Have You Ever Seen A Ghost?

by Sailor Sam

Have you ever seen a ghost? I sure have, and it wasn't frightening in the least.

I came home from the Navy in January 1966 and occupied a small bedroom on the second floor of a very old house my parents had bought while I was away. First night there, I showered and climbed into bed...eager for a good night's rest. Before I turned out the light, I noticed a shy, smoky, "see-through" lady (about thirty years old) standing in the doorway...watching me. She was thin and had straight hair cut just above her shoulders; and she was wearing a simple cotton dress that hung to just above her knees. When I looked directly at her, I was amazed that I could hear her thoughts, which came as a whisper inside me. She was thinking how this must be the one everyone had been talking about (me), who was coming home soon. I smiled and said, "Hello," out loud; but, she seemed to have been startled that I could see her as her mouth fell open and she vanished in an instant.

Though I watched and waited, I never saw her again. Several years later I mentioned this to my younger brother who at the time was seventeen. He described the same lady in great detail, telling me he had seen her often. He would wake in the middle of the night for no reason to find her standing at the foot of his bed watching him. Later he told how several times, as he lie awake looking up, she came into the bed and laid down with him. I am convinced the lady was in the house before my parents moved there. The fact that she was shy and had none of the characteristics of my family convinces me of that. Also my parents moved some time later to an even older house across town. My brother moved with them. To my knowledge there were no sightings there. The house has changed hands several times since. Often I have wanted to stop and ask the new owners if they have seen the lady on the second floor. My words refreshing the memory as I write, I think next time I will do just that.

I remembered recently of another encounter with a spirit, but this was not nearly so nice. Several years after my first encounter found me newly married and living several towns away. I had a business painting houses, and had developed a problem with pain in my lower back. For relief I began practicing yoga, then got into fasting, not knowing both these make one sensitive to seeing spirits. I was home alone this one, particular day and had gone through the yoga positions for half an hour or so. I had also been fasting for three days.

In concluding my yoga, I went through a lengthy, five minute headstand, came down slow, and was lying flat on my back - resting, when the ghost of a full grown male lion stepped through from the next room. Two seconds behind the lion came a woman. She was about forty and dressed in men's trousers and a men's white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. I lay staring up at the ceiling, totally astonished. The lion settled himself next to me at an angle, and lay his chin on my thigh (I was naked). Where his chin rested (an area about the size of a man's wallet), my skin tingled and grew slightly warm. The woman continued across the room and seated herself in a large upholstered chair. Although originally calm from the yoga, I became very, very, nervous and began to hyperventilate. Forcing myself to remain calm, I began to come to my feet. When my leg moved, the lion raised his head, looked at me and vanished. I stood and looked at the woman sitting across the room. She was looking me up and down and glaring with such hatred, that chills ran up my back. I pretended I couldn't see her and picked up the large towel I used to do the yoga on. Slowly, I folded the towel while watching her from the corner of my eye. Such a rage showed on her face that I became very angry. I had done absolutely nothing to this woman, yet she was so mad! Folding the towel tight as I could, I began walking like I was going to leave the room. When I was about five feet from the chair where she was glaring up at me, I turned suddenly and hurled the folded towel hard as I could, hitting her square in the chest! When the towel passed through her and struck the chair with a loud "whump," she disappeared in what looked like a silent explosion...the lines of her form dispersing in a 360 degree "puff of smoke." I then shouted, calling her an ugly S.O.B., and told her to get the hell out of here and never come back! I never saw her again, thank goodness.