True Ghost Stories: Jim Harold's Campfire 3

by Jim Harold

  We were walking down the final hallway and I was just on a high from seeing all this stuff and hearing things, lots of bumps and rattles. Walking down the hallway, I saw somebody walk across my path. Just as plain as day, somebody with two legs and a torso swinging their arms and walking right in front of me. I got down the hallway to where the corridor was and there was nobody there.

  It gets better because I went down, turned the corner and started walking. I saw somebody walk out of one of the rooms, around the door, and into the next room beside it. I kept my eyes locked there, because something about it didn't set right. I got down to the room where they came out of; there was nobody there. I went to the next room. Still, no one there. That's what made the night, those two points.

  I'm going back. I'm going to have better equipment so maybe I'll capture something!

  -Neil, Ohio

  16. A Little Something Extra

  I bought a house in St. Louis. It was 35-years-old, but not ancient by any means. The original owner I bought it from was elderly, his wife had passed in the home. At the time, I didn't know that, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway. It was a great little house, but one that came with a little something extra.

  The first things that happened there were innocent, almost comical. I would walk in and set my car keys down on the kitchen counter. I'd turn around to do something, I don't know, give my child a glass of water or something. I'd turn back and they'd be gone. Nobody had time to grab them or anything. They would be gone for days or a week, but they'd show up in a coffee cup in the back of the cabinet a week later.

  My children, who were young at the time, also had instances where they'd bring their favorite stuffed animals out to sit on the couch with them while watching their morning children's show. The animal would end up missing. We'd think they'd left it in some other room. We'd look around the house and the animal would mysteriously be found in their made bed. The animal was tucked in tight, lying on the pillow. The thing was, nobody had been back there since the child woke up.

  We would hear things at night. Things would go missing. Nothing scary or harmful in any way, again, almost comical.

  Then, one day, I was out in the backyard barbecuing. My wife at the time was in the house and she was supposed to be on the far end of the house. It was a long house with four bedrooms. She was in my daughter's bedroom, painting. I looked up and saw her face, or what I thought was her face, in the kitchen window. She looked very disturbed, like something was deeply wrong. I came running in but there was nobody in the kitchen. I called for her. She yelled back from my daughter's room on the other end of the house. There was no way, in that less than 10 seconds, that she would've had time to get that far away. Still, I had seen a female face...

  The next day, my friend called and said a mutual friend had passed the day previously. Now, I didn't know it at the time, but I believe I saw the face of our friend in the window with that disturbed look. She had been at a bar having margaritas and she had an aneurism and instantaneously, she was gone.

  Not long after that, I kept seeing a figure in the house. Not a clear picture, but a shadow figure in the house. I saw a blurred image of a person in a red shirt with white hair. I wondered if something like what had happened with my friend was happening again. I saw this several times. A couple of days later, my mom called me and asked me to go to her friend's wake. This woman was a friend of the family. Anyway, we went to this wake and there was a big picture of this beautiful lady, probably in her upper 60s. She had short, white hair and was wearing a bright red silk shirt. I was shocked! I had never seen the picture before. Actually, I hadn't seen this lady in 15 to 17 years, so I didn't know what she had looked like at that point. Yet, the picture perfectly matched the figure I'd seen in my house.

  There was a third experience like this. Our neighbor up the street, a good friend of mine, was telling me about his friend who was in the local hospital with liver failure and who wasn't going to make it. He was telling me about all the good times they had together playing golf and drinking beer, going out to parties. The guy was a clown, a real prankster.

  Later on, I was downstairs typing on my computer, trying to get some work done, and I could tell that someone was behind me. I knew it. I could feel them there. I wasn't uncomfortable about it. I was trying to get work done, and it was like when someone is behind you and they're smacking the wall or making noise, distracting you. I kept turning around and it was gone. I felt it there, I turned around, and it was gone.

  I couldn't get my work done and I was frustrated. So I gave up. I had a feeling that this was my friend's prankster friend. By this point, I was figuring out this house was channeling this type of energy.

  I walked up the stairs, frustrated as I couldn't get my work done. I opened up the basement door and it felt as though I got hit in the face with a bucket of confetti like the Harlem Globetrotters used to do. I saw all the colors and I almost fell down. All I could do was to say, "All right, I'll tell him." I felt that this man wanted me to tell my neighbor that he was okay and that he was in a good place. I went up to my neighbor's house and I didn't tell him I was seeing things, but I said, "I know he's in a better place. Everything's going to be okay." We had a good conversation and then that went away.

  It was a great little house, but it certainly had some strange energy to it.

  -Scott, Ohio

  17. Phantom Footsteps

  I used to go over and mow the lawn for my mother and stepfather during the summer. I typically would leave my overnight shift at work, go over to their house and catch a nap on their couch. Then, I'd get up and I'd mow the grass.

  When I was visiting, I would hear footsteps, heavy, booted footsteps. I would get there at about 8 or 9 a.m., so my stepdad would still be there, but when I'd wake back up to mow the lawn, he'd be gone for work. Sometimes in between, because I was half awake and half asleep, I would just assume those heavy boot steps were him walking around.

  Well, I came to find out they weren't. I found out this particular day in the middle of July. I'd been laid off from my job. I was spending more time at my mom's because I really had nothing to do. I'd clean the house, mow the lawn and they'd pay me $50.

  I think this was the hottest day on record in Ohio history, the grass was actually turning brown. I went over to take care of the mulch and just typical little sprucing up jobs that my stepdad was willing to pay me for. I got really hot and I went into the living room which was the only place that had an air conditioning unit. The house was quite old.

  It was nice and cool so I was there drinking some lemonade. I sat the glass down, and I heard thump, thump, thump, thump. I heard footsteps. My first thought was that my stepdad was home, so I opened the door and looked. Nothing was there.

  Now, I wasn't quite shaking in my boots, but I was kind of shocked when I could hear the creaking and heavy boot falls, but couldn't see anybody. I had a sensation that there was a man with a cowboy hat walking up the steps towards where the guest rooms used to be.

  I told my mom about it and she said, "Oh, that happens every other day." I said, "Really? You could've told me that your house was haunted." She said, "Oh, pffft, it doesn't matter. It doesn't bother us any." That's how she would put it. I got used to it over time, but it was haunted no doubt.

  -Danny, Pennsylvania

  18. Haunted Honeymoon

  My wife and I had just gotten married and we flew out to Kauai for our honeymoon. We stayed at a timeshare. It was a typical condo. The strangeness ensued on the second night we were there. I was sound asleep and then all of a sudden I awoke. I was absolutely frozen and I couldn't move, it felt like I was being held down. Then, I looked up at the door and I saw an old lady standing there. She kind of looked like the woman from that movie Throw Momma from the Train, actually.

  She looked at me and said, "Who are you?" Then she just vanished. I was wondering what the heck was going on. I looked at my wife, but she was sound asleep. I got the sense that this woman had pass
ed away in this unit unexpectedly. I know that sounds crazy, but I mean, this all sounds bizarre. Looking at her, I got the feeling that she didn't know she was dead, that she was basically PO'ed and that was why she was there. For some reason, she didn't like me and seemed upset when I had broken free from whatever was holding me down.

  The second to last night we were there, all of a sudden, a weird feeling came over me, like I knew something didn't want me in that room. We were going to bed and all of a sudden, mosquitoes started attacking me. I pulled the blankets over my head and the mosquitoes just kept coming, underneath the blanket, into my ear, just biting me viciously. They didn't even touch my wife. I kept saying, "Can't you feel the mosquitoes?" She said, "No, nothing. You're crazy. There's no mosquitoes." They just kept attacking me. It was such a bad feeling that I had to get out of the room. I ended up going out and sleeping on the couch. That's not where you want to be on your honeymoon.

  My wife was completely unaffected. I guess this lady didn't want me in the room and she made sure I knew it one way or another.

  -Michael, California

  19. The Haunted Hut

  I am a musician. I lived in Italy for a little while, and when I was there singing, there were some male friends of mine who shared a home down the road that I call "The Haunted Hut". We were in the rural northern mountainous part of Italy, in the Le Marche region. In our town was an ossuary called La Chiese dei Morti, or the Church of the Dead. Apparently it resulted in a lot of area hauntings because the church has these displayed, naturally mummified remains of many people who donated their bodies to the Catholic Church to be used for science during the Renaissance. A lot of the time, they had really terrible illnesses or died in horrific ways, and so these bodies were displayed so the precursors of modern surgeons could learn about human anatomy and disfigurement.

  The Haunted Hut had eight guys living in it, and each of them saw a strange blue light in their home at least once. On one occasion, six of the guys saw it simultaneously. This light would zoom around and cause havoc. They would lock the doors and then the doors would slam back open. They would see the light dart away when they looked. It would come under their doors and hover over their beds in the night. It was essentially harmless, but annoying.

  There was another other apartment close by that had poltergeists and an old man apparition in it. He was very peaceful, but he would just show up in the hallway. He was wearing clothes from the 1800s, and he would just walk back and forth. This was where one of my maestros was living. He was an older man in his 60s, so I really didn't see any reason for him to joke about something like this. In fact, he was quite serious. He said, "There's an old man sort of cohabitating. I think he's dead, though." We were all so surprised to hear this very serious guy tell us this story.

  This town is incredibly old. Like I said, these bodies are from the Renaissance. It's one of the medieval castle towns that have a wall and moat around it that used to have a feudal lord ruling it. So many places there either had spirit or poltergeist activity. I had never experienced anything like it before at home in the States, but once I went somewhere so old, I did.

  -Christina, Tennessee

  20. Ghostly Smells

  I had my first paranormal experience when I was 22-years-old. My grandmother had passed away in 2000. She was in Mexico; we were here in Chicago, so we had to fly there. I had to come back early due to my work schedule. Everyone else was still in Mexico, and I was trying to take advantage of my parents not being home. I figured I could do my laundry for free!

  My 4-year-old daughter was with me when I was doing laundry, and at that time, my mom had her laundry room in the attic. The room wasn't finished, it was kind of spooky so I was chicken to go upstairs as it was. This time though, it was a little different. You know, when you go to someone's home, they have a unique smell? For some reason, as I went up the stairs, it distinctly smelled like my grandmother's home.

  I was confused. My mom's house never smelled like that and to this day, I have not smelled the scent of my grandmother's house at my mom's house again. I was freaking out because the odor was really strong. As I got past the stairs, it smelled normal. It was just on the stairs. Again, because it was my first experience ever, I pretty much freaked out and just grabbed my daughter and left. I left the laundry and everything at my mom's. I couldn't explain where the smell was coming from. My grandmother had never visited us in Chicago, so it wasn't that. I don't know. It was just weird. At the time, I didn't know what phantom smells were.

  Months passed and I didn't tell anyone about this. My mom believes that sometimes when family members pass away, they go visit family to say their goodbyes. My mom thinks that was her way of saying goodbye to me. I don't know. Even though it's more acceptable to talk about the paranormal these days when I tell people this they don't believe me. They think it was just in my head. Ten years later, the only time I experience that smell is when I go to my grandparents' house. I believe my grandma was saying goodbye in her own way.

  -Laura, Illinois

  21. A Ghost in Jim Harold's House

  This story happened May 2010. I'm convinced there's some kind of a being in the house. I don't know if I'd go as far as to say it's a ghost, but there's something. I've nicknamed him Casper. Weird things happen around here. Little things. On this particular evening, I went to get some wrapping paper to wrap a birthday gift for our youngest daughter. I went into the room, got a couple rolls, and then I went into a hall closet to get some wrapping materials.

  It was evening, so it was dark at that point. As I was walking into our bedroom, before I was able to turn on the light, something came out and grabbed one of the rolls. It was tugging on one of the rolls of gift wrap, like it was trying to take it away from me. I turned the light on and I said, "Who the heck is in this room?" I thought one of the kids was playing a joke on me, trying to grab the wrapping paper. Nobody was in there, so I have no idea what was grabbing the roll, but something tried to take it from my hand.

  With Jim doing his paranormal podcasts from the house, I wonder if something may have taken up residence. I'm not 100% sure about that, but I am sure there was something that tried to take my wrapping paper that night.

  -Dar Harold, Ohio

  PART TWO:

  OUIJA STORIES

  22. It Opened a Portal

  When I was about 16-years-old, me and my friends loved Ouija boards, ghost hunting and all that paranormal stuff. One of my friends' cousins had a Ouija board so we thought we'd go borrow it. I called my friend and told him, "Hey, call your cousin, tell him we're on our way to pick it up."

  We went over to my friend's cousin's house. As I walked to the back of the house where I usually knocked at the door, I noticed that the Ouija board was sitting right there on top of the air conditioning unit. It was perfect. I figured that he'd left it out for us because he must've stepped out.

  We took it back to my place. I lived in an old farmhouse with a big property, and in the back I had a little shack, a hangout. It was our little clubhouse when we were kids. It had a table, chairs, and a couch.

  We took the Ouija board there and had been using it for about a week. Our parents didn't know about it. We were hiding it from them. We were scared that they were going to find it, because all of our parents were really religious. A Ouija board or anything like that was totally forbidden.

  As we were playing with this board, everybody in my house started experiencing nightmares. My mom, my dad, my three brothers; all of them were having nightmares except for me. I was the only one sleeping soundly at night. My cousin, my little partner in this Ouija caper, spent the night over during this time. He had a nightmare too.

  My parents decided to talk about these nightmares with my uncle. I was totally oblivious to this discussion. My uncle said, "There's got to be something going on at the house. Have you had a priest over to bless the house or something?"

  So, my parents brought over the local pastor from their church and got a ble
ssing. Yet, the nightmares continued. At this point, it had been about a month since I got the Ouija board and all these things started happening. Things started moving on their own. My mom would get up in the middle of the night and she said she felt like she was being watched. A couple of times she felt someone touch her shoulder. After that happened, I had to get rid of the Ouija board. They found it and it was a big mess. We said, "Okay, we'll take it over to my other friend's house, no problem."

  We took it to my buddy's house. We were playing in his basement and the Ouija board was just going out of control. We had used the little planchette piece so much that the little cotton swab pieces on the bottom had fallen off. We were missing the little eye piece. We put that thing through hours and hours of use and it was beaten up. The things it would tell us were insane. We asked, "Who's the Antichrist?" It said the Pope. We were young teenagers, so we weren't ready for this.

  We were trying to get rid of the board, but we had one last, nice long session where we asked all these questions. We said, "Show us a true sign that this is real and not just somebody moving it." The planchette started moving in a figure 8 and it was going real fast, to the point where we were pressing down on it, hard, to see if somebody was moving it. We pushed it down so hard that it was literally tearing the board. It did this for five to ten minutes.