Real? Fake? Who knows. There's an awful lot of evidence out there for the existence of ghosts, but there's also an awful lot of evidence that dispells the proof. So, who knows.

Anyway, here is a collection of random ghost spottings and encounters from people I know. They swear that the accounts are true, but even if they aren't, they make for a heck of a story. Either that, or I know a lot of really strange people.

As for me, I don't know -- I just enjoy researching and studying ghost-related phenomenon, and this page spawned out of that interest.

Disclaimer: Just so I don't get sued by some person that gets nightmares from reading these or a freak heart attack; BEWARE!!!!!!! Ghost stories can freak you out if you read em' at 3 in the morning and have spooky music on and are watching The Exorcist. Oh and if you read em in a cemetery to a skeleton or something. OOOOOOOooooohhhhhooooooooooo......

Enjoy!!!

I used to live in a house were a man had shot himself, but we didnt know about it until we had moved out. One night we had guests staying over and it was the middle of the night and Iwoke up for whatever reason. The way the house was set up was that the upper floor was open with a balcony, so you could look right down on the whole living room. I looked down and there was a guy sitting in one of the chairs in the living room! I knew it wasn't any of the guests because there were only two and I knew that it wasn't them; because everyone was asleep.

Here's another one that happened at that same house. I was out in the garage, which had a loft in it. I was swatting flies on a window up there (for lack of something better to do) with a normal fly swatter, and all of the sudden the whole thing shattered and sliced my hand wide open...

At another place we lived we had a barn and I had a workshop in it; so and was out there a lot. I started hearing loud thumping noises and a lot of banging around up in the loft which totally freaked me out, but I never did get up the courage to go up there and see what it was.

I was hanging pictures on my wall with thumbtacks and just as soon as I had hung this one picture, I stepped back to see if it was straight and the thumbtack flew out of the wall. It came at me, pointing at my face, so and I screamed

You know what they say about doorways? I heard somewhere that if theres a hallway and theres two doors exactly across from each other they are gates to the other world. Well, theres a mini-hallway between mine and my sister's old room and our doors are exactly opposite. One night, my Sister said that once she saw a dark shadow figure entering my room. She thought it was me, but she went to look in my room, I was sleeping and wearing white, not black. Sometimes I think I'm hearing strange things in my house like weird screams and scratching noises.

My family and I were on vacation and we went to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado -- the hotel where "The Shining" was written. We went on the ghost story tour, which is where they take you around all the floors, telling the guests all the creepy stories about the supposed hauntings. Supposedly the higher you went (the higher the floor in the building), the more haunted the floor was. When we got to the top, we went to the end of the hallway and everyone cleared out the floor. My Mom leaned against the wall to take a picture of this, but as she was leaning against the wall, my brother and I both saw this flash of light by her camera and we asked her about it. She confirmed that the camera had not yet been turned on and that the flash was not attached, but my brother and I did both agree that the flash of light we saw looked like a floating, severed head.

Hey y'all! Sorry been so hush-hush lately, but been purty busy, and last weekend I got to do an overnight investigation of Louisville's legendarily haunted Waverly Hills Sanatorium... ooooOOOOoooo...

---(Things may get a bit graphic here, I apologize fer any "ickiness" you may feel)---

Okay, Waverly Sanatorium was a TB hospital in the 20s, where it was literally overflowing with patients; Louisville was the hardest-hit area in the US with TB, and hit **HARD**. I can't remember the exact amount but I believe a couple of hundred thousand people died in there from TB (they said the Morgue workers in the basement were being brought dead bodies faster than they could "dispose" of them).

Then some years after the horrific TB spell, it was used as an asylum. Eventually the place became vacant, no one used it for anything, and it fell into terrible conditions. However, there has been MUCH work done on it, and they are undertakin' an extensive renovation to make Waverly a center for paranormal research.

So anyway, there are "regular tours" offered of the place, but this past weekend was a 1-time deal; this was the site of the 2004 Mid-South Paranormal Convention, complete with an overnight investigation into Waverly (as opposed to 2 hours), and an overnight investigation from 11-7 was offered.

So Sat. evenin' I'm on my way at about 6 p.m....listenin' to "The Nightmare Before Christmas"'s "This Is Halloween" and the Haunted Mansion's "Grim Grinning Ghosts" for that haunted feel. I drive into a golf course, turn left on this seemingly-forgotten old dirt road overgrown with trees, and come out on a hill where this gigantic 5-story dilapidated brick building sits imposingly on a hilltop. Quite the effect!

Now here's a rather scary experience I didn't anticipate...I had to sign a waiver releasin' the convention people of any responsibility for lost/stolen/damaged property, personal injury, or death---freakin' *death!* YEEE! I felt uncomfortable after that and was kinda like, "Uuhhhh..I-I dunno about this...", but just tried not to think about it.

So I chit chat outside with some folks, suppertime comes (catered by TX Roadhouse), we eat, then chat outside for a while till it's time to start. In the meantime, the night is perfect; near full moon, stars, bright, pleasant weather (I had a jacket on just in case).

At 10:00 they put the 100 of us into groups of 10 (our supper table bonded and the 6 of us joined a 4 members of a TN ghost hunter's group), and we went into the Cafeteria on the 2nd floor for a spiritual photography workshop. During the meeting a few of us heard some light tinkling on metal pipes, which could have been odd, or maybe not (there were guys workin' on a Haunted House attraction in the middle 1st floor of the building)---but it really sounded like it was on our floor. Hmmm.

Then after the workshop we split up and go to different stations. Our group 1st goes to the south wing of the 2nd floor, to the solarium---this is an outer walkway adjacent to rooms where TB patients were wheeled out to get fresh air (they thought that would help 'em---even in snow!).

Now, while Jason (our guide) leads us all down the hallway to another section, he stops abruptly once then moves on...he later explained that he saw a silhouette of a man standin' in a doorway, and he shone his flashlight on him so we wouldn't walk into him---but when he did so, the shadow vanished.

As we went on walkin' (still before he told us of the Shadow Man), I noticed some pressure on the back of my left shoulder. I was like, "Uh, okay, why is somebody pushin' on me, I'm walkin' at a normal speed in the group,", and it stops as I turn around to see who's pushin' on me, and it was no one in the group. Then, still with my head turned toward the others behind me, I feel the pressure again like someone's pushin' on my left shoulder. So, someone was pushin' on me, but it wasn't anyone in my group...*gulp*...

Oh, and at all these stations Jason tells us a little history of the section, then we're on our own to explore/photograph for 30-50 minutes. And OMG, the DUST---you don't even notice it till you have a flashlight on---it looks like snow in light beams, it's that bad! Sure got to my eyes and mouth and breathin'...ick (never help yer dad clean out a grain bin...that's a lot worse...*ugh*).

After the south 2nd floor we go to the south 3rd floor, and Jason shows us an elevator shaft that once lit up in immense WHITE LIGHT on a tour---and there hasn't been any electricity in the building for over 20 years. Interesting.

After the 3rd floor we go to the 4th floor, which is notorious they say for "Shadow People"...one of the guys walked pretty far down a hall and asked me to walk down and see what I heard...I came back and reported that the only thing I heard was kinda like footsteps on hard stairs, and he said, "Yeah, that's what I heard, too"...they sounded too close to be anyone from another group...again, hmmm...Then we all sat down in the hallway and watched for Shadow People for quite a while. Now I *wanna* say I saw Shadow People movin' among the shadows, but the truth is I don't know. It was very low lighting, we were very tired, it was hard to focus in those conditions, and you know how easily your eyes can play tricks on you in times like that. Now I did see some odd movements, but, it coulda just been my eyes. I just don't know.

From there we go to the 5th floor and see infamous Room 502, where a single nurse hanged herself when she found out she was pregnant. There was also a cool elevator shaft up there you could look down and up (but not lean too far into!)

Then Jason showed us 1 of 2 operating rooms on the 4th floor which had some strange activity before (slamming huge door, strange bangings), and a treatment room that "attacked" a Louisville investigator once; a light came down and hit his head, a Mountain Dew bottle flew up and hit him, and a brick hit him in the small of the back. Luckily they had all loose objects out of there now!

After this we went outside to the "Body Chute" or the "Death Tunnel" or "Body Tunnel"...it has a big rusty gate, and you go underground into this small concrete tunnel. On the left side are steps which workers used, and on the right side is a ramp which was used to roll down the dead bodies. Families could pick up the corpse of their loved one at the other end if they wished, or if not, unclaimed bodies were cremated (we walked the length of the tunnel and back).

Next we had a short break at the picnic tables where we had supper, and then it was off to the courtyard. Jason said shadowy figures of people are seen moving among the entrance some nights; but, of course, not this night. We watched, but...nothin'.

From the courtyard we went back inside to the cafeteria. We waited and watched while sittin' in chairs but...nothin'.

Then we went into the basement to the morbid "Draining Room". Now, back when the place was used a TB hospital, they had no idea what caused TB, how it was passed/contracted, or how to cure it. So, once patients died from it, their bodies were taken to the Draining Room where they were slit open down the front and hanged upside down to let all the body fluids drain out (I know I know, eewwww). It was creepy standin' in there, and also seein' the actual drain.

The morgue is also in the basement. I can't remember if it was heard by the "nekkid ear" or heard only on a recording, but someone down there once heard the sound of a Zippo lighter lightin', someone takin' a drag, and then exhalin' (I started to go to the far back alone, but got the heebie-jeebies 'n waited till a couple more people wandered back in the area too).

Then at about 6:30 all the other exhausted people were ready to leave, but I stayed behind (it didn't officially end until 7, and Jason said he had to stay anyway). So we Jason and I went on the 2nd floor a bit and then chilled in the dark cafeteria while seein' if anything else would happen (there were a few odd little noises, but that was it).

So all in all I was kinda disappointed cause I think I expected too much, but I'm still very glad I did it. And hey, at least I have my "shoulder incident"---that was very interesting and cool, and I'll remember that.

Here are some photos if anyone's interested... many of them were in rooms utterly DARK (as this went from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.), so it looks very different all lit up with the camera flashes.

And great, now I have to go to bed now that I've put myself back in "creeped-out" mode.

Where's my nightlight?