Who else grew up with spirits living in their house? :-)

[Weena]

I would love to read about other people's experiences about growing up in old houses inhabited by invisible guests...

My parent's house was a big old house that had been in our family for at least a century. That house was full of spirits/ghosts (whatever you wanna call them). I personally didn't mind them all that much and chose the bedroom that hosted the majority of them as my bedroom. A psychic once told my mother that my room was a "hallway" to the other world. Nothing was traumatic about having them in the house, they were just "noisy" and sometimes made objects fly across the room (clumsiness on their part?).

I never had a conversation with them, but once gave them my message. Nobody else in the house could sleep in my bedroom without feeling disturbed, and one night i was very aware of them being there, i told them this was MY room and if they wanted to be there they would have to share . Maybe because i was so pigheaded object never flew whilst i was in the room (but they did when my mother or my brothers were in there).

I could go on but I'd like to keep my post short and not boring, and most of all would love to read about other people's experiences!!!

[modernthing]

I never really had spirits in my house, as locals, but I've a few times felt some presence...

The first one was when I lived in Australia, the first house was a rental unit and at one point, my brother, my sister and I could feel something whenever we'd go upstairs in our bathroom, we couldn't explain but we just knew.

Second time I've felt something was when I was still in high school, I had a friend over (Vanessa, you know her Weena ) and we decided to build and use a ouija board. It didn't give us any results (somehow we had a form of protection around us) but I felt something in my room (the place where we did it) for quite sometime. It eventually left after a while...

[Weena]

Fortunately you didn't get any bad spirits coming to bother you when you tried oui-ja :-). Vanessa was the most sensitive girl, moon in pisces and strong ability to feel what happened in some places. She cried uncontrollably when we visited the concentration camp and found herself in front of the execution wall. Once she was at my place and i had been dumped by someone i loved deeply, always had my head at the foot of my bed where i cried all night about it, we were having a massive giggle, when she sat at that very place and said "what's going on? i don't want to laugh anymore, i feel sad".

Thanks for replying to the post my lovely, i thought no one else ever came into contact with a spirit there! :-)

[codenamesmiley]

Yep!!! We called him Uncle Willie. He was an intellegent and interactive (the best he could) spirit. The best babysitter my parents ever had, that's for sure. lol We all grew up very intuitive...some of us moreso, and some of us too fearful to comprehend, understand or explore it.

As kids, it was rare to be home alone in the evening after dark. It was the most frightening thing, because there was also something monevolent in the house that the more intuitive of us were fully aware of. Willie was pretty protective, as well as another spirit of a lady who died there named Mrs. T. (I will call her) She was the daughter in law of yes...William, the man who built the house.

It was amazing after years of living with these spirits, to actually turn up all of the homes history at the library and find names that aligned with what we already just knew to call them, anyway.

There were just too many experiences to name specifically one. From waking us up if our alarm didn't go off, to hiding stuff til we purchased a replacement..then returning it..to remind us he was there. (I think at times he got bored, and ironically took care of his neice in a nursing home..who told me her uncle Bill was a prankster...small world, eh?) I knew it was his neice, because of her name in the newspaper obituary of the man who built our home. I told her I lived in that house, and we talked for hours one day about her uncle, and I just told her that I "felt" his energy there. I didn't feel comfortable to tell her he still lived there, or at least visited routinely in spirit. She couldn't believe all the stuff I just "knew" about him, tho.

Blessings,
Rebecca

[Weena]

Thank you for sharing Rebecca . I love the part where the spirit woke you up if the alarm clock didn't!!! did you talk to each other (parents, siblings) about it? We did not, until we all started to share our different experiences and realised that we were not individually loopy . I am quite happy we had them living there in that i have a "physical" proof that not only living human beings live on this planet...

[codenamesmiley]

Hi Weena,

Well, we all were aware of "Willie". I was the only one who seen the woman and the evil one downstairs...and being the youngest and real little at the time this ability found me...it caused the parents and elder siblings to just not talk about "Willie" because they thought they were feeding into a childs imagination. They would tell me I was imagining it. I used to get so frustrated, that they would acknowledge Willie, but not even consider that the others were there. There was some talk about the woman, and the homes history showed us who she was. I was able to recognize her in the pictures we had seen, but everyone else just entertained the idea that perhaps maybe..something more than Willie, but stuck to the "one ghost per house" theory. I know my parents had the house blessed a few times, to no avail.

We talk more about it now, because in hindsight it is no such a scarey subject. Most likely because we don't have to sleep there. lol I have considered interviewing each family member with the same list..and compiling a book based on the house, the spirits and each persons account of it. Now, I have to go read more of Steve's blog, so that i can get motivated to actually DO that.

Blessings,
Rebecca

[Betrade]

I may have shared this story in another thread at some point but it bears repeating in this thread IMO.

My Dad built the house I grew up in when he was 27, so there were no spirits of anyone who died in the house hanging around to my knowledge. By the time I came along the house was 5 years old.

I always felt like I was sensitive from a young age and used to see things who shouldn't have been present, but my parents/siblings eventually convinced me that I was "seeing things", "hearing things" and that I had an overactive imagination and eventually, I just ignored it and ultimately blocked it all out when I started believing that they must be right. After all, they were all older and wiser than I was (or so I thought given their authority and "greater wisdom" compared to my own).

I'm convinced that many parents convince their children to mistrust their natural intuition or encourage them ignore it as their imagination; and although the intentions are usually good, to stop their kids from living with fears of what they do not understand, the result is probably detrimental in many cases. It stifles a natural ability that many of us are born with after having just left the spirit world to incarnate into this world. Too often, that connection is broken and in many cases it's almost impossible to remember it or to get it back. I would give almost anything to remember what I have forgotten or reignite those abilities.

But, something WAS going on with me and in that house I grew up in and may have either been related to the land; the furniture, or even some of the building materials. I don't know.

But, from as early on as I can remember, I heard lots of noises and bumps in the night, which my parents and siblings attributed to an overactive imagination, despite the fact that I could always distinguish reality from fantasy. One occurrence in particular that happened frequently; and almost nightly was an old upright grand piano that we had in our living room that I would hear playing at night; usually just a few of the lower notes playing very slowly, rhythmically and methodically.

This happened more times than I can remember, and although I told my siblings to listen to it, no one could ever hear it but me; which was very frustrating because I KNEW that I heard that piano playing; and it was always the same slow, deep playing.

It was never an actual song, but a series of low notes playing in a steady rhythm, and being a musician myself with a good ear and an excellent sense of timing, I can attest to the fact that the notes were always played in a slow steady beat. I never found this frightening and thought that maybe there was a spirit attached to that instrument who may have enjoyed dropping in and playing around with it in a way that was benevolent and non threatening.

It was actually quite comforting in a strange way and may have even been my great grandmother's energy/spirit, as she was the original owner of the piano and we inherited it when she died. When we traded it in on a newer, smaller Spinet piano, the nighttime playing ceased forever. I actually missed it in a way because i knew that I would likely never hear it again, which I didn't. It stopped the very day we got rid of that old upright grand and that Spinet never "played itself"; not even once; and try as I might and as hard as I listened, it never happened again.

Then one night; it happened. "IT" being an EXTREMELY frightening, and what I could only consider and absolutely EVIL, MALICIOUS experience around the age of 5. I was lying in bed one night after having woken up around 3 AM or so ("dead time" according to some; a time when spirits become more active than at any other time; and this belief goes all the way back to pre New Testament times according to ancient Hebrew/Jewish beliefs; often called the 4th watch).

I awoke to the sound of hearing dishes and glasses shuffling around in the kitchen cabinets and the cabinet doors opening and closing over and over again; which were right off of my room; maybe less than 15 feet from where I slept at that time. I assumed at first that someone was in the kitchen, maybe one of my older brothers or sisters getting in late and maybe fixing a late night snack, but something just wasn't right. I also heard a few coughs and sneezes that didn't sound remotely close to anyone in the family; and at that point, I KNEW that whatever or whomever was in that kitchen was no one from my family and didn't belong there, but I suspected a possible burglar at that point and nothing paranormal; at least, not yet.

There were also slow footsteps going from one end of the kitchen to the other, and when they got close to my bedroom door, I began to become fearful. I distinctly remembering not moving a single muscle or even batting an eye. I even did my very best not to breathe any more than necessary to stay alive the fear was so intense.

But there were no other unusual sounds besides the sneezes, coughs, footsteps and those dishes and pans clanging around (as if that wasn't enough to scare the living hell out of a five year old child!!). I could hear the glasses clanging against one another and this went on for what seemed like at least an hour or more. I started getting fearful at that realization and it got worse from that point.

A little later I heard footsteps coming toward my door; very slowly I might add; and heard the door open very slowly. I could actually hear the doorknob turning, and at that point, my heart started pounding so loud that it's really all that I could hear fro a minute or so; inside my head. I was also laying on my arm which had fallen asleep by this point, but I dared not move a muscle.

I then felt this 'entity" drawing closer and closer to my right ear; then, my worst fear happened.

At this point, my heart was still pounding so hard I could barely stand it but I was WAY too afraid to move; or even breathe for that matter. I felt a presence drawing closer and closer to me and out of the blue, I heard the most horrible, most evil, malevolent sounding laughter I have ever experienced in my entire life. Nothing I have ever heard before or since even comes close to that sound I had heard. I can still remember; and always will remember my heart pounding; yet being FAR too afraid to so much as move a single muscle.

In my mind, I was only moments away from death and there was nothing whatsoever I could possibly do to stop my imminent demise which I believed to be only seconds away. I couldn't have screamed for help if I had wanted to because my fear was so strong I was unable to make any sound with my voice. It was just impossible and not an option; despite the fact that I wanted to scream more than anything else i could have imagined.

The next thing I knew, I felt the presence move back away from me and basically fade away and everything went quiet. This being had accomplished it's mission; which had to be to scare me beyond anything I had ever
encountered.

I never went back to sleep (too scared and unable to even begin to relax. I just prayed for my Dad to wake up and "save me" before that "thing" decided to return and kill me) and a bit later my Dad did wake up and came out of his bedroom. I bolted out of bed, ran to him, he picked me up and I clung to him for dear life and hysterically attempted to tell him what had happened, so he assumed; based on what I had finally managed to get my words out and tell him; that someone must have broken in. He knew immediately that I wasn't lying and that the experience was no dream. Besides, I was very close to my dad and NEVER lied to him; especially at such a young age. He then checked all of the doors, windows, etc., and everything was in order; with me clinging to his leg the entire time because I was still so fearful. Not a single dish or pan was out of place and no one could ever explain what had happened.

To this day I can still clearly remember that hideous laughter. It was the laughter of absolute evil. It was like nothing I have ever heard before or since and scared the crap out of me. It also felt like it was mocking me and even feeding on my fear in order to manifest itself. I don't exactly how I "knew" this, but I unequivocally did; without any doubt whatsoever.

I was also a bit afraid of the dark for a while after the experience and I definitely wouldn't wish anything like that on anyone; not even my worst enemy (although I had no enemies then; and none that I'm aware of now; I don't try to make enemies of any kind and intend to keep things that way). Whatever it was; it was definitely negative or evil and that was the experience that led me into learning about/delving into the paranormal from a very young age; because I wanted answers as to what had taken place. This was just so bizarre and so overly frightening that I NEEDED answers if they were attainable. I never really got the answers I was seeking, but I do know without a doubt that the experience was as real as the nose on my face and I hope I, or anyone else ever has to endure anything like that ever again.

Maybe something happened on that property at some earlier time or something, but whatever it was; it was evil and I NEVER, EVER want to experience anything like that again. I can still hear that laughter and the memory is as vivid now as it was all those years ago.

I've had some other paranormal/supernatural experiences since then but none that were negative or even remotely close. I do get what some people call "God winks"; or synchronicities all the time; sometimes even daily, but never anything I would consider evil or negative at all; and i hope and pray that I never do. Those things have no benefit to me that i can think of and i don't want or need anything like that ever again. Thankfully, I haven't; and hopefully, I never will and none of my children ever will.

[Weena]

Hi Codenamesmiley and Betrade,

how interesting are those stories!!! Codenamesmiley, this is good that you all could speak about individual experiences. Good idea about correlating the different experiences together, let us know how you go about writing the story .

Hah Betrade, i read your story and felt for you, what a strange experience, quite overwheleming for a little child :O. I had once a very uncomfortable experience but i was 24 years old so i got over it quicker than if i had been as young and sensitive as a five years old. (I once clearly heard a storm, like the whole house was lifted with wind, then some very evil chanting in a old language i couldn't recognise, maybe hindu or arboriginal, and someone tried to "pull" my soul out of my body violentely, and just like you i was paralysed with fear, not understanding what was happening to me. I manage to come back to consciousness and ask my sleepy husband to protect me , there was no wind outside, and both my husband and newborn were sleeping soundly...i told to heavens that when i was craving for paranormal experiences i didn't mean intense scary ones!!!).

Have you thought about how you will talk to your children if they were to attract spirits because they are sensitive/empathic souls? I always promised myself i won't tell my children about my beliefs just not to tamper with their own evolution, but IF they encourntered a freaky spirit i would see myself as having the responsibilty to explain to them that spirits exist and that if they scare them to call upon archangel Michael at once to get protection...of course they can call mum too and i can call the archangel for them).

I don't like the idea of dismissing important things like that as being "imagination", as i think my son is indigo and the one i'm expecting is a crystal child. These experiences will be very real to them. What do you think?

thanks to the three of you for sharing and blessings to all

[codenamesmiley]

It is best, to teach children how to do white light protection.

Blessings,
Rebecca

[Acting Like Godot]

Hello friends:

I live in an apartment and it is haunted. I've been there for about nine years now.

Interestingly it seems that the entire block is haunted. If you get to know the neighbours better, they all have something to say about the odd happenings in their own homes.

Even more interestingly, no one is really scared. We all just get used to it.

There's no way I can draw up a complete list of occurrences in my apartment. It would require me to write a book.

But here's a bullet point sort of list:

(1) Footsteps. And not in the distance either. Close proximity, but when you look, there's no one.

(2) Full-blown apparitions. My wife and my son have seen them. My daughter and I have not. In addition, we have had one maid who regularly saw them (she says she has the "eye").

(3) Daughter has heard them calling her name many times.

(This is the difference between my son and my daughter. My son sees them, but does not hear them. My daughter hears them, but does not see them).

(4) Sound of marbles bouncing on the ceiling. Also, the sound of footsteps on the ceiling.

(5) Sound of things being moved around in the kitchen (larder opening & closing, rustling of plastic bags, cups being washed), even though no one is there.

(6) Electrical appliances turning on or off by themselves. Fans, electronic toys etc. Most recently, the gas stove turned OFF by itself, when the soup was ready.

(7) Objects which move on their own. Most usually, it's like this - we KNOW that we placed a certain thing, but later we find that it's somewhere else. However, on one occasion, my son actually witnessed the poltergeistic activity with his own eyes. A rubber ball rolled towards him, leaped UPWARDS to the desk where he was sitting, and rolled off the desk thereafter.

(8) I have employed many maids through the years. Most of them resign and leave quickly, after they've experienced ghostly events a couple of times. One was terrified to see a door opening and closing on its own. Another regularly had an "old man" sitting on her chest, when she was sleeping, and later refused to sleep in that bed anymore. Another felt taps on her shoulder, a hand touching her cheek. The "old man" ghost also regularly woke up another maid (whenever she overslept) by shaking her shoulder.

(9) My own encounter - I was bitten (or stung) once. Not kidding. I stuck my hand out the window, wanting to close it. A very sharp instant pain, I pulled my hand in, and there was a small mark on my finger, as if someone had stuck a pin in it. It was very painful. I hadn't touched a thing.

Same thing happened to one maid too. She suffered two bruises on the inside of her elbow. The bruises appeared almost instantaneously.

(10) Our own doppelgangers walk around the house. My son has seen my wife in the living room, when my wife was in the bathroom.

My wife has also seen my son walk out of Bedroom A, through the dining room, into Bedroom B .... When in fact my son was asleep in Bedroom A, all along.

Just a few days ago, my wife saw and heard me walk out of the bedroom towards the kitchen. She followed me but when she reached the kitchen, I wasn't there. (Of course all along I had been in fact been another part of the apartment).

(11) In the past, we would lock our master bedroom if we were going out and the maid would be at home (we lock the door, as a precaution against her stealing anything - we would do this, especially for a new maid whom we didn't know well yet). Anyway, a few maids reported that after we'd gone out, they would hear voices of people speaking behind the door, inside the room - even though no one was there.

(12) My wife has heard the voices of women talking, from just outside our front door, late at night. But we can see from the window that there's no one there.

------------

I've had a professional cleanse my house twice. It doesn't work for long. After the cleansing, life is very normal for two or three months. Then everything starts happening again.

The longest-lasting cleansing was in fact done by my mother, a Nichiren Buddhist. She came to visit, did a massive chanting session, and I think that things went normal for five to six months, before the weird stuff started occuring again.

Anyway, we have grown used to it.

The entities are not all the same. They come and go. Some stay for a while (like months), then move on. Some come back. The "old man" for instance. He is a friendly one to my family members, but he has a tendency to pick on some (not all) the maids - like the maid who often oversleeps.

The entire apartment block is like some kind of transit hub for ghosts, they keep passing by. My immediate next-door neighbour - he is convinced that his long-deceased uncle still lives with them, in the flat.

And I still remember one occasion, when I went to speak with the neighbour who lives upstairs. This was about the sound of marbles on my ceiling. I wanted to ask her if her child was playing with marbles at 1 a,m in the morning (yes, very unlikely, especially since the "child" is already thirteen years old and more into computer games).

Anyway, I said, "You know, I just wanted to ask you something. I keep hearing the sound of marbles on my ceiling, late at night ..."

Immediately, she replied, "It's nothing to be afraid of ...", before I could even elaborate.

---------------------------------------

I should add that we have been happy & healthy, living here. All these years, regardless of all the weird stuff, we have been a happy, healthy, loving, close family. Life has been very good, the ghosties notwithstanding.

[Weena]

Codenamesmiley: i will keep your advice in mind if my son ever mention some spirit experiences. Thank you for sharing (i get the idea of white light protection but if you wanted to elaborate further, i'd read you with lots of interest)

Acting like Godot, what an interesting story! I can relate some parts of your post to what we experienced at my parent's. It's good that your children are not uncomfortable with the situation... growing up knowing about these things. It seems your 'ghosts' are not scary ones (aside from the one that bit your finger!!!), and helpful sometimes (turning the stove off when the soup is ready ). Thank you for posting your story, i loved reading it!

[Acting Like Godot]

I forgot to mention - I saw an orb in my house once.

Skeptics of orb photos say that orbs are caused by camera defects, or specks of dust on the camera lens, or some other technical issue. However, I saw an orb in my house, with my own eyes, and my vision is quite normal.

I sat very still and watched it for quite a while. It was floating around, above my aquarium, but otherwise not moving. During this time, I did a self-check, and I was quite sure that I was lucid, clear in my head and not hallucinating.

(In case anyone is wondering, I do not take any kind of illicit drugs, and I rarely even drink beer. In my house, there is no alcohol whatsoever).

After watching the orb for several minutes, I decided to try to touch it. I walked slowly to it, and then reached out my hand gently. Before I could touch it, it just suddenly, soundlessly "popped" and disappeared.

Up to that time, I had never heard of orbs. After this incident, I did my research and I learned that orbs are supposed to be ghosts, in their most basic visible form.

[Mynder]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

I forgot to mention - I saw an orb in my house once.

Skeptics of orb photos say that orbs are caused by camera defects, or specks of dust on the camera lens, or some other technical issue. However, I saw an orb in my house, with my own eyes, and my vision is quite normal.

I sat very still and watched it for quite a while. It was floating around, above my aquarium, but otherwise not moving. During this time, I did a self-check, and I was quite sure that I was lucid, clear in my head and not hallucinating.

(In case anyone is wondering, I do not take any kind of illicit drugs, and I rarely even drink beer. In my house, there is no alcohol whatsoever).

After watching the orb for several minutes, I decided to try to touch it. I walked slowly to it, and then reached out my hand gently. Before I could touch it, it just suddenly, soundlessly "popped" and disappeared.

Up to that time, I had never heard of orbs. After this incident, I did my research and I learned that orbs are supposed to be ghosts, in their most basic visible form.

When you had these cleansings...did you or possibly your kids somehow "miss" the company of the ghosts? I mean, for a kid, this is something special after all, and if the spirits are mostly benevolent, it can be seen as fun, even while it is very frightening.

So, if there are folks among you who are kind of "open" to the idea of the ghosts returning, that may serve as an invitation, reopening the door for them to return.

One thing that you should put some emphasis on, however, is to assert your presence and your domain, i.e. "my house, my rules". Make it clear (by spoken and/or written intent) that you will not accept nasty pranks, and that hurting anyone will not be tolerated.

[Amro]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

Hello friends:

I live in an apartment and it is haunted. I've been there for about nine years now.

Interestingly it seems that the entire block is haunted. If you get to know the neighbours better, they all have something to say about the odd happenings in their own homes.

Even more interestingly, no one is really scared. We all just get used to it.

There's no way I can draw up a complete list of occurrences in my apartment. It would require me to write a book.

But here's a bullet point sort of list:

(1) Footsteps. And not in the distance either. Close proximity, but when you look, there's no one.

(2) Full-blown apparitions. My wife and my son have seen them. My daughter and I have not. In addition, we have had one maid who regularly saw them (she says she has the "eye").

(3) Daughter has heard them calling her name many times.

(This is the difference between my son and my daughter. My son sees them, but does not hear them. My daughter hears them, but does not see them).

(4) Sound of marbles bouncing on the ceiling. Also, the sound of footsteps on the ceiling.

(5) Sound of things being moved around in the kitchen (larder opening & closing, rustling of plastic bags, cups being washed), even though no one is there.

(6) Electrical appliances turning on or off by themselves. Fans, electronic toys etc. Most recently, the gas stove turned OFF by itself, when the soup was ready.

(7) Objects which move on their own. Most usually, it's like this - we KNOW that we placed a certain thing, but later we find that it's somewhere else. However, on one occasion, my son actually witnessed the poltergeistic activity with his own eyes. A rubber ball rolled towards him, leaped UPWARDS to the desk where he was sitting, and rolled off the desk thereafter.

(8) I have employed many maids through the years. Most of them resign and leave quickly, after they've experienced ghostly events a couple of times. One was terrified to see a door opening and closing on its own. Another regularly had an "old man" sitting on her chest, when she was sleeping, and later refused to sleep in that bed anymore. Another felt taps on her shoulder, a hand touching her cheek. The "old man" ghost also regularly woke up another maid (whenever she overslept) by shaking her shoulder.

(9) My own encounter - I was bitten (or stung) once. Not kidding. I stuck my hand out the window, wanting to close it. A very sharp instant pain, I pulled my hand in, and there was a small mark on my finger, as if someone had stuck a pin in it. It was very painful. I hadn't touched a thing.

Same thing happened to one maid too. She suffered two bruises on the inside of her elbow. The bruises appeared almost instantaneously.

(10) Our own doppelgangers walk around the house. My son has seen my wife in the living room, when my wife was in the bathroom.

My wife has also seen my son walk out of Bedroom A, through the dining room, into Bedroom B .... When in fact my son was asleep in Bedroom A, all along.

Just a few days ago, my wife saw and heard me walk out of the bedroom towards the kitchen. She followed me but when she reached the kitchen, I wasn't there. (Of course all along I had been in fact been another part of the apartment).

(11) In the past, we would lock our master bedroom if we were going out and the maid would be at home (we lock the door, as a precaution against her stealing anything - we would do this, especially for a new maid whom we didn't know well yet). Anyway, a few maids reported that after we'd gone out, they would hear voices of people speaking behind the door, inside the room - even though no one was there.

(12) My wife has heard the voices of women talking, from just outside our front door, late at night. But we can see from the window that there's no one there.

------------

I've had a professional cleanse my house twice. It doesn't work for long. After the cleansing, life is very normal for two or three months. Then everything starts happening again.

The longest-lasting cleansing was in fact done by my mother, a Nichiren Buddhist. She came to visit, did a massive chanting session, and I think that things went normal for five to six months, before the weird stuff started occuring again.

Anyway, we have grown used to it.

The entities are not all the same. They come and go. Some stay for a while (like months), then move on. Some come back. The "old man" for instance. He is a friendly one to my family members, but he has a tendency to pick on some (not all) the maids - like the maid who often oversleeps.

The entire apartment block is like some kind of transit hub for ghosts, they keep passing by. My immediate next-door neighbour - he is convinced that his long-deceased uncle still lives with them, in the flat.

And I still remember one occasion, when I went to speak with the neighbour who lives upstairs. This was about the sound of marbles on my ceiling. I wanted to ask her if her child was playing with marbles at 1 a,m in the morning (yes, very unlikely, especially since the "child" is already thirteen years old and more into computer games).

Anyway, I said, "You know, I just wanted to ask you something. I keep hearing the sound of marbles on my ceiling, late at night ..."

Immediately, she replied, "It's nothing to be afraid of ...", before I could even elaborate.

---------------------------------------

I should add that we have been happy & healthy, living here. All these years, regardless of all the weird stuff, we have been a happy, healthy, loving, close family. Life has been very good, the ghosties notwithstanding.

This is incredibly fascinating; how do you reconcile these experiences with your belief in the LOA?


Unfortunately (perhaps fortunately? ), I haven't had any experiences deemed 'paranormal' or 'ghostly'.

The new tenants of this apartment are going to be very surprised.

[Merrick1]

"The new tenants of this apartment are going to be very surprised."

Sounds pretty nasty. Poor people...

Merrick

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by Mynder

When you had these cleansings...did you or possibly your kids somehow "miss" the company of the ghosts?

There are two entities we were a little fond of. The old man, and a small boy. The old man - we even think we know who he is.

He is someone who used to live in this apartment (the father of the previous owner, whom we bought the flat from). He was alive then, and he used to drop by every now and then, to collect their family's mail, after we had moved in (a lot of their mail correspondence still kept being sent here).

Somewhere along the way, as the years passed, he must have died. And then he'd come back and hang around here.

As I mentioned, he does have a tendency to pick on some of the maids. There seems to be a fairly deliberate pattern in his behaviour. He picks on the maids who are lazy, oversleeping, dirty or whatever. Like, there was a maid who was always oversleeping, and he would do things like shake her shoulder and slap her face, to wake her up.

He also picked on one maid who slept in a bedroom, on a bed where his own bed used to be. Sit on her chest, and all that - until the maid gave up sleeping there. Instead every night she would carry the mattress off the bed, put it on the floor, and sleep there ...... and then the old man stopped bothering her.

There was another one ..... a Malay boy (I live in Southeast Asia). I think he always wanted to hang around my kids. I think he's the one who did the rubber ball trick too, he wanted my son to play with him. He's also always doing things with my kids' toys .... like, one maid was terrified when noises came from the children's toy basket in the middle of the night, as if someone was digging through the basket to check out all the toys. Also, we had a couple of incidents where electronic toys would turn on by themselves in the middle of the night, start beeping or playing music etc.

We know he is a Malay boy, because my wife & maid have actually seen the ghost, at the same time and the same place. (This was the maid who has the "eye"). Both of them saw him and their descriptions matched - a small Malay boy squatting at the entrance of a bedroom, looking straight at them. My wife ran over and shouted at him to get out, and he vanished.

I did feel sorry for him. I'd read about earthbound spirits being trapped on earth, and all that.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by Amro

This is incredibly fascinating; how do you reconcile these experiences with your belief in the LOA?

It all fits very well, actually. And the ghostly events have, in some ways, opened the door for me to understand and examine different aspects of the LOA.

For example, some major teachers of the LOA are Abraham Hicks, Seth, Bashar, Kryon and Orin. The common factor is that they are all non-physical entities. But in the first place, do non-physical entities exist, or are they just hoaxes perpetuated by their "channellers"? Can consciousness really exist without a physical brain and body? A few close encounters with ghosts will give you the answer.

(Not to say that Abraham Hicks, Seth etc are ghosts ... They are a different class of non-physical entities. But ghosts, at least, show you that non-physical entities can and do exist).

Buddhism has been another great teacher in my life. Buddhism teaches a lot, and some of what it teaches is LOA-related - how reality is an illusion etc etc. But also Buddhism talks about different classes of sentient beings, and one of them is a category known as "ghosts". Now if you have never encountered ghosts, and don't believe in them, you would suspect that Buddhism is rather kooky, and this in turn may lead you to doubt the value and authenticity of some other parts of its teachings.

But actually encountering ghosts will fortify your conviction that Buddha wasn't a silly old man making up stories and somehow getting famous for his stories.

More generally, many people who are skeptical about the LOA are just people who haven't yet seen the odder aspects of reality. They can't accept the LOA, because their reality looks so definite, fixed and predictable, in an entirely conventional & humdrum sense.

But once you've had a sufficient number of paranormal experiences or encounters (such that you can no longer dismiss them as mere imagination or coincidences or hallucinations), then you will open up to the idea that reality is not, well, "ordinary".

Those paranormal experiences can take a variety of forms (eg your own lucid dreaming, or premonitions, or whatever). But living in a haunted apartment helps too.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by Amro

The new tenants of this apartment are going to be very surprised.

Lots of things I could discuss here, including ethical issues. But maybe a timeline of past events would be interesting.

1. When I first bought the apartment, my wife and I were newly married, no kids. The two of us lived in the apartment, and never noticed anything strange.

2. When my first kid was born, we hired a maid. We still never noticed anything strange about the apartment.

3. Eventually the maid started telling us about ghostly stuff in the house. I was very annoyed - I didn't believe any of it. My wife was concerned that the maid might be mentally ill.

4. We sacked the maid.

5. A second maid, and a 3rd maid followed. At different times, they began to relate strange occurrences too.

6. We realised that the 1st maid wasn't crazy. The odd thing was - the ghostly stuff never seemed to happen to me or my wife. It always happened only to the maids.

7. We felt that it was the friendly "old man", helping us to look after the house and supervise the maid around. We thought it was rather fun and amusing, actually - because nothing had actually happened to us, only to the maids. (Ok, a few odd things did happen to us, but they were nothing amazing, we could still tell ourselves that there was some rational explanation).

8. Around this time, I had started experimenting with the LOA, but I was definitely not as much into it, as I am now.

9. One day, my son saw his first full-blown apparition, in the house. It wasn't the old man either. This really freaked us out. Shortly after, we got someone to come cleanse the house.

10. It worked for some time. But eventually the ghosties came back. Over time, all of us had encounters of different sorts - my wife, myself, my daughter, plus even more maids.

11. One day, my wife was at the nearby hairdresser, and while she was having her hair done, she somehow mentioned the weird stuff to the hairdresser. "Didn't you know?" replied the hairdresser. "Your block is haunted. I thought lots of people living around here knew that."

12. We started talking to our neighbours, and yeah it was true. Many of them had known it for a long time. We were the ones who were slow to catch on.

13. Well, after that, weird stuff just went on and on happening. But it didn't seem so weird anymore, because by then we had attended a Silva Method course (which is a kind of ESP + LOA course) and it was a "down the rabbit hole" experience for us, if you know what I mean. After the course, ghosts & spirits, among other things, struck us as being natural and somewhat to be expected.

14. My mother has theorised that the weird stuff had something to do with my own LOA meditations (and my wife's too). In other words, she suspected that we were inadvertently unleashing creepy forces, through our LOA practices. She was worried and told us to stop.

15. The thing is, the weird stuff was happening, BEFORE we had ever gotten into the LOA.

16. However, I believe that SOME of the weird stuff could be directly attributable to our LOA meditations and practices (but not all). My theory is consistent with some things I've read about LOA-related matters. (Yes, I will elaborate if anyone is interested )

17. If I am right about Point 16, then wherever we go to live, and as long as we carry on with our LOA meditations, some weird stuff will continue to occur.

18. That's partly also why I'm not afraid. These are my own direct LOA creations.

19. The vast majority of the time, the weird occurrences aren't harmful either (two exceptions - the time when my finger was bitten, and another time when the maid got attacked in the same manner).

I mean, suppose you heard footsteps in the kitchen, when you know that no one is there. Or a fan turns off, by itself. Actually, there is no harm being done. It's just footsteps, you know what I mean? It's just a fan. You can turn it back on again.

If you get used to the idea that ghosts are real, that they do move around from place to place, that they may say a few things, make a few noises, well, that's pretty much it, you see. They really don't do anything to hurt you. They could be friendly too.

[newmark]

ALG; Do the people in other apartments have experiences of the same ghosts, or different ones? Did something happen on the site of your apartment building before it was built?

[Acting Like Godot]

It used to be a cemetery. We found out really late.

[modernthing]

How reassuring :s as long as it isn't a bother though... (I personally would mind living there !)

[sups]

@Acting like Godot

after reading your stuff I felt kind of sorry for hte little malay boy who seeks company of your kids...was wondering if your kids did actually play with him at some point?

[Merrick1]

Acting like Godot

"If you get used to the idea that ghosts are real, that they do move around from place to place, that they may say a few things, make a few noises, well, that's pretty much it, you see. They really don't do anything to hurt you. They could be friendly too."

And unfriendly as well, driving people mad, causing schizophrenia... Often they don't mean doing any harm but if they were negative people while alive, their energy may disturb the harmony of the living.

Like the one ghost of the woman who was bothering our friend going through an unhappy relationship.That woman had lost everything, ended up homeless and hopeless until finally she committed suicide. And our friend, being so unhappy and frustrated, attracted this woman ghost to herself through her vibration. There was a very similar rezonance also due to something our friend had experienced in one of her previous life-times.

Another woman we've helped had a man ghost following her. She told us: "I love people and would like to be nice to them but there seems to be something stronger than me inside that makes me think thoughts I dislike, have feelings that I know are not mine, behave in a way I dislike. But somehow, I can't help it and people respond to me accordingly. I don't seem to be able to have loving relationships.

Well, there he was, following her from some past life-time where they met and had something very heavy unresolved. He ruined her life in that life-time and was set to do it again.

A similar case with a guy who ended up with schizophrenia for a similar reason. Purely malicious influence by the deceased.

And sometimes just minor disturbances, like a woman ghost who was angry that some strangers moved into her house after she died. She didn't even know she was dead and was clinging to her property. When I asked her what she was doing in that house, she answered angrily: "It's my house! It is my property!" When I asked her what she was doing all day long, she said: "What should I do?! I walk around and swear!" Then I asked her how did the people in the house react when she was doing that. And she said: "Nothing!" Then I asked her whether this wasn't strange - she, walking around the house swearing, shouting at the strangers there, and them, totally ignoring her. Only then did she acknowledge that I might not be talking bull... telling her she didn't have her physical body anymore.

Or ghosts who do not make any noise, who do not want to cause any harm either, just hanging around. But still, they may disturb the energy of the living through their presence, especially if they vibrate on a lower level. They can cause quite a serious imbalance at someone's home or other surroundings. Especially children are highly sensitive to that.

And then well, there are some other, non-human, entities, that may be troublesome too.

Just to give a broader perpective on the subject as I work with this stuff all the time.

Merrick

[Acting Like Godot]

I understand what you mean, Merrick. Some of it anyway. I have read a lot of ghost-related books over the years, in an attempt to better understand my own apartment.

Anyway, my family has been doing well all these years. Happy, healthy and all that, as I had mentioned earlier.

The other thing is that we've moving out soon. A decision which had nothing to do with the ghosts here, but with much more ordinary reasons ....

[Merrick1]

Acting like Godot, yes, I also understand what you are saying. I myself lived in a house - Lam Rim Buddhist Centre in Johannesburg, RSA, for a while and we had many ghosts there - just coming and going. And they didn't cause any harm either. Just making noises sometimes, like door banging, while there was no one else in the house and all windows closed (no draft).

Once I got a bit scared not being used to them when the handle on my room's door started moving as if someone were trying to open the door and there was some scratching on the door too (like with claws).

One of my housemates could see a young girl sitting at the entrance a couple of times. And she asked her please not to come to her room at night as she would be frightened. And she didn't.

Thanks for your sharing with us.

Merrick

[Amro]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

16. However, I believe that SOME of the weird stuff could be directly attributable to our LOA meditations and practices (but not all). My theory is consistent with some things I've read about LOA-related matters. (Yes, I will elaborate if anyone is interested )

Please do.


I remember reading an explanation somewhere in your post history stating these entities being drawn to places of high LOA-related 'activity'.

Side note: I think it's time to divert some of my curiosity from ALG's adventures to my own experiments in the LOA.

[modernthing]

I've read in some places that "Light" could attract "darkness", because those "entities of darkness" wanted to feed off the Light or were simply drawn to it, and that protecting yourself well, as a light worker, was quite necessary.

I've had strange things that tried to grab hold of me at times when I felt weaker, since I started doing light work, it usually happens around night time, or even in my sleep. I prefer shielding myself, I usually do it daily and have had no particular bother since then

[Acting Like Godot]

I was just chatting with my wife today, about our interesting apartment. And was reminded of one particular incident in the past. It happened like this.

My wife was trying to get our two kids to take a nap. However they were wide awake, playful and active. So my wife said, "Okay, let's try this." She lay in bed with them, and told them to take deep, slow breaths to relax.

They did this together for a few minutes. Suddenly, all three of them heard the sound of someone else in the room, breathing slowly and deeply and very deliberately, along with them. They all held their breaths, but the breathing sound went on and on.

This incident was scary. My wife didn't know what to do. She just got out of bed, started talking loudly to distract the kids, and made noises by moving things around, shoving a chair back in place etc etc. Then she hurried the kids out to the kitchen and they all had a snack.

In retrospect, this was scary at that time. I wonder whether we would be so scared if it happened now. Perhaps we might be curious and just quickly scramble to get an MP3 player and try to record the sound.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by Amro

I remember reading an explanation somewhere in your post history stating these entities being drawn to places of high LOA-related 'activity'.

There's the "entities feeding off the energy" theory.

Here's the second theory (which is not mutually exclusive with the first theory). When you do a lot of LOA stuff, you are creating thoughtforms which are semi-alive in their own right. Their main purpose is to fulfill your intention, but if they are given a lot of excess energy, they can also move around and do things independently.

In other words, your thoughts create simple astral life forms, each of whom has its own consciousness, opinions and ideas. When they go around doing their things, we observe their behaviour as weird, "ghostly" occurrences in our own physical reality.

For a very drastic and dramatic example of this, read Alexandra David-Neel's creation of a tulpa, in the form of an initially plump, and initially benign, monk.

Alexandra David-Neel

[Maxwell Jennings]

When I was about 3 to 4 years old, living in an old house in Illinois, I woke up once and looked over the end of the bed, out across the next room and saw an adult male shimmering-glowing figure down on one knee. This event happened not long after a babysitter had shown me and my older sister a small pouch which contained a bat wing and some stones. According to a psychic in 1993, "someone did something to your back." The memories came back to me and I realized that this guy had done some sort of voodoo ritual on me which opened up my ability to see ghosts.