The Strangest Things I Have Seen

When you spend most of your life dealing with the world of the paranormal, you are bound to see some fascinating things, not to mention some very frightening ones. I have seen my share of things from both categories. Some frightened me enough to make me wonder why I chose to stay in this field. Others were quite fascinating and left me shaking my head and asking the age-old question, “Did I really see what I thought I saw.” Yes, even though you are used to seeing unusual things, you still find yourself questioning what you saw. Every so often, something truly amazing will happen and it reaffirms my decision to stay in this field. However, there is much more to this business than seeing amazing things.

I was at a conference one time and a famous demonologist asked everyone to describe something they would like to see again. When it was my turn, I answered that it would be fine with me if I never saw anything again because in this business, seeing amazing phenomena usually means that someone is in trouble. That I hate. Let me explain why I say that. Many of the people at that conference said they would like to see poltergeist phenomena. Granted, it is wild when it happens but while seeing things flying around may amaze the investigator, it devastates the victim because it is his/her possessions that are being destroyed. Now, having said that let me describe for you some of the amazing things I have seen.

Since I already mentioned poltergeist activity, we can start there. During my own haunting, it was not uncommon to see an object fly across the room. In poltergeist explosions, you may have a room full of stuff flying around. In the house I was living in, it was usually one or two items that took off. The interesting thing is that you almost never see the item actually take off. However, you will usually see and sometimes feel the object when it lands, especially when it lands on you. I have gotten whacked a time or two by a flying object. However, what stands out was an incident where I watched objects swept off dressers in three consecutive rooms. At that time, the spirit was angered about something. God knows it didn’t take much to anger that one. Well, while standing next to the dresser in question, everything on top of it was swept off. As soon as that happened, objects went flying off the dresser in the next room. That was followed by objects flying off the dresser in the third room. Since they were railroad style rooms, you could see it happen in all three. Fortunately, we didn’t have a fourth bedroom. It was as if the spirit was throwing a tantrum. It threw a lot in that house. It was amazing to see but it also kept us up a few nights worrying about it.

The thing that made it stand out was that you just knew it was about to happen. There was a sense of anticipation involved and after the second room we waited to see it in the third room. It was one of the few times I ever witnessed the taking off of a flying object. Sometimes what goes flying around are balls of light. I have witness a few “light shows” in my day. In one house I was investigating, there were small balls of light blinking in the basement. At first, it was almost like there were miniature fireflies in the basement but soon the balls of light grew larger and brighter. Then they started shooting across the basement. Although not frightening, it was amazing. I radioed to my partner upstairs and he came down and witnessed it as well. Most of them were white but there were one or two that were blue. The light show lasted for about ten minutes.

Then there was a light show I was treated to in a cemetery. I was sitting under a tree checking my equipment when I saw small balls of light float around to my right. They would come closer and then shoot back as if they were afraid of me. Actually, I think they were “checking me out,” so to speak. I reached towards one and it slowly pulled back. After a few seconds, several of them came up to me, hovered for a few seconds and then floated lazily away. I instantly began taking pictures and I captured several photographs of orbs that night. It was really an interesting and somewhat pleasurable experience.

Sometimes seeing things isn’t so good. During my haunting, there were several apparitions in the house. One of them was a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties, somewhat attractive with blonde hair. As often happens with spirit manifestations, she was translucent. What made her stand out was the fact that she appeared to be engulfed in flames. Those too were translucent. She would usually stay in one spot but she appeared many times in different rooms. Unfortunately, she was seen many times and by numerous people. Her appearance almost always heralded misfortune.

There was another apparition seen in that house on a regular basis. This one appeared to be a woman in her fifties. She too had blonde hair but it was in the process of turning gray. When she appeared, it was always from the knees up. When she moved, it was more like floating that walking. This spirit seemed to be a protective one. She usually appeared when I was sick or injured and she would hover near the bed looking down at me. I never felt threatened when she appeared. It was always my belief that she was benevolent and kind. It was almost like the first spirit appeared to herald some misfortune and the second one appeared after the misfortune.

Spirits are not always translucent, however. I awoke one morning at 3:16. Standing next to my bed was a man. He was as solid as I am. He looked to be in his seventies with snow-white hair. He was wearing a blue, three-piece suit complete with a gold chain that I assume was for a pocket watch. The oddest thing about him was that his eyes were vacant. He looked very much alive except for those eyes. For some reason, I just knew he was going to fall on me. I was right too. Fall he did and right on top of me. The impact was painful and it left me with bruised ribs.

There are two other spirit manifestations that I have seen. One was what appeared to be a dark cloud. It never took on any distinct form but it changed its shape from time to time. More than anything, it looked like a black cloud. That spirit always manifested when there was considerable activity taking place in the house. It was unquestionably the cause of that activity. Another form was that of a shadow. Now this was different from the amorphous spirit I just mentioned. This was what appeared to be a shadow of a person, complete with features. However, there was never anyone around when he showed up. It is my belief that this was just a different manifestation of the same spirit. However, I could be wrong about that.

To me, the most amazing thing to witness is levitation. In all my years in this field, I have only seen two instances of levitation. Both involved a small table. The first time, the table began moving around in a circle. After a few minutes, it slowly rose off the floor. It reached about six inches off the floor and then it slowly returned to the ground. There were six witnesses present. No one could believe what they had just seen. A few months later, that same table rose again. I was alone that time. I was sitting smoking a cigarette and the ashtray was on that table. Well, I went to flick an ash when I noticed that the table was in the air next to me. I wasn’t frightened but I was in awe. I stayed like that until the cigarette burned all the way down. It was the pain from the burn that snapped me back to reality. It was truly amazing to see. Anything that defies the laws of physics is amazing. We know that gravity holds objects down so when something rises, it is incredible to witness.

These are some of the things I have witnessed over the years. There are many more but what I often wonder about are the things I have seen that I did not know were paranormal. Let me give you an example. I once had a conversation with a family friend who had been seriously ill. When I met her, she looked pretty good although she was a little pale. We met on the street and talked briefly. She gave me a message to give to my mother and then she walked away. When I arrived home a few hours later, I wanted to tell my mother about our friend. However, my mother was crying when I walked into the house. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me that she had just gotten word that our friend, the one I had earlier talked to, was dead. The hair-raising part was that she had died the night before. In effect, I had just had a conversation with a ghost and did not know it. Needless to say, my mother was shocked when she heard the story.

So, that leaves me to wonder just how often we may come in contact with ghosts and even angels disguised as humans. Go ahead and laugh if you want, but I would not doubt that such encounters take place. For that matter, they may take place more often than we imagine. How would we know? You can never be sure what you will see.

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