Saturday, October 26, 2013

GHOSTS AND THE PARANORMAL


Our theme for October is the paranormal. What better to talk about with Halloween right around the corner?  The paranormal is also very popular in books these days, with vampires and zombies and other world themes in so many genres. It’s also big on TV. This year we have Dracula.

So are you a believer in the paranormal or a skeptic? I’m a believer. I’ve always believed in ghosts and several years ago I was in New Orleans. Two girlfriends and I were staying in one of the old hotels in the French Quarter.  It was a brick structure and we were on the top floor with the slanted roof. We’d explored the French Quarter that evening. I’d bought one of those yummy praline cookies and put it, in its little paper bag, on the stand beside my bed.

We went to bed and fell asleep. A few hours later I was wakened by a rustling sound. I lay there with my eyes closed trying to figure out what it might be. I decided we must have mice and it was eating my cookie. I didn’t open my eyes. (Okay, I’m a coward.) I didn’t want to see the mouse and scream and wake everyone up. The scrunching of the paper continued for maybe fifteen minutes, or more.

In the morning I got up and looked and the cookie hadn’t been touched. The bag was still tightly closed. No sign of mice. I figured a friendly ghost had tried to have a snack, but without any success.

When one of my girlfriends woke up she said she’d heard someone digging at the bricks above her bed during the night. It had kept her awake for hours. She was sure it was the ghost, maybe trying to get out from behind the wall.

Two nights later my other girlfriend said she’d seen a woman in a blue dress with a hooped skirt in the corner of the room, looking at her. Obviously we were sharing the room with a friendly ghost.

This isn't a ghost story but my mother was in a care home several hundred miles away. At noon one day I came home from work at lunch and decided to call my mother and see how she was doing. I dialed the number. Her phone did not ring and I could hear her talking to a volunteer. She was asking that person to please call her daughter (me).  She gave the person my number and the volunteer dialed. I heard all this and kept yelling "Hello! I'm here!" but no one heard me. When she finished dialing I said "Hello" again and this time she heard me. I was still on my phone and obviously it didn't ring. The volunteer handed the phone to my mother and we talked.
Do you have an explanation? I never have figured it out.
 
There are many such stories and lots of tales about ghosts in the French quarter and I believe them all. What about you? Do you believe in the paranormal? Have you any stories to share? I’d love to hear them.

Now head over to Marci Baun’s blog and see what she has to say about the paranormal.  http://www.marcibaun.com/

 

 

9 comments:

  1. Well, if ghosts were going to be anywhere, they'd be in New Orleans. Love the city with it's history and thread of sinister laying underneath everything.

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  2. I've had several paranormal experiences, so I'm a card-carrying believer in the paranormal. I've also been to New Orleans twice and each time I had a ghostly encounter - once at an old cemetery and the other (like you) in a hotel room. ;-)

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    1. An encounter in a cemetery - oh, that sounds very scary. Their cemeteries are very interesting in New Orleans. I loved Marie Laveau's

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  3. I haven't had any experiences, although I wish I did. We went to a supposedly haunted hotel for dinner and nothing. :( So disappointed!

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    1. They never show up if you're waiting for them. I went to one hotel in New Orleans specifically because it was haunted and expected to see one - nothing. But you are a believer. They may brush by you one day.

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  4. I don't think they come when you want them to, but they do make themselves known if they're there. I find it way cool! And I'm loving reading about the experiences others have had!

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  5. No explanation for the phone call, but I'm a believer in ghosts too. According to Wanda, my dad lived with her for almost a year. :) I know you read my blog. :)

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  6. My novel THE THIRD EYE: A PINE BARRENS MYSTERY features the Jersey Devil and ghosts. I enjoy paranormal elements in literature.

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