US soldier haunted by Iraqi ghost commits suicide

US soldier haunted by Iraqi ghost commits suicide

www.mcclatchydc.com

Until the day he died, Sgt. Brian Rand believed he was being haunted by the ghost of the Iraqi man he killed.

The ghost choked Rand while he slept in his bunk, forcing him to wake up gasping for air and clawing at his throat.

He whispered that Rand was a vampire and looked on as the soldier stabbed another member of Fort Campbell's 96th Aviation Support Battalion in the neck with a fork in the mess hall.

Eventually, the ghost told Rand he needed to kill himself.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Post traumatic stress disorder or real ghost? It is not the first time I hear a similar story, and myself have experienced similar things with spirits. What are your thoughts?

www.mcclatchydc.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by TheOracle

This guy let the ghost get the better of him, he should have taken it to the ghost, using the constant reference to Jesus in speech and a crucifix. The ghost would have legged it for sure. Shame.

I posted this over in the Paranormal Studies section...Pretty wild...Makes you wonder just how many other soldiers experience something like this and never talk about it...

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


ah snaap...and I did a search and nothing came up...

who knows? al capone said that he was haunted by one of the men shot from the valentines day massacre. pretty sad.

This makes me hate the war even more. Makes me hate the people deciding these things.

Such a sad story and just another reason WHY THERE SHOULD NOT BE WARS!!!!!

Damn I'm pissed off now... wanted to meditate and go to sleep.

Probably some combination of remorse and PTSD.

Not all men are able to kill and maintain a good conscience. Sadly it takes a first kill to realise whether or not you are able to kill, and by that time its too late to choose another path.

reply to post by 44soulslayer


THere was another thread about this. I am agreeing that this was probably PTSD. I believe that there are ghosts, but there is a rise in soldier suicides. Who knows how many of them were imagining slain people coming back to haunt them. A lot of people would not say anything about seeing such things. PTSD is basically having a traumatic event haunting you, so it would be very hard to tell the difference in that and an actual ghost-type haunting, I imagine.

reply to post by raven bombshell


Ghost ? thats what we call a cloaked soldier .Or may be his conscience was haunting him. Either way ,you reap what you sow .

I'm sorry to hear about this happening. I know that some guys have problems with it.

Others don't. I sleep like a baby.

Now, here's a good story. A friend of mine was in Vietnam. When he got back, he had a lot of nightmares about a troop of his that was killed. The dead trooper was crying because he was cold.

So, my friend went out into the woods and burned his field jacket; told him that was the only way he could get it to him.

Never had a problem sleeping after that.

Wow. It's interesting the things your mind will do to you in it's guilt.

Clearly the conscience is capable of manifesting images and sounds from memory into the conscious mind.

That's a creepy thought. But not entirely unlike how flashbacks are rendered in the conscious mind.


I have minor flashbacks, but not related to person to person trauma. Merely quick re-visits to some of my electrocutions, and near death occurrences. Nothing really all that interesting.

What perturbs me is the military didn't have an effective enough system in place to notice this form of PTSD. Then again, the military tends to overlook mental instability very frequently.

The article says "My brother was afraid to ask for help," said April Somdahl. "And when he finally did ask for help the military let him down."

The US has let our soldiers down. They are only help as value while on the battle field, but once they are done with their duty, the goverment fails to satisfy their mental health needs. They say war changes people, and when someone goes through so much trauma and gets no help, this might be the outcome for them, sadly.

My love goes out to this soldier of my country. It truly breaks my heart to hear of stories like this. My dad always told me "never dishonor your enemy in the field of battle, or off the field of battle." My heart goes out to both of the fallen men in this story. May they both rest in peace.

Semper Fi

[edit on 10-7-2008 by USMC-oorah]

That's probably a soldier that took his m16 and went on a rampage killing innocent boys and girls, men and women as they stand. This is the stuff they don't tell you about. A cousin of mine is in the army, he cried as he told me this.

[edit on 11-7-2008 by Ferengi]

Originally posted by Ferengi
That's probably a soldier that took his m16 and went on a rampage killing innocent boys and girls, men and women as they stand. This is the stuff they don't tell you about. A cousin of mine is in the army, he cried as he told me this.

[edit on 11-7-2008 by Ferengi]

forget it. nevermind.

[edit on 13-7-2008 by USMC-oorah]