Which Ghost Story Really Happened?
By Laura Kaye
I love a good ghost story—don’t you? And what better time of the year to tell them! So, in the spirit of Halloween, turn off your lights and read this post in the dark. Here’s the Halloween trick part of my post: which story actually happened? See down below for the Halloween treats I’m offering. Now, read on, faithful reader…
1)
Something woke Annie up. She rubbed her eyes and looked to the right. Her cousin Christine’s wide brown eyes peered back at her, just visible in the darkness. They were enjoying a rare sleepover together, and sharing Christine’s narrow twin bed.
“It’s really cold in here,” she whispered.
“I know.”
Christine’s eyes bulged as she looked over Annie’s shoulder toward the open doorway to the hallway. “What’s that?”
Annie turned her head, the hair rising on her arms, and was sure her expression mirrored Christine’s. A faint blue light lingered just outside the door.
Chris grabbed Annie’s hand under the blanket. “Something’s coming,” she rasped.
Annie felt the truth of her words deep in her tummy.
And then the light entered the room. Dull at first, and shaped like a small ball, the bluish glow crossed the room. Slowly. Steadily. The shape changed as it floated mid-air, elongated until it appeared the height of a short grown-up. On the far side of the room, at a door that went up to the old farmhouse’s attic, the hovering light paused. Christine’s grip became painful, but Annie squeezed just as tightly. Whatever was in the light, it was looking at them. Aware.
The lower half of the light widened, took the shape of an old-timey floor-length skirt. Annie felt inexplicably sad inside as she watched, in wide-eyed wonder, as the light disappeared through the door.
2)
“I’m going to go to McDonald’s for lunch, Mom. Be right back,” Jenny called.
Without waiting for a response, Jenny went out the backdoor and down the porch steps into the narrow alley between her townhouse and the bigger townhouse on the corner. They lived on the main street of a two-stoplight town, and it was a short walk to the brand new McDonalds. The neighboring townhouse was a stately red brick Victorian. The women who lived there, Miss Betty and Miss Patty, had never married, that Jenny knew of, and had lived together their whole lives. Only, recently, Miss Betty had fallen ill and, for the past two weeks, she’d been in the ICU unit at the hospital. Jenny knew that because her mom had checked in on Miss Patty to make sure she was doing okay.
Jenny started down the back yard, and movement caught her eye. She looked up and couldn’t help her huge smile. Miss Betty was walking up the sidewalk in the neighboring yard, the picture of health.
“Hi, Miss Betty. Glad you’re feeling better,” Jenny said.
Miss Betty smiled and kept walking toward the house.
Jenny had a spring in her step as she walked the two blocks down to the McDonald’s. Bag of food in hand, she hurried back, eager to tell her mom. She pushed through the screen door into the kitchen and called, “Mom, I’m back,” as the door sprang shut behind her.
Her mom walked into the kitchen, laundry basket on her hip. She seemed distracted as she set the basket on the table.
“Hey, guess what?”
“Hmm?” she asked.
“I just saw Miss Betty! She’s home. She looked great.”
Her mom whirled. “What?”
“Yeah. On the way to McDonald’s.” Jenny stuffed three French fries in her mouth.
“Jenny, that can’t be.”
Jenny shrugged. “I’m telling you. Didn’t even look like she was sick.”
“But Jenny, I just got off the phone with Miss Patty. Miss Betty died at the hospital this morning.”
3)
Maura became aware of the knocking slowly. She’d been deep into a book, and was nearly finished. As always, she tended to block out the rest of the world when a book got its hooks into her.
Knock. Knock.
She looked up from her Kindle. Paused. Listened. It was 11:30 at night, and everyone else in the house was asleep. Now that she paid attention, she realized she’d been hearing those two knocks at perhaps ten minute intervals for a while. And they weren’t the usual noises she knew the house made. They seemed to be coming form the center of the kids’ playroom. She could see the darkened doorway from where she sat on the living room couch.
Thoughts of her mom flooded her mind. Just a jumble of disconnected images and memories. All of her mom. Who had died nearly six years before of a stroke.
Maura chuckled. Everyone in her family believed in the supernatural. It was just a part of their growing up. So, when her mom had died so unexpectedly, she hoped and prayed her mother would find a way to visit her, send her a sign she was okay wherever she was. There were two instances when she thought that might’ve actually happened, but both were in the days and months after she died. Years ago, now.
Her ears on the alert and her nerves piqued, Maura turned back to her book. Within fifteen minutes, she finished, but though the knock had never returned, she was now freaked out. Knowing she was acting ridiculous, she turned on lights every step of the way as she walked to her bedroom and got ready to sleep.
She chuckled as she mentally tried to calm herself down. She thought, You know, I should say, ‘Hey Mom, if that’s you, knock three times this time.’ Maura shook her head at her wishful thinking and eventually her mind drifted off to her long to-do list for the next day.
Finally, sleep began to lure her, and Maura closed her eyes.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Maura’s eyes flew open, and stared at the wall behind her headboard, the one that connected with the unused guest room. Adrenaline sent her heart into a sprint, but just as quickly, she calmed, because she’d gotten what she asked for.
“Good night, Mama,” she said.
HALLOWEEN TREAT GIVEAWAY
Anyone else get chills?
Bwuhaha! Okay, so the Halloween trick is: guess which story(s) is/are true and leave the number in your comment!
Also, feel free to share a ghost story of your own—I love ‘em!
The Halloween treats are as follows: one commenter will win a $10 Amazon gift card and a complete signed set of my Romance Trading Cards from all four of my books!
Open to international contestants.
Comments with email addresses left through midnight EST 10/22 will be entered to win!
Check back at the end of the Entangled Halloween Party to learn the correct answer and see who won!
Thanks for reading! Have a boooktacular Halloween!
~Laura Kaye
And, just in time for Halloween…the gods are coming…NORTH OF NEED – Book 1 in the Hearts of the Anemoi Series (releases 11/1)
Her tears called a powerful snow god to life, but only her love can grant the humanity he craves...
Desperate to escape agonizing memories of Christmas past, twenty-nine-year-old widow Megan Snow builds a snow family outside the mountain cabin she once shared with her husband, realizing too late that she's recreated the very thing she'll never have.
Called to life by Megan's tears, snow god Owen Winters appears unconscious on her doorstep in the midst of a raging blizzard. As she nurses him to health, Owen finds unexpected solace in her company and unimagined pleasure in the warmth of her body, and vows to win her heart for a chance at humanity.
Megan is drawn to Owen's mismatched eyes, otherworldly masculinity, and enthusiasm for the littlest things. But this Christmas miracle comes with an expiration--before the snow melts and the temperature rises, Megan must let go of her widow's grief and learn to trust love again, or she'll lose Owen forever.
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39 comments:
Great stories, Laura. I have no idea which one is real, but am going with the last one about the mom.
Yes, I have a story to share, one I posted this week at my blog hop giveaway if anyone wants to enter:http://bethtrissel.wordpress.com/ But I will repost it here.
About nine years ago, my young adult son moved into the big white farm-house on our other farm. We have two farms located near each other in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and both homes are well over one hundred years old, going on two. Some of his guy friends moved in and everything was fine, then he and his fiancée (now wife) started remodeling the house. At first, no one thought much about the noises. Neither of them even mentioned a thing to me.
Then one night my son called, alone and uneasy. He was hunkered downstairs with his cat. Seems there were footsteps he couldn’t account for and a certain bedroom upstairs with a door that wouldn’t stay shut. No matter how many times he closed it, come morning it was always open. Earlier that week, his fiancé had been distressed when the bathroom doorknob turned and the door opened on her. No one was there. It freaked the cat out. Didn’t do her much good either. She was promptly converted from a disbeliever in ghosts to one strongly considering their reality.
Now, she’d gone away on a trip with her church and none of my son’s other friends were around. The last of his roomies had moved out. I suspected all the remodeling they’d done to the house had stirred something up. So, I went over.
Here, I’ll digress to say I’d dreamed earlier of a small grave plot way back in the fields behind the house and of a restless spirit associated with both. As it turned out there is just such a cemetery, an antiquated one. After I arrived that evening, my son and I went upstairs to the suspect bedroom and shut the door. The sensation that came over me was of wanting to scream, and not just because I’m claustrophobic.
We held hands and I repeated the Exorcism prayer sent to my mother from an Episcopalian woman in England. She’d written mom about visiting the church manse at the invitation of the new priest who was plagued by a poltergeist–one so violent, it had flung portraits down from the upstairs hall, shifted heavy furniture in front of doors, and hurled a saucepan lid across the kitchen. But the congregants, along with the priest, had prayed it out. As this was a Christian prayer, my son and I did the same in the old farmhouse.
Never again did he or his fiancé hear footsteps or have any more trouble with doorknobs turning. That bedroom door remained as they’d left it and the chill feeling I had in the room is gone.
OOOH this is the best contest ever! Love love love ghost stories! Ok so I am inclined to say 2 and 3 are real. #1 MIGHT be but I am not positive so I will say no to #1.
But whether they are all real or all fake, they are GREAT! I think the whole month of October should be ghost stories!! I would share a few but my break is over and I must get back to work!! Maybe next time!!
Thanks
Mindy
boo(2)bosh(at)gmail(dot)com
Loved those stories and got chills when I read #2 and #3, so I'm going to guess that those are true. Regarding #3, I have a ghost story of my own that involves my beloved mom who passed away 7 years ago.
Two months after she passed, I was spending my first birthday without her at my cousin's cabin in Northern Ontario to cheer up. We had a lovely weekend and on the day before my actual B-day, had gotten into a discussion about the northern lights. I'd always wanted to see them, but I had always lived pretty far south, and this was the farthest north I'd been in a long time. Unfortunately, my cousin's husband told me that it was very unlikely at that time of year (end of July). He'd been coming to the cabin all his life and had never seen them in the summer.
I went to sleep that night, while my husband and my cousin's husband stayed down by the dock at the lake (alcohol was involved, but not that much LOL). Right around midnight, my husband ran into my room shouting, "Jen, you've got to get up. The Northern lights are on". I ran downstairs and out to the dock, and there they were, on my birthday, at the most unlikely time of the year. I just knew that it was a message from my mom (who knew that I'd always wanted to see the lights) telling me that she was still with me. I'll never forget it and even now, thinking about it makes me cry.
Best wishes on the new book Laura. I just finished Hearts in Darkness and Forever Freed and loved them both.
jen at delux dot com
I think the second one with Miss Patty is true. I don't think ghosts stray far from their homes or their loved ones.
Here is my very recent ghost (if you can call it that) story. I have never believed to strongly in ghosts before this but now I am obsessed with figuring out what is out there!
I just recently moved to North Carolina from California and our new home is just a fourth of a mile or so from a very small and very old cemetery. So far that I have seen the oldest dated headstone dates back all the way to the 1600's. They all have that typical old headstone look to them with the uneven ground surrounding it. You know the look, the one that they they always portray in the movies.
The weather is quickly getting colder, so in the early early mornings or at dusk in the evenings when the fog is rolling through and the cemetery is at it's creepiest, I'll usually take a walk around. Believe it or not, people are still visiting these very old graves and leaving flowers and trinkets of all sorts. It's sweet that some people will never be forgotten even generations later.
I was recently was doing my early morning walk through with my morning cup of coffee in hand when I noticed another young man off in the distance leaving a single flower on a grave. Being respectful I did not approach or make any noise, I didn't want to distract him or give her the impression I was being nosey. I walked to a near by bench with my back to the man and sipped my coffee, reaching into my bag to find my Kindle so I could enjoy a chapter before my coffee got cold. I was so interested in my book I did not hear the man come up behind me. As soon as I noticed he was near, I put my book down.
Grinning, I said "Good Morning."
In response he handed my a charm bracelet.
"I believe this is yours" he said.
No it couldn't be charm bracelet that I had lost on my road trip out to North Carolina from California this last month.
The last I had seen it I was in Oklahoma. I believe it fell off in one of the many hotels I was staying in throughout my travels but I was certain it was lost long before ever arriving to North Carolina.
I examined the bracelet to make sure that this was indeed MY bracelet, and yes, sure enough there was the pyramid my father brought back from Egypt, the Korean symbol he sent to me from Korea, the ballerina slippers I got as a gift from him when I got into Pennsylvania Dance Academy.
I looked up and asked "How?"
Tilting his head and grinning he said in a heavy southern accent "Be more careful honey"
"Thank You" was all I could spit out.
I was in shock. I was positive I had lost it states away over a month ago how did this man have it? How did he know it was mine? What are the chances?
I looked down to again inspect the charms, when I looked up a moment later he was gone.
I've always enjoyed reading paranormal books and learning about the supernatural and even imagined some of it could be true. Up until that moment I now believe that there must be something. It brought tears to my eyes to have my charm bracelet back. It holds so many memories with charms from all over the world. I would never be able to replace it and I cannot and will not ever be able to understand how it is in my possession again.
I do not know if the man was real or not. His disappearance so quickly leads me to believe he was possibly a ghost. I cannot say for sure though. Maybe I was so lost in the having my lost charm bracelet back I had examined it for longer than I thought and he had just simply walked off. My gut tells me that's not the case.
I have tried researching the grave that the man was at. But haven't come across anything. I will soon be making a trip to the library to get more information. Hopefully I find something out soon!
Thanks for reading.
-Elizabeth Barbarick-Irvin
I think they are all true! I love the whole paranormal and supernatural thing. I do believe and there are times I feel my grandparents are watching over me.
Your fan
Tammy
jfarms74338@gmail.com
Very good stories, #2 was very spine tingly, so if only one is true, that would be my guess, but I suspect that they all are.
I don't have any of my own to share.
drainbamaged.gyzmo at gmail.com
Oh my God, you guys, my arms are completely covered in goosebumps and my hair's standing on end! These stories are freaking awesome!
Beth--I think your story wins the freakiest award. Crikey! My RWA chapter had a talk from an expert on the Djinn and she said that paranormal researchers consider the who spine of the Appalachians a paranormal hotspot, so there you go!!
JenM--that story is beautiful, and I totally believe it was your mom!
Mindy--come back and share later--we would all love to hear!
Elizabeth--I am stunned by your story. Who was that man? He doesn't seem human to me, even if you'd been absorbed in your bracelet, you would've heard him walk away. Wow. Just wow.
Keep the stories flowing, guys, they're awesome!
And I'm loving your guesses... *winks*
#2 echoes a lot of other stories, so I'm going with that one, but I'm on the fence about #3. I think that one could be, too.
I have no similar experiences to share. :(
Great stories. I am going to go with #2 being the real one.
I have had a couple of weird things happen. One was in an apartment I was living in, my mom and sister were there and we were getting ready to leave because we had to go to a funeral. When one of us said its time to go, the TV turned itself off. We were all on the other side of the room and the remote was on the coffee table in the middle of the room not by any of us.
bacchus76 at myself dot com
Love the stories and I'm going to say #2 is true because it's so close to my own.
My grandmother lived with us all my life until she died. Shortly after she was gone, I was in bed and kept hearing something in the formal living room (where we weren't allowed) and finally got Daddy to check. Nothing there, so I went back to bed. Something made me open my eyes and there Grandmother stood at the foot of my bed. Scared, of course, I closed my eyes and didn't breathe. When I checked again, she was gone. I made it down the hall in about a step and a half to get Daddy. When I told him what I'd seen, he just smiled. "She checked on you every night, what are you worried about?" It put it in perspective and I never saw her again.
Oh those are all creepy stories! My guess would be #2 or #3. Here's my story to share. Growing up my mom always told us of the day when she was jolted with an overwhelming feeling of sadness. She looked up at the clock on the wall, noting the time briefly before the face of the clock turned into an image of her father for an instance before disappearing. A few moments later we got a phone call that grandpa had passed away.
g at casa-zamora dot net
@Tammy and Kathryn and Natalie--hi! Thanks for commenting and joining in! :)
@donnas--spooktacular!
@Donna Steele--aw, that's a sweet story--I like it!
@Grace--you totally gave me chills! That same thing happened to me! I saw in the middle of taking the SAT exams (college entrance) and all of a sudden I froze and looking at the clock. Afterward I learned my grandfather had died at that time after many weeks illness in the hospital. You know, there has to be something to all this...
I LOVE THAT YOU GUYS ARE SHARING YOUR STORIES! KEEP 'EM COMING! AND KEEP THOSE GUESSES COMING TOO!
*shivers* All three are great but based on personal experiences I have to guess that #3 is the one that's real.
It's been 18 years since my grandpa passed away but I still get a skin crawly feeling when I stay with my gramma overnight. Too many scary stories from my childhood. You'd think the cemetary behind her house would bother me more but nope, it's peaceful and has never given me the creeps.
Happy Halloween everyone!
always.and.never AT gmail DOT com
Wow, oh wow, Elizabeth. And the rest of you guys.
while we're sharing stores, I remembered another incident that happened about ten years ago in the house next door to our old farm house with the poltergeist. A close friend of ours had died of cancer and my mom and I were house sitting for his family the evening of his viewing at the funeral home, (a popular tradition in the Shenandoah Valley) while his widow and children were there receiving friends, in case anyone came to their house during their absence. Mom and I were watching a nature show when we heard someone at the door, which we thought a little odd because we'd seen no car lights or heard a car pulling into the driveway, and this is out in the dark countryside in winter so no one is gonna walk over. Then we both heard the male voice of the deceased in the kitchen saying "Hello!" in the sing song way he had of greeting us.
I got up and rounded the corner into the next room with the strongest impression that he had just rounded it from the other direction, then poof he was gone. I sensed he realized his family wasn't there and left immediately. The next evening after his funeral, the old grandfather clock that had stopped working and only he knew how to fix started working again.
I am going to guess that Number 2 is real.....I am probably wrong but hey they are all pretty convincing if you ask me! I dont have a ghoststory to share :( Maybe I need to move somewhere south???
kristinaparmenter51(at)gmail(dot)com
Very interesting about knowing when a loved one had passed.
My daughter and I read all three stories and we are in agreement that number 2 is the real one. Seems to make sense that a recently passed person would be seen. Do we get to find out which one is true after the contest ends?
books4me67 at ymail.com
They were all great stories.But my guess is that #2 is the true one.
elaing8(at)netscape(dot)net
I'm going with #2. Here's why;
In 2003 my daughter had just become engaged to her high school sweetheart over New Years. On Jan 18th he left our house promising to call her when he got home from a night of fun with his friends. Since he'd moved an hour away this was a rare treat for him. We finished our movie (The Butterfly Effect) and went to bed. She stayed up reading, waiting for his call until she dozed off. At 1:58 in the morning she woke up, checked her still-silent phone and went to sleep. At 5:30 am she came in and woke me with the words I'll never forget "Mommy, John's dead." He and his friends had been attacked by a gang and he'd been beaten and stabbed to death. It was several days later that we found out he had died at...1:58 am. In the arms of a detective who recorded the time. Daughter and I believe he was "calling to let her know he was home" when she woke suddenly. After all, home is where the heart is, or in his case, the spirit.
It was just a couple of weeks later daughter and I were going to visit John's mother and on the street in front of her house, at the top of her driveway, was a pole fence. There John sat, atop the fence as if waiting for us. We looked at one another in stunned shock and when we looked back, he was gone.
Rest in peace baby boy. He died three weeks before his 19th birthday.
cmselfridge@gmail.com
It's official, I live a sheltered life! The are some great ghost stories and I have none. At least I can read others expierences and get my goosebumps that way! Great blog post!
I would guess #2....sounds so creepy to me!
I enjoyed the stories. I think it's number 2. I've heard of that happening. Be interesting to hear the answer. I don't really have a ghost story.
Great stories but I have no clue which one is real so I will guess the first one.
debby236 at gmail dot com
I will go with the second one. I loved them though! Vey inventive :) edysicecreamlover18@gmailDOTcom
I think story #3 in real. Thanks for the stories and your book sounds fantastic. I've added it to my TBR list.
Tanyaw1224(at)yahoo(dot)com
@Rhianna--great seeing you here!
@Beth--my, you are full of good stories! Stands to reason, I guess, right??? :)
@Kristina--Thanks and LOL!
@books4me--got a consensus going, do ya? Interesting! AND YES, I'LL SHARE WHICH IS REAL AFTER THE PARTY ENDS ON 10/22!!!
@elaing8, Calisa, Lexi, Krystal & Mary--more #2 consensus! And, Calisa, your story made me suck in a breath! I'm so sorry that happened to your family.
Debby and Tanya--voting for 1 and 3! Check back to find out for sure!!!
:)
And thanks for all the great comments, the guesses, and the awesome stories!
I think story #2 is true. It feels true to me at least.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
One and Two are great stories but I believe number Three really happened. This was fun. It reminded me of that show Beyond Fact or Fiction hosted by Jonathan Frakes of Star Trek Next Generation fame. I loved that show and was actually right half the time. lol!
Awsomely creepy ghostly stories! I think (3) is definitely true ... maybe (1) but (2) I am not so sure about ... If I were a Ghost I woudl not head back to my suburban dwelling - I'd move to some creepy monastery and scare the bejeezus out of people.
Thanks for the post!
Ammy Belle
apereiraorama @ gmail . com
http://lateintothenight.blogspot.com/
I really dont have any ghosts stories to share but other peoples stories give me chills. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com
I am going to go out on a limb and say that they are all true :-)
justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
I think they could all be true but I really liked #2 so I am going to say that one for sure. Of course, it could be because I am in the mood for fries!
jepebATverizonDOTnet
It's so much fun seeing which ones you guys are guessing and why! Thanks for all the great comments guys, you really made this post a blast! I'll be sharing the answer tomorrow!!! 20 minutes left to enter...
Good luck everyone!
So, keep commenting guys, because I was wrong! The giveaway entries will remain open through the end of the weekend! Woot!
Hi Laura
Which one is true? I don't know, maybe #2, or perhaps #1?
But true or false they were interesting, thanks for sharing them!
Dainela.
dany7578 at hotmail dot com
Hey everyone! So, I promised to reveal which of my three stories was true, so here you go:
THEY'RE ALL TRUE!
Some of you guessed this! Way to go!
Story 1 happened when I was about 8; I was having a sleepover with my cousin Christine in an old farmhouse where a lot of weird stuff consistently happened, and there was a story that the woman who'd lived there in the late 19th century had died in the woods across the street.
Story 2 happened when I was 17.
Story 3 happened about a month ago--I kid you not!!! And, ha!, I was reading a really raunchy erotic romance! LOL
Thanks so much for playing along! Fang-Tastic will be announcing the winners from the EP Halloween Party, so stay tuned!
Lol, hmm... Second one? Haha, this is fun, but so difficult! Happy Halloween!
CYP
cypsays_hi@hotmail.com
AND THE WINNER IS...
Dainela dany7578 at hotmail dot com!
CONGRATULATIONS!
Thanks to everyone for the great conversation!
Hi Laura, thanks!!!
Can't believe the three stories were actually true.
Daniela :)
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