Something completely out of the ordinary today! The supernatural. Do you believe in it or not? I like to think I am a very grounded, down to earth sort of person, I don’t watch Sci-Fi movies and I rarely fantasise about things, well except perhaps about a holiday in Bora Bora or some such thing! I have had two strange encounters in my life, one with a ghost and one with a UFO and both experiences have happened in France.
The first was when I was 19 years old and staying in a house owned by my family in Normandy. It was the sweetest little cottage nestled on a steep hillside deep in the Norman countryside. It sat right at the edge of a tiny village that boasted no more than a handful of houses, a church and a wonderful restaurant which was only open at lunchtime. The latter only served one set menu – three courses including wine – and in the summer we sat outside and ate on a covered terrace. The clientele were mostly locals, there was only the most occasional tourist.
The cottage was just beyond the restaurant down a narrow winding lane that led to the farm at the bottom and perhaps it saw one or two cars driving past a day, and that was a busy day! There was a large farmhouse kitchen and a lovely sitting room with a huge inglenook fireplace. Bizarrely there were two staircases. One was situated in the sitting room and led to a huge bedroom above and the other was in the kitchen and led to another slightly smaller bedroom and a bathroom. It was in the bedroom above the kitchen where I always slept. My bed faced west towards the door and there was a skylight just to the right of my head, I always left the shade open so that I could lie and gaze at the stars on a clear night. It was on one of these nights that for some reason I awoke early, I remember afterwards looking at my clock and it was a little after 6am. But I have no idea why I woke up, except the moment I opened my eyes I was aware that someone was watching me. There in the corner was a little girl; she was about 6 or 7 I would imagine and she was either sitting or kneeling down and she was looking straight at me, I stared and stared some more and then in a blink she was gone. I had never seen her before and I never saw her again. I have never seen another ghost in my life, I don’t even know if I believe in them, but I do know what I saw that night was real.
My second experience was far more recent. It was in February 2009 and took place close to where we lived back then in the department of the Pyrenees Atlantique. We were equidistant between the cities of Pau and Biarritz, deep in the heart of the Béarn.
It was a dark winter’s evening and Izzi – who was 13 at the time – and I had been to the supermarket. That night we had decided not to go to our nearest local store but to go to a slightly larger one some fifteen minutes away. I know exactly what time it was as the store closed at 7.15pm. As we drove out of the carpark the grills were coming down in front of the doors, and we were virtually the last people to leave.
We drove our normal route home, out into the country and then, turning off the main road, we turned down smaller roads and headed towards our home village which sat in a low riverside valley.
The final few kilometres I knew like the back of my hand as I cycled that tarmac nearly every day. As we headed down the final hill before we got into the valley where the road cut between fields and endless farmland, we rounded a sharp bend to the left. On the right hand side was the most beautiful old Béarnaise farmhouse, complete with a pretty duckpond which I always admired when cycling past. It was completely surrounded by trees.
As the road straightened and levelled out I noticed a red light at the foot of the hill way in the distance to my right. Nothing out of the ordinary at all and I commented to Izzi that they must have installed a new telephone mast or something there as I had never seen the light before. We carried on chatting about this and that. A few seconds later I glanced across the fields to my right again, the red light was still visible and I went back to talking about why the light was there and how I know I had never seen it before. We drove on and I kept looking to my right, the light seemed to be moving towards us. Perhaps it was a low, a very low, flying plane, or a helicopter. But there was just the one red light and it wasn’t throwing out a beam, it was a flat light.
Over the course of the next 200 metres or so the red light moved closer and closer to us, it was travelling at about 20 feet above the ground, no more. We both became somewhat fixated watching it, whilst I kept half an eye on the road; my speed had slowed to a crawl. There were no other cars, no houses, no other signs of life, just us on a narrow country lane and the moving red light. Then, when it was no more than 30 feet from us it suddenly shot straight upwards by 20 feet or so. It was a pulsating red light and the whole thing appeared to be in the shape of rosette with two short streamers hanging down.
It was on Izzi’s side of the car and so she was able to press her face hard against the window and stare. I can tell you by this time blind fear had taken over. I am not quite sure when everything changed, when it went from curious interest to utter terror. My face burned with a fierceness I had never known before, I felt as if I was on fire, I pressed my foot hard down on the accelerator, I just wanted to get out of there. Izzi was petrified, “Go!!!!” she screamed.
From her side of the car Izzi watched it fly over and seemingly stall on top of us. As it passed above us all she could see was a black triangle and then it appeared to be literally hovering over our roof. We had no radio on, there was no noise and yet we could hear nothing, not a single sound, certainly not the sound of a helicopter or plane. It was silent apart from the engine of the car and the thump of our pounding hearts.
I raced down the final part of the road to the village breaking every speed limit, the shopping bags in the back of the car now strewn across the floor. I flew, almost literally, across the crossroads; this being a river valley there were no trees and I was able to see well in advance that there were no other cars because there were no lights. We had no idea where the flying object had gone, it could have still been right on top of us, because it hadn’t gone left or right, we never saw it again. We rounded the corner into the village still driving at a crazy speed. We hastily made a plan, we’d stop, leave the engine running, lights on, and on the count or two we would both open our doors and run as fast as we could into the courtyard and then into the house. I didn’t turn off the car and we didn’t even close the doors – we just scarpered.
We told Roddy in garbled terms what had happened. Our words tumbling out in a jumbled rush. He ran out into the barn and grabbed a bicycle, he wanted to go and investigate. He so wished he had been there, he would have stopped and looked. I wish we could have done because we will never know what it was, but I also know we could never have stopped, not even for a second, it was the most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me. He returned half an hour later; he’d seen nothing, but strangely all the village dogs, the farm dogs, the dogs who lived outside on chains – they’d all been quiet. Normally if anyone passes, certainly on a bike, they bark and bark, a chorus we were well used to; but there was nothing, just silence.
I downed a glass of red wine in record speed, I needed some strong fortification. Millie was having a guitar lesson and her tutor’s wife was on her way in her car from a neighbouring village to collect her husband. When she came into the kitchen, she told us that she had seen a strange red light down near the river. We poured her and her husband a glass of wine and we tried to make sense of what we had seen.
That night, all five children slept in our room on mattresses on the floor, everyone was far too scared to be alone. The next day was a Sunday and we walked the road to see if we could see anything, but found nothing. Roddy had a friend who was very high up in the French military at the time and Roddy asked him if there had been any exercises taking place in the area at that time. Obviously this was confidential information and the friend wasn’t able to say much but he did confirm that there was nothing, no drones, no movement, in the vicinity on the night in question.
I was never able to cycle that road on my own again. Even now, when I even think about this, or on the odd occasion when I recount this story to someone, I come out in goosebumps. The hairs on my arms stand up on end and the same happens to Izzi. Neither of us believe there are aliens running around but we do wonder. I am quite sure there is life on other planets and perhaps there are UFOs, because a UFO can encompass so many different things, literally speaking they are after all, unidentified flying objects. But I am not one to believe in the likes of ET, although I loved the movie! But this is one of those experiences that we cannot explain and to this day, eight years later, it still totally freaks us out. The most obvious is that it was a drone, except Roddy’s military friend told us otherwise and the fact that it simply disappeared, we didn’t see it on the left side of the car, in front or behind, it just simply vanished.
So tell me do you believe in the super natural? And have you had any strange experiences? And can you shed any light on mine? and also, do read Izzi’s comment below!
Our French Oasis 
Still to this day the scariest thing I have ever experienced! Pretty sure I had to sleep on your bedroom floor for a week when it happened. Never have I ever felt such an intense fear.
Still don’t believe you on the ghost one though!!! Hahaha
Still to this day, we both talk about this, we both freak out, we both come out in goosebumps. How many hours have we spent trying to make sense of this, trying to think of anything we could have missed? No doubt we will go through it all again at Easter!!! xxx
About 6 or 7 years ago, I was in a deep sleep with it being summer I had my curtains open to gaze at the moon and stars and to let in fresh air. At 02.15am something woke me, I sat bolt upright in my bed, after looking at the clock next to me on the night stand, I was aware of a woman walking briskly, clutching her hands together in front of her, she seemed to walk from the double brick wall in our bedroom, we are on the first floor, so I knew it was impossible, she looked over at me & we made eye contact. She was wearing an all black dress to her ankles, with a black bonnet and black shoes. At this moment I didn’t feel fear just curiosity, she walked so fast past my bed and me that by the time I got up to follow her down the long passage, she was gone as quickly as she appeared. Never to be seen again. I like you feel that there is other life than ours in the present, and all I wish is to have her re appear and sit and chat. She looked like she was on a mission and perhaps I could have helped her in some way.
So now I am a believer, my family believe me too because I am not one to make up stories such as this one, it’s a moment I will never forget.
Hi Suzanna, what I have found so fascinating reading everyone’s stories, is this same theme over and over again that no one felt fear. I didn’t feel any with the little girl, I just went back to sleep and I never saw her again. How old is the house? The lady sounds as if she was dressed in Victorian clothing, I wonder if you could chat, I wonder if you would find out more. Like you, I am not one to make up these types of stories, but I am quite sure that there has to be other forces at work on our planet. It certainly is a fascinating subject. Please if you ever do see her again let me know and thank you so much for sharing this. xx
Hello again Susan,
Our house was built in 1995 so not old in history. We are in country Victoria Australia and as a young country we don’t have the history as does Europe, although I was born in Croatia and wonder if this lovely lady followed me across the waters! She didn’t seem familiar. I know that the land was an old dairy farm in the past and who knows of its indigenous roots here in Australia, but she was definitely Caucasian. Suzana x
Who knows indeed, perhaps she was Croatian, but also she could well have been Australian, from the sheep farm days, certainly the clothing could be possible. I so hope you see her again! Until then, have a lovely week, the start of Autumn for you and some cooler weather as we are hopefully warming up on the first day of Spring. Xx
Wow, scary! When my cousin and I were around twelve years old, we were going to sleep in her room and both felt something in the room. At the same time, we both jumped out of bed and ran downstairs where her parents were. That was the only experience I’ve had like that, thank goodness! Although, must admit my laptop might be haunted!!!
Love, love, love your photos.
Thanks so much Carol, I have only ever had one other time when I was viewing a house for sale and I couldn’t get out of the house quick enough, there was just a very scary atmosphere. But these two things are both so true and I will never be able to explain either of them! Have a lovely Sunday xx
I was just heading to bed. I should have saved this to read in the morning!
I wrote this late last night and thought I might have nightmares, but slept like a log! However, it has of course opened up the discussion all over again, the children are always fascinated and scared at the same time! Sleep well, sweet dreams xx
I’ve seen many unexplained things. Most don’t freak me out.
The evil humans are capable of is what freaks me out. 😲
You certainly have a point there. I think it is a different type of freaking out. What humans are capable of is just horrific, this was just scary because the unknown is scary and I wish I knew the answers. Hope you are having a lovely Sunday xx
Oh I agree with you!
This really is a fascinating subject.
Well, that’s quite a story. I’ve always had difficulty accepting the para-normal and have no experiences of my own. Perhaps I should revise my ideas.
Me too, I don’t really believe in things like this, I try to keep an open mind, but even with these two, very true, experiences I am still not convinced. But I wish I could explain these and the fact that even now the UFO completely brings us out in goosebumps. I could say, we lost five minutes in time or something equally bizarre, but we didn’t, it was just as it happened, but it is hard to explain! Grey and drizzly here, hope you have a lovely Sunday xx
This was a fascinating account. I don’t doubt what you saw at all, either in the case of the child or the red light. We have just recently had some scientific information on the existence of similar galaxies. A parallel universe or two would be a real game changer, wouldn’t it? That being said, I believe that many government military or space programs have experimental crafts that we average people don’t know about. The movement you describe is drone-like, for sure. Who knows? Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Angela, I agree with you about the military and also that this is so drone like. The only thing that stops me from thinking it was a drone, or at least puts a slight doubt in our minds is that it simply disappeared. A drone can do many things but it would have either gone up and up, or right and left or back and forth, this just literally vanished. It’s path was coming straight towards us and it passed from right to left so it should have appeared on the other side, but it just went. Of course, Roddy is still so jealous that he wasn’t there, he would have stopped and investigated and we would all have known the answers for sure, but we were too terrified and now we will never know! Hope you have a lovely Sunday xx
Both experiences you had and have shared with us are fascinating. They are very real. We have many lifeforms other than ours. It is quite ludicrous to think otherwise. I have seen a magnificent display of UFO ‘s , along with thousands of people that appeared over Sydney. Many many pics were taken. It all appeared not only on front pages of the 2 newspapers we had, but also in about 4 full pages . Loads of pics from areas far and near . These reddish / orange crafts would break up into 3’s , 5’s do wonderful manouvres , like a sky ballet ,we likened it to. Shoot of , come back. We felt very very peaceful watching them for around 12 minutes.
Wow how amazing, when was this? Do you know if there are any you tube links that I can watch, it sounds absolutely fascinating. I think you re right, there is no way we can be the only ones here, I am sure there are other forces amongst us, just not sure what form they take. Xx
WOW! Im getting goosebumps God Bless Have a Blessed Sunday
I think I have had non stop goosebumps ever since I published this post, so many truly fascinating stories and experiences. Xx
Thank goodness I read this in the morning! This is frightening! Bot the little girl and the UFO. I have never had a ghostly experience and I do not want too!
Have a wonderful week.
It is scary to me, not the ghost, she doesn’t scare me at all, I don’t know why, but she was so peaceful, it never made me feel uneasy. But the UFO, terrifies me to this day. I wrote this last night and thought I might have nightmares, fortunately I slept like a log! I was chatting to Izzi on the phone as I wrote it and she said “No, it’s all too scary to talk about!” I know today the whole discussion will be opened again at supper! Have a lovely Sunday xx
I have no doubt at all that these two experiences are very real. Drones are a possibility but I do agree with you that they don’t just vanish, that was the alarm bell for me. How I wish you had stayed and looked.
How I wish we had stayed and looked because not knowing is the worst, but even if I could go back in time I couldn’t stop and wait and look, we just were so utterly terrified and nothing but nothing could have kept us there. xx
Hello Varsha – my contact in the French military assured me that there would never have been a drone flying at night in that area. There are special zones in France where they do all that sort of thing, far from prying eyes, civilians and animals. To be honest, he was as puzzled as we were, and he was far enough up the chain of command to have been privy to anything of that ilk. At that time he was in command of all of the French amphibious forces, and as a trained paratrooper he had enough experience in the air to know something was not right. Interestingly, there were several sightings of something very similar that week all over the world, in Japan, Mexico, Scotland and Canada especially. Susan actually managed to find a Youtube video that was exactly like the object she saw, which I rather think gave her some relief that she hadn’t imagined everything.
do you have the you tube link?
Hi Joan, alas the videos are now that old that they don’t seem to be on YouTube any longer, but if you go and look for ‘red orbs’ you’ll find pages upon pages of things people seem to see. I’m sure some of them are hoaxes, some are Chinese lanterns and others perhaps are drones, but enough of these sightings certainly are not any of these.
Roddy, I would love to see the link, do you still have it? I have read through every single comment and answer, such an interesting post.
Hi Varsha, no – they seem to be so old that they are no longer on YouTube, I’m afraid. But there are pages of more recent sightings that will happily make you ponder instead!
I once saw something like this when I was alone walking the dogs a couple of years ago. I ran for nearby woods not daring to look further. I swear it was a UFO, I felt the same burning sensation and fear you describe. But no one ever believes me, my family just think I’m getting old and foolish, I’m only 50!!!
Ha ha, you’re certainly not old and I am sure not foolish! It was that intense burning fear I agree. My face felt as if it was on fire and I knew it had turned a deep beetroot colour. The sad thing is we will never know for sure, neither you nor I! Have a great Sunday xx
Great story, I can understand the fear, The child you saw reminds me of something my mother told me she had experienced when staying with us in the flat where we lived, in an old coaching house. The UFO will always remain unanswered , if only Roddy had been with you, he would have raced off to find the answer. I wish I’d seen him racing off on his bicycle .
If only Roddy had been with us, he would have made me stop and I would no doubt have almost died from fear. Who knows what would have happened, maybe we would now know some answers, it will forever remain a mystery, except he did a huge amount of research and it really did appear that there had to be no other explanation. xx
Knowing you and your family, having you tell me this story over a glass of wine, I truly believe every word you have written. I, too, would have been sleeping at the foot of your bed if I had been in the car that night.
Ha ha, Millie read this early this morning, “oh no” she said, “this story always freaks me out, I love it and hate it at the same time.” Now of course we are all talking about it all over again. But we will never know! Hope you are having a lovely Sunday xx
Creepy stuff. My house here in France used to be haunted by a woman who lived here before me. She was never scary, just worried about the house. As renovations progressed, I would talk to her, point out how much we loved the house and all the things we were doing to make it better than ever. One day I got serious. I suggested that it was time she moved on. The house was not all done but it would be and it was already at maybe 90%. After a little back and forth — I think she was ready to move on anyway — she accepted my promises and that was that. I have never felt her presence since. No red lights, though, just one street light that is all too real. I don’t envy you that experience at all.
Wow, I would love to talk more with you about the lady that owned your house. She sounds as if her presence was very very real and it’s interesting that once she knew the house would be looked after she moved away. I have no idea why I never saw the little girl before or after. It was an old cottage and I am assuming she once lived there. I know the owners of our local chateau talk of a ghost, I have never felt anything here or in the village despite some houses being from the 1200’s. Hope you are having a lovely Sunday and I hope the sun returns, it’s a bit grey and miserable here today! xx
I think you have my email. If not, let me know and I’ll send it. I have been meaning to get Mr. “Don’t call me Mr. Wonderful” to Pierre Loti’s house in Rochfort. Maybe we could meet in there for lunch.
Absolutely, that would be great fun, I will email you in the morning. Xx
Years ago, on a hot humid summer night, I awoke to sounds of a party taking place on the hill in my back yard. Looking out the window I saw a huge camp fire and a lot of people around it, talking and laughing. I watched for quite a while, and thought it was a bunch of kids celebrating the end of summer. I didn’t wake my husband, I have no idea why. Anyway, the next morning I went up on the hill, thinking to make sure the fire was out…….there was nothing…no charred logs….no trash….no imprints in the grass…
I never spoke about it until last year I met a person who studies paranormal things, he told me that where we live there are a lot of such events, mostly related to the revolutionary war, and I probably witnessed an encampment……
I live in central New York State, not far from a revolutionary war fort.
This didn’t really frighten me and to this day I still go up and look for artifacts, but have not found any!
Wow, what an amazing story and so interesting that you followed it up and found out so much more. I do wonder and perhaps you know the answer to this, why do we see things sometimes, in your case just the once and in my case just the once, and never again? That’s what I find strange. The little girl didn’t frighten me either, not in the way that the UFO utterly terrified me, the girl was just a lovely little girl, so calm and so serene. This is a subject that really could be discussed for hours over a good glass of wine! Hope you have a lovely Sunday and that you are not totally snowed in. xx
I also wonder why I have only seen this once. Often, upon waking up in the wee hours, I look out my window, hoping to see something. Unfortunately, nothing.
The snow is melting…….yay!
Xx
I had a brief look on google, which I am sure you have probably done too, but the answers got really strange and I decided to leave well alone. The subject fascinates me but I don’t want to know too much! Finally it is spring so I hope you snow melts quickly and you have some warm springlike weather soon! Have a great week xx
Never had an experience like either of these before, Susan. 🙂
janet
These are my only two, the first, the little girl, was not scary at all. The second to this day still scares the life out of me! xx
We had an encounter while driving to Fort Worth. A bright light was in the night sky and it was narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. We thought it was distant lightening, but no storms were in the area and lightening doesn’t really look like that. Maybe it was a spot light, but they are narrow at the bottom. Later, on the trip home our GPS (from the early days) suddenly said “The Federated States of Micronesia” and of course we were no where near there. Sometime later I was watching a UFO show (yes, I am a space fan) and they were talking about many sightings around Fort Worth. But, as it turned out, the Air Force was testing a flare that is released from a plane to light up the ground. I’m sure the GPS picked up some kind of broadcast. I was very disappointed!
Gosh, you had me quite enthralled until the last sentence. What a shame it appears to have been a flare. But it is still scary how things can mess up all sorts of systems. There were all sorts of odd things that night. One we took the larger of our two cars, I never took it when it was just me and one of the children and have no idea what made me do so that night. Also we always had the radio on, always, wherever we went, and yet on this evening we didn’t, so the car was totally silent. I so wish I knew what was going on, but of course we never shall. Roddy did so much research as he talks about in his reply. Anyway, hope you have a lovely Sunday xx
I have seen several sightings like this in Scotland, I believe they are certainly paranormal forces at work.
This has truly been fascinating, reading everyone’s comments and learning about so many experiences from other people. I have seen quite a few details of sightings in Scotland. It all interests me immensely. xx
What an interesting post to read this am! I think often about how much that is unknown to us now will be revealed through the passage of time as science continues to explore these questions, similar to the discovery of germs. I am not saying that your experiences will be discovered to have explanations based on knowledge we already possess. Instead, I believe that we will find that there are parts of the human experience that we just don’t yet understand.
I think you have a very valid point here Anne, I think there is so much we have to learn and discover, I wonder how much we will learn in our own lifetimes, science is truly fascinating and human experiences. xx
What a lovely way you have of telling stories, I can just picture the little house and village in Normandy. Another delight today although with a totally different flavor!
Thank you so much Shari, I have toyed with the idea of sharing these two stories for ages, then I just decided the time was right, now I am so glad I did! xx
I’ve seen a ghost. We inherited my mother in law’s cat after she died and Shredder (renamed by me after she clawed me twice in the first week) lived with us another eight years. At age sixteen she became ill and we made the decision to put her to sleep.
Later that same day, after I’d taken her to the vet’s, she showed up one last time in the hallway. I had trained her to go to the basement door each night for an extra treat before going down to sleep. She waited to catch my eye and signalling she felt it was time for her treat. She looked just as she always did and walked off towards the basement. I got up to check and sure enough, no Shredder.
I’d seen her ghost, and true to her nature in life, she wanted treats. i certainly wasn’t scared, just surprised to see her when I knew she was buried in the garden.
So now you know that there are ghost cats…
What an interesting story, firstly I love her name! But was that the only time you saw her, just the once after you had buried her? It’s as if she came one last time to say goodbye. Thank you so much for sharing this with us all Patricia. xx
I’m also a very grounded person, but I have to say, I’ve had enough odd experiences to know that there is more to life than we think. I grew up in a house that was built in 1906, and it also had two sets of stairs. One set went from the main entry room up to the bedrooms. The other went from the bathroom from the kitchen, and directly up to my bedroom. My grandmother said that they used to be the maid’s stairs. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and hearing heavy footsteps climbing up my stairs. Normally, I would be scared half to death, but my cat was sleeping on my bed, and he made me feel somehow safe! I just went back to sleep. I have many far more detailed occurrences from other times, in other houses, but I’ll leave it there. 🙂
Wow, what I find fascinating is that you weren’t scared and neither was I, although normally things like this would terrify me, but when I saw the little girl, it just seemed quite normal. If you have a moment, I would love for you to share another story please, these really do fascinate me. Hope to hear from you and have a lovely end to the weekend xx
Oh my gosh…I honestly have so many stories. Where to start? One from my childhood is when I was staying next door, at my friend’s house, for a sleepover. It was bedtime, and I was lying on my side, chatting to my friend. While I was talking, I was also gazing into her well lit hallway. Suddenly, I sprang under the covers and wouldn’t talk. My friend kept asking me what was going on. Well, I had seen what I can only describe as a the profile of a strange shadow figure, not much bigger than us. It was walking, crouched over, until it just disappeared into the wall. I just can’t explain it! Her house was perhaps built in the early 1960’s, but there had been a house on that site years earlier, which had burned down. Let me know if you want to hear more – I have more recent ones, even in France! Have a wonderful week! 🙂
Oh my goodness, do you think some people are more receptive to seeing these spirits, ghosts, whatever we want to call them, than others? I tend to think that perhaps there are more around but most of the time we just don’t see them. Did you tell your friend what had happened and had she ever seen or felt anything I wonder? Would love to hear the story from France if you have a moment! Xx
For some reason, there is no reply link to your last comment, so I’ll just reply here. 🙂
My friend has never seen anything – I seem to be the lucky sensitive one, ha,ha. I do think that some people are more sensitive to this than others, and strangely, after I had our child, I felt somehow even more sensitive and a little too “in touch” (this is when we had a lot of strange activity in the house)!
The last big thing that happened was when we were visiting my husband’s mother in France. His parents built the house in the 1980’s, but his father died of cancer in 1988. I have sometimes thought that I’ve heard walking around in the attic at night, but just ignored it. Well, one day, Olivier and I went to the cemetery to pay our respects as we do from time to time. But this time, we wandered around a bit, and I found a grave all by itself. Then, I saw that the person had died in Auschwitz, and it just hit me that he was buried so alone. I felt incredibly sad and felt almost ridiculous to be choking up so much when I never knew who he was. We went to the bed that night, due to leave France the next day. I felt slightly anxious for some weird reason, and I got up to go to the bathroom around 5:00am. I went back to bed, and I just lay there sleepily awake. All of a sudden, I heard a very loud “clap, clap, clap, clap, clap!” Five times, as if someone was waking someone up abruptly. It was so loud that it echoed in the hallway. Olivier’s mother wears hearing aids, so I doubt it would have awoken her, and he and our daughter are good sleepers. I looked at him to see if he woke up at all – nothing! I could hear a motor running outside and voices, but it was a weird, faint noise – almost like a phantom sound, if that makes any sense. After a few minutes, the sound just faded away. Anyway, I told Olivier in the morning, and he quietly said, “…you heard that…?” I asked him if his father would ever wake them up like that, and he said that maybe he would have.
Now I’m not sure if it was my husband’s father, or perhaps even the young man’s spirit who I connected to from the cemetery. While I suppose it could have been his father, I also wonder if the young man wanted to let me know what happened to him. I was frightened, but I’ll try to breathe and keep a calm head next time we stay there.
The house was new, so it’s impossible that it could have happened on that site, but I don’t know if he just wanted to tell his story. In any case, I have made it my mission to return to the cemetery, take a photo of his tombstone for internet research, and since he was Jewish, leave a stone on his grave so he is remembered.
The little research I have done since has shown that Jews were actually rounded up during late August, which was when we were there. “The taking of foreign Jews carried out by the police and the French gendarme on the night of 25 to 26 August 1942.” It’s so sad and shameful.
By the way, for whatever reason, I also feel more “sensitive” when I’m in France, so maybe I’ll start a career as a psychic, ha, ha, ha! Just kidding. 😉
There appears to be only limited reply links but this works just as well! This was an incredible story, it certainly brought me out in goosebumps. I wonder if you will hear anything again when you are next in France or if it was a one off. I do think that there certainly seem to be people who are more receptive to this sort of thing than others. Which part of France is the house in? I always used to think when I was a child that ghosts only appeared in old houses, houses in which people had passed away, but I have since learnt that this is not at all true. I shall reread your story several times because it certainly fascinated me. Thanks so much for sharing more of your experiences. Perhaps this is what you should do, move to France permanently and become a psychic!!! xx
Right, I saw after the fact, that my reply ended up in the right place.
The village is near Lyon, in between Saint-Etienne and Annonay.
We’re just waiting for our business to sell, then we’ll be living permanently in France! Not so sure I’ll be a psychic, though – maybe just travel around, paint and write, but share weird stories with you, ha ha! 🙂
How exciting, well when you move here permanently, make sure you take a weekend away in the Charente Maritime and we can share some stories in person! Have a great week, hope your business sells quickly so that maybe you can be here by the summer? Xx
We hope! I would love to visit the Charente Maritime. We’re planning on moving close to Montpellier, so if you want to plan a trip to Occitanie, we can enjoy that, too! 🙂
Have had lots of fun in and around Montpelier, such a bustling cosmopolitan city. lucky you! Fingers crossed we shall meet xx
Fascinating stuff. I can always sense atmospheres in houses, in fact several of my friends use my sense when buying houses, I take my time walking around, room to room and I can feel if it is a happy or troubled home. I know people who say this is way out there, but I swear it is true and does really affect how our life is.
I do believe that one can feel atmospheres in houses Trish. I am sure some people can sense them more than others. I have only ever been in one house when viewing houses for sale that I literally could not get out of quick enough. Many years ago, it was in London and there was something about the small terraced Victorian house that made me want to run, so I can quite understand how friends would find your help invaluable. xx
Well…. yes, I have had some unexplainable experiences! I have heard but not seen ghosts in two places, one experienced by others with me, at an historic home in Columbia, SC, where as a docent giving a tour, I heard “someone” coming to join our tour. I turned and stepped into the hall to invite our visitor to join us, but found no one there! The whole group was as shocked as I, for the sound of footsteps had echoed loudly down the wide antebellum hall. This house has several known ghosts and many documented unexplained events. I, however, chose not to volunteer there again and have never returned since then! The other occurred in the carriage house of an historic house in Charleston, SC, where I was sleeping. I was awakened during the night, hearing footsteps on the stairs, walking down the hallway, and entering my bedroom. My husband was next to me but didn’t awaken. I heard the person walk around the bed, my heart pounding, I peeped from under the covers, but no one was there! I was terrified, and wouldn’t stay in the carriage house alone, after that! I never told anyone the next day, but now wish I had, to see if the owners had ever experienced this phenomenon. My husband thinks it was squirrels on the roof, hmmmm…
Wow, it seems hearing footsteps but not actually seeing anyone or anything is quite a common experience with ghosts or spirits. I would have been terrified as well in both situations. I am sure it wasn’t squirrels on the roof! Was this a long time ago? Are you able to do some research ont he internet about the historic house in Charleston, perhaps you might find out some more? and if you do, please let me know. xx
I really enjoyed reading this, certainly believe it, not least the little girl in the bedroom. I don’t spend any time considering UFO’s but what you experienced leaves little room for doubt. What freaks ME out the most, is the intense fear and burning sensation that you (and Amanda b in her comment) describe, it sounds paranormal in itself, almost as though it was beyond your control….! EEek.
Do you know it is the burning sensation that made me always think that it was something out of the ordinary as well and I was intrigued to read Amanda’s comment and to hear someone else having the same feeling. My face literally felt as if it was on fire, I am sure it was the colour of a roasted beetroot, it was quite literally burning, I have never ever felt anything like it before or afterwards. Perhaps this is how one feels when one is almost paralysed with fear, I don’t know, but I do remember how terrified we were. Who knows, we never will, sadly! xx
Great stories. Gives me chills. I am glad it is sunny outside hahaha
Thanks, I think I should have waited to reply to all of these until tomorrow when it is sunny and daylight is flooding the house as well. I hope I don’t have nightmares tonight! xx
I’ve not had experience such as yours, but sometimes the mind plays mysterious tricks that leave me wondering.
The mind does very strange things Lulu, I agree. The girl could have been anything, although I am quite sure she was a physical presence in the bedroom. The UFO, it wasn’t just me, there was Izzi in the car too and neither of us will, sadly, ever be able to know what it was. xx
I absolutely belive in ghosts, and recently encountered one in the hallway of my apartment in the middle of the night. It was one of those nights where I could not sleep, but I was headed to bed finally when I came out of the bathroom and saw what I thought was my husband to my left in the hallway. I went into the bedroom on my right, and my husband was in bed, he was not in the hallway. It was a very benign experience, and I went right to sleep. Still think it was a strange thing….that ghost was a very real man at the moment.
I also believe in alien visitation, I had a strange experience about 30 years ago that I have never been able to explain. And I’m not sure I can even describe it properly….it was a bright light that appeared outside of my apartment window, 10 floors up…it sort of lifted up the side of the building, shined a huge light into my apartment for what seemed like a long long time, probably only a minute, then went away. I just sat there, not frightened, just sort of artificially calm as if I had been drugged, if that makes any sense. I’ll never forget it. It was only later, when I was trying to describe it to my friends that I had the sense to be terrified.
Wow, what I find most strange is that a lot of people who experience seeing ghosts are not scared, you weren’t and I wasn’t and several people have commented to the same effect here, I wonder why this is, but it does seem to be a common theme. As for your visitation, that brought me out in goosebumps just reading it, you described it brilliantly, I think the giveaway is probably how calm you were, as you say, it was as if you had been drugged. Isn’t it sad that we will never know for sure, you won’t and we won’t. It will always be a mystery to us. xx
I believe you on both counts. I have had an encounter with a ghost, my father. He died in a plane crash when I was just six years old. One night a couple of years later, he appeared at the foot of my bed just staring at me with kind and gentle eyes and surrounded by a faint glow. He reassured me all was well and then was gone. I wasn’t frightened at all. I still miss him.
Then in 1981 when I was 26 years old, living in Los Angeles, my future husband I went down to the Santa Monica beach one night to stargaze. Laying on a blanket with the gentle waves kissing the shore we watched the night sky sparkle. Then we both saw it, a bright light travelling across the sky when it suddenly made a perfect right angle turn. And then another! And then another zig-zagging around the sky above us. It then became larger as if moving closer. We popped up, grabbed the blanket and headed for the car and home to safety. Yes, it really freaked us out as well.
I am one that is not so arrogant to believe that we are the only intelligent creatures in the universe but I am not certain that I am ready to meet them!
Thanks for sharing and stirring these memories for me. xx-holly
I’ve had a similar experience to Holly’s. My father passed when I was in my early 30’s, I was worried about my mom being able to cope with everything and, being single, made the decision to move back into my childhood home to help mom. I will also say that I was worried about myself and having a ‘life’ while living with mom. About 4 months or so after dad passed I awoke one night to find him standing at the foot of my bed. It was not at all frightening, I just had a wonderful feeling of comfort come over me. Dad didn’t say anything but somehow imparted that everything would work out okay and then he was gone. I’ve not ever ‘seen’ him again and yes, everything did work out, both mom and myself went on to live our own lives and all is well. I believe those we love who have passed are always with us and when needed will in some way still comfort us.
I’ve not had any paranormal experiences but a family member has. I believe we are not the only planet in the universe that has life on it even though I’m not sure I believe in UFO’s. I do know I certainly do not want to meet any!
Thanks for the interesting conversation!
Hi Denise, thank you so much for sharing this, I find it quite fascinating that so many people have said here how they were not at all frightened but just felt a sense of comfort or calm. I am now more sure than ever that loved ones do come back just to let us know that things are ok, that we will be ok, that all is well. I am so glad that everything then worked out well for you and your Mum. I am quite sure we are not the only planet with life forms, it makes sense that there have to be others, do I believe in spaceships flying around? No, I don’t really, which is why I am shocked by my own story, because I am not the type of person who would readily admit to seeing a UFO, nor is Izzi, but it was something, and something that really terrified us. Sadly, we shall never know the answers and if it happened again, I still wouldn’t hang around to find out!! xx
Oh Holly, how wonderful that he came back, just to reassure you, as if he wanted to let you know, and this reoccurring theme that so many people have commented on and I too had, that none of us were scared. I find that alone quite fascinating. Whatever you saw that night on the beach, it sounds pretty scary and I am not surprised that you both ran for the car. I do agree with you, I am sure there have to be other creatures in the universe and I am sure some are far more intelligent than us, it only stands to reason that if we exist, then so do others, but who knows what form they take and like you I am not certain I am ready to meet them either! Hope you have a lovely end to the weekend xx
My parents (both deceased in the past year) had a ghost who lived in their house and would object if they made any changes to the house. She would explode chandeliers, throw objects, hide their belongings. No, they didn’t misplace them. As an example, once my stepmother couldn’t find a bracelet that a grandchild had given her. Considering it lost, she quit looking. Months, maybe a year later, they cut open the ceiling to install a light fixture and the bracelet fell out. Several people also reported seeing a Confederate soldier appear at the foot of their bed. The house is in the last capital of the Confederacy in Virginia.
I had an encounter with 2 blue lights. They followed me on the road I was driving on and flew through and past my car as if in a hurry to get somewhere and I watched them follow the road ahead of me. They were as you described, a flat light, not throwing a beam but yet illuminating the trees around us.Like you described, no sound. But as they flew past me, they hit the power lines and left them swinging. I have heard several people describe seeing red, reddish orange lights like you have seen, but never blue. So fascinating! Thanks for sharing your story, it helps us out here not feel so crazy!
I love your story. I think I saw a UFO once. I was walking my dogs, it was 10pm and dark outside and in front of me, maybe a hundred meters above the street was a big white light right in front of me. It was much larger and higher than street lamps and it didn’t move 2 or 3 minutes. Than it started moving sideways, took speed and vanished. And it was absolutely silent. No idea what it could have been.
And did you feel scared? It’s the fact that these things are so silent that unnerves me, who knows what they are or what they were, there is so much that is unexplained, but it is a fascinating subject. xx
Wow, I am absolutely loving hearing so many fascinating stories, thank you so much for telling me yours. The ghost in the house sounds quite scary and also a little annoying, but the story of the bracelet appearing like that is incredible. As for the blue lights, this really interested me, I have never heard of people talking about blue lights, they are always red or orange. Whatever it was came past you and moved the power lines and as you say was utterly silent, were you on your own in the car and what I really want to know is were you scared? I don’t think any of us are crazy, I am quite sure there have to be other life forms out there. xx
No, I wasn’t alone, I was with my friend. She was battling cancer at the time and has since died. We went to her house after the encounter and she wondered if it was an angelic encounter as a few people we told suggested it was. But I didn’t feel the lights were interested in us, it seemed as if we were just in the path as they were on their way somewhere else. My Friend’s health didn’t change that we could tell. We laughed about it often saying, “No one believes us.” Many people suggested it was a natural phenomenon like ball lightning or a power surge in the power lines, but the power lines don’t run along the same path the lights took and they way they moved it seemed they had intelligence if that makes sense. Maybe I’ll never know, but like you, I’m so fascinated with people’s stories!
Oh and no, I wasn’t scared just stunned. I only got concerned when I thought the power lines they hit might fall in my car. Like I said, I didn’t feel they were interested in us. We were just in the way.
Interesting that you weren’t scared, because we were terrified. But then as you say, it was as if they were just on their journey somewhere, not stopping to look at you, you just happened to be in the way! Xx
Firstly, I am so sorry about your friend, may she rest in peace. I think there are so many stories, so many different theories but the one thing I do truly believe is that there are way too many ‘happenings’ for something not be real. The strangest part is we will never know for sure what we saw, you will never know what you saw, it will always be a mystery. I truly don’t believe in spaceships flying around, I can think back about the red light and it moving and try and convince myself to believe it was just a helicopter or a drone because that would make sense, but every time I try to write it off in this way, it won’t go away, something is just not right and that is why personally I know it was something odd! Xx
Several days after my father passed away , my husband and I went to our cabin in the woods 200 miles away. I was in the shower and I felt a hand touch me and assumed he had snuck in but he wasn’t there. I have since seen a psychic on TV who said this happens a lot- that after a death people feel someone touching them and it’s to say everything is fine. Funny that it was in the shower as he would have never even dreamed of doing anything to harm or scare me.
Hi Linda, were you scared, or did you just feel calm and almost reassured? I have found this so interesting hearing everyone’s stories and encounters and it seems that most people are not scared. I am sure it was your Father, just, as you say, there to let you know that everything was ok, his way of saying goodbye. Thank you so much for sharing this. xx
Last year spent 2 weeks at Chateau de Gudanes in the Pyrenees, a 90 roomed place that is under renovation,there was limited elec. there like you needed a torch to move about at night.I was the only person sleeping downstairs in that vast place and have never really believed in ghosts and sorry to disappoint but never saw one, however just nodding off one night when I felt a movement on my bed,the chateau cat decided it was going to spend the night with me 🙂
😉 a similar thing happened to my friend with whom I shared a hot, hot under-the-roof flat in Florence. She had a time of great questions-w/o-answers behind her and was a bad sleeper. One night she screamed the roof down…. a cat let herself fall from the open roof-window and landed exactly on her chest! We were terrified but later ‘adopted’ the young cat for the short duration of our stay.
Am following the Château blog with great interest – they do an incredible job there!
Ha ha, but were you a little bit scared when the cat jumped on the bed? You are certainly a braver person than I am. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, there is no way I would sleep on my own downstairs in a huge chateau! Not particularly because of ghosts, but just because I am a scaredy cat and my mind would have played tricks on me and worked overtime!! xx
I’m a believer too! I’ve had two ghostly encounters. The first when I was 8 years old. My best friend at school had a sudden illness and died. She visited me in my room on more than one occasion. It wasn’t scary at all but comforting. The second was when my father-in-law passed away. He lived 3,000 miles away from us and had been ill for some time. I woke up in the middle of the night and he was standing at the foot of our bed smiling. I wasn’t startled at all and fell back to sleep. In the morning I told my husband what had happened. He called his sister that day and recounted my story to her and she fell silent. Her 4 year old daughter had asked her that morning why her PaPa (her name for her grandfather) was standing next to her bed last night…he was saying goodbye to his family.
This is so beautiful and I’m sure gave you all great peace and comfort.
Thank you so much for sharing this Julia, so many people have told such interesting stories and the over riding theme seems to be that they are not scared. How nice that your friend came and visited you and at such a young age, I think this speaks volumes that at 8 you weren’t scared. I also find it fascinating that your father in law made sure he said goodbye to several family members, I wonder why it is that some people see these things and others don’t. I think there is a lot we still have to learn about human beings. Hope you have a lovely end to the weekend xx
You have touched on a fascinating subject here and I’ve loved reading all the comments. I too believe in ghosts and wish I had seen one, I’ll go so fast as to say I am very envious!
I have loved all of these comments Susan, I have read every one with great interest, I think everyones experiences have made this a fascinating post. xx
Bring it on! Love the stories, I am sure UFO’s and aliens in some form or another are real and as several people have said that burning sensation you felt is the real give away, that speaks of paranormal to me.
Thank you Erin, I am quite sure that there have to be other life forms in the universe, and I am quite sure there are more intelligent ones than the human being as we know it. But what form they take I have no idea, but I do know that the burning sensation was unlike anything I have ever felt before, it was quite literally as if my face was on fire, an incredible burning heat. It was really terrifying. xx
„There are more things in heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in our philosophy.“ Personally I had never such an
experience but I’m a believer. It would be arrogate to think we on earth are the only ones Susan please look in your
email..I have sent you some pics.
Very true, there simply have to be other life forms in the universe and I am quite sure that some are far more intelligent that our human race. I hope we find out more in my lifetime, I would love to know more. Thanks so much for the fabulous photos, I loved seeing them and emailed you back this evening. Hope you have had a lovely weekend xx
We would be. Wry naieve and stupid to think we were the only life force in the universe, if we can send people to space then so can others, I am quite sure there are aliens here, call them what you like, and I am sure they are far superior to us in intelligence, as humans I think we are a sorry race set on self destruction.
I too am quite sure there are other life forms in the universe, there simply have to be and I do agree, I am sure some are more intelligent than our human race. I hope we find out a great deal more in my lifetime as it is a subject that fascinates me. xx
Drones in 2009? I don’t know but I couldn’t for the life of me think of anything other either…. Or a military reconnaissance or something….. And zut alors, I should have read this right now, I’m ready for bed (and an hour or so of reading)…. shall have nightmares, I’m sure!
Also, I try to keep an open mind – I often see myself as a ‘vessel’ – AND I had many ‘weird’ or bizarre experiences, starting with having vivid dreams about certain people as a small girl, waking up and looking for my parents. They were sitting in the cold kitchen, both crying. I told them my dream and they cried more – I dreamt in great detail about a funeral of a well known and much beloved person who died at the hour I had my dream… I had quite a number of those experiences. I also have notions to call or write to somebody, sometimes years and years after I no longer had contact to people (which is something that happens when you move about a lot) – every single time it was of great importance that I phoned or contacted said people when I did… About 1 1/2yrs ago I said to Hero Husband that such-and-such just seemed to be on my mind all the time, a dear friend I made in Canada with visits over a long time and a sudden complete break of contact. When I had those many thoughts about this friend, I even started to search on the internet, without much hope. They had moved several times in the meantime, so had I. Guess what – Within 15′ I found an ‘announcement’ of a funeral home with a print of this woman’s eulogy…. It took me some weeks to track down her husband but with the help of the undertaker and full disclosure on my part I found him and we now have a beautiful skype-contact 5-8x per year… I have many more of those, and also one really scary one in rural England but I need my beauty sleep very, very badly and I’m trembling here at my table with all those memories coming back.
It’s brilliant that you tell those things; we might or might not believe those ‘sightings’ but it’s just as it is with homeopathy. You don’t have to believe in it, but I have ‘doctored’ my small child as well as my dog and NOBODY can tell me that is humbug because every time both child and pet were healed…
Wishing you a peaceful night and kind dreams, and Izzi too 🙂
Wow, there has to be something working that as humans we still don’t understand. As others have commented today, I too am quite sure that we still don’t know the full extent of how the human body or spirit works, there is still so much that is unexplained and unknown. This is all way beyond my comprehension but I do know that I find it fascinating and I have loved reading everyones comments and stories, it’s been incredible. Like you I shouldn’t be replying to these late at night. In broad daylight would be far more sensible, because for sure I will have nightmares too and as it has become a major discussion point today I am also quite sure that at least one little body, my like Gigi at 10, will be crawling into our bed in the small hours of the morning! I do, actually believe in homeopathy, I also believe in essential oils and all sorts of things, people may laugh, but like you, I have proof that they work. Let’s hope we all have a peaceful night and I really hope you don’t have nightmares! xx
I really loved hearing about your experiences Susan and everone else’s here too. I find it a really interesting subject. We’ve lived in our house for 30 years and for many of the first 15 years my family have experienced paranormal activity of varying degrees. I’ve never actually seen a ghost, although one of my daughters would see a mist in the shape of a person sat on the end of her bed every night for around 3 months. My daughter was about 2 years old at the time-I put it down to the usual ‘toddler-playing-up bedtime’routine. It wasn’t until years later that my daughter could articulate why she wanted to come downstairs and we still talk about this from time to time.
As the children grew into adults the activities became less and less and we haven’t had any activity at all for quite a few years now. The one and only time I felt really scared was one night, my husband and I had gone to bed and as I was drifting off to sleep i heard this low humming sound and it slowly got louder. Then my husband whispered “do you hear that?” – My heart rate shot up and I sat up in bed. My husband got up listening around the room to find the where the noise was coming from. He turned around and was holding a glass dish by the base and the lid was vibrating on the top – it didnt stop until my husband clamped his hand on top of the lid. The next morning when we were discussing It, it dawned on me that it had happened on the first anniversary of his grandma’s death – and the dish was a christmas present to me from his grandma a few years earlier.
I do believe in the paranormal most certainly. I think it’s something to do with quantum physics and the ‘double slit’ test. I have very little understanding of physics, if any at all, but having stumbled upon this test a few years ago I have been fascinated about the link ever since.
As for UFO’s – I like to keep an open mind on this and am of the same opinion as Mumbai.
I am afraid I too have little understanding of physics other than what I learned at school. I’ve already googled the double slit test and shall be reading up a lot more on this tomorrow, thank you. I loved hearing your story, have you spoken to your daughter about this since she has reached adulthood? I wonder if she remembers anything about it? I wonder why the activities became less and less as the children grew older, there is so much that we don’t understand about life, and I agree it’s a fascinating subject. I don’t really believe in UFO’s either, or at least not in aliens flying around which is why I find our experience all the more unexplainable, I am just not the sort of person who would think we have seen a UFO, in fact I am far more likely to say it wasn’t and look for other answers, but something here just wasn’t right and that feeling has remained with me ever since. Hope you have a lovely end to the weekend xx
Hi Susan. Just to say that yes, my daughter talks of this from time and the details are always the same- the mist was in the shape of a person and it got denser towards the middle. She also had a similar experience when she was at university eleven years ago. I have three daughters and we’ve each had a few experiences outside of the family home also. The most recent was around two years ago; I’d attended an antenatal appointment with my youngest daughter at our local clinic one afternoon. We were sat in small groups of six discussing babies when suddenly I was poked really hard in my right arm by something but no one was stood to my right. I glanced over at my daughter and whispered to her what had happened. The interesting thing is that the clinic was newly built on the grounds of the junior school that all my daughters had attended (the school had been pulled down to make way for the clinic).
I would be interested in your views on the double slit test Susan – it’s so very intriguing!
What is interesting is the huge response to your experiences and I love hearing about other people’s stories.
Thank you once again for reading mine. Elaine.
You’ve brought me out in goosebumps already and it’s only 9 in the morning! I totally agree with you about the response, I was really unsure as to how this would be received and I am really pleased! I have loved reading all the stories and seeing everybody come together and share experiences, this is what the blog is all about. I had a long read about the double slit test last night and I find it amazing that both photons and electrons seem to have the ability to change events that have already happened once one of the pair goes through the slit during the final ‘detection’ experiment. I am so grateful to you for alerting me to this, I had never given it a second thought and neither had Roddy, he’d vaguely heard of it before. But I would urge anyone reading this to go and find some of the you tube videos and watch them, it’s amazing. Thanks so much once again Elaine xx
Just one more and then I shut up – our Victorian pile we had when living in Devon – we always felt it was a ‘happy’ house although the widow who sold it certainly wasn’t then… but when we moved back to Switzerland, we just couldn’t sell our lovely home. I was always absolutely certain that the house had a soul and ‘refused’ to be sold to certain people. 18 months later it sold and the first thing the couple told us when negotiating the price was: We saw your house and it was like having a ‘voice’ and ‘wanting us to buy it – have you had a ghost?’…. I said: Not to our knowledge but we too had a feeling that the house chose us rather than we chose it.
Ok, I want to know more about this story, is this the frightening one you spoke of in the UK, or do you have another story as well? I do believe that houses really do have atmospheres, perhaps these are all the same thing, people feel them in different ways. I once viewed a house, a tiny little terraced Victorian house in London and I couldn’t get out of it fast enough. It had been beautifully modernised, but there was this atmosphere that was so awful, I couldn’t even go upstairs, I just had to leave, I couldn’t explain why to the agent but I knew I had to get out of the house. On that note, I am sure we are now going to have nightmares!! xx
No Susan, our house was ‘kind’…. this was a castle in Devon – haven’t got the time now to speak about it but it was truly horrible and I couldn’t get away fast enough…. Even now just thinking of it, the hairs on my arms are raised in panic 🙂
I hope that one day soon I’ll be able to read ALL the comments; there seems to be much wisdom and experience.
When you get five minutes to spare do tell me the name of the castle, I know my way around Devon quite well, as you know, I think, two of our brood were born there! Spooky stuff xx
It was the Berry Pomeroy Castle and as it wasn’t very far from Torquay where we lived. I only just ‘arrived’ in England and Hero Husband one evening in early winter decided that it was a gr8 idea to take me to see this castle, not last because it has this weird French name 😉
It was dark, a very ‘wild’ (romantic) area, in the middle of absolutely nowhere, hidden away, amongst trees, shrubs, sort of in the wilderness of Devon…. The portal was locked, we saw big stone walls and I absolutely froze from the moment I stepped out of the car. I felt freezing cold, shivered uncontrollably, felt bizarre and weird and asked to be driven away ‘tout de suite’. I felt unhappiness and a cold wind – and I remember clearly that not a bird was heard.
Only much later did we learn about the ghosts from friends to whom I confessed my fears and feelings… You can NOW find a lot of references to the place and I believe it belongs even to the English Heritage association. Let me remind you that at the time, in 1998, the internet only just started to exist – we had thus no idea about nor possibility to read about Castle Berry Pomeroy. Hope this gives you a slight creep too 🙂
I just shivered all over reading this and then I googled it and shivered some more. This is what Wiki has to say about it:
There are a number of legends associated with the castle, and according to the English Heritage guidebook, it “is reputed to be one of the most haunted castles in Britain.”[11] Two female ghosts are said to haunt the castle: the White Lady, and the Blue Lady.[17] The Blue Lady is said to beckon for help from passers-by, luring them to her tower. If they go to her, it is said they fall to their death. She is thought to have been the daughter of a Norman lord and is said to wander the dungeons mourning the loss of her baby, which she murdered as it was sired by her own father.[17] The White Lady, said to be the spirit of Margaret Pomeroy, is claimed to haunt the dungeons, having been imprisoned there by her sister, Eleanor, who was jealous of her beauty.[17] Their stories often blur together.[18]
What an amazing experience! I am so glad that you shared it. I have had many situations with what you call ghosts. I call them spirits, angels, family spirits. I am an avid collector of vintage and antiques. When I bring one home I have found that a spirit has been attached to that item. One night a little girl spirit was looking at herself in a small dresser by my bed. She kept playing around and not letting me sleep. Finally I ask her to leave me alone, she left. Some spirits have unfinished business here on earth and until they complete it they will not move on. It’s much harder to do in the spirit than the body. This home I was living in at the time – I believe- had a portal where it was easier for spirits to visit. Other member of my family saw and talked to spirits there to. We share this earth with them as well only in a different way. Many times they just need our help. Like you however I was totally frightened at first but then I got use to them. Thank you for sharing! I love to her that I am not alone. xoxo Jo
Hi Jo, I have to tell you I have found this so fascinating, just reading everyone’s comments and learning of so many experiences. You sound as if you have quite come to terms with spirits and are no longer scared at all. I have only ever had the one encounter and that was with the little girl, but I wasn’t frightened, I just went straight back to sleep, it was all very serene. I do think there has to be a stronger life force than we realise, I hope so much more can be explained in my life time as I find it all so interesting. How interesting that you bring home spirits with your antique purchases and as you will have seen from here today, you are certainly not alone. Thank you so much for sharing your stories and I hope you have had a lovely weekend xx
I am so conflicted over this. I am a determined disbeliever and yet I saw a ghost as a child, and I sensed things that I can’t explain. And shortly after my dad died I felt him tug the plait of my hair. I just knew it was him. Jeez, though, if I had experienced the red light thing you did, I cannot imagine how I would deal with it!
You see I am determined not to believe as well, but I definitely saw that little girl, even though Izzi thinks I am quite mad! But she was there. The red light, the UFO, whatever it was, I am the sort of person who definitely looks for a normal, believable solution, I am absolutely not the type of person who says “hey I saw a UFO” which is why it freaks me out even more because there was something about the whole thing that produced a fear unlike anything I have ever known in my life, my face literally felt as if it was on fire, the burning sensation was so intense and the fear it still instills in both Izzi and I now, it’s all very bizarre. One thing for sure we shall never know what it was! xx
Oh golly! Should I have read this before going to bed?!
Our previous house was even older if anything than the current one. One night I was outside filling up a watering can in the half light and saw a shadow moving towards the house. I got the impression of someone draped in a large cloak with a hood. The ‘person’ just kept going and then literally disappeared through the house wall. At the time I told myself I’d just imagined it. Years later we started a major renovation and I went through all the old paperwork we had to try and find an old plan of how the house used to be. And what do you know, the place where I’d seen the shadow disappear had previously been a door.
Ooh gosh, I wish I hadn’t just read that before I go to bed! Did you ever see anything again, or did you ever feel anything again? This is what I find so strange and I struggle to understand, why do we see things just as a one off. I am sure I could spend hours finding answers online but I don’t think I want to because I am sure I would end up having nightmares and then not sleeping for weeks, as it is this was all discussed a lot today and I am quite sure one little person, probably Gigi, our youngest who is 10, will be creeping into our bed in the middle of the night tonight! Fascinating, thank you so much for sharing this. xx
Wow your story and the comments! Some of them are similar to things I have experienced. I think we have access to things we don’t think about or maybe aren’t normally open to. The world–seen and unseen–is much larger than we give it credit for (perhaps I should have said the universe). These stories are completely believable to me. I have seen odd things in the sky but never a UFO or anything described here. Yeesh. I’d have been terrified, too. Whew. Glad Roddy didn’t find them!!
I had no idea how this would be received today, I have thought about sharing these stories for a while and now I am so glad that I did, this has been so fascinating, I have loved reading every single comment, but now I am sure I am going to have nightmares! I too am quite sure there have to be other forces out there, I think there is much we still have to learn about our planet and indeed the universe. I know Roddy really does wish he had found whatever it was, incidentally he totally believes it was something unexplainable, some form of UFO. I wish he had been with us, because I would certainly have felt safer, but then he would have made us stop and I truly do not believe I could have done whether he was there or not, I had to get out of there! xx
And I think you were right!
Ha ha, well the good news is I did not have nightmares and neither did any of the children!!! Xx
Definitely good! Of course there’s an age when ghost stories and paranormal are really fascinating. I hope you don’t encounter any more UFOs!
Yes I agree, although our 12 year old cannot stand to talk about such things whilst the others love nothing better, she firmly clasps her hands over her ears and refuses to listen! Xx
My experience Was in broad daylight.l was on my paper round at the time,when about 30ft above my head appeared a triangular object of 3 large lights,it made no sound,and was stationary.l dropped my bag and ran home fast! No one was interested so l went back to collect my bag,by then it had gone.l’ve never forgotten my experience when l was 13 back in 1962.
Wow, and do you still remember it now, really vividly? Do you recall did it just appear out of nowhere or did you see it coming and did you look back to see if it disappeared or remained there? Did you ever find your bag? So many questions, sorry, but like you, we just wanted to run. There were people who believed Izzi and I saw something like a UFO and there are people who absolutely do not. I don’t know, I just know we felt such incredible fear. xx
It’s something that has stayed with me for a very long time now.Its just odd that it was daylight about 5pm in May usually these incidents are reported when it’s dark! There’s no explanation it wasn’t a helicopter and it couldn’t have been a drone.There was no one else around and eerily quiet at the time even though l’m talking about a busy council estate in Leicester.l remember me looking up at it and it looking down on me,then l ran off. My paper round bag was still there on the corner where l had left it but the UFO if you want to call it that had gone.
I think it is the surrounding events that speak volumes. The fact that it was so unusually quiet which as you say for a busy estate in a big city at 5pm, really bizarre and it was the same for us, the road is always quiet but the fact that the village dogs weren’t barking as normal, something was definitely happening, some force at play. I think the strangest part is we will never know, that’s what I don’t like. I am not an avid believer in this sort of thing but there is too much evidence not to believe in something. Who knows. Anyway, today is the first day of Spring, hope you have a truly lovely week xx
Thank you Susan.The Sun is about to come out after days of heavy rain.I live in the English Lake District so any hint of dry weather is a bonus.You are living the type of life l would have liked for myself, reading your Blog is the next best thing for me!Also just so as you know l made the Melt in Mouth Chocolate Pots which were fabulous, and so… easy.Teresa xx
One of my favourite parts of the country, many of my ancestors are from Cumbria and the Lake District, one was a Victorian water colour artist who sold many paintings of Ullswater and various places, I have several of his paintings in our home! This is a great lifestyle I cannot deny that and we do feel very lucky, of course there are always the usual day to day boring things in any country! So glad you made the chocolate pots and thanks for letting me know, they are so easy and so nice, quite decadent but great fun and I am all for things that are not complicated and time consuming! have a great week and I hope the sun shines now that spring is finally upon us. xx
Thanks for sharing. I’m glad you had these experiences. It’s unfortunate that the UFO experience was so scary for you. I understand how it was as the media makes out the ET’s in the image of our violent societies here on earth, where as they are much more advanced. There are many stories of the US, Russia and other governments interacting with them for many, many years, but they have hidden much of it. Much of our technology are ones that were back engineered from UFO crashes.
I’ve seen my brother twice since he died in 1969, and grew up talking to many beings out of body. My blog post : https://wordpress.com/posts/empowerandbalance.wordpress.com?s=I%27ve+seen+some+weird+shit talks of my lifetime of experiences.
I do daily sessions, at the level of energy, to assist in bringing forth a shift into the light and shutting down the dark elite who have run our world. I believe that soon will be living with ET’s of the light, from many other civilizations and our planet will finally advance into a planet of Oneness and Abundance, leaving the dark ages behind. Soon, we will be interacting with others in other dimensions as well as beings from throughout the universe.
It is so interesting that all sorts of people believe all sorts of different things, there are so many theories and ideas and yet none of us know for sure. I actually don’t know what I believe but I do feel sure that there are other beings existing from other planets, because there is so much evidence that there simply have to be. I shall go over to your blogpost and have a long read this evening, when I have a little more time, am thoroughly looking forward to it, thank you. Xx
I also meant to ask, are your theories based on a personal experience?
Absolutely,…like I wrote, these have been my experiences since around 2 or 3, and have continued my entire life. It is also part of my soul’s work.
So looking forward to reading your blog, sorry have been so busy this evening, but don’t worry I shall. Thank you xx
*smile* Just as well I am reading this in the morning hours here in Australia! I must be the biggest scaredy-cat in the world because I sort’of believe but just don’t want to know! No books or films on the paranormal in this house 🙂 ! One not-so-funny experience the year I moved into my cottage here: and since it is new there cannot be any old ‘residents’. My rooms are so positioned I can actually circle all of them; this forms a very convenient ‘walking-track’ for late night ‘strolls’ – if I have spent a day sitting at work I may do 10-20 ‘circles’ in my nightgown around the house to give my legs some exercise. Well, walking thru’ the kitchen into the back passage I reach the bathroom with a huge mirror right in front of me . . . looking into it it was creepy, oh so creepy to see a male figure a few feet behind me in said mirror. The next houses are too far for my scream to have been heard . . . but the front door was hastily opened and every other door closed and I did sleep with my bedroom lights on till the morning hours . . . . these days I still do my ‘evening exercise’ walking in the other direction 🙂 !! Yuck! Let others ‘enjoy’ . . .
Well you can join me, because I too and the biggest scaredy cat, I jump at the slightest thing and still cannot go down the garden to shut the chickens in once it is dark and like you I do sort of believe in things but I also don’t want to because that is too scarey and I know I would have endless nightmares so I put it all out of my mind. I could go online and do lots and lots of research about ghosts and aliens because it is fascinating but I am not sure I want to know too much. I would have been terrified if I had had your experience, I don’t blame you for always walking the other way now, just in case. I thought our youngest would have nightmares last night and come creeping into our bed in the early hours as much was discussed on this subject yesterday, but she didn’t. She did say she woke four times in the night and thought of ghosts, but she said everything she had heard me talking about were how friendly they were and so she knew she should not be scared and so she went back to sleep. The second youngest on the other hand cannot stand to talk of such things and firmly blocked her ears. I think we all deal with these things in our own way. Hope you have a lovely week! Xx
Wow, I am a nurse and have witnessed many death and near death events. I have two personal experiences but I will share the most recent. Only two friends know about this. But it is time to face the fact that this is not my imagination. My dear Son died, unexpectedly a little over 5 years ago. He was 33. He had moved back home 4 years prior because of a health condition. He was fine except he had unexpected seizures and his doctor told me he was a high risk for death after a seizure. His epilepsy was caused by concussions. He was a hockey player, this was before all the research had determined the long term effects of head trauma. He had an episode 30 days prior but I found him and was able to resuscitate him. I was distraught knowing all this but was determined to keep his life as normal as possible. The day he died I found him too late. Over my career I had saved many, many lives but could not save my son. When He moved back home He came with his two dogs. His best and most loyal friends. In the following months I noticed that the female Black Lab would startle and stare into one corner of the dining room. She was fully attentive, moving her head back and forth as if responding to a command. She would wag her tail and sometimes bark. Up to that point she rarely barked. Then she would stop and resume what she was doing. Most of these events occurred in that corner of the dining room. There would be months that it did not occur. Then it would start again. Just this week she has started behaving the same way, but in a different room. She completely deaf now, 15 years old. So I know she is not hearing something and responding to that. She seems to smile and wags her tail. She then looks at me and is very perky. I know that these events are some element of my Son communicating through his beloved dog to me. I don’t think I am crazy although the stress of the last years has tried to make me that way! I am not sure what we see or feel or sense in these situations but I do think there is a strong possibility that is not imagination, it is not just grief, My two cents. No UFO experiences at all but I do watch X-File reruns:)
Hi Lucy, first of all my sincerest condolences and how brave you are to have written all of this down for everyone to read, it must have been very difficult and thank you so much for sharing this story. I am utterly convinced that your black Lab is communicating with your son, dogs are incredibly smart animals and I think they have a sixth sense that we do not, they feel atmospheres for sure. We have one walk that we often take and there is one part where I have to put Bentley on the lead, otherwise he turns around and heads for home, he just will not go past. It doesn’t happen every time though, sometimes he is happy to carry on, not a care in the world and others, he stops abruptly and will not go any further. Our other dog, Evie, has no problems at all. There is certainly something there, some force which he can feel on occasion. I am quite sure that your son is telling you all is well, that is why your Lab is wagging her tail, she is not cowering or scared, but she is happy and I am sure he is hoping to see a smile on your face too. Once again thank you so much for sharing this and have a lovely week. Big hugs xxx
Wish I wasn’t reading these stories at bedtime, yet I can’t stop, ha ha! I had a couple of strange experiences in a former house, one where a large piece of artwork toppled over off a shelf, crashing to the floor in the middle of the night in my baby’s nursery. Nobody was hurt, nothing was broken, but it had fallen in such an impossible way because several items that had been in front of it (large & small) were still unmoved on the shelf (which was impossible based on how it would’ve had to have fallen). Several weeks later, a larger toy I had deliberately moved out of the baby’s doorway to the side (so I wouldn’t trip over it) had moved back several minutes later after I had nursed him to sleep. (Nobody else was awake, & the cat wasn’t strong enough to move this toy). Both instances really freaked me out because I didn’t want anything or anyone bothering my child or his room.
The artwork had been given to my grandmother by a grouchy artist friend, & I wondered if he was upset because he didn’t remember or recognize me. (My father had inherited it from my grandmother and had given it to me). The next day, I said a lot of out loud prayers, and I announced to whatever it/he was that I was thankful for the artwork, introduced myself so he knew it was being kept in the family, & asked him to leave us alone. We didn’t have another issue. I love antiques, but after my experience and after reading the lady’s story above about spirits following their objects, I’m certainly a little more wary!
I know just what you mean, I don’t really want to believe and I knew I shouldn’t really have spent hours and hours last night just before I went to bed reading all of these but they were all so compelling, I, like you, couldn’t stop and ended up going to bed in the small hours of the morning with way too little sleep for an early start today on a school day! This brought me out in goosebumps all over. There is no other explanation whatsoever, but it is so interesting that you confronted the spirit or whatever it was and that then there has been nothing further. Of course, when it involves our children we are all way more protective, I would have been just the same. It makes me wonder, we have things that disappear or move. I always blame the children and they always say it wasn’t them, who knows, I don’t think I want to delve too deeply though. I am quite sure there is a huge amount that we don’t know about and sometimes I think I prefer not to know because I am the biggest scaredy cat in the world! Well done you though for being tough and confronting this. I shall remember that for the future if ever I should need to. Xx
I think it’s entirely possible that there are spirits or essences or whatever you want to call them of people in some places and buildings. Science these days will tell you “No” — but if all knowledge is a pie chart, the part we know is merely a small sliver. There’s an enormous amount we don’t yet know, cannot quantify, and may never be able to explain.
Some people are not comfortable hanging out with uncertainty, and so they want “evidence” of one kind of another. But uncertainty is all we’ve got.
As to the mysterious airborne object, I had something similar happen late one night years ago, driving in New York State. I was with someone, and we agreed not to compare notes in order to preserve individual impressions. Later, we each drew what we thought we’d seen, and the pictures were nearly identical.
Drone, saucer, military toy, UFO? No idea, but the hair on the back of my neck literally stood up. I’d always thought that was a figure of speech.
Science may tell us ‘No’ and I am not the type of person to really believe or want to believe too much, but I do know that there has to be other forces living with us. I am happy to live just not really knowing, although I do wish I could know for certain what the UFO was. It is interesting that you said the ‘hairs on the back of you neck literally stood up’ because that is what I felt, along with the intense burning sensation, just complete fear like I had never known. Izzi and I didn’t compare what we had seen until much later that evening, there was no time to talk as it was happening, but when we did discuss it later on, we had both seen identical things, only she saw the underside and I didn’t as I was on the left of the car and driving. Perhaps science will one day come up with answers, but I wonder if they will in fact be true facts or scientific theories and the truth will never be known, I rather think the latter will be the case.
This is an interesting post, Susan, very interesting. There are many theories about ghosts, and UFO’s, and there is no doubt there is much more to learn about our world as there is too much evidence to the contrary. For what it is worth, I have my doubts that UFO’s come from outer space. I think they come from this solar system, perhaps from earth itself, even though they are not of human origin. Whether they are of this realm, as we know it, or are of another is a moot point. I also think we might find out very soon if it’s the latter – they will surely want to save the planet as much as anyone else.
Phil, I think this has been the most fascinating post. There are indeed lots of different theories and I am quite sure there is much more to learn and a vast amount that will n ever be explained. Your theory that there are other beings out there who are going to help save our planet is certainly an interesting one. I certainly hope we find out way more in our lifetime, I want to know more! Xx
So true, I do think people watch over us, so my ghost is my guardian angel. My Mum died when i was 21 and twice she has been back to comfort me, once during my finals and once when I got divorced. Both times it was the same, I had a dream where i was talking to my Mum and she gives me a huge big hug and then I wake up, but her arms are still round me and I can feel them, and that feeling stays for a good minute. And even though the first time was twenty years ago I can still feel that hug. A very powerful feeling.
Hi Caro, how wonderful that she is there for you when you really need her, that alone must be so comforting just to feel her arms around you once again. I think we would be crazy not to believe in some other forms because there is too much evidence not to. I have been quite fascinated by all of these stories and comments, some have been very thought provoking. I hope you have a lovely week and enjoy Spring, which is finally, officially here! Xx
ooooo – I love stories like this. I got a shiver just reading about it!! I strongly suspect that if it ever happened to me, my reaction would be the same as your’s!!
I have to admit I have absolutely loved reading all the comments and everyone’s stories, it has been fascinating and at times they have made me shiver too. Hope you have a lovely week xx
What gripping stories! Loved both of them, but I never want to see a ghost or a UFO. After my sister died when I was 14, she did visit me in a dream. I remember that in the dream she was driving and I said, “But what if you get pulled over and you’re actually dead.” So I knew that she was dead in my dream, but she came to tell me that she was okay.
I’d love it if you’d play along with Dreaming of France. Here’s my Dreaming of France meme
Thanks Paulita, I have loved reading everyone’s stories. I have been fascinated by the number of people who have had relatives come and tell them that all is well, this is so truly lovely. Hope you have a lovely week xx
I have to admit here and now that my intrigue into UFOs goes back a long time. We lived abroad when I was a child do I went to boarding-school in the south of England, and one hot summer’s night in 1968 or 1969 a whole dormitory of small boys hung out of a window to watch something a mile or so away, rotating like a circus carousel in the night sky. There was a UFO ‘flap’ going on at the time over the southern counties and we thought nothing of it bar intense excitement. Suffice to say that if that craft was some sort of secret military technology it has never come to fruition. To this day I can still picture the flashing lights as they spun around some inner body at high speed. Of course, when we recounted our sighting the next morning we were told it must have been a helicopter.
Over the years there have been a few more odd lights and strange occurrences at night, several of them at sea, far away from land. The most recent sighting I had was in April 2014, out walking Bentley after midnight late one night. A group of bright orange lights flew across about two miles away, east to west, at about 2000-4000′ in altitude. I happened to have got back to the house and inside the door was a pair of very good binoculars. What I thought was a flight of helicopters materialised into round orange orbs, jet red underneath with a luminosity of some sort that made my jaw drop. No navigational lights, no flashing lights, just orange orbs with a distinct flying-saucer shape. I watched them for about 40 seconds as they headed west at perhaps 500 mph, the binoculars enabling me to keep them in sight for far longer than might have been normal with the naked eye. It’s the only sighting I have reported to MUFON, and they came back to me to say that an airline pilot in Arizona saw the exact same thing 3 hours or so later. I must have been terribly convincing in fact, because someone from the organisation rung me a couple of days later for further details and a long chat. Whatever I saw that night was not something built by humans, for sure.
Roddy,
For what it’s worth, I’ve been told by a friend of seeing “something” from a plane, just off the wing while in flight, remarking on it, and having the person sitting next deny seeing anything at all. But when disembarking, making a comment to the pilot, who concurred (years ago, when you could still talk to them after landing). There may be many mysterious things in the U.S. military budget, but I doubt that covers all the odd sightings.
The person who told me of this thought that perhaps, somehow, only some people are open to seeing such things.
Roddy, we had a very similar experience at our summer home in Vermont 4 years ago. We were a group of six adults outdoors, looking across our large lake admiring the Green Mtn.range on the opposite side. There was a clear sky, it was not yet dusk. An orb of brilliant white light came into view, traveling north to south. Following, at varying distances, came 6 more. All were the same brightness and size. Some would stop, then continue on. There were no navigational lights, no sound. My husband went into the house to get binoculars. He thought, through the binoculars, that there was an orange tinge to the undersides. We watched them for 7-8 minutes. Instantaneously they accelerated and were gone. We all looked at each other, dumbfounded, and realized that not one of us took a photo with our cell phones! Trying to rationalize what they could have been we ruled out the military as we are only 20 miles from the border with Canada. Doubtful anything experimental would be used that close to the border. Searching news sources the next day we discovered that someone in the state of Pennsylvania (500 miles away) had a similar experience. We all agreed that there was no explanation for what we saw that night. We too went into the house and drank wine!
This was so interesting to read. I do believe in Spirits. I have encountered Spirits and my family also. I don’t believe in UFO’s. I do believe in Signs for a reason.
I do believe in spirits. As for UFO’s, well I do and I don’t, perhaps I don’t really want to believe in them. I don’t believe there are aliens flying around the world. But I do think there are other lifeforms on other planets, there simply have to be and I think there is enough evidence to prove that there are other forces out there. Some form of UFO is therefore, in my opinion, quite possible and I am trying to remain totally open minded about it. Hope you have a lovely week xx
Susan,
My husband and I own a civil war era cabin in Berkeley Springs, WV. Last year we were there for the weekend and my brother in law saw something pass by in the living room while we were having lunch in the kitchen. He didn’t really go into detail, he just asked if any of us ever have seen something that flashes by their eye very quickly. The next morning I was sitting in the spot he had been in the day before and out in the living room, passed a gray figure of a man from left to right in the room. When I asked him to describe exactly what he had seen, it was exactly what I had just seen. Neither of us felt at all frightened by it. We did some research and discovered that Gen Sherman had marched his troops in that area looking for a way to cross the Potomac River and on into Gettysburg. I do believe it was a soldier .
What a fascinating story Nora, so interesting that he hadn’t told you what precisely he had seen until you compared notes the next day, I am sure that is the telltale sign. A lot of people here have written how they weren’t scared, when I saw the little girl I wasn’t scared at all, I just went straight back to sleep and yet when I talk about ghosts I get really scared, that in itself I find so bizarre. Have you ever seen him again? or perhaps you will this summer, but then it appears that lots of people see things just the once and never again, I wonder why that is. Do let me know if you do. Have a lovely week xx
A great story Susan. Intriguing. Who knows what’s out there. I think our perception of phenonema is quite limited.
I think you are right, I think there is far more out there that we truly do not understand or even know about, Roddy believes there is a great deal more to be explored in the oceans too. It is all fascinating, I certainly hope we find out more during our lifetime. xx
I have loved reading all these interesting stories from everyone!!! I wish someone would write a book listing all of these happenings.
I have absolutely loved reading all of these too, I had no idea it would be so popular. I have toyed with the idea of writing about my two experiences for ages and I am so glad that I decided to go ahead and do so because the best part has been, as I said, reading what everyone else has to say. It both scares me and intrigues me at the same time. xx
Hi Sharon,
I have always believed that out of one’s ‘bad’ experiences will come ‘good’ experiences. Your decision to write about your very frightening experience, as well as seeing the little girl, has resulted in a ‘good’ experience. What an amazing discussion this has been! and to know that the people involved here are from all parts of the world. I live on the west coast of Canada and it’s been most interesting to find out that our experiences, wherever we live, are the same. Love your blog, thank you for writing it.
You are so right, what an amazing discussion. I had no idea how this post would be received, but I found it fascinating and as it was related to France and our life I thought it would be interesting to share the stories. I have loved reading every single comment, replying and chatting. Isn’t this what is so incredible about the Internet and modern technology, we’re all around the world, in literally all four corners all sharing experiences which are all so similar even though they are thousands and thousands of miles apart. Many of the comments have brought me out in goosebumps, but at the same time I have hung on every word, as I said, I’ve loved every bit of this. Xx
My apologies Susan! I called you Sharon as I was thinking about a friend named Sharon who would love this blog. Again, I am sorry!
Ha ha, quite forgiven!! Hope you told your friend about the blog and thanks for thinking of me! Have a great week xx
Whoa. those were both out of my realm of reality. Thanks for sharing your stories. Quite fascinating!
Thanks Monika, these are both so far removed from anything I normally believe in or write about. But they both happened, whatever the explanation for either is, I have no idea, I just wrote it as it appeared to me. Most fascinating has been everyone else’s stories, they have been fabulous to read xx
Clearly I lead a dull boring life with no interesting stories to tell. [wink] Any dramatic stories around here usually involves clumsiness and resulting injury. 😉
Ha ha, no I’m sure you don’t! No dramatic stories in the Charente Maritime either! I think I am happy to have it this way, my two experiences are quite enough for me, I never want to feel the fear I felt with the UFO ever again! xx
I do believe in ghosts, have seen one, my children (the two eldest) saw another many many years ago and they blinking well freak me out. Your stories made me absolutely squirm xx
They freak me out too, ghost stories give me nightmares and I won’t even go down to the bottom of the garden to shut in the chickens in the dark unless someone is with me, I am the world’s number one scaredy cat. But what is so strange is when I saw the little girl I wasn’t scared, not at all. Now if you told me I would wake up and see someone in my room I would become a nervous wreck just thinking about it, so I wonder why wasn’t I? It’s all too bizarre. Never seen anything ever again. Except the UFO, which totally freaked me out and still does and Izzi too to this day, the most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me. OK, need another coffee, already covered in goosebumps just thinking about it all again! Xx
I am certain that a Medium would tell you the little girl was a gentle spirit and that is why you weren’t scared. The OVNI on the other hand was probably carrying nasty politicians bent on ruining the world xx
I am quite sure too, but even the thought of a gentle spirit scares the life out of me, normally!!! I was always scared of a big painting of a male ancestor we had when I was growing up, it was half way up the main stairs of our old farmhouse which was so old it was mentioned in the doomsday book! I would always try and use the back twisting winding stairs so that I didn’t have to pass the painting, the eyes seemed to follow me everywhere!! Now let’s not get into the poiliticians it was carrying, we could be going down a very long slippery route and I think we had best leave politics to a glass of wine and a private conversation, even thinking about this brings me out in chills too!!!
Yes, that would be a recipe for me refusing to pass … ancient staircase,dark and creepy portrait – not good. I couldn’t even watch Buffy The Vampire Slayer when it was popular to my daughters’ collective delight and derision so you are certainly preaching to the converted! Xx
Not good at all! I never watch anything scary either. Once I saw a small part of a Frankenstein horror movie when I was little, God knows why or how but I did. Bats have terrified me ever since!
Another common thread so I think we can agree we will NOT meet anywhere near anything vaguely unsettling!
Most wise I think in the circumstances or there may well be two English ladies acting like headless chickens running down the road!!
I don’t even like to think about it. I am sure there is someone or something out there (space), a narcissist would be a fool to think otherwise.
In truth neither do I. I am sure I could do a great deal more research on the internet about the UFO, about what we saw and what we felt, but I don’t want to, I don’t want to know too much, it all totally freaks me out! Xx
Wow – what a story about the red light! I really do hope that we are not the only ones, but I like to think that the aliens we share our galaxy with are friendly…
I think it is pretty much impossible that we are the only ones, and yet I find it hard to comprehend that there are other beings flying around, in truth, I try not to think about it too much!! Xx
But if they make us nervous, we probably make them even more so. An entire planet full of people who are forever blasting off rockets that leave space junk up there in orbit, who are trashing the only environment they’ll ever have, and who have far too many lethal weapons at hand and rulers with access to the starter buttons. If I were from Alpha Centauri, I’d beat feet to get safely home.
Agreed, I certainly wouldn’t hang around here, goodness only knows what will happen next. Just watching the news this evening was enough to make one want to live on the moon! French elections, calling for a our Scottish referendum, American politics, and that was just the political news, xx
I have seen two spirits in my life. One was a school friend and that experience still creeps me out. I try not to think of it. The second one is easy. When we moved into our newly acquired 100 year old house, I woke the first night to the sound of a child calling me. My son was in the house, but it wasn’t his voice. In the hallway a saw a young boy, maybe 6 or 7, dressed in the style of the 50s he waived and said come play with me. Then he ran down the hall and disappeared. I have never seen him again.
He was obviously happy that you had moved into the house, but what amazes me with all of these stories, yours, mine and everyone else’s is why do we only ever see the ghost once, it seems very few people ever see things again and again. I think I should google this to find out why, but I am too scared to get too deeply into this, I am the world biggest scaredy cat! Hope you have a lovely end to the week xx
Oh my days, that’s not nice. I do not want to even think about the possibilities. Love your pictures of rural scenes.
Thanks so much, the pictures were the easy part! writing about this was not quite so, I wasn’t even sure if I should share these two stories, the UFO has always completely freaked me out and I don’t talk about it that often! xx
Interesting stories. We have live in 100 years old house and there was a ghost who moved our doll through the locked door and some other things happened too. Other people also saw those kind of things before us in that house. Do you have a UFO society or something like that in your country ? You can report your experience to them if you like. I believe they are interested. Here we can report via website.
Thanks so much Taia, I don’t know if there are any societies here in France, I shall certainly look into it. Interesting that the previous occupants also had things moving around in your house, do you still live there and do things still happen? Did it scare you or were you quite ok with the goings on? xx
We don’t live there anymore and I don’t know how things are there now. We didn’t scare them, but I didn’t want to go to attic room at night, because we heard noice from there. Our statue also turtle and things like that happened. Previous occupants said, that they were ‘friendly ghosts’ meaning they were harmless.
I have heard lots of people talk of harmless ghosts, but still they do scare me, I can’t help it and yet when I saw the girl I wasn’t scared at all! xx
I wouldn’t have even had the energy to drive, trust me. I don’t know how you managed to speed up, but you did it. Truthfully I would have gone frozen with fear. And Izzi watching it through the window, kids are some other nations who loves to explore, maybe because Izzi was with you, you had the energy to speed up and got home. My daughter loves these things, she picks up books from waterstone about ghosts and invisible whatever, ooh god, she can read about them. Well I do have a certain belief that “Ghosts” exist, especially they remain at a property where they lived previously until they passed – I have heard things in an old house that belonged to my friend – cooking in the kitchen, washing dishes, we listened to the water going, I was absolutely scared. Eventually she sold the house and she bought another house that was build only a few years before. Well it must have been a great experience for you!
I had the energy to drive because I couldn’t stay, I was too too scared to do anything but get out of there, really fast! My godfather lived in a very old house and they had a cooking ghost. Every Sunday there was the smell of bacon from the kitchen whilst they were still in bed! I don’t like to read ghost stories, they scare me far too much! xx
Fascinating! I think a great many people have “supernatural” experiences although an equal number would probably deny it! I’ve had two and despite my analytical mind chewing it over and over one of these experiences I can find no “logical” explanation for. I’m fascinated by the idea that there’s more “Twixt heaven and earth” but then that’s the genre I write in! Thank you for sharing your experiences.
I think they probably do. But since I wrote this and then read all the comments it has made me a great deal more aware and a little bit more spooked at times!! I too am fascinated by the idea of what else is out there but also I am the world’s biggest scaredy cat so I don’t want to delve too deeply into the unknown or the answers the internet suggests! xx
Unusual experience! I am inclined to believe that there are aliens. I also tend to believe that there are various dimensions in this world of which we are not aware. These dimensions, I think, sometimes interlink, and our consciousness sometimes inadvertently pierces through one of the open portals that leads to another dimension, enabling us to have a glimpse of that dimension.
Fascinating theory and one I could quite believe in. I think there probably are some form of other beings, but I am truly not quite sure what. Xx
I totally believe everything you say happened. A few months ago maybe I wouldn’t have, being much of a skeptic.
But in April I had the strangest of paranormal events happen to me.
It was my mother’s birthday. She has been deceased since 2003. She had worked many years
in a psychiatric hospital as a nurse. We were very close.
I lit a memorial candle for her that day. Later in the day there was a voicemail left for me on my
Google voice account. I played it back, and a woman’s voice said, “Happy Birthday Mom, I’m in the nuthouse”.
I was almost paralyzed with shock. Could someone be playing a trick? The caller I.D. left a number, which I
called. It was to a psychiatric hospital ward. I spoke to the charge nurse and she said the patients had access to
the hall phone. She said she was unable to find out who had made the call.
Everyone I’ve spoken to thinks this was more than coincidence. Synchronicity? It has haunted me since then. I am now researching this field and getting more and more information. We don’t have all the answers. There are many unknowns.
What an incredible story. I think there is a huge amount that goes on that we have no idea about. Like you, I didn’t believe in aliens or the paranormal at all. I still don’t know if I do, but I do know that what I saw was very very real, I wasn’t dreaming or making things up. I hope you find some answers and thanks for telling me your story xx