Ghost Chat with NinjaPuppy

[NinjaPuppy]

[NinjaPuppy]

As a child I never thought about ghosts being something unusual, scary or non-existent. Heck, I didn't even know what a ghost was by definition. The thought of a "dead person floating around the house" never even registered on my radar as something to fear. I was raised in a religion with visions of angels and saints and the holy spirit, so ghosts seem to be as acceptable as my religious teachings.

Not to mention that grandma died but she obviously never got the memo about leaving the house. Since she didn't eat much, nobody seemed to mind her hanging around.

[drastikmeazures]

Wow, that's wild Ninja, I don't think I'm very sensitive to this kind of stuff as I hadn't ever seen or felt anything growing up. But I have had a couple odd things happen over the past few years working in an almost hundred year old building.

So I work at the Kales Building in Detroit, the building was designed by Albert Kahn and constructed in 1914, it was originally named the Kresge Building and it was given its current name in 1930. It was renovated in 2003-2004 into 117 residential apartments, I've been working here about 6 years.

Sometimes I will clean an apartment after the tenant has moved out, our bathrooms have ceramic tile on the floor so I've found the easiest way to clean them is to use one of those sponge mops, hot water, and sprinkle comet bleach. I'll scrub the whole floor and then just let the foamy bleach water dry on the tiles overnight. When I come back the next day I just scrub the chalky residue up and it's good as new.

So one day I had done just that, and I always lock the apartment up when I leave for the day. So I'm coming back in the next morning, had to unlock the front door same as always. And when I get to the bathroom, there are a women's or a smaller mans (I've always thought women's from the second I saw them) barefoot, foot prints, from the chalky bleach. They led from the bathroom to the bedroom, and they where very close together like the person was sort of slowly shuffling along. Also the door to the bedroom had been closed all night, but the prints went through to the carpet in the bedroom.

There are only two other employees with a master key to the building and they both swear they didn't go in there at all. They both also seemed equally perplexed and creeped out by the whole thing.

I've got a couple more I'll share later.

[NinjaPuppy]

I've seen ghost hunter groups use flour or talc on a floor to get some confirmation of some sort of physical presence when footsteps are heard in an area. For the hard core skeptics out there, it also can confirm the presence of animals being possibly responsible for the sounds as they also leave tracks.

What I find really interesting is the fact that you found "barefoot" footprints. I've heard of plenty of different styles of shoe imprints but this is the first barefoot incident that I have heard of. I've always found it odd that ghosts seem to be described wearing clothing. I don't know why I find it odd, but I do. I tend to be very skeptical when the sighting is of a ghost women or girl wearing that ever so obviously fashionable, white flowing gown/dress.

Logically I can only say that if I wind up coming back as a ghost, I'm gonna be wearing something much more comfortable than some prissy frock. I'll be the ghost wearing an oversized t-shirt and a stretched out pair of elastic waist sweatpants and you better believe that shoes or boots will NOT be part of the ensemble.

Now if you want to discuss the theory that you "come back" in the clothing that you died wearing at the time... a white gown would be fitting for all women prior to about 1920 as the white camisole was standard issue. Women wore it like a slip and also as nightwear. However on the latter side of the 1900s, on this over used theory, I can say that wearing a white dress/gown might cause an untimely death.

[drastikmeazures]

[Craig Browning]

First things first. . . those that are seriously interested (including our more skeptical friends) in this topic, should check into a book entitled "The Case for Ghosts" by J Allan Danelek, it is one of the more thought provoking bits I've seen in years in that it offers a more pragmatic perspective in which the believer is sustained on one level, while the more analytical argument is put forward. You can find it at Amazon --

When it comes to paranormal experiences well, I have an abundance of them for two key reasons; family ties to things spiritual and the fact that I deliberately seek out such stuff as an investigator and in some cases, challenger. The most surreal experience however centers on a house just outside the city limits in Springfield, Ohio that my adopted family and I moved into in the mid-90s. The place had been empty for over a decade and needed some extensive cleaning before we could all move in so I was there for a good week getting things ready.

About three nights into my stay I was woken up by the sound of piano music and singing. I got up and looked around, even went outside and nothing could be heard (bear in mind, my closest neighbors were more than a 1/4 mile away in all directions . . . we're on 14 acres). I went back to bed and again, the music and singing. I looked around and managed to track the sounds to one specific room in the house . . . this is important but I'll not tip the reason just yet.

Long story short, there were several other manifestations that happened during my time alone in the big 180+ year old house. I didn't mention any of it to Marcy & the kids and yet, within a day or two of their moving in, the confirmations started to flow. . . the first (memory serving) was my step-daughter complaining about the piano music and singing that kept waking her up. Then there was the moving fireplace utensils by the big fireplace (when no fire was burning, no breeze possible). It was all kind of neat but other factors were afoot that we knew absolutely nothing of until Marcy's niece & nephew came to stay with us.

We went a bit north of Springfield to visit the famed Piatt Castles (see: or ) -- two French Chateau replicas that were built in the mid-19th century. It was during this tour that we got into a conversation with the guide about the haunted happenings of the mansions; she being curious as to why Marcy and I would react in certain ways and convey certain very specific stories about "our home". It didn't take long before this learned young guide told us exactly where our house was located, a bit about its history and the fact that it was listed as one of the most haunted residential locations in the state.

Needless to say this peaked my interest and so I began looking into the history of the property;

* About 50 yards north of the house was once a cemetery that was moved when the new highway was installed.
* The site was a lay-over (sub-station) to the Underground Rail Road and at least one major lynching had taken place there, when slave hunters tracked down a particular individual.
* During the big cholera epidemic of the 1830s it was a pediatric clinic treating children with the disease as well as being the home of the state's first female physician.
* A "nanny"/Maid of the house in the mid-19th century was rumored to be skilled in Voodoo; given her known bio there is reason to believe said rumors
* In the 1880s into the 1920's the home was known as a social gathering spot in which much singing and celebration took place.
* There was one "dark" male personality that resided on the property, a noted wife & child beater and less than honorable businessman.

Obviously the first thing that will jump out is the singing and celebration in that it ties directly to the piano music but there is one other key-point here; the room I and others were all lead to when it came to where the music was coming from is, according to witnesses, the same room where the piano had been kept for decades in that it was one of the larger rooms of the house that had french doors opening out to what was once a garden & sitting area.

Needless to say, moving cemeteries is a classic when it comes to the paranormal

The Lynching is something we were not aware of until after a particular event; we were keeping our dog & pet wolf in the barnyard area behind the old barn and they simply threw a fit every night from day one. They did not like it down there.

One night my eldest step-son went down to see what was wrong, when we heard him shouting. . . when I finally got down the hill too him I could see that he was quite shaken. He had seen the bloody body of a very large black man hanging from one of the older trees. From that point forward the dogs stayed in the house at night with few exceptions; we knew what was disturbing them and it disturbed us as well.

During an extended visit by our foster daughter & her husband Marcy happened onto a classic "Pearl Bailey" type black maid in the office (formerly, the living room & study) working with what a learned occultist would recognize as being a "poppet" a.k.a. Voodoo Doll. This entity was very direct, telling Marcy that the father of the kids was bad news and it was her mission (the ghost) to protect the children (our two grandsons + the 3rd one still in the oven).

Lisa's visit was a time in which several "dark" forces seemed to manifest; she was tormented almost nightly by faces & voices in their sleeping area. Marcy was nearly knocked down the large staircase by an ominous and angry male energy we'd never before encountered.

Lisa and her family left for the sake of their own general sanity and as it is understood, her spouse of the time proved to be a problem and that's putting it kindly.

There's much more to this account, I first published it on line a bit over a decade ago (I can't find the link, but it is a site dedicated to personal ghostly encounters). No one that ever stayed in the house for more than 3 nights in a row, didn't hear the piano and singing . . . none of them were ever told about the phenomena. Similarly, others observed the fireplace movements of heavy wrought iron utensils and the rocking chair we'd sat near by. Too, many would talk about hearing children outside the house playing, which is believed to be tied to the days of the cholera clinic.

Like I said, this is one of many ghostly encounters I've known in my life; possibly the most intriguing in fact.

[NinjaPuppy]

Just so y'all know, I'll be going on a ghost hunt tomorrow (Friday) with a famous psychic/medium. I'll be traveling for almost two days (round trip) and I don't expect to be near the internet until I return on Sunday.

While I'm off chasing 'spirits' (both kinds ) in the dark, y'all will have to deal with chasing spammers on this forum. Meanwhile, I know y'all will keep it clean and keep it civil...... or there will be hell to pay when I get back.

Please....feel free to PM me during my mini-vacay should anything upset your delicate sensibilities. It may take me a while to catch up or spot anything that may require Moderator attention.

I hope to have some personal insight into some of the behind the scenes activity as well as what I will consider a personal evaluation of how things work with a convention style psychic reading(s). I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

[NinjaPuppy]

And don't worry, I have plenty of fresh batteries and I'm armed with an 8 gig camera card, LED flashlight, mini DV, two video cameras, my mel meter and notepad with working pen. I'm also towing along plenty of drinks, snacks and a ham sammich in a big cooler in the truck. I sure hope I get something more interesting that some orbs floating around the claimed 'haunted room' that I will be sleeping in.

[SydneyPSIder]

Nice work, NP, wish I could do one of those one day... I wonder whether there's any devices that can be dreamt up that work a bit like the 3D energy field viewer on Ghostbusters!

Craig's story is very interesting. Would be nice to put a piano back in the music room for old time's sake to play during the day as well... Ghosts seem to have to come out at night as solar energy during the day possibly disrupts them or makes things harder for them to manifest.

Re drastikmeazures point on ghosts and clothing, it takes quite a bit of energy for a ghost to manifest. It's as though they have to 'invent' their clothing for modesty's sake. My 1860 ghost used to manifest only from the waist up and wearing a shirt of the day. I've also seen a spectre that appeared first as a skeleton, then seemed to have to 'add' flesh and become someone. I think different ghosts may have different energy levels, from invisible through to manifesting or actual physical poltergeist type activity.

There are certain coastal towns in Australia which seem to have a really bad vibe -- and they were often where Aboriginal massacres took place. A friend of mine lived for several years in one town and was having recurring dreams of a massacre where the women and children were being herded out to sea and shot. She didn't know any of this history beforehand, and researched it later. There's another town that has a bad vibe and has really low land values -- and there is no good reason for the low land values re location, weather or anything else.

[NinjaPuppy]

[NinjaPuppy]

I'm back from my psychic weekend and ghost hunting adventure and I must say that I had one hell of a great time. Even eight hours on the road in intermittent pouring rain didn't dampen my excitement.

[NinjaPuppy]

[ProfWag]

Dang Ninja, wish I could have tagged along! I'm jealous as I know I would have had a blast! Wish you could have shown significant evidence for the spirit world, but perhaps next time...

[NinjaPuppy]

[NinjaPuppy]

So as I was saying, this whole event was centered around a "haunted" location and a "famous" psychic and medium. PM me if you want the details as I have this thing about outting details about my personal life in a public forum.

The haunted location was a Bed and Breakfast that is absolutely beautiful. The psychic/medium was delightful, insightful and worth every damned penny and then some. So what did he do to earn my kudos and a few pesos of my hard earned money? He (yes it was a guy) worked his friggin' arse off for starters. Let's see how I can explain my definition of 'work' as it relates to this type of thing.

1. Travel time and expenses
2. Shaking hands, signing autographs, smiling and being charming and witty with countless numbers of assorted strangers (which shouldn't be hard when your psychic because you should already have some insight into each person if you desire but some things are just TMI people and you're better off not knowing.
3. Signing book after book until your hand cramps and your ass goes numb in a folding chair
4. Going blind from never ending camera flashes in your face even if you've asked that no cameras or recording devices be bought into the venue
5. Smiling through technical difficulties of AV equipment and assorted gitches that can't be predicted or controlled.
6. Entertaining the crap out of an entire array of people for hours without missing a beat.
7. The main show....in this case, doing psychic readings and talking to dead relatives (we will talk more about this in detail a later chapter)

Now I think we should agree that anyone with an amount of, shall we say.... 'stardom' considers these things to be part and parcel of 'the job', so it's not like
it's any different for people with this classification. Public figures all have their individual way of doing things for various reasons so to me, it's the same as a job.

The attitude with hard core skeptics is that psychics, mediums or anything considered entertainment of a paranormal realm is bogus and a rip off and that those who happen to enjoy the subject are fools to part with their money because of an unproven belief system. Guess what? I feel the same way about sports. I can't understand why in hell anyone would pay good money for tickets to watch a bunch of guys chase a ball around while drinking overpriced beer and cheap hotdogs. Let alone to sit on a hard chair in a hot/cold stadium with bathroom lines longer than the Oregon Trail.

For balanced research into this sports phenomenon I went to some football game they call the Superbowl. I don't care how fancy you make it sound or how great the seats are, it's still a bunch of guys chasing a ball in a hot/cold stadium. Halftime was good but that's not why people go. Speaking of half time, compare this to a music concert. We've all paid good money to hear a band or singer do their job. I wonder how much those kids paid to see Justin Beiber puke on stage in Phoenix. I hear he was GREAT. Good grief. Not my cup of tea but who am I to say that Mr. Beiber did not earn his pay that evening.

So now you have my opinion when it comes to what constitutes a job. Any job. It's a combination of things and not just the subject of the main event that determines the price of admission.

The readings came off as spot on with information that might be considered impossible to guess, cold read or otherwise pull out of his ass. I was keeping score (the best that you can when the information is moving quickly between parties) and for the amount of detail that was given, there was not so much as a total miss. What seemed to be near misses were clarified with more detail about the exact same subject without changing gears at all. What I can't say for sure was about the possible relationship of the people chosen. Could they be plants? Sure. Were they? Maybe. But they were either actors with expertise with crying or just real people with questions that needed answers. Did he give answers? Definitely! In addition to answers he gave everyone in that room a little piece of joy or peace or maybe lifted a mental burden. Is that why they came there that night? I think so. Even if they didn't get a psychic reading they did find an answer or two or three. Did he do his job??? Hell yeah and he did it well.