Posted on 02/27/2005 8:17:29 PM PST by CurlyBill
RAYMOND — local paranormal investigators believe unexplained noises and strange phenomena that has been reported around town is the work of spectres, and are hoping to doucment their findings on film.
Longtime residents and friends Barb Edgar and Kathleen Chamberlain say that despite its relatively small size, the town is fertile ground for the study of paranormal activity. The two are in the process of compiling what they call “true ghost stories” for a Channel 22 documentary expected to air on Halloween.
“We’ve heard some rumors in town from people who think their houses are haunted,” said Chamberlain, a local businesswoman, last Thursday. “We’re believers (in ghosts) to begin with. We’re not gullible . . . but we know there are true stories out there.”
The pair said they came up with the idea to research and document local ghost stories on video while attending a Tai Chi class last autumn, and both readily admit they are not skeptics when it comes to believing in ghosts.
Was longtime Raymond Fire Chief Philip A. Fox, seen in inset photo, still serving his town in the afterlife? Edgar, who is studying computer technology, traced her interest in the paranormal to a Scottish great-grandmother who passed down her stories of ghost sightings to her children. Chamberlain said she often feels the presence of those who have died, including her father, and added she once saw the ghost of a departed supervisor while working at a local manufacturing company.
“I have seen them, felt them, heard them,” she said. “There are a lot of houses here in town, and I don’t know if it has anything to do with old properties or simply people’s perceptions, but I believe (ghosts) are all around us.”
Chamberlain said that although no residents have come forward to tell their ghost stories yet, an interview she conducted with Fire Chief Kevin Pratt indicates that some may have believed the ghost of Philip Fox, the longest-serving Raymond fire chief, haunted the Old Fire Station in the town center. Fox, who a year after his 1969 retirement, served the town for nearly three decades and had once lived in a small apartment area above the old building.
Pratt downplayed talk of Fox’s “ghost” on Thursday, but admitted there were some unusual happenings in the Old Fire House from the time he joined the department in 1975 until 1990, when the department was moved to its current location by Exit 4.
“We’d have those electric garage doors open without reason, and they weren’t even remote control doors,” Pratt said. “We could never explain why it happened, but we used to joke that it was the ghost of Phil Fox.”
But Pratt seemed more serious when discussing a 1989 photograph taken by Raymond Fire Explorer Ryder Audette of a burning house. Pratt said the building, situated where the Raymond Animal Hospital now stands, was being used for a practice burn when the photo was taken. To some, a tongue of flame appears to show a man with his hand placed across his chest, and Pratt said the home’s owner had died of a heart attack in the residence the year before.
Pratt said the photograph, which hangs on the wall in his office, has not been retouched or digitally altered.
“That’s exactly the way it was developed,” he said. “It was photo number 13 on the roll, too.”
According to a Harris Poll in 2003, 51 percent of Americans said they believe in ghosts, and Chamberlain said many popular television shows such as “The X Files” are mainstreaming the belief. She envisions the documentary as employing a light-hearted approach, and stressed that she will not ridicule the beliefs of anyone who come forward with their stories or debunk beliefs in ghosts. She and Edgar will be putting out the call for local ghost stories until March 31, and plan to continue editing and information-gathering work though the summer.
Ghost Ping
Ghost Ping
Spooky story.
Thanks for the ping. Haven't heard a good ghost story in awhile!
Real report:
My husband is in the hospital. I went to visit him. I was walking to the elevators when my pheriphera vision spotted a nurse entering the elevator. I watched her enter and the doors close. I was only a few feet behind. I thought, "Darn..missed that one." I pushed the button prepared to wait for the other elevator, when that same elevator door opened. No one was in there.
She wore green two piece scrubs. She had lite brown curly hair, shoulder length tied back. She was carrying a chart. She wore glasses. She was as solid as any of us are.
You can't imagine the shock of seeing that same door open with no nurse in there.
I would probably take the stairs after that.
Thanks for the ping!
Hospitals are notorious for being haunted.
Was the elevator chilly when you got in?
Yeah, I second that notion...
I've always heard that the morgue of a hospital is in the basement. I'm sure there are exceptions. I really wouldn't want to visit the basement of a hospital late at night alone.
I've worked in several hospitals.
The morgue has been in the basement of each.
I didn't notice a chill. We did live in a house when we were first married that you could just feel the chill enter the room. But I never saw the ghost. It was a nasty entity tho.
There are no such things as ghosts. Now demons, that's another story.
I had another experience a couple of months ago. I was patrolling...we were keeping our eyes on this one house. Lots of late night activity. I parked down the block and watched the comings and goings of two men and a woman. Down the street came a little old woman walking towards them. She had on a white long nightgown, white slippers and a white housecoat with what looked like a small floral pattern with blue flowers. Short gray hair. She got to the people and simply vanished into thin air. I'm not kidding.
I have no idea why I'm starting to see them. I never have before. I have only seen the two I've related here, but they were as real and solid as a person. They simply vanished. Amazing.
Forgot to mention that it didn't occur to me at the time, but later when I was thinking about it I realized how inappropriate her attire was. Not that she was wearing a nightie and robe (you do see that), but that the clothes were more in keeping with summertime. They appeared to be thin cotton.
Now demons
Oh yes. I'm not sure just what is what, but I do think at least some of the hauntings are demons. I lived in a house that could only be haunted by a demon. It was nasty and vicious, even tho I never saw it physically.
As far as I know, there is only one appearance of a 'ghost' in the bible, and it appeared at the call of a sorcerer. My money is on the demons.
Thanks, Curly Bill! Keep 'em coming......
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