committed suicide on the day that his daughter was to be married.

“Why’d you even buy the house?” I asked, after Anne was done telling the story.  I was about fifteen then.

“TARA!” Mom glared at me.

Anne laughed.  “It’s okay, Rhea,” she said.  “We didn’t find out until years after we bought the house.  Some neighbors told us.”

Later on, I shivered as we got into the car.  Even though I had been over Anne’s house hundreds of times, I was afraid that the ghost of the dead man was going to jump out at us in the driveway.

“Could Anne’s neighbors have made up that story?” I asked.

“Perhaps,” said Mom, “But I don’t think so.  That negative spirit has caused trouble before.”

“What are we going to do?”

“It’s okay,” said Mom.  “We’re going to get rid of it.”

“How?”

“You’ll see.”

The first thing Mom did was call our coven members.  She told them that she needed their help doing a special favor for a dear friend of hers.  They all knew about Anne and were happy to help.  I had already been initiated and since we needed as many people as possible, Mom decided to bring me along.

A few days later, our coven met at Anne’s house.  We went upstairs to the second floor where all of the bedrooms were located.  My mother turned off the lights and then lit some candles.  She and her partner cast circle to help protect us during the ritual.  Then we all started running clockwise to create a cone of power while chanting a Wiccan banishing spell that is sacred to my mother’s coven.  As we did this, we were running past the bedroom doors which were all standing wide open.

At one point as I was running past Peter’s room, I saw a pale face glaring back at us from the dark.  The apparition was about three or four feet off of the floor.  The face glowed white and had three dark spaces where the eyes and mouth should be.  I didn’t dare break the chain and by the time that I had come around again, the thing was gone.  After the ritual was done, I mentioned the incident to my mother.  One of my older friends who was also in the coven turned to me.

“You saw it too?”

In addition to the banishing spell, we also said prayers that night to help the previous owner’s spirit move on to the light.  After the ritual, everyone was much more at peace in the house and Anne’s family life returned to normal.

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! 

If you enjoyed this article and would be interested in supporting my work, please check out my Patreon page. 

When Strange Winds Blow

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to Amy from West Virginia for this story!

Amy grew up with her grandparents in an old coal mining town.  Her grandfather built the house with his own hands using leftover wood from the church.  Amy’s grandfather passed away before she was born, but she heard plenty of stories about him.  A coal miner, he had also been a heavy smoker and had a reputation for being a curmudgeon.  Amy never felt her grandfather’s presence in the house while growing up, nor did she experience anything paranormal or out of the ordinary.

However, something strange did happen on the day of her grandfather’s death.  Unknown to Amy’s grandmother at the time, he had been crushed between two mining machines.  It was a terrible accident.

Amy’s grandmother was home alone when suddenly the back door flew open.  The gust of wind tore the curtains down in the living room.  When it reached the other side of the house, the front door opened inward, as if someone had pulled it open from the inside.  Then the wind exited the house and everything was still again.  Later, Amy’s grandmother discovered that this incident had occurred at the time of her husband’s death.

Amy still lives in her childhood home.  Things were fine until she did some major remodeling to modernize the place.  Every so often, a great wind blows through the house.  She has checked it out and there are no sources for these drafts.  She has also occasionally seen a shadow.  She is unsure whether the apparition’s presence makes her feel uncomfortable because of a vibe that it is giving off or if it is because of the background knowledge that she has about her grandfather.  Both Amy and her husband have sensed the spirit.  Sometimes the wind leaves the scent of tobacco in its wake, but no one in the house smokes.

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! 

If you enjoyed this article and would be interested in supporting my work, please check out my Patreon page. 

The House Next Door

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to Stacia from Pennsylvania for sharing this story with me!

Stacia comes from a psychically gifted family.  They always knew that the house next door was haunted.  Former occupants had suffered from drug abuse and suicide, among other trials.  After it was abandoned, Stacia and her family would sit on their front porch and listen to the echo of the doors banging opened and closed throughout the empty house.  Their dogs refused to go anywhere near it and growling could be heard coming from inside the house.  Despite these occurrences, Stacia’s family bought the place so that they could knock it down and extend their property.

After the house had been stripped, Stacia and her three siblings went into the front room to see if they could make contact with whomever was in the house.  Standing shoulder to shoulder, they took each other’s hands.  Almost immediately, the closet doors started repeatedly slamming open and shut.  It was then that they knew that they weren’t dealing with a trapped or sad ghost, but some sort of dark presence.  They quickly exited the house.

Sometime later, Stacia returned with one of her sisters.  They brought along a cat ball toy that had a little bell inside of it to see if they could get the spirit to interact with them.  Stacia took the ball and threw it at the top of the stairs.  The laws of physics should have caused it to fall down and roll around.  Instead, the ball looked as if it was caught in mid-air by something unseen and then it dropped straight down to the ground without any movement at all.  Realizing that they must have found the entity’s location, they went upstairs to investigate.  Once again, the upstairs closet door began rapidly opening and closing of its own volition.  Stacia and her sister ran out of the house.

Stacia was in the house one more time before it was torn down.  She and her sister went down into the basement to start the demolition.  Lying on the floor was an old Maxwell House coffee can that had been cut out on both ends so that you could actually see through it.  Picking up a hammer, they started taking down a wall when a cat-like shriek sounded from their right hand side, followed by punching and banging to their left.  Whipping around, they saw the coffee can rolling along the floor by itself, as if it was being pushed by an invisible hand.

After the house was taken down, Stacia and her family had the ground blessed in an attempt to calm any remaining restless spirits.  Whatever was in the house has apparently moved into the tree that still stands on the former house’s site.  Sometimes at night, if Stacia goes too close to the tree, it will come out and chase her back to her house.  Stacia told me this story while standing by what she calls “the damn tree.”

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! 

If you enjoyed this article and would be interested in supporting my work, please check out my Patreon page. 

Ghostly Vibrations: A Change in Hauntings

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to Paula from Nassau County, Long Island for this story!

Paula grew up in an old farmhouse that was built in the 1900s.  It has four floors including a basement, the first and second floor, and an attic.  Paula is more sensitive to psychic impressions than most of her family members.  She could always tell that her house was haunted.

Most of the paranormal activity happened on the first floor when there wasn’t anyone else down there.  Paula would hear chairs move, as if someone had just scraped them along the floor to get up.  Or there would be the vibrations of footsteps walking along the hallway between the main hall and the kitchen.  Sitting in her room and hearing these noises coming from downstairs, Paula would think, “As long as whatever it is doesn’t come upstairs, I’m okay.”

Some of the sounds were so commonplace that they literally became a part of the background noise of the house.  She’d hear dishes rattling in the cupboards and chalk it up to “old house sounds.”  It was only as she got older and started talking to other people about this, that Paula discovered that those things generally don’t happen in houses.

The house has a tragic past that the residents are familiar with.  Somewhere between 1915 and 1920, a young woman committed suicide in the master bedroom.  When Paula was growing up, her family did some remodeling of the house and found a box of love letters and old-fashioned clothes from 1906.  Apparently, the woman was unhappy in her marriage and had possibly planned to run away, but never found the opportunity to do so.

Another sad event took place in the house in the late 1990s.  A young man died in the basement from complications related to alcohol poisoning.  Paula states that up until this moment, the ghostly activities in the house were almost peaceful or non-intrusive in nature.  After the sudden death, odd things started happening in the house.

There is an apartment in the basement that family members use on and off.  Paula’s brother, Max, and his girlfriend, Michelle, were living there with their baby girl for a while.  Electronics would behave abnormally.  Sometimes, the ceiling fan would turn itself on and spin much faster than it was supposed to on the normal setting.

One evening, Max was in the shower and Michelle was lying down in bed.  Someone called out to her.  Thinking it was Max trying to get her attention, Michelle sat up in bed.  As she did so, she both heard and saw the light switch turn itself off.  Freaked out, she went and asked Max why he had played that trick on her, but he was still in the shower and there was no one else in the basement with them.

About a month later, Michelle was asleep in the basement apartment.  Max was upstairs, keeping watch over their child through the baby monitor.  Suddenly, he saw a pair of legs kicking as if someone was in distress.  He hurried downstairs to find that Michelle was completely fine.  He roused her, told her what he saw, and they both went upstairs to check the baby monitor.

Staring at the screen, they watched something invisible move on the bed.  Then a brilliant, zigzagging light started zooming around the room.  Fearful that whatever that was might mean the baby harm, Michelle went and got their daughter and took her back upstairs with them.  They have felt an uncomfortable energy in that apartment ever since.  Even the family dogs absolutely refuse to go down into the basement.

Paula definitely believes that there is more than one energy in the house now.  The change in the ways the hauntings demonstrated themselves makes me think that the first one that she grew up with is more of a residual haunting.  The second one with the electronics turning themselves on and off and the partial human-like apparition followed by a fast moving light, sounds more like an active haunting.  What do you think?  Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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! 

If you enjoyed this article and would be interested in supporting my work, please check out my Patreon page. 

The Girl in the Corner

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ 5 Comments

Thanks to Stephanie and her sister, Liz, for this story!

One night, Stephanie woke up to see a little girl sitting by her closet door.  The apparition had straight black hair with one wisp covering part of her face.  She wore a homemade cotton dress and looked to be about seven years old.  The ghost girl sat staring motionless and silent in the corner of the room.  Figuring that she was dreaming, Stephanie turned over and went back to sleep.

When she was fifteen, Stephanie moved into another room in the house and her younger sister, Liz, took her old room.  Liz was about eight or nine years old then.  Stephanie didn’t say anything about the girl in the room because she thought it was just a strange reoccurring dream and didn’t want to frighten her sister over something silly.

Many years later when they were both adults, the two sisters were talking and Stephanie happened to mention the odd dreams that she used to have as a kid.  Liz turned to her sister.

“You mean you saw her too?”

No one knows who the little ghost girl is or where she came from.  She always appears in the same corner.  To the family’s knowledge, she has not shown up in any other room in the house. Perhaps she is a recording that is attached to that one area since Stephanie’s room is a part of the original building.  Or, maybe that is where she is able to draw the most energy to manifest.  One would hope that her spirit is not still trapped there alone, after all of these years.