Are Ghosts Real?
Most people classify ghosts as Hollywood and literature have depicted them, filmy people (as in Patrick Swayze’s “Ghost”) or terrifying monsters (Poltergeist). The deabte still wages between skeptics and believers. Although parapsychologists and ghost hunters have caught some strange anomolies on film and video, that’s all they appear to be––anomolies.
Psychologists conclude that paranormal phenomena is caused by emotional distress or psychiatric conditions. I would have to agree with them to a point. About 10 years ago, I lost my younger brother suddenly and tragically. Much of what my family and I experienced could be chalked up as grief.
Now, I’ll share the story which has turned me into a believer. In 1992, I worked as a receptionist in a shipping warehouse of a computer company. One morning, I was working at my desk and felt someone staring at my back. I looked over my shoulder, but didn’t see anything except the copier and a large rubber plant. My co-workers were chattering away in their cubicles.
The feeling refused to go away until I left the area. When I returned to my desk, everything felt normal. I shrugged off the experience and went back to work.
Several weeks later, my boss asked me to work on Saturday. I was the only one in the building. There were no cars parked in the lot but mine.
Again, I experienced that strange sensation of being watched. Just like last time, no one was there. Then I heard someone walking around in the warehouse. Their footfalls echoed off the concrete, a very distinct and loud sound.
The noise lasted but a moment, and I don’t remember if I went to investigate. I finished up my work, and then I went home. The following Monday, I approached a co-worker about my experiences, thinking that she would just smile and shake her head at my skittishness.
Her face got dead serious before she said, “Oh, yes. This place is haunted.”
As it turned out, several of the women I worked with experienced the exact same thing. These occurrences were well known, but not discussed. Did we all imagine this, or was the building really haunted?
I find myself straddled between skepticism and believing. There are plenty of hoaxes as well as some famous, documented cases. I’ll explore the latter in future posts because this subject has fascinated me the most out of all the paranormal phenomena that has claimed to have taken place.
I live in a haunted house, so I am a believer - LOL
You are pretty close to the haunted Toys R US (I assume it is still there?) It was located in Sunnyvale CA. Ever been there?
I saw the program Sylvia Browne filmed there, but never went in the store when we lived in Redwood City.
By Marti on April 29th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
Do you know who your ghost is? What fascinates me the most about these hauntings is the reasoning and history behind them.
Yes, I am close to Sunnyvale’s haunted Toys R US. I believe it’s still there, although I’ve never visited. The story was profiled on another paranormal show years ago, but I forget which one it was. It wasn’t Sylvia Browne.
By Deborah on April 29th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
So you got a spooky feeling, you heard footsteps once, and others told you the building was haunted, and that was enough to convince you that there was supernatural activity going on?
By Walter Brameld IV on May 1st, 2006 at 4:02 pm
My co-workers had experienced the exact same thing as I had. It could have been nothing more than our imaginations, but I don’t think so. That feeling of being stared at came out of the blue and happened on more than one occasion. It stopped when we moved across the complex.
By Deborah on May 1st, 2006 at 4:13 pm
“It could have been nothing more than our imaginations….”
Why choose the fantastic explanation over the simple, everyday one?
By Walter Brameld IV on May 1st, 2006 at 4:20 pm
I don’t know how else to describe it. We were all very different people who happened to experience the same thing. What is the “simple, everyday” explanation?
By Deborah on May 1st, 2006 at 6:04 pm
That it was just your imaginations. I don’t have any more detail than that, of course, since I don’t know anything about where you work. There may be some natural thing about that environment that makes a person feel that sensation of being watched, maybe some sound coming from some building machinery, or something else. But the point is, wouldn’t you sooner expect to find some natural, mundane reason than that the world is full of ghosts and goblins?
By Walter Brameld IV on May 1st, 2006 at 9:15 pm
I worked at a shipping warehouse for a computer company. The only machinery on the premises were forklifts (which have a distinctive sound) and computers. At the time, there was no construction going on in the area. I don’t know what kind of natural phenomena would give a person the impression of being watched, but it might be worth researching.
By Deborah on May 1st, 2006 at 11:33 pm