By Stephen Wagner, About.com Guide
The Christmas holidays are haunted by ghosts that are wonderful, strange, and dark
Perhaps the most famous ghost story in the world isn't told at Halloween time, nor is it about that spooky holiday. No, the most famous ghost story is, of course, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, which features no fewer than four ghosts.
So Christmas, among its many other attributes, is closely associated with ghosts and other aspects of the paranormal, including angels and miracles. So each year we gather true tales from readers that take place on or around Christmas. In this year's collection are Christmas messages from ghosts, peculiar incidents, even a dark Christmas spectre!
HARRY'S CHRISTMAS PRESENT
by Ricky L.
This may or may not be considered paranormal. I would like to think it is the work of a friend from the other side.
In 2004 in Leeds, U.K., one of my closest friends, Harry, was a passenger in a car that was being driven by a drunk driver. The driver lost control of the car and crashed through an iron fence. Harry took the brunt of the impact and sustained life-threatening injuries. Despite all the great work put in by the staff at the hospital, he sadly lost his life three days later.
Last December, I attended the Christmas party of my friend Ian at his home, he too was close friends with Harry. I stupidly drank too much and thought that I was in a fit state to drive home.
As I went to get my car keys, I noticed that they were not in my pocket. I was adamant that I never took them out, and despite looking high and low for them, they never materialized. I spent the night at Ian's, and when I woke up in the morning I decided to check my coat pockets again.
Ian had put all the coats in his spare bedroom and in it he has a large notice board on which he kept pictures of all the guys we knew as we grew up over the years. On that notice board, on the pin holding up a picture of Harry with his cheeky grin, were my keys.
Ian swore on his life that he had never touched them and other people from the party were sure that they never even touched a set of keys. I like to think it was Harry still looking out for me.
BROTHER-IN-LAW'S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
by Nicole
My brother-in-law was murdered November, 2011 in Buffalo, New York. He was 20 years old with his first child on the way. Needless to say, the whole family was devastated. I was depressed for two weeks and couldn't eat. I think I took it hard because even though I only knew him for three years (as long as my son's father and I have been together), I knew him longer than I knew my son's father. The thought of him and my son's connection brings tears to my eyes. My son won't remember his favorite uncle.
Two days after he died, as I was going to sleep I felt a heavy presence in my room. Then suddenly a loud buzzing noise started. I looked up and about a foot above my head there was a white, football-shaped orb that looked like there was churning smoke in it. The noise was so extremely deafening that I had to cover my ears. I was scared to look directly at it. This continued for about five minutes until it whizzed past my face and out my window toward the street.
On Christmas this year (2011), I prayed that God or my brother-in-law would give me a sign to let me know that he was watching over us and protecting my son and his father. On Christmas night as I was putting my son to bed, I prayed one last time.
An hour later as I sat in bed, I heard bells. We have a wreath that's made of golden bells hanging on a wall out of reach. I heard three big, distinct shakes of the wreath followed by a light rattle. It sounded like it was right at my door, even though the wreath is about 30-40 feet from my room.
I sat there motionless for about two minutes because I felt like someone was going to come through the door at any second. Everyone had already gone to bed, so I knew that no one did it. I believe it was my brother-in-law letting me know he is watching over my son and his father.
MYSTERIOUS CHRISTMAS PUDDLE
By Sandra Van Dyke
On December 24, 1983, I went to visit a friend who was working at the United States Golf Association Museum in Far Hills, New Jersey. It being Christmas Eve, I left church with a buddy and went straight to the museum that night, enjoying the crisp night air and the bright stars above.
We walked in the entryway, greeted my guard friend, Maggie, and chatted as she re-locked the front door. We were standing in the foyer, laughing and commenting on how fun it will be to visit the different rooms and keep her company.
Suddenly, we all heard a hissing noise that sounded like an old steam radiator, coming from what we thought was a wall. When we looked over, we saw an old chair that seemed to be "peeing" on the floor! We were all speechless at that point, as we watched a puddle form directly under the chair, with a forceful stream of water hitting the ground so hard that it was spattering around.
After it stopped (total time was about a minute), we went over to look at the puddle. Maggie took some paper towels and started to clean it up; it was a grayish looking water. We lifted up the chair to see what was underneath, and all that was there was a small damp dot directly mid-center. We then checked the cushion, and it was completely dry!
We had to leave poor Maggie behind as we bid our last "Merry Christmas" wishes. We were not really that frightened, as we were all Christians, but it was still an eerie reminder that there is a parallel dimension we can't see right now.
THE DARK CHRISTMAS SPECTRE
By David M.
I was 15 in 2000 and was spending Christmas in Syracuse, New York with my family at my grandmother's home. I slept downstairs in the living room and had the most odd occurrence of my entire life that night.
It began with a dream. I dreamt that I was at the local Carousel Mall walking through the hallways. The stores were all black, so I was just following the long walk-ways. I saw my cousin Paul; he was ahead of me and kept moving further away as I was walking toward him and trying to catch up with him. (It is important to note that now he is on the outs with my family after trying to swindle my grandmother out of money while she was sick.)
Eventually, we came to a dead end and he ran to his left into a store, which was all black. I was scared in the dream, but since he was family, I ran into the darkness right after him.
As soon as I entered the darkness, there I was in the living room. I looked around and saw my body on the couch. I could see the entire room from where I was sleeping. I couldn't speak or move, but my mind was active and alert.
I noticed a tall, all-black figure in the corner of the room, 6 or 7 feet tall. My hairs are standing up as I write this and remember. If anyone has felt that weird presence, then you understand the feeling. It's odd that this shadow being was there and in my mind I started shouting at it because I had no idea what was going on and why I couldn't move.
"Who are you? What are you? Get out of here!" I shouted in my mind. The figure moved over my body and grabbed hold of my arm, which was draped over my body. I don't know if it physically touched me or pulled my spirit of out my body, but it pulled me standing straight up, face-to-face with it. I had the feeling of floating in my head, and this was all so surreal.
"How did you stand up?" it said to me. I don't know if I heard those words or it put them into my mind but it was giving me a response. It then slowly let me fall back into my body. I distinctly remember the feeling of falling backward and having that rush in the pit of my stomach that I was falling.
Once I was back in my body, I regained control and shook myself up, still awake the whole time, but now I could move. I immediately called my brother's name because I believed it had to be a person, but nobody was in the room with me. I ran upstairs and my entire family was sleeping. It shook me up and I have no idea what that was all about.
HAUNTED CHRISTMAS BOOTS
By Lindzi
This event happened the day after Christmas, 2003. My mom had asked for riding boots for Christmas so that she could ride her new horse. My dad and I put our money together and bought some really nice expensive ones.
That day when I was downstairs watching TV around 2:00 p.m., I heard my mom call down, "It's all right! I'm fine, everything is fine."
Puzzled, I got up, dashed up the steps and peered into my mom's room where she was just picking herself up off the floor, her new boots lying haphazardly just below her. When I asked what happened, she smiled a bit sheepishly and stated that she accidentally tripped over her boots and crashed to the floor in a heap.
Now the television room I was in is directly below her room, so I should have quite easily heard her fall, but I didn't hear a thing! I wasn't asleep and the TV wasn't too loud, yet I didn't hear her at all and I didn't even feel any vibrations when she fell. The only thing I heard was her yelling that she was fine. I shrugged it off though. It wasn't a big deal....
At least not until a couple days later when I found myself home alone. I once again was watching TV in the family room when I heard a tremendous crash directly above me. Shaken, I leaped up and ran up the steps and into my parents' room, which is where the sound had come from, bracing myself for whatever I was about to find.
There on the floor were my mom's boots, laying in a haphazard position. Everything else seemed fine and undisturbed. I put the boots back in her closet, where they normally go, and when I turned to leave, I noticed my mom's digital clock which read 2:01 p.m.
At that instant, the hairs rose on the back of my neck and I felt chills throughout my body. Was this some kind of delayed reaction from the other day? Why did it sound like someone just fell to the floor now when there was nobody here, yet I didn't hear it the other day? This incident still confuses the hell out of me. I don't know quite what to make of it.
A MOST WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS GIFT
by Bob M.
Jerry, an older friend of mine, passed away in November, 2010. He and his wife had moved here to Richmond, Virginia, from New York about 15 years ago to be closer to their only child. His wife passed away only a couple of years after moving here. He was very unhappy in Richmond and talked often about moving back to New York. I think he lacked the financial resources and could not bring himself to leave his daughter, who attended college here.
He was a very interesting man. He worked as a doorman at a large hotel in the Jamaica area of New York City and had met many interesting and famous people. He also knew many of the mafia guys, such as John Gotti and such. Over time we developed a close friendship. He and I both loved to watch the horses race. Neither of us were gamblers, as most of the people who hang out at the OTB were. We just enjoyed watching them run and talking about all types of things.
I felt bad about his passing. He passed in his sleep. His brother came down from New York to claim the body and took it back there for burial. Consequently there was no funeral or memorial service here. I felt bad that I could not pay my respects or say goodbye.
On Christmas Eve morning, 2010, the dogs woke me up, but I was able to get them to lie back down and go to sleep. I was wide awake, though, and could not fall back asleep. Finally, I dozed off.
While asleep, I had a very strange dream. It was very different than a normal dream. My first thought was how strange to be dreaming in color. I do not ever recall having a dream in which the first thing in the dream is realizing that I am dreaming.
I was in a room that had four booths in it. The seats were dark green. Like an old diner would have. The walls had dark wood paneling. My friend Jerry was sitting in the back booth facing me with his back to the wall. I walked over and sat down, and he told me that he "just came to say goodbye." We did not say anything else, but just sat there and looked at each other.
I sat there and studied his face. He was so pale. Jerry was of Puerto Rican-Italian heritage, so he had kind of a swarthy complexion anyway, and his pallor was very noticeable. As I sat there studying his face, I could also see his face was drawn like a corpse, and I was sitting there very casually thinking, "Yeah, this guy is dead."
I have never had anything like this happen before. I believe this was my Christmas gift from Jerry. The dream was so real. The surroundings were only detailed enough to provide a basic background for our meeting. I must admit that I do not feel as sad over his passing as I did. I hope his spirit is at peace.
Source: http://paranormal.about.com/od/trueghos ... tmas_3.htm
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