Sidhe Posted April 14, 2003 #1 Share Posted April 14, 2003 I'm going to start this thread to tell my personal stories about the haunted places I've lived. I'm going to start with a very simple one. I used to live in a house in Hattiesburg Mississippi, the town that keeps the University of Southern Mississippi from heading for Mexico on a drunken rampage. The house I lived in was a rental property that was begrudgingly rented to a group of college students only because my mother also rented there. She and an older student occupied rooms on the first floor, while a few of us took over the top floor. There were two bedrooms up there, but one of them had been padlocked off to hold the antiques from the house. Two guys shared the bedroom, but I opted to take the space created by the railing of the staircase as it came up through the floor, and then the wall and door of the second, padlocked bedroom. I had enough space there, if you can believe it, for a twin bed and a dresser. It was also right close to the bathroom, a large one, that was the third and last room (my little spot wasn't really a room) on the upper floor. My bed then was right next to the stairs, which did the usual "U" shape as they came up from the lower floor. Anyone coming up those stairs had to pass by me if they came up after I went to bed. It was college, so I wasn't complaining about the accomodations. It wasn't anything permanent, and in truth, I've had worse places to call my own! One of the other guys who stayed there worked nights at the local Pizza Hut. I got used to being awakened briefly as he came home, banging the front door shut, and then made the inevitable stomping sounds on the stairs. The door and stairs just couldn't be made quiet, apparently.. I always found it easy to get back to sleep, even if it was a little annoying. Some nights it would seem to me that I could hear things rustling around in the padlocked room. I became frightened over time when it was clear that I really *was* hearing things! To my relief, though, it turned out the room had a breach, and squirrels were getting in. One night my friends and I actually had to chase a flying squirrel around our house to catch it and let it go outside. Eventually we captured it under one of those plastic clothes baskets. It took some time, though, as the ability to glide gave this squirrel a whole other way to avoid us.. We called the landlord and he promised to do something about it. If he did, he did it while I was away. Anyway, I continued to hear those sounds for the time I stayed there, but I could always tell myself that it was squirrels.. Then one night I heard the front door bang open, and the heavy tread of footsteps on the stairs. Up they came.. I had actually just put my light out to go to sleep after reading an assignment, but I decided I was tired and I was going to pretend to be asleep and not hail my housemate. Up up came the steps, a little heavier than I had remembered them being before. And then they stopped! Because of the way my bed was arranged, it sounded as if the steps stopped right next to my head. That would have been a step or two away from the top of the landing. I waited a second and considered asking my housemate what was up, but a little discrepancy was starting to bother me. I didn't smell any pizza. If you've ever worked at a pizza restaraunt, or known someone who did, you probably know that when you get home, you totally reek of pizza! But whoever was now standing inches away from my nose was *not* stinky.. in fact, I couldn't smell or hear anything. Why wasn't I hearing breathing? Well you must know how this story goes, as it's a classic type of haunting activity. Usually people don't actually stay so close to the stairs, though, so I got a real close up experience. Because of my questions, and the nagging doubts left over from having entertained the idea that the room behind the padlocked door was haunted.. and also because this wasn't my first experience with a haunting, I was just terrified. I could not open my eyes for anything and I simply laid there pretending to be asleep, until forty-five minutes later my housemate did come home, slamming the door, stomping up the steps and reeking of pizza. If the ghost was still there, my housemate walked right through him. Anyone else ever experience the staircase ghosts? They don't seem to do much else than come in and walk up the stairs. It seems a little, I don't know, embarassing. I mean, I imagine the spectral "haunting society" get togethers where ghosts tell each other what they've been doing, and then the one guy has to say, "I'm a staircase ghost." I imagine the talk gets quiet and the other ghosts just stare at him with expressions of "you total loser.." until they pick the conversation back up again and act like he never said anything.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loonboy Posted April 14, 2003 #2 Share Posted April 14, 2003 Sidhe, that's a pretty good story. I can't believe you just kept your eyes closed instead of looking... Fat lot of good you'd be on Scooby Doo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidhe Posted April 14, 2003 Author #3 Share Posted April 14, 2003 That's what I did *then*! Now I'd look and look, trying to prove or disprove something, though I wager I'd be just as frightened. Seems fright goes along with these things whether you like or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kismit Posted April 14, 2003 #4 Share Posted April 14, 2003 That's a great story Sidhe . I'd have kept my eyes shut too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orcafresh Posted April 21, 2003 #5 Share Posted April 21, 2003 Just to interject; a staircase ghost or spirit is most often utilizing the staircase in a desire to move on. Many don't know that they are dead or locked out of passing beyond the familiar they see and feel, I believe. Your experience was unnerving. Did you happen to research the house to try and learn if anyone had actually died in the house. The noise factor is troublesome to me because it might be borderline poltergeist activity. Once that spirit gets frustrated it'll look for other ways to attract attention to itself. Manifesting noise is not something all spirits do. Your ghost was most likely very male and high strung mentality wise as a living being. Curious story. I'm looking forward to reading more. So often, we each go through our lives thinking we're unique because of ghostly happenstance in our environments. Nothing could be more misinterpreted... we simply don't go to those places where other's have had real experiences. I'll share some of my own true stories of my nearly 50 year old life once I get more comfortable here. Thanks for sharing yours! Share on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOracle Posted April 21, 2003 #6 Share Posted April 21, 2003 Hi Sidhe Amazing story. The ghosts that I have in my house make all the sound effects to go along with their actions. I have walked up the stairs and down the hall and I can hear their footsteps right beside me or coming toward me...We have a wooden floor. The difference is I have never felt afraid of them or threatened by them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sageghost Posted April 21, 2003 #7 Share Posted April 21, 2003 Wish I could say the same! The last time I stayed over at Oracle's place, I was awoken to the sound of footsteps coming up (or down) the stairs. I have to admit that it freaked me out a bit. Normally I'm not able to 'tune into' paranormal activity, but on this occasion it happened. Oracle has told me about a lot of experiences in his house and I think it's great that he can get through that initial fear factor and try to communicate or interpret the behaviour of this prescence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidhe Posted April 21, 2003 Author #8 Share Posted April 21, 2003 Welcome Orcafresh.. please do share your experiences. I just got here and jumped right in the water. Well that's my nature anyway. I don't know enough 'bout ghosts to say whether or not I agree with you about the staircase metaphor. Living people sometimes have behaviors that are symbolic when they have slipped deep into neurosis. So of course it's possible. But it is also possible that the house has somehow "recorded" some events and under the right conditions it replays them. I think there are in general three accepted "categories" of ghosts.. the discarnate spirit of the formerly living, the "recording," and then the strange poltergeist, elemental or demonic thing.. I feel as if I've experienced all three in my travels. Obviously there have to be differences between them or the categories don't mean anything. One difference is that the recordings do not interact with you. But I can't be certain the ghost in that Mississippi house wasn't interactive, since there were unexplained noises and other things.. for instance, once the television did a very stange thing.. it turned off while the power was on. It was old enough that it would do that thing where it makes a little dot that shrinks and disappears.. I know you'll remember those days, Orcafresh! Anyway, the tv was still on, and you could turn the knob all you wanted.. it was as if something had bypassed the switch. Then just as suddenly as it had gone off, it came back on, with never another hitch in its lifetime. Stttttrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrange! So I think this house may have had some kind of "aware" entity in it. But it was not the most interactive ghostie I've ever "met".. Sageghost: yeah, ghosts get the nerves jumping, no doubt about it! I think I could stick around now and try to take some "measurements" but then again maybe not. It has been a long time since I've been right in the thick of haunting activity.. TheOracle: whether they intend threats or not, I always manage to wind up feeling threatened! It's just the normal human reaction to the unknown, I think.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kismit Posted April 21, 2003 #9 Share Posted April 21, 2003 Welcome aboard Orca fresh , I hope you share your stories with us . I am very interested in ghosts and spirits . your comments on the subject are quite facinating and I would love to hear more . Now Sidhe tell us about the poltergiest story please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidhe Posted April 21, 2003 Author #10 Share Posted April 21, 2003 I'm still writing that up, Kismit.. it is such a long tale.. I wonder if anyone will actually read the thing when I'm done? Well you can all *tell* me that you did.. I actually turned it into a very long and very bad poem.. that'll never see the light of day.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kismit Posted April 21, 2003 #11 Share Posted April 21, 2003 Oh no , I think I can live without the poem . But I will definatly read the story when you post it . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidhe Posted April 21, 2003 Author #12 Share Posted April 21, 2003 Don't you worry Missy! I'm not as stupid as I used to be.. I'm going to put it up in the "experiences" forum, since that's the right place for it. You'll see it as "Maryland haunting, part 1." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chichevanche Posted April 22, 2003 #13 Share Posted April 22, 2003 great story sidhe....it reminds me of a ghost thats in my grandparents farmhouse... id be lying in bed, and id hear distinct footsteps coming up the stairs..stopping...then going back down...then that would be it for awhile..then up and down again...ect. the first time i heard it i was terrified, but after awhile, it became more annoying than anything... to this day my gramma sleeps with earplugs. the house dates back to before the civil war, and is the second oldest farmhouse in coffee county tennessee, so various odd things happen there. i havnt seen this myself, but both my grandparents say that the kitchen cabinets open and close themselves. the smell of strong cigar smoke will appear out of nowhere. once my gram was walking through the dining room into the kitchen and was smacked on the rear. never experienced that one first hand either. heh i remember being little and hearing things and being scared, and my grandparents would tell me not to be afraid, because anyone who ever lived there was part of my family, so the ghosts would all be family...not all that comforting a thought to a six year old. thought id share. eryk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkangel_2005 Posted May 2, 2003 #14 Share Posted May 2, 2003 hi i was just reading the things you wrote about the haunted houses. i have had a lot of experience with with haunted houses because i live in one. maybe i will tell you about them some time. hi Chichevanche! you don't know me but i know you. anyways see ya guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidhe Posted May 2, 2003 Author #15 Share Posted May 2, 2003 Thanks Chichevanche, and welcome! I didn't see your post when you made it; hope you haven't felt neglected.. those are some great stories you told yourself. darkangel_2005, please do tell your stories! I love reading the experiences of others. And welcome to you too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOracle Posted May 2, 2003 #16 Share Posted May 2, 2003 Welcome darkangel_2005 I agree with Sidhe, We would love to have you share your stories with us ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chichevanche Posted May 2, 2003 #17 Share Posted May 2, 2003 hey dark angel, curious curious...how do you know me? heh. eryk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magikman Posted May 3, 2003 #18 Share Posted May 3, 2003 Hi darkangel, Always good to see a fellow 'Cheesehead' on the forum, hope you enjoy your stay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raventlynn Posted May 4, 2003 #19 Share Posted May 4, 2003 Hi! Pretty much new here. I happened here by chance. The stories are great! I would probably bore you guys with all the ghost stories from my childhood(or scare you to death!!) I used to live in Mississippi, too....Biloxi, to be exact...and let me tell you...LOTS of ghostly happenings in our Southern state! I used to close my eyes, whenever something would happen and play Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz...There's no place like home.....nowadays...I use it to my advantage...became a ghosthunter....and student of ALL strange things!!!! Too much has happened to me for me to ever think it would be a coincidence!!! When I have more time, if you like, I can tell you a doozy about a haunted house in MS!!! I want to cruise the forum, first! Later!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceyKC Posted May 5, 2003 #20 Share Posted May 5, 2003 Hi raventlynn, welcome! I hope you do post some of your ghostly experiences. I don't think there's been any stories from Mississippi on here yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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