My Encounter With a Ghost Back in 2000

I recently posted this as a reply to an old thread, but I figured that it might actually be more appropriate as a standalone thread. I have seen two ghosts in my life, but I'll just tell the story of the first encounter because the other one isn't terribly interesting.

This was when I was 13 years old spending the Christmas holidays abroad in a rural part of France. I was staying with relatives of mine in their house, which was a very old farmhouse. One particular day, my cousins and I decided to stay inside for the day because it was snowing heavily. We spent most of the day just wasting time and horsing around. A little later in the afternoon, my older cousin and I went up into the attic together because she was looking for something, and I followed her because I was curious to see the attic. There was a lot of stuff up there that interested me like old books and some antique items. Once she found what she needed, I asked her if it was okay if I stayed up there for a while to look around. She giggled and said something to the effect of, "Why? It's just a bunch of old sh*t up here. But yeah, if you want to."

I spent about half an hour walking around looking at stuff until I happened upon some old book from the early 1800s that seemed intriguing. I sat down and read it for a little while before deciding that I wanted to take it back to my bedroom to read every night before bed. When I closed the book and went to stand up, my gaze immediately shifted over to a woman who was sitting in a chair on the left side of the room. This briefly startled me at first and made me gasp because I had never seen her before, and I didn't hear her come into the attic. She was wearing very old clothing, had long blonde hair, and she was quite pretty. She looked like she was somewhere between 25 and 30 years old. She didn't look solid though, and it's hard to explain exactly what I mean by that. She wasn't like the stereotypical Hollywoodized translucent ghost, but she had a certain opaqueness about her that tells you on an instinctual level that you're not looking at a living biological entity.

She smiled and said to me, "Désolé si je vous ai fait peur, ma chère." ("Sorry if I scared you, dear.")

At this point, I didn't feel any fear or apprehension at all; this apparition radiated a kind, warm, and positive energy that I could somehow feel right down to my core, and I felt safe in her presence. It was a very brief encounter. Around five seconds after she spoke, she stood up, walked about seven feet to the right of the room, and faded away mid-stride. I just silently sat there dumbfounded for a few minutes. When I left the attic, I was hesitant to tell anybody about what I saw, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. A few days later, I decided to privately ask my youngest cousin about it. She was 8 years old, and I figured that younger kids are usually a little more open to things like this and less judgmental than teenagers and adults.

To my surprise, she was quite candid about it. When I asked her if she had ever seen a lady who appears out of nowhere, she responded, "Do you mean the blonde lady?" When I nodded, she then said something to the effect of, "Yeah, I see her sometimes. It's okay, she's nice." She told me that she had been seeing her since she was about 5 years old. We didn't really talk much more about it, and I didn't tell anybody else what I had seen. It's something that will always vividly stick in my memory because it was so surreal, and I can still visualize her face when I close my eyes.

a reply to: CandidCandace

That's an amazing story!! I'm wondering at 13 years old you were able to read a book from the early 1800's? Can you expand on that?

Any idea who the ghost could be? I've seen a few ghosts but they were all scary, one was in a castle in Scotland.

a reply to: CandidCandace

I have old book involving gear cutting from the early 1900's, now I am afraid to read them as I may end up with an angry machinist sitting on my chair drinking my beer.
JK

Interesting story though thank you for sharing.

a reply to: game over man

I grew up in Canada, but I can speak, read, and write French fluently because my parents are from France. The French language hasn't changed very much at all in the last few centuries. You might encounter a few archaic words every so often, but you can usually figure out what they mean with context.

I never did find out who she is. The fact that the farmhouse was very old would lead me to believe that she most likely lived there are one time. I don't think that all ghosts are forlorn spirits yearning for something; I have read stories about some that come across as harmless and seem happy. Maybe some of them occasionally enjoy visiting places where there are a lot of fond memories for them.

Have you ever posted about your experiences on here? I would be very interested to read about them if you have!

a reply to: CandidCandace

Wow that's fascinating! Thanks for the follow up! I was thinking that about the French language, what a cool book to read! Different times 200 years ago! The book itself and paper/ink must have been really cool.

I have made a thread and reposted my red orb and grey alien encounter before but never my ghost stories (I don't think so, been a member since '08).

Your thread is inspiring me to write at least about the Scotland one because that has corroborating evidence from the castle/hotel. I want to look up which castle it was and include the back story of the queen that visits a particular room, if that info is hopefully online, it was in their three ring binder book about the history of the castle.

a reply to: CandidCandace

I find it amazing that see acknowledged you and realized her presence could startle you.
It makes me wonder just how much they realize their predicament or surroundings.

My home was a gathering place for them in about 2010. A woman next door somehow opened a portal. They were in my home constantly and especially at night. They were in the neighbors home and yard. They could materialize as human. Each time they were male over here, and next door. They can speak any language or become either sex. They can walk around your bed, and sit on it if they choose to do so. Now thinking back, they came as female at times. Your dogs and cats can see and hear them.

I was Visitedbythem.

I know who they are.

a reply to: CandidCandace

There ya go, made the thread

link

a reply to: visitedbythem

A woman next door somehow opened a portal.

Has the portal closed or does it come and go over time? Was she studying the occult or trying to commune with spirits in some fashion? Is the area around there known for paranormal activity?
Thanks.

Ghosts which interact with people are hard to explain.

The suggestion in the OP is that it might have been a former resident of the old farm now deceased. But then one would think the ghost would be like a video recording of past events that some people can sometimes tune into; then, obviously, the person featured in that recording would be quite unaware of the person watching it, in the same way that movie stars appearing on my TV screen are unaware of me, the viewer.

Not only does the ghost apologise to the girl for scaring her, she herself (the ghost) isn't a bit scared, which puzzles me even more.

One might conjecture that a woman from a different time line briefly entered that of the girl, making interaction possible. So that the woman, though she may have long since passed away, is young and alive at that point where the 2 timelines converge (not like some disembodied spirit haunting the living). But surely, even then, the encounter would be equally frightening for the 'ghost'! Yet she shows no fear.

Hard to form a plausible explanation, let alone believe.

Given nothing else to go on, Occam's Razor would suggest the fanciful imaginings of an adolescent girl.

originally posted by: TheLieWeLive
a reply to: CandidCandace

I find it amazing that see acknowledged you and realized her presence could startle you.
It makes me wonder just how much they realize their predicament or surroundings.

I think some of them have a much more complex awareness than we would imagine; after all, they are no longer constrained by the limitations of the human brain. A lot of people who have left their body during an NDE or OBE claim that they experienced an expanded sense of awareness like they had never felt while inside their body.

April 1985, I was in the Navy. My squadron sent a detachment to Philadelphia to ride the USS Forrestal out for sea trials. The ship had been in the Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) for a couple of years. Three of us were assigned to the Night Shift. This pretty much meant that we would check on the helicopters periodically and make sure that the Daily and Turnaround inspections were done for when Day Shift came on. Since the ship was doing "darken ship" trials, we were not required to keep a steady watch, just go up every so often and make sure the helos were secure. Some of the Ship's junior officers hassled us about not keeping a watch on the flight deck, until our Det. Commander told them to buzz off. One night I'm looking at the PLAT television feed and see somebody near our helos. I run up on to the flight deck and there's nobody there. I didn't think anything of it and went back below. A few hours later I see the same person walking around our aircraft. Again I run up on deck and there's no one there. This was strange. We were on the angle deck, it was at least 200 feet to any exit from the deck. I was up there in a few seconds, since I had about 10 feet to get outside and then 10 steps up to the deck. I don't care if you were an Olympic sprinter, there was no way to go that I couldn't see you. This happened a few more times. We got back, I didn't think about it for a few years. One evening Unsolved Mysteries was on and they were talking about the Forrestal Ghost. One of the people who saw it, described exactly what I saw. In July 1967 the Forrestal had a severe fire. 134 people were killed. After that rumors that the ship was haunted started making the rounds.

originally posted by: visitedbythem
My home was a gathering place for them in about 2010. A woman next door somehow opened a portal. They were in my home constantly and especially at night. They were in the neighbors home and yard. They could materialize as human. Each time they were male over here, and next door. They can speak any language or become either sex. They can walk around your bed, and sit on it if they choose to do so. Now thinking back, they came as female at times. Your dogs and cats can see and hear them.

I was Visitedbythem.

I know who they are.

I always read that pets, babies, and young children are more prone to sensing paranormal activity; it seems to be a recurring theme. Why do you suppose this is? I also wonder why they often seem to prefer nighttime.

Thank you for sharing your experience!

a reply to: JIMC5499

That's a very eerie experience! Was this apparition just aimlessly walking around? Did you ever tell anybody else about what you saw?

a reply to: CandidCandace

That is an amazing story of a intelligent encounter, you should find more information of the history of the farm house and see if the lady is somewhere in the accounts.

I had my first ghost encounter when I was 7 years old, it was an older man, in shorts ad under shirt, with white hair that I tough looked funny, he was very pale to me, he was standing on the next door fence looking as I and my cousins were playing in the yard, I though he was upset because we were loud.

I approached him and started to talk to him but he will not answer back, my older cousins came and asked me to who I was talking too, soo that is when I realized they could not see him.

To make the story short when my mother found out, she asked the lady next door I was taken to the house and show a picture that I recognized as the man in the fence, it was her long time deceased husband.

After that I started seen and hearing people that for others were no there.

originally posted by: CandidCandace
a reply to: JIMC5499

That's a very eerie experience! Was this apparition just aimlessly walking around? Did you ever tell anybody else about what you saw?

The two guys I was working with saw him on the television feed. None of us actually saw him. By the time we got to the deck he was gone. It was the distance to the exits that made it interesting. A whole bunch of people saw things a few nights later, but, it was us playing with a glow in the dark Frisbee during darken ship.

My husband who snores has seen ghosts twice in our bedroom. I was asleep down the hall with the dog and a nightlight. One was an old man who scolded him, one was a child reading one of my books on the chair in the room. My niece has seen ghosts as a teenager. One situation was in someone’s PA River cabin, it was an old man. Both my niece and my husband usually roll over and go back to sleep. My adult friend saw a ghost as a teenager in Florence SC. She and her brother were visiting cousins. She saw an old lady sitting in a rocker next to her bed, my friend jumped up and ran out of the room. Her brother claims he saw a stage coach go down the road. I was told that story ten years ago. My neighbor across the street has a mother, deceased at 96 now, who saw an Indian man standing in one of her bedrooms in broad day light. That property had arrow heads all over it and was next to the lake here. The lake has a submerged Indian mound in there. She also heard music in the daylight from the Indians. One of my husband’s teenage friends in the mid Eastern Ohio countryside saw a lady in a white night gown walk around the outside of the barn. That was in the 1980s. A friend of my mother’s in Ohio saw a man in a plaid shirt walk down the hallway while she was doing dishes, she was talking to him thinking it was her husband. I heard that story in the early 1990s. I love to hear people’s stories, all fascinating. Maybe some brains are like radios picking up moments from the past, or it delusions from carbon dioxide overload. Such as snoring.

Accident double post.

originally posted by: MichiganSwampBuck
a reply to: visitedbythem

A woman next door somehow opened a portal.

Has the portal closed or does it come and go over time? Was she studying the occult or trying to commune with spirits in some fashion? Is the area around there known for paranormal activity?
Thanks.

Yeah. She was doing some type of occult over there. Its closed now. The last one that came in my home was ambushed and chased. I believe those who gave chase, were able to close it. The activity stopped that night. I havnt heard of other activity in this area. It was a large farm until the early 1960s. 19' elevation.

a reply to: JIMC5499

Your story was really good, hopefully that Unsolved Mysteries episode is streaming or on YouTube.

How dark was the deck? This all happened only at night? What did you actually see? A shadowy figure of a man? Were they in uniform? What were they doing exactly?