Strange things happen in October. Yes, indeed, the closer we draw to Samhain, when the veil between the worlds of the dead and the living is said to be at it's thinnest, the more we are likely to encounter the mysterious others. For a Tarot reader, who spends her life living with the paranormal, nothing is too surprising..usually. I should clarify..half assed psychic, that's me. I can tell you what you had for dinner and what your childhood nickname was, (the name your long dead grandfather called you, that no one living knows) but, alas, I can't give you the winning lotto numbers. I am good enough to get you to part with your money for mostly sensible advice. Such is my employment. I'd apologize, but, reasonably priced entertainment is somewhat valuable, is it not?*
And so it was a typical day, a couple of visits from dead relatives of clients, a little advice to the lovelorn and one farmer wanting to know if he should sell or store his soybeans. If you live in Iowa, just harvest quick..I think field moisture will be the problem this year. Anyway, in comes a beautiful young girl and her pretty, but, worried looking mother. As the girl moved towards my reading room, I noticed a flash of white behind her. Thinking to myself, ahhh, she has company, I wonder if she knows? Indeed, she did. This girl, who was about 13 or 14, told me she is being followed by a ghost and she wanted to know what it wants from her. Her mother claimed to have seen it around her daughter too. I asked the usual questions, where did you see it?..etc. The girl said "It's a Victorian ghost." Ahhhh ha! I had no doubt there was something around her, but, a ghost? A Victorian ghost? Come on. Why do people always see Victorian ghosts? Good grief, every ghost story has a Victorian ghost...it has period clothes! A long white dress! You get the gist. Me? I've never seen a Victorian ghost in my life. I've lived in dozens of Victorian houses and even an old mansion or three..never seen a Victorian spook. Don't give a rats ass what your inbred cat sees either..but, that's another peeve of mine. Back to the girl and her tale.
*
As this child begins to tell me how the Victorian ghost appears by her bed at night....something strange happens. Strange even by my standards. The air on the left side of her begins to..ripple. I watch it, I am almost sure something is there. The girl says she's not afraid of her Victorian ghost, but, wants to know what it's trying to say to her. As she gets more involved in her story, I watch to her left. The outline of a figure in the rippling air gives forth a being. I can see it clearly. It is not ghostly, it is solid, like a living person. It is a small child. And, I shake my head and grin..this spirit is dressed in Victorian garb. I kid you not. Hot dang! That's a first.
*
I tell the real girl that I can see her...visitor. I say, you're right, it's Victorian. She has a long white dress (the real girl adds "with white eyelet lace", which was exactly what I was seeing) and she has blond corkscrew curls with.. At this point, both the real girl and I say at the same time..."a blue ribbon in her hair! " It is at this second, the apparition turns to me and the look of malevolence in that "childs" eyes scared the pants off me for a second. Victorian spirit children are scary as...fuck. I don't know how else to say it. The spirit says in a low voice "Get HER out of my bed." Calmly, but, with a malice that could chill an August day. Then she was gone.
I tell the real girl that I can see her...visitor. I say, you're right, it's Victorian. She has a long white dress (the real girl adds "with white eyelet lace", which was exactly what I was seeing) and she has blond corkscrew curls with.. At this point, both the real girl and I say at the same time..."a blue ribbon in her hair! " It is at this second, the apparition turns to me and the look of malevolence in that "childs" eyes scared the pants off me for a second. Victorian spirit children are scary as...fuck. I don't know how else to say it. The spirit says in a low voice "Get HER out of my bed." Calmly, but, with a malice that could chill an August day. Then she was gone.
*
Shaken, I asked if they lived in an old house. No. I ask if the girl had an antique bed. Yes. They'd gotten it a few months ago, coincidentally when the Victorian ghost had first shown up. My advice was, give the haunted bed to me and get a new bed. They called me today to tell me that the girl is sleeping soundly in her new wicker bed and the ghost has not been seen since. Not by them, anyway. Heh heh. You're welcome and I don't take checks.
Shaken, I asked if they lived in an old house. No. I ask if the girl had an antique bed. Yes. They'd gotten it a few months ago, coincidentally when the Victorian ghost had first shown up. My advice was, give the haunted bed to me and get a new bed. They called me today to tell me that the girl is sleeping soundly in her new wicker bed and the ghost has not been seen since. Not by them, anyway. Heh heh. You're welcome and I don't take checks.
*
This is a true Halloween story, but, the difference between me and some ghost story tellers is that I don't care if you believe it or not. I know what I saw. Or maybe...it's just a tale. This IS the Internet, after all. Happy Halloween.
32 comments:
If you MUST know, it is a true story, but, I still am not convinced I saw a Victorian ghost. The real girl was just the right age to cause Poltergeist phenoms. The mind is a powerful thing. What I saw could have been a projection of the perfect romantic ghost from her imagination. I have the bed, I'm still waiting for the ghost.
what are you going to do with the bed?
Miss Tia---open ID is still wonky, i think i give up with it...
Keep it. Wait for the ghost. I need proof.
My father worked as a Gov. farm inspector in Guatemala in the 60's. There was a group of natives that would gather in a specific ridge and (locals claimed), would contact evil. My Father and his assistant rode horses to the srcluded spot and dispersed the crowd. His assistant returned to the city and my ftaher stayed in the farm. That night at 3:15 he felt the air stir, a toxic sulphur smell filled the room and he was pushed deeper into his bed, unable to stand and unable to fully open his eyes. The next day he contacted his asistant, who had the same experience at the same time. My dad is a quiet "doer", and never embellishes, so I believe something happened. guatemala, especially Antigua is filled with ghost stories.
Contact evil? That doesn't sound like a good idea, there's enough evil in the real world. Glad your dad made it home.
But are you SLEEPING in the bed yet? If not, you might be causing a disturbance to the spirit. I totally believe your story. It was very, very entertaining. Thank you for sharing. I think sometimes you can "invite" the ghosts by your actions, or as you mentioned by the childs "seeing" it, or if you let them scare or annoy you sometimes they won't leave. Or can't. Sometimes, you just gotta move! Thats what happened to me! You should write a book! Thank you again!
..."If not, you might NOT be..."
sorry!!!
There's an urban legend from my native Guayaquil, which is said occured in the 1700's: a woman appeared in the middle of the night, enticing (drunk) men to follow her. She was dressed beautifully, and her perfume smelled like jasmin. The strange thing about this woman is that she always wore a veil to cover her face...she let men follow her, but never touch her, then as the men got a little too close, she uncovered her face, and the only thing they could see was this rotting corpse..the perfume was replaced by the scent of death....it is said that many of the men who saw such horrendous sight died on the spot, frightened. Others lost their speech, the ones who survived often went loony. That's the legend of the "Dama Tapada" or veiled lady.
PS: My ghost apparation was always in my bedroom, on my bed, next to my bed. Whats the deal with spooks & beds? It's hard to sleep with a spook poking you & jumping all over the covers and getting all up in your face & staring at you! Why can't they find another bed? Maybe a furniture store??? LOL! I swear, moving was my only option!
What an amazing story! I'd love to hear more about the powers of the mind. I used to think my parents' house growing up was haunted. I've seen books fly off shelves, doors open themselves, things disappear and turn up weird places. These things have abated in my adulthood, maybe because I choose not to tune into these things, alhough I wonder how much may have been caused by my own mind rather than external forces.
So, do you have to be in the same room with the person to determine their childhood nickname? is it something you do with the tarot cards?
A man in Antigua made a deal with the Devil. He would start a trucking business, and every month one truck filled with people would have to crash into a deep ditch designated by the devil to the man. After years of great success despite the monthly misshaps, the man tried to go abck on his deal, so his family members started dying without explanation. The man found shelter in a church where he went insane and killed himself. this tory is widely told and specific details about the trucks, people and events are so abundant, that i find it hard to dismiss.
Yeah, with the person. The cards are mostly for prop now, though I do get images from the cards. I don't think I'm any more psychic than anyone else (I think we all are)..I've just learned to spit out the first thoughts that come to mind while reading people and they're usually correct. It's weird how that works.
6:04:00, yeah, legends all start somewhere, they usually have a grain of truth at least.
strangely - there are no ghosts in the town where I am living.
It was a heavy mining area from the 15th to the beginning of the 20th century. People were killed on a weekly basis. Mostly grown up men. Killed by rocks crushing them, falling down in the mine shafts when the ladders broke, drowned. But also a lot, A LOT of children were killed. Crushed by rocks, pulled through a pulley, crushed in the stamp mills mechanics, drowned.
There are legends of 'Bergmönche' and a whole cursed village from back then. But today? No ghosts, no spirits, no hauntings, no Bergmönche and no witches flying on Walpurgis.
Oh, and in WW2 there was a big TNT factory here. Lots of people killed there two. Mostly PoWs and women. Killed in the most gruesome ways you can imagine - like an explosion pushing them through a mesh fance, mincing them. And of course allies bombing the barracks they were sleeping in.
Still, no ghosts. So if here, in this area of death and misery are no ghosts - why should there be ghosts somewhere else?
Roxanne, I know!!!! I was slapped on the butt by a ghost one morning....I thought it was my mom trying to get me outta bed...but when I turned around to look there was nothing there!!!!!! It creeped the jeeeeeebus out of me!!!!!!
Another urban legend from where I come from, is that at midnight if you see a mama duck followed by ducklings, you shall grab the last one it will turn into gold. That's your good luck for life, but, if it happens to be a hen with chicks, and you grab the last chick then you're damned. Also it's said that the son of that person who grabs the duck will grow a third testicle....
There's another one where the associate owls with death...like if the owl is hooting outside your door someone from that house will die that very moment....
Also associated with death is when one of those big black moths flies into your house, if you cannot get it out then someone close to you or close by will die....
OH and now that you mention WHY they always assume it's a "victorian ghost".....I was at the antique store a couple of weeks ago, and they had two pairs of the victorian women's lace up boots, one was size 5 and the other one a size 7....I checked out both pairs, one was ok, but then I grabbed the s. 5 pair and this electrifying chill ran up my arm and it was so bad I had to drop the shoe on the counter....I even felt sick to my stomach...that was the most horrible feeling I've had from picking up an object/someone's personal belonging.....
Maybe the ghosts are afraid to go there.
...they might meet with a nasty accident.
...Bergmönche, that is.
Excellent story, good scary but not AARRGGHH scary. More low key and understated. Now I'll probably have a dream about it tonight!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
Excellent story, good scary but not AARRGGHH scary. More low key and understated. Now I'll probably have a dream about it tonight!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
Meissa, my granny used to say that, if your hand itches, that means someone's coming with a hole in their breeches.
My granny could buy warts.
I had one that bothered me when I wrote.
It was on the outside edge of my fourth finger, on my right hand, and it felt yucky when it dragged across the paper.
She gave me a penny for it, and a week later, it was gone.
Jus' like dat!
Go figger.
Bergmönche are (mostly) demonical beings - no way that they would be scared by ghosts or accidents.... in fact, they were a source of accidents.
Well, I thought Bergmönche wuz th' name of th' town where Anon 9:09 wuz livin'.
...and all th' spookers were 'fraid ta go there.
Fancy that.
Are you able to do readings without the client present?
my cousin in holland just sent me his book that he wrote about near death experiences. he had a near death experience and a few other paranormal experiences as well, one where our (dead) grandfather sat next to him in his car while driving home from work. my dad was like that too. but even though i believed my dad, i have never had a paranormal experience myself, although i have searched for them. even my dad has never visited me since his death 2 years ago (and we were very close). i guess haloween is a mexican influence where the dead are celebrated? here in australia we are so scared of the dead and dying.
DD You're so cool! I want to come live with you :) I love this stuff!
I agree with the poster who said you should write a book. You really should consider that. :)
Eliza
TY. Such cool legends and stories, gives me some things to look up amd read about. To skeptics I say, just because you haven't seen them doesn't mean they aren't there. Of course, I might be the greatest skeptic. I can't believe my own eyes.
Lia, I know Halloween isn't big where you live. To me it's Samhain..I found a good (fun not boring) history of the holiday I'll put on for ya. I always hope Halloween will catch on for you Aussies, it's such a blast.
http://www.archive.org/stream/legendstalesofha00lauduoft/legendstalesofha00lauduoft_djvu.txt
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