Ghostly Encounters

While I've never actually met a ghost, except those that appear at my door on Beggars' Night, I have had a few weird, ghostly experiences, and Halloween is the perfect holiday to share them.

The first time I was only ten. Three of my friends and I were exploring a local "haunted house." It had been abandoned for many years--at least that's what we thought. We entered through a window and crept through the house. It still contained remnants of its former owners: a few pieces of dilapidated furniture, open boxes of discarded clothing. We were giggling and having a great time until we entered the living room and saw HER sitting in the rocking chair. All four of us saw an old woman dressed in 1800s clothing with a bonnet. We tore out of there and never told a soul. We didn't even talk about it with each other, and I can't explain it to this day. Two elderly sisters had lived and died in the house. Perhaps one of them refused to leave.

Several years ago, I went on a ghost hunt with a friend of a friend. This person claimed to be a medium of sorts and had been asked to convince a ghost to leave the house a woman had just bought. I begged to go along, and he finally allowed me to join his group of four. We walked throughout the house with our medium feeling cold spots here and there. He finally identified an Indian spirit, although the rest of us didn't see or feel anything. As we were leaving, another "guest" on this mission whispered to me, "I don't think anything is here, do you?" As soon as she said that, we heard a loud crash from the kitchen behind us. When we looked, a pan that had been on the stove was on the floor. Was someone sending the other skeptic a message?
My third experience probably wasn't real, but it was the creepiest. I was visiting London and decided to take a "Ghost Walk." It was London, so of course it was raining, not heavy, just drizzle and fog. They have great spooky atmosphere! Our guide was dressed in a black cape as we walked down the dark alleys and Victorian streets of London's past. We visited the Jack the Ripper sites, stopped at a cemetery haunted by a she-wolf and walked through a deserted building where our footsteps echoed on the worn, wooden floors. Throughout the tour, the back of my neck prickled, as if someone was watching, but I didn't see any actual evidence of ghostly activity. Not until we left Ye Olde Pub (I don't remember the actual name). When we cut down an alley, with nothing around us except the heavy fog and the only light was from our guide's flashlight ahead of us, a small child beside me suddenly screamed. I know I jumped. A white apparition briefly flashed from a nearby doorway, and then vanished. After we hurriedly exited, er, stampeded from, the alley, our guide explained a shopkeeper had been murdered there. It was believed he sometimes came there with a butcher knife looking for his killer. I didn't see a knife, and I don't know if I believe the story, but I don't know how the tour could have created that eerie glow either.

So, now I've confessed my unexplained experiences. Anyone have their own creepy or ghostly stories they're willing to share?

                                             BOO! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!