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I've got tickets to go and see Derek Acorah the spiritual medium.  I'm a bit of a sceptic but try to have an open mind. I won't believe unless something happens to me. I love all the ghost hunting things and wonder have any of you had any weird,scary,experiences? Any experiences that have confirmed to you that there are ghosts?  Do you think it is all a load of codswallop and just a way to extract money... that is the thoughts of my OH. Saying that, he's coming with me so at least he is intrigued. Hope he doesn't sit there laughing!

there are ghosts. both OH and myself have had experiences. they are in a different 'dimension' though so no interaction with this world. they can 'walk right though' you etc. that is how they manage to 'walk through' doors and walls.
this is from my personal experience.

whether we can learn anything from them (i.e. ghosts 'talking through' a medium - i doubt it personally.

So  come on then Svea, tell us what your experience was? Did it frighten you or was it totally a different feeling?

well, OH lived in an old house which was beleaguered during the civil war, way back when. they had visits often, with the ghosts shouting and rushing through the house being followed by others (fighting, basically). also, people banging on the front door demanding entry.
OH and his mom both witnessed those independant from one another. his mother once inquired whether he had seen any ghosts, and if he was scared, and OH said 'no, i just wish they didnt make so much noise'. bless :)

mine was a few years back, a ghost walked strough the first floor window and into the room, turned to look at me and 'touched' me. i had a bit of a panic attack, to be honest. but nothing bad happened.
later confirmed by a guest who was house sitting for two weeks one summer. same occurence, and we had not talked about it before.

I've seen two "ghosts" (only one of which can be put done to being tired and stressed) and taken a photo of a ghost.

I do believe there's more to this world than science can explain - in fact I know there's more to this world than science can explain! (I once had a two-way conversation with a plant after a particularly long, intense meditation session.)

But I'm still highly sceptical of this showbiz psychics.

Svea what a house for your OH to grow up in! Funny how he seemed to accept it as the norm as a child but I suppose you would wouldn't you.  I think I'd  like to see a ghost but I reckon I'd be freaked out by it.

Aqui where/how did you see your ghosts?  Did the photograph come out with anything on it?

Well Heldi, I am in the codswallop camp. Whilst appreciating that there are no doubt many things beyond our knowledge, I am too practical a person to even consider them. Life is complicated enough as it is!

First ghost - I was at work late and the only one there. Someone walked into the stationery cupboard, so I went to see who it was. No one was in there. But I was very tired and very stressed, so I think that explains that one.

second one was about a year ago. THis was the day after another meditation session, so maybe I was tuned in better. I was walking home from the shops (not carrying much) and saw someone walk through a brick wall. THis was not out of the corner of my eye or anything - I was looking straight at it. Very strange. but not at all creepy.

Ghost photo - well that's a bit of a cheat really! I was taking a long exposure of a big country house lit up after dark. My dad was walking towards me and his ghostly image can be seen in the picture where he moved. Because of this I'm very dubious about ghost photos.

I've watched these psychics, and whilst I do not doubt psychic abilities, these showbiz ones are just very good at asking the right, general questions. It's very clever, but it's not psychic.

Only one experience, when I was 12 or so. I woke up early in the morning, cold, so I crawled to the bottom of my bed for an extra blanket. At this moment, I heard my parents door open, and through my open door, I saw this disembodied hand move out and across the landing . . .

I was perfectly awake at this point, and I remember, I did not sleep any more that night!

Yes, I did freak out. At that age I was not prepared for something like that. Now, I would just accept it as another example of this strange world we inhabit. It has been a pivotal point in my vision of all things, so I have to be grateful to have witnessed that.

Beejay I'm so pleased that there is a camp for codswallop! I've been wondering where codswallop came from hee hee hee!!

How weird to see someone walk through a wall and even weirder Derek ...a disembodied hand! Wonder what that was all about?

After reading both Aqui's and Derek's  stories I have been reminded of something.  I'd completely forgotten about it until it popped into my head just now.

I used to have an old downstairs flat in Newcastle. It had two bedrooms. It was a cold place,ice on the inside of the windows that sort of thing. I was sleeping in the back bedroom one night when I suddenly jolted awake. I had the impression of something or someone holding me down. It terrified me.I could only make out a black shape. What I could describe as someone with a cape on,like a highwayman sort of thing but not actually seeing a person just a shape. I can't describe it very well but it loomed over me and seemed to hold me down. I tried to get up and I remember trying to shout and scream but no sound would come out. It lasted for what seemed like minutes but I expect it was seconds.It suddenly disappeared. Like it quickly dissolved away.I was left feeling exhausted and very wide eyed with fright. I didn't move for ages only lay there staring at the window and wondering what had just happened. I'm not sure and have never been sure if it was real or a dream. I asked my brother, who was staying with me at the time, in the morning if he had heard me shouting or screaming during the night. He said no.  When my brother left I moved straight out of that room. It gave me the creeps for ever more.  I've got the colly wobbles just thinking about it.

Had a few ghosty experiences myself, hubby was a non believer till one happened with both of us there, we found out afterwards she was called the Grey Lady)
Now at his work they have a ghost who "appears" on the stairs in the form of a smell! Burning hair to be exact. Many people have smelt it, the fire brigade have been called out time and time again and can't figure out what it is, so they don't bother to call them anymore.  during the war it was used as a sanitorium I think.
  His Mum has seen a child at a desk in a room of a house that no kids lived in, my Dad and mates played cards with a dead mans spirit during the war. (gruesome story that)
My hubby reakons all the women in my family are a bunch of witches! ;D  We do seem to have a strange connection between us all that freaks us all out sometimes,like knowing what the others are doing, who is on the phone, or my best this week, picking up my always silent mobile whilst saying to hubby, phones gonna ring, and yes it did, in my hand  :)
I think here is something in it, we just have not discovered what yet, shall be interested to hear your reports back on Derek Heldi, wonder if he will go into one of his trances ;D  DP

I have to say I too am a NON believer in such things.  Same as with religion.
Each to their own I say, and whatever makes people happy and gets them through the day is good with me as long as it isn't shoved down my throat  :)

I have a friend who believes strongly in such things and to be honest I have to stifle a yawn each time she goes on to tell me how she once saw her grandparents on the landing of her mother's house, even though they'd been dead x number of years.  It's very hard to make a conversation between two people when one believes and one doesn't, LOL. 

Ooooooooh Doris tell us what happened to change your hubby's mind? I'd like to hear the story about your dad too. It sounds like something that would make the hair stand up!

YP. my OH is a non believer whereas I want to believe.

Doris - It's like that with the women in my family too - I always know when my mum is calling and she knows it's me when I call her (before we speak, I mean!) We all predict thunderstorms and I have a barometer in my knee!

Hubby and I seem to have a telepathic link too - we often start singing the same song sometimes even in the same place at the same time (even when it's not the last song we've both heard!) We often email each other at work at the same time and a few times we've even called at teh same time - once I called him at home and the phone didn't ring at all - at that same moment, he'd picked up the phone to call me at work!

I do like to think that I might be a witch!

We got ours exorcised. She was fine for 30 years or so, but then started fiddling with the electricity. So she had to go!

Oh Tim!  You make a statement like that then withdraw  ;D  We're all on the edge of our seats here  :o :o :o

i don't believe i ghosts but i do believe in a sort of inherited memory.
i'm studying for a degree at the mo (neurobiology) and the human brain can do some amazing things.
people with terrible injuries to the eyes can somehow catch a ball or navigate a strange room without bumping into things.
in times of great stress people have demonstrated telepathy, superhuman strength etc.
i don't disbelieve that you good people saw what you saw, i just believe that we inherit memories and episodes of high emotion genetically from many generations back, just like we inherit everything else.
Tara xx

It's not necessarily from long ago. I one woke up terrified from a dream. I deamt that I was riding the red Honda 90 I had at the time, down a typical West Cornish valley (I was living in Mid-Cornwall at the time, Decmber 1984). At the bottom was a little tidal harbour, and nearby there was a wreck under the cliffs. I had to go down to it for some reason, and I was just beginning to abseil when I woke up terrified. It was blowing a gale, but it didn't seem any worse than the usual ones we used to get up on the moors. I couldn't get back to sleep, couldn't make out why the dream had upset me so much, and eventually got up wondering whether there really had been a wreck, I couldn't think of anything else. There had been; not only had a ship very much like the one I dreamt about gone on the rocks in a place very much like the one I dreamt about, at just abut the time I had the dream, but it had taken a lifeboat and its entire crew down with it. Some time after that I started having dreams about a city; all these dreams had a sort of 'special' feel, I knew by then there was something in them. Within 24 hours of moving to Birmingham I started recognising places I'd been to in my dreams.

I'll report back on Derek Acorah when I see him but it is a long time away yet...November.

Tara what you've said has made me think. I was adopted as a baby so I could be having memories of relatives I know nothing about. That feels strange. I'll have to be convinced some more before I believe it though. Mind you,when I lived in that flat I used to sometimes get an image in my head of a body under the floorboards. Obviously there wasn't a body under the floorboards but it was a very convincing image! It could have been from something I've read or watched though. Or from what you've said from someone elses memory. Haven't had that image since leaving that flat. The more I think about it the more I realise uncomfortable I was in that place.

Robert your dream is so upsettling and very shocking when you discover what had actually happened that night.  It gave me goosebumps reading about it.

when you were dreaming of the city did you know you were going to move?  Listen to me...parnormal investigator heehee!

I definitely have seen a ghost about 25 years ago.  In fact there were three of us to see "it" together. 

:o

What changed hubbies mind was we visited a friend at an old hotel, Okenden Manor, that was being renovated, they had the heating on full blast to try and dry out whatever, we walked into the soon to be honeymoon suite, and within minutes the room was icy cold, to the point hubby's ears had that "winters chill" feel to them! Anyhow we all got the creeps and left the room immediately for a brandy in the bar! Hubby went back up in the room 5 mins later, and it was a hot as it had been when we went into it the first time, however another room a few doors down, now was now icy cold. We found out afterwards that the carpet layers had left walked off the job because they couldn't bear to be in the place.
I looked it all up afterwards, none of us knowing it was haunted, it was frequented by the Grey Lady.
http://www.graydonwhite.freeserve.co.uk/cuckfield/Ghosts.htm
We didn't actually see anything, but that feeling of something else with you will never be forgotten!

Well I am not a believer.  How come they can only 'see' the ghosts in this programme when it is dark at night  ??? 
   As a P.S.... His real name is Derek Johnson and I used to be his little sister Donna's mate at infants school.   ;D         Ahhhhhhhhhh fame at last  ;)

OK, deep breath and dive in!! Have similar link with my mum, she calls me when she feels I'm very upset or in a state of agitation, which as you imagine can be a bit freqeuntly!!! But she's always spot on!! Recently she had a dream that she was an arsonist in a local derelict hotel, she could see the floor boards, the old curtains and saw through the person's eyes, torching the hotel by setting fire to some old wallpaper in a room.  She got up, had brekkie, turned on the local news, and heard that the hotel had been burnt out that night!! She's a complete sceptic, but it really shook her. 
I had a cat that used to sit and face a corner and just stare and growl....!! It was blind though.... And an ex boyfriend of mine, spoke to someone he thought was me sat on the end of his bed, I was driving home!!!!!!! Freaked him out!  There, the sum total of my experiences, apart from a UFO when 13, no joke, and had loads of witnesses. I believe in the extraordinary which one day will probably become the ordinary.  Remember the world being flat? :-\ Lottie

Two of my daughters believe in the spirit world. Five weeks after we lost their Dad they decided to go to a  medium meeting. A group of us went, we sat in two separate rows. The medium went to one of my daughters and described a man.Without going in to all the details  she said things about my husband that were so true. Out of the group she picked out the four family members. (We had purposely tried to confuse!!) She came to me and said "you are wearing a necklace that is very special to you..It is a sovereign necklace that Charlie had bought me. It was winter and  my coat was done up..I am not fully convinced but it was a comfort to  my daughters. Just after that experience I was awake and Charlie stood beside the bed, I was so surprised as he had been in a wheelchair for several years..Who knows? I wouldn't try to convince anyone but I think if that sort of thing gives people comfort I can't see any harm in it. Lorna

;D I think it is all Rubbish, Rubbish, Rubbish, Rubbish and Codswallop :P I wish it wasn't cause I'd love to meet a ghost, put my hand through his chest and shake his heart and ask how my ancestors are doing ;D

But it ain't going to happen, cause there ain't any ::) I've been to haunted houses and castles, walked down dark country lanes waiting for one to pounce, but it didn't. ::) :P

I'm not saying that I wouldn't jump out of my skin if something jumped out of the blue and said BOO! most peeps would, natural reaction for man and beast. ::) :P

So as long as we know that ghosts don't hurt you I ain't scared of em ;D :P But I would like to gather some sound evidence that they do exist ::) :P :o

Hi Mimi. I guess Derek Acorah would argue that he sees ghosts all the time,day and night.  Thats the crux of the matter I suppose, because those of us who don't see anything can't be sure wether he is being truthful or not.

Changing ones name is a common thing to do isn't it. I've changed my surname. I'll ask my dearly departed to mention it to him when I'm in the audience heehee. "I know who you really are MR Johnson!"

Lottie. I think dreaming events that actually happen must be very unsettling.

Lorna. I reckon too if it gives someone comfort then it is ok by me. I think I want to really believe there is an afterlife.

Roy, you are in my OH's camp! Along with the codswallop hee hee!  Anyway he and one of my  brothers thinks it's all to do with the this sound..."KER CHING!" Well even if it is a load of rubbish, which I dont think it is,I do find it entertaining and very interesting.  I love a good ghost story.

I often wonder why sane people would offer themselves up to ridicule by recounting their sightings if they didn't believe in what they have seen?


Marianne what was your sighting? Please tell us!

My grandfather was a spirit medium in the Spiritualist Church, so there is a deep family background of believing in the after life.  I have come across many weird things that can't be explained conventionally.  I do have a cynicism about some of the mediums seen on TV however, particularly the British ones.  When you watch some of the programmes they seem to manipulate people in a very clever way, picking up on phrases and body language to expound on their readings.  I will be ver interested to  hear how Derek Acorah comes across.  Do let us know how it goes. busy_lizzie 

Just to put a spanner in the works......  There was a programme on a couple of months ago about TV spiritualist/mediums and how they actually con the audience.  What really happens is whilst people are queuing to go into the TV show, trained researchers dressed as other members of the audience go along the queue and 'innocently' chat to other audience members with the intention of finding stuff out about them.  People invariable give away tit bits of info about their lives, deceased family members etc.  The researchers then go and meet with the production crew and the presenter to decide on the most interesting people they've found info on.  The researchers then watch where these people sit, and each part of the audience seating is colour marked, and colour code the info cards for the presenter.  He then comes on, already with the info, and a general idea of where the people are sat, and hey presto! what do you know, it seems like he is able to tell these people about stuff that they have no idea how he would know.  Coupled with the fact that a lot of people who go to these sorts of things are in a vulnerable stage, often suffering grief, and they want to believe.  I think its exploitive and have friends who have been used by 'mediums' to make a fast buck out of their grief and desperation. 

I'm with James Randi in regard to anything paranormal...give me proof...so far no-one's even come close.  I do think that the brain is an incredible organ and if I ever did see a ghost I'd take it as evidence that some of my own internal wiring had come loose...not of an afterlife. 

M.

Heldi, in very brief - here is "our" sighting.

It happened about 25 years ago.  The country was in North Africa, cannot say more.  It is very difficult for me to explain this.
Both my daughter and I were in dire straights because of something my Ex did.  We were at the end of our tether and there was no end in sight.  We both just wanted a terrible situation to end.  In fact, I myself had envisaged putting an end to it ....

Anyway, my ex, daughter and myself were in the same room one night and I turned to the mirror to see the face of my great grand mother who had died about 28 years before, looking at me.  My daughter noticed I was frozen to the ground and then saw her too (she had never seen her before).  My ex in turn saw her reflection in the mirror.    I have always called this occurrence "white magic" - This happening led to both of us "being freed" as the next morning, my daughter and I were gone from there.
Years later my daughter was sifting through photos when she came across the photo of my great grand mother ..... and said, "That is the woman I saw in that mirror"!
:o :o  Things we cannot explain but often I wonder whether she sensed our situation and came to help.....

That's amazing, M, and so glad you still here. I'm sure my Gran visits in dreams, I often dream about her, and nothing extraordinary, just sitting, drinking tea, but she' always wearing her favourite coat. We were very close.Lottie

:-\ Mmm! I have to admit Marianne, that story sent a shiver down my spine as did Poltergeist the film but would like to have been a fly on the wall at that time. :-\

So many tales are told and there never ever seems to be any way it can be captured by an unbiased onlooker. :(

How nice it would be to have a ghost make a guest appearance at a live theatre where there would be camera's and  people, he/she could speak for all other ghosts to set the record straight and could join the audience at close quarters to touchy feel so to speak.

Mind you I'd probably be the only one left sitting in the theatre as everyone else would have run for their lives. ::) ;D

Robert's reminded me...

When I was a teenager I dreamt of a plane crash. Woke up the next mornign and turned on the tv and the news was showing a plane crash. Coincidence? Maybe.

Two weeks ago I dreamt that something was going to happen the following Tuesday (ie - last Tuesday). What with all that's been going on in London, I thought it might be another bombing. Fortunately not. But then I heard about that plane that crashed and everyone survived. I do wonder if that's what I dreamt of; I can't really remember the details of the dream unfortunately.

(Or maybe I just really want to be psychic!)

Talking to Mr Aqui about this this weekend - he believes that ghosts are not the dead, but are in fact entities living in other universes/plains of existence.

Oh and I also I have several times recently spoken to my grandad. He died 15 years ago. We were very close when I was a kid. I've never seen him, just felt something and heard in my head something that seemed to be coming from outside of me. It's hard to explain.

And finally - years ago, my friend's dad had a stroke. That night at 12.30 I just suddenly started crying as I remembered about my grandad dying of a stroke. The next morning I found out my friend's dad had died at 12.30.

Marianne I went cold and got the shivers reading your story.   It's so bizarre that all three of you should see the image in the mirror.

Piglottie,A friend of mine went to a reading. Afterwards we were able to run through what was said to her and the answers my friend had given. We picked it apart and realised that what had been said to her,anyone could have said. So I don't blindly believe in this medium stuff.
I don't think I'll ever truely be convinced until something happens to me. The thing is though,I believe what people tell me about their experiences because my friends and people who are kindly telling us their stories on here, have absolutely nothing to gain from it.

Marianne I've just read through your story once more and again goosebumps and shivers !  :o

I believe in the existence of the soul, that it continues beyond the death of the body and that we are all part of some greater entity.   This is also based on my experiences.  I am therefore anticipating meeting up with my now deceased loved ones  and what a joyous re union we will have....

Theres a heck of a lot of hocus pocus out there tho. and I would be sceptical at some of them, just out to make a quick buck. 

:o :o :o :o

Thanks to all for your comments.  :D  Reading through it again brings back the terrible but positive memory of that night. 

However scared my daughter and I were at the time, it is nice to think that maybe your loves ones, who have passed over, have the ability to come to your rescue in hard times.  Who knows !?   

Or did my brain "project" her image due to how extremely low I felt !?  I guess I will have to wait for that answer..

Marianne I think you gave a good sense of the terrible situation you were in, which makes the face of your great grand mother appearing in the mirror all the more spooky and yes, was she there to help you out of your troubles? Remarkable story.

perhaps the lady in the mirror also felt great anguish in her lifetime and stared at her reflection, wondering what to do?
if so, being genetically related to her, you and your daughter might have inherited that memory....triggered at a time of great stress?
i don't know, but some scientists believe this to be the basis of some of the most common phobias (snakes, spiders etc) especially since there are none that kill you in this country yet more people are terrified of these than anything else!
i guess it will be sometime before definate answers to lifes mysteries are forthcoming.
in the meantime, i hope that you and your daughter never have cause to be so distressed again.
Tara xx