Happy Halloween! Have any FReepers experienced paranormal phenomena?

Halloween Vanity | Thursday, October 31, 2002 | Momaw Nadon

[Momaw Nadon]

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

[15] It is also evident that there can be no image of a thing infinite: for all the images and phantasms that are made by the impression of things visible are figured. But figure is quantity every way determined, and therefore there can be no image of God, nor of the soul of man, nor of spirits; but only of bodies visible, that is, bodies that have light in themselves, or are by such enlightened.

[d101302]

Are they telling ghost stories over at DU? ;-)

[stands2reason]

Closer is the Myrtles Plantation, a B&B in St. Francisville, La. Smithsonian has documented at least thirteen different ghosts there. I think it's considered the most haunted house in America.

[glory]

I haven't experienced the stuff some others have, but I have always had this sixth sense for knowing a bad situation or something was not quite right. I had it as a child before I started watching spooky stuff. It warned me off from places that were frightening and people. I can think of a few places that I had that feeling about in people's homes and I'd refuse to be near those places or investigate them in any way. It's a creepy feeling though, much like the hair standing up like people have mentioned coupled with an incredible feeling of wanting to flee.

[glory]

oops, wanted to add that my mil says her house is haunted. They are quite nonchalent about it.

[glory]

You know, now this story does remind me of something my brother and my mother both went through. My brother was close to a diabetic coma when he was about 13 and they thought he was going to die since his sugar would not regulate. He would talk to someone he said was standing next to him. I often wondered if this "person" might have been his angel or even our grandfather who had passed only about a year before this. He swears someone was next to him, to this day. He downplays it a bit as an adult now though.
My mother was also near death after vomiting a good portion of her blood via stomach ulcers. She told me of not only seeing her angel, but of having a 6th sense type of thing since that episode. It seems as if people are not the same once touched by the divine. Ever since then, she has been a strong believer in Christ.

[glory]

I've often wondered spectre if people close to death like nurses experience these things.

[Tribune7]

Here's a link about near death experiences

[Leclair10]

I did Mowav when my friend died seven years ago, I was watching a baseball game over the weekend and the mirror along side the tv just picked itself up and slowly dropped like it was controlled on the couch across the room it freaked me out two days later I had found out my friend had an accident and died earlier that day I will never question if there is another side.

[Hila]

Spooky? How about "Come out from among them,", the pagan practices - or you'll be toast. That should be mused upon and not your desire to have demonic experiences.

[bootless]

You're the one that raised a hand at the end of the school day and reminded the teacher that homework had yet to be assigned, aren't you?

Oh, man! You owe me a new keyboard! Now I've got Snickers all over it!

Let's see - the weird things that hapened to me today: my son had five or six pieces of candy after we got home from trick-or-treating, and went to sleep by 9:30!! I thought I'd be peeling him off the ceiling at midnight!

I also turned a year older. :-)

[stands2reason]

I believe they're called night terrors--not an uncommon occurance experienced across all cultures. The typical features: Upon waking or drifting off to sleep, a figure appears over the person, sometimes seemingly "sitting" on his chest. The person cannot move or speak for several minutes, then the figure fades and the person can move again.

[hole_n_one]

I live in an apartment complex......(20 units)

For the past couple of years, there have been no trick-or-treaters coming by........I guess I'll have to eat all the 3 Muskateers and Kit Kat bars myself.

When I was a kid, the prime targets were apt. buildings......a high concentration of potential opportunities in a very confined space........

there's alot to be said for the good ol' days

[stands2reason]

What's your problem with Christians?

[stands2reason]

All in all, it seems to be an unsuccessful attempt to legitimize a word that probably originated by onomatopoeia - the formation of a word that sounds like what it is intended to mean!

Huh?

[Bernard Marx]

Good info. I don't particularly want to have a debate -- I don't have the time to spare. But I want to contribute a few things to the discussion.

There's pretty good evidence that Halloween can be traced directly to the ancient Celtic observance of Samhain on November 1, a time when it was believed the worlds of the dead and the living became one.

Samhain was a holiday to observe Cernunnos, the Celtic god of the underworld and death. Some early Christians identified him with Satan, but there is absolutely nothing to associate him with evil. In fact he seemed to function as a god of plenty; some believe he also was a god of fertility.

On the feast of Samhain the dead walked the night with the living. The tradition of giving them a gift or offering -- the 'treat' part of our observance -- was pure insurance against otherworldly 'tricks.' Then as now, the living were terrified of death and wanted to placate spirits just to be on the safe side.

Samhain was no doubt based on even earlier rituals in which dead ancestors were honored. Even today in Madagascar there is a ritual that appears to be based somewhat on the Celtic tradition -- they may share a common root. Once a year the dead are taken from their tombs and brought to their surviving relatives' homes. They are toasted and honored for a day -- they're even seated at the table while others eat. At the end they are carefully re-buried for another year.

While it's a bit grisly for my taste, that ritual is different only in degree with our leaving flowers on the graves of loved ones. Now, as in the distant past, death is still Hamlet's "undiscover'd country from whose bourn no traveller returns." We all deal with that reality in different ways.

[DBtoo]

I used to have dreams that would come true the next day for about a 10 year period. I could tell it was "one of those dreams" and they would occur on a regular, periodic basis. Sometimes I would tell a few people I knew well and was close to after having one of them, and they would see the event happen. I quit having those dreams though. I wondered what it all meant, and I came to the conclusion that it's a space/time thing and that some people are able to tap into other time dimensions, especially in their sleep. Otherwise, I'm a fairly normal person! (most of the time...)

[DBtoo]

A few years ago, my brother and I drove to our father's hometown in south Louisiana to visit where the old farm and house were when my father and aunts grew up. My brother and I went to where the front yard of the house was (it burned down a few years ago in a fire; only the barn remained).

My brother had a poloroid camera and took a few pictures of the ancient live oak trees out front. We watched this one picture develop before our eyes with a creature (?) that looked like that thing in your post #9, and it really creeped us out! My brother went back home to the city where he lives, and brought the picture to a photographer to have it enlarged. It was above the grass a few feet up and really looked like that picture. I know there are mistakes in photo processing and such, but it was just wierd. And seeing your photo reminded me of it.

[Bon mots]

If you want to have a sleepless night, go and stay in the "Hotel del Sol" in Cadiz, Spain. In room 14 is something that will shake your bed every time you nod off to sleep. Moves the furniture too.
How much does it move the furniture?

Actually, not much. The bed shaking business is far more unsettling than a few bumps in the night. It will make some very loud banging noises though.

Don't take my word for it. Go and stay in room 14 at the Hotel Centro Del Sol in Cadiz Spain. (Cadiz is one of the oldest cities in Europe). Sweet dreams.