Trick or Treat for Books: TEAM GHOST!!

It's the team with spirit!

The one so powerful that we walk through walls!

Wait... what's that? You think ghosts are scary?

Seriously?

Okay, I can see you may run from Beetlejuice but not before you were entertained. As far as pig pen? Who was with me and always wanted to share your treats with him because he always got rocks (I also wanted to let those people know how rude that was...)? Now really scary? Please!

I have to admit one thing... I don't like scary stories (especially movies). No, really... stop looking at the paranormal books, I'm serious. I think my dislike for scary stories came from my childhood. Ever hear a story about La Llorona, the weeping woman? I think that was one that stuck with me. Mostly because I lived by a nearby arroyo where she was said to weep and look for her children. Don't go out at night or she may catch you and make her one of her own. It was a few months before I'd want to be out at dusk in my own yard after that was told to me by those all knowing older kids (like 3rd-5th grade).

I do however, love true ghost stories. It is more about mystery than horror to me. Oh and I'll explain more at the end. First, some stories from fellow bloggers:
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First up: StephanieD!

Just past midnight, I was fast succumbing to deep slumber when I felt some thing enter the room. With only the tiniest sliver of consciousness, I felt that thing pad across the floor and jump on my feet, then slowly travel on top of my prone, blanket-covered body with the sinuous, feline movement of a cat. But it was no living being. It was darkness shaped like a cat and it sat on top of my terrified heart with a malevolence even I could feel, almost-asleep.

My mind screamed inside my sleeping body, struggling to wake it up. The thing on top of me was ancient and hungry, with an inhuman, unliving maw of sharp teeth. It did not feed on meat and it had been waiting for that moment when its prey was most vulnerable. But it was too eager; it had come for me before I had fallen completely asleep. I knew all this without knowing how I knew.

I thought of my son sleeping in the other room. I knew that thing would come for him too once it was done with me. Suddenly my body jerked awake and I was able to say out loud, "I want you to leave. Stay away from me. Stay away from my son. Leave and never come back. Now!"

With my last word, the thing made out of the dark snarled in a sound not made for my human ears and jumped off of me and out of my room. I could feel it outside the door for the rest of the night, waiting, still hungry, but unable to come closer because of my command.

Knowing that it lurked somewhere near, I took the advice of a friend to prevent its return. Some nights later, I lit some dried sage leaves and wandered around the house with it, letting its smoke permeate each room, every entrance and shadowy corner, and especially my unaware son. "Potpourri," I said as he played his video games, barely paying attention to me.

That thing has not come back since, but I have my holy water, bundle of dried sage leaves and a match at the ready. And if that doesn't work, a wooden stake within arm's reach.

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Next: Anachronist!

It is a true story; maybe not exactly about ghosts but certainly about the paranormal because I suppose it can’t be explained using scientific methods.

Some time ago I had a dog. A shi-tzu. It was my little sweetheart. I fell in love with him at first sight - literally. When I saw that little fluffy puppy barely alive, being exposed too long to scorching sun in the marketplace, I bought it without thinking twice just to end his sufferings. I had to borrow money but I bought it. You should never follow my example and buy a weakling – the smallest puppy in the litter – from an unknown seller (I doubt it was the actual breeder). My dog had health issues all his life. He was half blind for starters and his list of allergies was really long. I didn’t mind. I took care of him as well as I could, being helped by my parents and a friendly vet.

One day I was sitting with my friend having coffee and a nice chat when I felt cold without any reason. It was a nice, sunny spring day, rather warm and we were indoors so there was no reason whatsoever for such chills. Then I felt a wave of depression. Really I’ve never experienced anything like that before and I can’t call it otherwise – all of a sudden, like in one second top, I went from cheerful to sad as if somebody poured some icy water on me. Feeling very uneasy, I looked at my watch, excused myself and decided to go home, wondering all the way what was wrong with me and where this unexpected change of mood came from. I even had a fit of remorse that I shortened such a friendly meeting just because of being moody. When I got home I found out that there was a reason after all. My mum told me that my dog had died – exactly at the same time I had my depression attack. Call it what you want, I think there was a strong connection between me and that poor darling and, with his last breath, he let me know it was over. He said goodbye. Even now I have tears in my eyes, thinking about it. It was slightly spooky but also very, very sad.
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Now for AimeeKay!

My boyfriend used to live across the street from me in this house that wasn't too old, it's only about 30 years old or so, but weird stuff was always happening in it. People were seeing stuff, etc. I used to get really weird feelings every once in a while, and I hated being left alone in the house, but generally it was okay. One night all the kids were laying down to go to bed and he was outside with his buddies, I'd had trouble finding the cough medicine for his son and was agitated with him. When he came in the house I was trying to stay calm and explain to him I couldn't find the medicine. I turned around and all of the cabinet doors started to rattle for no reason. We live inCalifornia so it could have been written off as an earthquake but nothing else was shaking, just the doors. Even when that happened though I really wasn't scared or didn't get one of the creepy feelings that I sometimes got. I even remember telling him that whatever was in the house agreed with me and was annoyed at him too. But that's not the part that made me never want to go to his house again. The weirder part was yet to come.

 
A few months later we were finishing packing up the house. It was being put on the market, and his brothers wanted to do some renovating before people came to start seeing it. We were in the kitchen and it had gotten dark quick. His buddies had just left and we were still looking around to make sure there was nothing else we could do for the night. All of the sudden I got a real bad feeling and told him we had to leave. Immediately! He kept telling me he had lived there forever and that I just needed to relax. All of the sudden the kitchen light flickered on and off. I grabbed him and basically pulled him out of the house. I finally told him that if he really wanted to go back in I would go. I wouldn't let him go in alone, but we weren't going back in there that night. Why you ask? Lights flicker all the time. Yeah, they do. But NOT when the electricity has been turned off, and it hadn't been on for at least 2 or 3 days. To this day I don't know if it was his house, or the ghosts, or whatever they were, trying to say good-bye or what. All I know is that the feeling I got was not a pleasant one, and I feel sorry for the new owners.

That's my story. I've had other weird stuff happen. But that was the most recent and the one that there was actually someone there with me to see it.

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Mel's Random Review's Story!

The high school I went to was an old Queen Anne mansion house (about 400 yearss old) which was coverted into a school in victorian times. However, there were continual rumours about the old building...Before it was a school, it was the local area major manor house - called Carshalton House. In those days the lord of the house had many servants who worked for him. One young impressionable maid fell in love with the butler. He was cruel and mean so he used her so when she found out she was pregnant, he was worried that he would loose his position in the house. Desperate to keep the status quo, he pushed her down the stairs hoping she would loose the baby. But she lost more that just her child. By the time she reached the bottom of the stairs her neck was broken in two. I don't know what happened to the butler but ever since the main stairs in the house has been haunted by a weeping woman in grey. They say she searches for her lost child. I never saw her, but every couple of years a school girl would swear she heard weeping at the bottom of the stairs, but there would never be anyone. Occasionally some one would see a grey shape falling down the stairs but never saw anything at the bottom...

No idea how true it is but I always liked the idea that my school was haunted!

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Missie from The Unread Reader!

When I was in college, some new friends took me to The "Ghost Tracks" of San Antonio, Texas. The legend says that,

Back in the 1930s or 1940s, a school bus full of children was making its way down the road and toward the intersection when it stalled on the railroad tracks. A speeding train smashed into the bus, killing 10 of the children and the bus driver. Since that dreadful accident many years ago, any car stopped near the railroad tracks will be pushed by unseen hands across the tracks to safety. It is the spirits of the children, they say, who push the cars across the tracks to prevent a tragedy and fate like their own.

Well, we went to the tracks (at night) and sprinkled some baby powder on the truck and the back rim of the car. We parked over the tracks, which is on a flat road, and put the car in neutral, and...the car MOVED! It totally freaked me out! Afterwards, we checked for hand prints and I could swear I saw some, but it could have been that I was just so freaked out from the experience. LOL

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Melissa from My World in Words and Pages

I've been thinking on personal ghost stories that I've experienced, and not had any luck with coming up with a scary one. Oh, I'm sure there is one from when I was younger but I'm not remembering it. The only story I've come up with is one that happened on my wedding day... and I think was kind of happy.

One of my bridesmaids was already at my home with me and we where chatting at the table passing time until we would get ready. As she talked away to me I got up to get turn the curling iron on or do something in the bathroom. I was listening to her, but then all the sudden I couldn't make out what she was saying. Almost like she was drowned out by rushing water, but it sounded like someone was talking over her or using her sound to talk to me. At the same time my head instantly turned to the corner of the room. There was a fuzzy spot there for a moment then when the buzzing stopped the haze disappeared as well. As the buzzing was in my ear and the fuzzy spot was visible my mind raced to one person. I know who was there that day and he was there to give me blessings on the wedding. He told me so, but not in a way as we tell each other, he left the feeling strongly in me. Who was it? ....My Grandfather.

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Love these stories! As to why I like stories like this? It's something I don't talk about, but it's no secret either. Well, I grew up in a haunted house. I knew there were 3 ghosts. There was a female that hung around me mostly. I wasn't afraid of her and I believed that she kept the other 2 away. All I knew was the other two were mean and I never encountered them in my room or the part of the house I mostly stayed. The other two did hang where my parents were in the back of the house. You'd NEVER catch me back there at night by myself. I guess that could be a good thing for parents. LOL

What was odd and might make you think it was something else than a child's overactive imagination is that my parents NEVER talked about the ghosts to me. I would sometimes mention the lady but they never commented on it. It was like they were just indulging me. I didn't talk about it much anyway. When we moved out of the house when I was a teen we all started to talk about the ghosts. Even my father (Mr. show me or I dont' believe it) had a couple of scary experiences. He said he didn't want to freak us out. Well, we were a bit freaked out because all of our stories were corroborated by the other. Even neighbors who had moved started talking about their experiences. It was funny in an eerie way. We had never discussed any of this while we lived there.

So, that brings me to why I like these stories. I think in a way it gives me comfort that I am not alone in experiencing something otherworldly. :)

So, any ghost stories of your own?