Ghosts and the Paranormal

[PiKA2001]

Funny that this thread was resurrected the same day that I heard a doozy of a story from a friend of mine.

This takes place at Ft Bliss which is in El Paso, TX. My friend is an Army MP (military police) stationed there and he received a call that somebody was stuck in an elevator in Building C. When he arrived he heard a man in the closed elevator essentially freaking out screaming for help. My friend tried to get the elevator open from the outside but couldn't so he called for back up and the fire dept. Some more MP's showed up and they were able to pry to door open about half an inch and were able to see the silhouette of the man. He was waving his arms frantically and he started screaming even louder. They told him, "Sir, calm down, we are going to get you out of here, just calm down." The man wasn't listening and continued his cries for help. The fire dept shows up and they were able to pry the door open and when they did...

NO ONE WAS IN THE ELEVATOR.

My buddy said that 4 of the guys actually screamed out loud.

[LikeASista]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

My buddy said that 4 of the guys actually screamed out loud.

... and I just screamed out loud in this very public place called Starbucks. I'm afraid to go to the bathroom now.

[carnation]

PiKA2001, I told your story to my brother, who was in the army, and he told me this one.

He was stationed in Chicago, where he was in charge of the club on base, and that base had many ghost stories; it was pre-Civil War. He and this other guy would have to be down there at 4-5 AM to get things ready for the day and they would have to go to this huge freezer to get the ingredients for salads. One morning they went down there and couldn't get the freezer open. they pulled and pulled and nothing. They stepped back a few feet and suddenly, the freezer door flew open and a huge crate of lettuce came flying straight out and hit my brother in the chest and knocked him over. The other guy ran to see what could've happened and no one was there. There were only a few crates of vegetables on the floor.

For the next couple of years, no one would go to that freezer alone.

[ChioLu]

Sorry for the long story, but due to the layers, it requires some explanation:

Several years ago, my dog was diagnosed with cancer right after Thanksgiving. A few weeks later & right before Christmas, my father had a sudden heart attack & passed away. About a month later (& 2 weeks after my birthday), my dog's cancer had grown from the size of a tangerine to the size of a grapefruit in his lung and it was time to say goodbye. I had just lost the 2 males that loved me unconditionally. Three days later, I had to leave for a month long project out of state.

By my computer in the living room, there was the ottoman that my dog (Max) slept on. Above & beside my computer, were old black & white photos of relatives, with a photo of my dad directly by the computer (& the dog ottoman).

Three weeks after returning from my month-long project, I drove from Atlanta to Tulsa to pick up a new doberman that a co-worker of my brother's was giving up for adoption.

When I got back to Atlanta, strange things started happening: my new doberman (Sasha) didn't really want to sit on the ottoman. I finally got her to get up on the ottoman when I was at the computer, as it was right next to the computer & I could pet her when I wasn't typing. Right after shutting off my computer, it would TURN BACK ON AGAIN by itself! Sasha would jump off the ottoman and run to whatever room I was in. I'd go back to the computer, shut it down completely ... and it would come back ON after I would walk away! I would have to shut it off 3 or 4 times to get it to stay off and this went on for a few weeks.

The first few days, it was freaking me out (& my dog too). I asked a friend (computer wiz) how this was happening. (This guy sold his software company to Bill Gates in the 1990's, so I was asking an expert.) The only technical explanation he had was that there was an electrical surge, but the rest of the electricity in the room & house never flickered, so there was NO surge.

I know it was my dad & my 1st doberman just wanting me to be at the computer so they could watch over me.
After that, I would LAUGH when the computer would turn itself back on. This happened for a few more weeks and I was kinda sad when it stopped. Guess they both knew I was going to be okay & how Sasha was wonderful "grief therapy".

[Mevara]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

Funny that this thread was resurrected the same day that I heard a doozy of a story from a friend of mine.

This takes place at Ft Bliss which is in El Paso, TX. My friend is an Army MP (military police) stationed there and he received a call that somebody was stuck in an elevator in Building C. When he arrived he heard a man in the closed elevator essentially freaking out screaming for help. My friend tried to get the elevator open from the outside but couldn't so he called for back up and the fire dept. Some more MP's showed up and they were able to pry to door open about half an inch and were able to see the silhouette of the man. He was waving his arms frantically and he started screaming even louder. They told him, "Sir, calm down, we are going to get you out of here, just calm down." The man wasn't listening and continued his cries for help. The fire dept shows up and they were able to pry the door open and when they did...

NO ONE WAS IN THE ELEVATOR.

My buddy said that 4 of the guys actually screamed out loud.

This gave me chills.

[ChioLu]

Been saving this ghost story for Halloween.

I was House Director at Chi Omega at UCLA for a few years -- my 1st PAID job with Chi O! (The scary part for the actives is that I went to college with the (at that time) National President.)

I moved in right before Thanksgiving and during the break, one of the freezer alarms and the reset for the fire alarm would go off at odd times, like 2 or 3am ... every night of the break & when I was alone in the house. I would reset them, but had to go to the basement for the fire alarm & behind the kitchen for the freezer alarm.
During Christmas break, I was gone part of the time, but when I got back, the same thing would happen, though not every single night.

When you would walk by ONE of the 3 freezers, sometimes you'd walk thru a cold spot. (BTW, the freezer door was NOT open and actually, those were older freezers and not great at energy efficiency, so that gave off some warmth.) I started thinking we had a ghost in the house. Not in a scary way, just mischievious.

After Spring Break, with the same alarm resets happening in the middle of the night, I decided to give our ghost a name and talk to her. Not sure why, but the first name I thought of was "Annie". Since it was only happening when the actives were out of the house, I thought she might be lonely, so I would say "Hi Annie", that I was a Chi Omega too, that she wasn't alone in the house and not to be afraid. The alarms happened less frequently over the summer, except after I went on a week's vacation, but stopped when the members came back for Recruitment.

That fall, we had a reunion of 50-year alumnae and about 60 or so members from the 1950's came to the house for 2 days of catching up (& toasts & singing). We found out interesting details like: 1 room had actually been a 2 car garage, 2 rooms were the original Pledge Sleeping Porch, and the TV room plus the BR above it used to be part of the center courtyard.

While I was talking to a group of 50-year members, it dawned on me to ask if they had ever heard of anyone had passed away in the house. They said they knew of any member who was about 3 or 4 years earlier than when they lived in had passed away from a heart defect. To follow up, I asked if they remembered her name.

My jaw dropped when they told me her name ... Maryanne