The Spectral Hitchhiker

The more you want something, the sooner it becomes a reality as the saying goes. Think of the genie in the bottle who grants you only three wishes. If you're not careful, however, what arrives most of the time isn't what you had in mind. Such can be the case with the spirit world.

In this story, a group of young adults drive around late into the night looking for a thrill and get the fright of their lives.

Aerial view of West Seattle and Alki beach.

A short bridge in West Seattle spans over a narrow, but deep, ravine popular for suicides near the Admiral Theater and Alki Beach. Rumor has it that passers-by would see the figure of one of the many pitiful souls who took their own lives by jumping off the span landing onto the pavement below. They say that it stares at people at the beach near the scene of his death. Along side him is his dog who followed his master into the afterlife.

Like many teenagers, Mike, a relative of his and a couple of friends, knowing of this tale, were in search of a cheap thrill one night. Theybdecided to drive the road below the bridge to catch a glimpse. At 3 AM, they did not find themselves alone, however, because they were joined by others (living) who knew the story and parked along the side of the road. 

An investigation in the ravine. The supports of the bridge can be see in the background.

When Mike and the rest of his crew did not see the famed ghost after waiting a long while, they began to taunt the spirit daring it to appear. At first, they drove away from the site disappointed. But after driving for a few minutes, the girls in the back began to scream as the space between them began to depress as if someone were sitting down - They unintentionally invited a spirit into the car!

"They began to taunt the spirit... The girls... began to scream as the space between them began to depress..."

Whether it was the spirit of the man with the dog or not, they didn't have enough time to investigate. Mike immediately drove to the shoulder. Once he parked car, nothing could stop the quartet from bolting out. After they calmed down and gathered enough courage to return to the car, they found that the rear seat, the "bitch", had returned to normal. Regardless, they waited a few minutes to check if the spirit left before getting back into the car and returned home.

You would think that this was a lesson learned. Years later Mike would want to relive that night, but this time with different and lingering consequences.

(c) 2012 - Joseph S. Maza

The Basement Drain

Sometime in the 1980’s Wilmer and his family were looking for a larger house to move into since his blended family there were already 12 children. They were able to find a house with enough space for them all, an old farm house built in the early 20th century in Pasco, WA.

This is a story based on a friend’s experiences in his childhood home in eastern Washington state. House basements always seem to hold the darkest secrets and in this story, the center of the activity was near the drain.  

When his family moved in, he and his brothers took the rooms in the half-finished basement. Half of the space was built into a few bedrooms. The other half was open and bare with a dirt floor. His older brothers took the finished rooms leaving Wilmer with the unfinished area with a drain. It was there in case the basement flooded. The house had settled since it was built, however, and the drain no longer was below the level of the basement floor. In fact, it stuck out as if wanting someone to stub their toe on it. Wilmer mentioned that there were a few times when water seeped in and there was flooding. It wasn’t the fact that the drain no longer served its intended purpose, but what he felt whenever he got close to it.

Wilmer knew nothing of the house’s history, save for when it was built. Nor did he know about the previous owners, nor those who had built or occupied it. He mentioned that he sensed that something definitely happened near the drain.

One night while Wilmer was reading with the covers over his head, the bed started to shake violently. Thinking that his brothers were playing a prank, he yelled out telling them to stop. The shaking continued without a response to his protests. Irritated, he took the covers off to see no one. That night he ran upstairs to sleep in the living room. A few other times in his “bedroom”, he would hear his name being called.

To this day, when Wilmer would walk up the stairs, he would always run because it felt as if someone were chasing after him.

She Wanted To Go Home

I drove home that early morning going over the events that had taken place within the past hour (“The Uninvited Passenger”). I mentally reviewed Tina's story – her ability, her history with her mother, the strong scent of perfume, the hairs standing on end at the back of my neck. I no longer felt scared, but I had a sense of validation that these phenomena existed. The further I got from Tina's, the more curious I became of her abilities. I wanted to know more.

Over next few days, Tina and I talked about her ability to see spirits and about the spirit that followed her that night in great detail. Tina had tried to ignore the spirit one day, she said, and in retaliation, the spirit unleashed the most foul stench that lingered for days. It was the smell of death, of decomposition, of putrefaction. It was so bad that it didn't escape the noses of the people whom she lived with. They searched the house for any small animals that might have snuck into the house and had died in the walls, hidden from view to no avail. Within a week, however, the spirit left as mysteriously as it came.

"Since the day of her funeral, the woman's spirit remained in the church looking for some way to return home..."  

Tina confided in her boyfriend when they could not find the source of the smell. She was reluctant at first because he'd shy away or get scared when it came to subjects dealing with the paranormal. Much to her surprise, he was very accepting, calm and understanding when she confided in him. He even tried to help her "appease" the spirit until they could convince it to leave, or until it left on its own. She was lucky to have such a supportive partner as more spirits began to notice her and follow her around in the ensuing days. One Sunday, Tina and her boyfriend found out how "attractive" she had become to the spirit world.

Tina and her boyfriend attended mass at St. Mark's, a local cathedral located in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood whose circular stained glass window can be seen from I-5 below, when the spirit of a confused older woman approached Tina asking for help. Tina noticed the spirit when large curtains near the pew they sat at began to move on their own without cause. The woman’s spirit told Tina that she "woke up" to find her friends and family crying around her. She did not recognize her surroundings, nor did she know how she arrived at the church. Since the day of her funeral, the woman's spirit remained searching for some way to return home. Tina, having gotten used to communicating with spirits, offered her help. The spirit left with Tina and her boyfriend after mass ended. 

Later that week, much to her surprise, Tina was able to find the woman's obituary on the Internet. The next day, true to her word, Tina and her boyfriend drove the woman's spirit home. “It was easy as that,” Tina mentioned as if she were talking about helping a confused, but living, stranger she had met on the street. 

Many years have passed since I last talked with Tina, but I can only imagine how her life had changed after our drive during that fateful morning. I know definitely that my life had been affected because it was more proof that there is another world. 

Although I don't "see" spirits the same way Tina did, a misplaced scent is enough for me to know that a spirit is nearby. Whenever I catch an odd smell, the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up to this day. I’m more collected about it now, and I calmly talk to whomever it might be as if there were sitting right next to me.

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The Halloween Trespassers

When I mentioned to a friend about this blog, he shared with me a few experiences that he had while he shared a house in the Central district of Seattle. The following is one of his experiences during his five-year stay.

Before living at this house, Evan was a complete skeptic when it came to the paranormal. He believed that everyone who had a ghost story was trying to get attention. Since living at the house, he has become a believer. Last I heard he had moved out several years ago.

When I asked him to tell me one of his stories, he didn’t know where to begin because he had so many experiences. Because it was October at the time I asked, he decided to start with his first encounter. You could tell from the manner in which related the story that it was genuine.

One night in October of 2009 Evan was in his bedroom when he heard someone wrapping on his window. He found it strange since his room was on the second floor! How could any one reach it? He rationalized it away as one his roommates trying to get his attention. “I though someone must have forgotten their keys and wanted to get in,” he said. He went down stairs to see who it was.

He opened the front door to see four Native Americans dancing around the tree in the front yard. Angered by the trespassers, he yelled out to them, “What the hell are you doing?! Do you know what times it is?!” But, they continued to dance, ignoring him. Thinking that they were kids toying around with him, he screamed, “I’m going to call the police if you don’t leave!”

Evan went back inside the house with the front door open and sat on the stairs for a minute. One of them turned to him and stuck out his tongue with a scowl. Evan climbed up the stairs and into his room to grab his phone to follow through with his threat. Evan made the call and smoked a cigarette. He went back down to meet with the police. Evan noticed that the four were gone – They had disappeared. The police arrived and searched the property, but to no avail. Since it was close to Halloween, the police thought that it might have been a prank played by some kids in the neighborhood.

One of the officers noted that she could smell the scent of something having been burnt. She asked if there were something else that he had smoked that might have brought on hallucinations. Evan replied that the only thing he had was a cigarette and that he did not smoke weed nor did he burn anything before calling. Evan recalled that he, too, could smell it. "Incense!", he thought. But it was the strangest thing because that night a storm was rolling in and the wind blew. Any scents would have been swept away.

After telling me this story, Evan assured me that the next time we met, he’d have another story to tell from that same house. He would eventually tell me about a few more.

Cher, Haunted

I’ve watched almost if not all of the episodes of Celebrity Ghost Stories. Some of the stories are from famous people that are well know and others that are not as well known. Some of the stories I’ve watched were entire bores while many are ones I like watching over and over again. In the end, it goes to show that the paranormal touches people from all walks of life.

Nonetheless, one celebrity that I haven’t seen on the show is singer, song-write and actress Cher (born: Cherilyn Sarkisian).

Cher is said to be a “hard core believer”. When asked if she was afraid of ghosts on Reddit, she replied she believes that the ghost of her late ex-husband and former mayor of Palm Springs, CA, Sonny Bono, plays pranks on her.

“…Absolutely not!!! I love ghosts. I actually think that Sonny makes a light go on. I have a beautiful chandelier that he makes the light go on when it is impossible, there is no power on. I love ghosts, I prefer ghosts to some people…”

Since this story is out, I doubt that Celebrity Ghost Stories will have a feature of her encounters. But, then again, if she is a believer, I would assume that she has had previous encounters that would solidify her beliefs. These might be the one that the show could feature. Or, there could be another show, such as The Haunting of… that could take on Cher?

Regardless, I’d love to hear her stories.

Sources:
The Examiner
TMZ
Reddit

The Uninvited Passenger

Since it's October with Halloween at the end of this month, I decided to detail an experience I had with the paranormal around this time of year several years ago. The odd fact of the encounter was that it was not associated with any particular place. It was, in fact, connected with a particular person.

 

In the late Autumn of 2004, just before Halloween, I was in between jobs. I was not overly worried about my employment situation because I knew that it was just a matter of time. I had enough experience in my field that I was receiving e-mail messages from recruiters and companies that I could extend my "vacation" as I thought of it. Instead of looking over my messages or searching through job listings, I spent much of it with two friends: Tina and Yvette.

 

"... It was the drive that morning when something followed us..." 

 

I met Tina through a mutual friend. She was living with her boyfriend in a house that our mutual friend's father owned. After talking with her whenever I visited, we found out that we had a shared interest in the paranormal and Tarot. Tina also told me that she had a former co-worker who was also interested in the same things - This is how I met Yvette. Yvette and Tina worked at a small, local casino. Tina quit over a dispute about wages and hours. A short time after, Yvette was fired under circumstances that, I would later assume, had to do with her haughty attitude.

 

Since the three of us were unemployed, we would spend hours together in my apartment. It's as if we formed our own coven, and my apartment became our gathering place. For the two of them, it was an ideal spot. It was a getaway because they lived with other people and did have much personal space. Tina lived with her boyfriend and our friend's family (as I mentioned before); Yvette, with her boyfriend and another roommate.

My apartment complex was near a small strip mall with various shops, a Barnes and Noble and grocery store. On occasion, we would walk across the street and hang out at the mall reading books and drink coffee. We were definitely night owls, so we'd meet in the early evening and enjoy each other's company into the wee hours of the morning. The building I lived in was not the best insulated, however. I could hear my neighbors all around me that if I could hear them, they could hear us. So I did my best to keep the noise down because the girls could get rowdy. I recently passed by a few times over years and saw the property fenced off, then the buildings demolished, and finally, more modern buildings owned by the University of Washington.

 

I shuttled the girls, since neither of them owned cars. Tina lived in Mountlake Terrace, which was under a 30-minute drive north of Seattle. Yvette lived even further north, however, near Mill Creek, adding another 15 minutes to my circuit. I gladly drove because I enjoyed their company and felt lonely most of the time. I usually picked up Tina first, but dropped her off last when going home. I preferred Tina's company over Yvette's, who was overly dramatic, so much she loaned my phone once and broke it over an heated conversation with her boyfriend. Even if she was fun to be around most of the time, it would be a relief to drop her off first. 

Most of our nights were routine, but what was the most memorable was something that happened after one of our meetings. I have a vague recollection of what we did or what we talked about that night. Likely, it was about Yvette's struggles with her boyfriend, which was always what she (ab)used her Tarot cards for. Nevertheless, I imagine we did our usual: We read each others' Tarot cards; we had coffee; and we read a few books at the Barnes and Noble across the street. But it was the drive that morning when something followed us.

 

"... To tell you the truth it's this girl sitting next to me, and she won't shut the fuck up!... The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end..."

 

We got into my car with Yvette in the passenger seat next to me, and Tina, behind her. As we recounted what we read at Barnes and Noble or discussed another one of Yvette's problems with her boyfriend, the car began to reek of perfume. It was a very feminine, sweet scent, very apt for a woman which came from the rear of the car where Tina was sitting. It was so strong that it seemed as if an entire bottle were spilt! What immediately came to mind was that Tina was rummaging in her purse and managed to spread it all over the back seats.

 

"Great!", I thought cringing. "Now, I have stay up to clean her mess up!"

 

For as long as I've known her, Tina could be clumsy. Once or twice she spilled a drink in my car. It was one thing to spill a can of Coke, but the idea that she spilt perfume bothered me to no end. I could only imagine how difficult it would be to remove.

 

I glared at Tina through the rear-view mirror and asked her with a bit of irritation in my voice, "What the hell?! What did you spill back there?"

 

Yvette, too, commented on the smell that now started to become stronger. Tina replied to us both reassuringly that she did not spill anything, "It's not me!"

 

I asked her again, "Are you sure you didn't spill anything?!"

 

"How can I spill perfume when I don't even have my purse?”, she insisted. “When you picked me up, I just put on some sweats - I didn't need it!"

 

I don't remember what Tina was wearing or what she brought, so we went at this for a while: I would ask about the perfume, and Tina continued to deny it. Yvette and I insisted that she was to blame and that she was lying or kidding with the two of us. It was hard to take Tina seriously sometimes because we both knew her to be very playful and laid back. This time the tone of Tina's voice grew more and more insistant each time.

 

With resignation, Tina said, "I don't know if you two are going to think that I'm crazy, but it's not me! To tell you the truth it's this girl sitting next to me, and she won't shut the fuck up!" 

 

I took one look at her through the rear view mirror again, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as I felt a presence directly behind me in the seat that was supposed to be empty. I darted my eyes away from looking through the mirror again on the off chance that I would catch a glimpse of our new "companion". I do not know how I managed to keep my calm throughout the drive that night while we sped up I-5.

The questions soon turned into "How did she get in the car?", "Why is she here?", "What does she want?!” Tina didn't know. Instead, she revealed to us her secret ability, an ability that she had when she was younger.

 

She could see spirits when she was a little girl, but her mother, a very practical and stern woman who didn't believe in such "nonsense", would punish Tina severely for telling such "lies". Because of that, Tina managed to suppress this ability as she grew older. She had all but forgotten about it until it returned when the three of us tried scrying one night.

 

Scrying is the general term for what is commonly known as “crystal-ball gazing”, except you can use other objects with a reflective surface such as mirrors or the surface of water. In a dimly light room, you intently stare into the mirror, crystal ball or water, and take note of the images that appear. Tina was able to see much more than Yvette and I when we tried, but we didn't think too much of it - we thought it was because of the cannibis she had a few minutes ago. 

 

Since that night, Tina said the ability grew stronger, so she hid this ability from us. She thought that we would judge her or think that she was out of her goddamn mind. It was because of this, spirits would notice and sought her out as she would later see. That morning, the spirit of a young woman decided to invite herself into my car because she sensed Tina. 

As usual, I drove to Yvette’s house with the idea that I had an additional passenger - I did not know what else to do except continue with the drive. Yvette was extremely relieved to get out of the car, not because of the spirit, but because of the smell! Yes! The smell permeated the car and only grew stronger. She opened the car door gagging and coughing. Tina apologized to me and went into more detail about how she dealt with her gift while we headed to her house.

 

Years ago a medium, a psychic friend, told me that I, too, could be followed as Tina was. I dreaded the idea that the spirit, who was still with us, would now follow me home instead. Much to my relief, Tina assured me that the spirit was only interested in her. When we arrived at her house, we talked about the next day and what she was going to do, how she was going to deal with her new "friend". No sooner did Tina, leave the car did the scent vanish.

 

During the drive home, my eyes kept darting to the rear-view mirror; I kept inhaling deeply through my nose making sure I could not smell any more perfume. I wanted to make sure no one, no spirit was hitching another ride with me. While I kept sniffing the air, I could only smell the dank scent of tobacco from the cigarettes that I smoked all the way home to keep my sanity. I did have trouble falling asleep that morning. After what had happened, I was driving on a huge rush of adrenaline.

Once I arrived home, I said a few prayers for protection and waited until the sun came up before going to bed. 

 

Technorati Tags: ghost,cars,smell,clairolience

(c) 2012 - Joseph S. Maza

The Dream Catcher

“…He heard the footsteps make their nightly path up the stairs. This time the footsteps stopped just short of his door. Instead of following their usual route, he heard angry stomping and screaming as they descended into the basement…”

In the late 1990s, Wilmer moved into a duplex in Eastern Washington state with his friend and her daughter. “Just around the time when the movie ‘The Blair Witch Project’ hit the theaters,” he told me.

 

The first months after moving in were peaceful. But after two, he started to hear heavy footsteps, made by boots that only a man would wear, come from the basement. They would continue up to the first level and go further up to the upper floor where the bedrooms were. The footsteps would come up to his door, when it would open, and continue to the adjacent room where his roommate’s daughter slept.

 

At first he thought that his roommate was checking up on her daughter since her schedule had her working late into the night. One night, however, Wilmer would find out that it was not his roommate - she had the night off and was fast asleep. Regardless, he heard the footsteps make their nightly trek through the house like clockwork.

I was surprised that Wilmer was not bothered by this phenomenon. He was and is a believer in the spirit world and thought whoever it was caused little to no harm.

 

For Christmas that year Wilmer received a dream catcher. Dream catchers originated with the Ojibwa nation of southern Canada and mid-western US. They are also known as the Chippewa. Later, dream catchers spread among the other Native American peoples. Dream catchers are talismans, used to grant a good night’s rest full of wonderful dreams. It is in the shape of a hoop made of willow wrapped in leather and decorated with sacred items such as feathers and beads. Inside the hoop is a web where good dreams get caught and are passed down to the person sleeping below. Nightmares, on the other hand, pass through the holes. According to tradition, the owner places the dream catcher above the head of the bed.

 

Wilmer had kept his dream catcher at the head of his bed. But one day, he decided to hang it behind his bedroom door. That night, he once again heard the footsteps make their nightly path up the stairs. Yet, this time the footsteps stopped just short of his door. Instead of following their usual route, he heard angry stomping and screaming as they descended back into the basement whence they came.

 

The basement was finished but furnished. Since Wilmer grew up sleeping in basement that was haunted, he avoided going to that level of the house unless it was absolutely necessary. It always felt eerie and the nearest light switch was in the middle of the space. He always felt uncomfortable, and the air was always “thick” as he put it. His roommate didn’t seem to have a problem with the space. She wasn’t the least bit bothered when she did laundry or needed to retrieve something to bring upstairs. Her opinion would change one night, however.

 

Wilmer came home to find her young daughter, just a toddler, crying at the top of the stairs going into the basement. The little girl, barely able to speak, kept crying “Mommy! Mommy!” Her mother had fallen down the steps. As he helped her to her feet, she told him that she had somehow became light-headed and lost her balance. But something had prevented her from going all the way to the bottom. When they turned on the lights, they were horrified to find bruises on her arm in the shape of an adult hand! Did the spirit of the footsteps drag her down? Or, did they stop her from having a bad fall?

 

Wilmer and his roommate soon began to “understand” the motives of the spirit. When it came to Wilmer’s roommate or her little girl, the spirit felt protective. On the other hand, when it came to Wilmer, it had a different disposition: the spirit was antagonistic feeling and spiteful. Yet, it never attacked him.

 

Determined to find out the identity of the spirit and its attachment to the house or the property, his roommate and a friend conducted a séance. Since the spirit disliked Wilmer, he stayed in a different part of the house playing with the little girl. What they were able to learn was that it was the spirit of a man who had died in the house or on the property. He was protecting both the roommate and her child, demonstrated when Wilmer’s roommate fell. But he extremely disliked the presence of men. As soon Wilmer came into the room asking something of his roommate while they were still communicating with the spirit, they immediately lost the “connection”. From that point the spirit refused to communicate until Wilmer left the room.

 

One year later, after coming home one cold evening, Wilmer’s roommate found three of her parakeets dead in their cage. The room they were in was freezing. The fourth one was missing.

 

“How could that be?” she thought. “The heater’s been on all this time! Where’s the other one?”

 

They searched throughout the house when a loud crash brought them down to the basement. When they didn’t find the source of the noise, they returned to the room where the birds were to find that the fourth one was alive and back inside the cage.

 

Wilmer stayed in that house for another year before moving to Seattle. But he would never forget that house or the other "roommate". 

Just Say “No” to Ouija – Epilogue

In the following years I have only used the Ouija, or a talking board, a few times. But even before I even decided to use one again, at least a decade would pass. It was when I hung out with Tina, my friend who could communicate with the dead.

The most recent time I’ve used the Ouija was when a friend brought it to a bar.

I brought it home. Nothing strange happened.

I was at work. Ron was watching TV during the day. He reported feeling someone or something breathing into his ear. He was so frightened that he bolted out the front door and surprised our neighbor who was sunbathing in the next yard. Ron told our neighbor that he wanted to get from fresh air and after talking with the neighbor held calmed down. But it was only after a few hours did he get enough courage to go back inside the house.

Some days after Ron told me what had happened, I took the board and left at the steps of a local church. Now, you might say that burning the board was what I should have done. But after having read Ouija: The Most Dangerous Game, many of those who tried burning the board felt like they were burning too. Throwing the board away might have been an option, but there were reports where the board mysteriously would come back. In the book they recommending tearing the board into seven pieces, blessing it with holy water and then burying it six feet underground.

Mentions of those passed

A short story from yet another friend of mine who recounted the passing of his uncle.

We Remember Him

While Andrew sat on the stoop of his relative’s house, he and his cousins caught up on on their day-to-day lives. Andrew was there to celebrate the life of his uncle who had just passed away. As they chatted, one of them mentioned the uncle’s name and how the uncle had helped them during their formative years. They were very grateful.

At this time, all of Andrew’s cousins and him were well into their chat, when a sudden gust of of wind blew over all of them. The weather was calm that night. They were unnerved as they felt as if they were in the presence of their uncle. Andrew said, “It was as if he came by to say ‘good bye’ one last time.”

5 MOST Mysterious PARANORMAL Events EVER Captured on Camera

Top 10 Movies You Shouldn't Watch Alone

From H.E.L.L.: Three Girls Play with the Board

I’ve documented the experiences that my cousins and I had during that fateful summer with the Ouija board in a few posts beginning with Say "No" to Ouija, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Epilogue.

In this episode from SyFy’s series “Paranormal Witness” three young girls convince their parents to buy them a new game, an Ouija board.

Paranormal Witness, Season 5, Episode 3: From H.E.L.L.

One of the girls is bullied at school and turns to the board to cope. When she uses it alone, the planchette moves on its own. She asks for help when dealing with a bully to find out the next day that the other girl can no longer attend her school. Delighted, she uses the board alone again. The planchette (the heart-shaped pointer) moves on its own and lets her know that she has a friend. Talking to the board after school becomes routine. Soon odd goings-on begin to happen… One sister felt someone grabbing her; one sister hears indistinct chanting; and her father starts to change. Her family falls apart. When her parents throw the board away, she makes her own.

Looking back, my cousins and I stopped in the nick of time. We got spooked straight and were warned by family and strangers. To this day, I will not use it casually if at all. If you decide to give it a try, know that it is not a toy. It’s a powerful tool that can bring serious consequences in careless hands.

“Paranormal Witness”, Season 5

 

Watch season 5 of “Paranormal Witness” here.

In the season’s first episode, follow the footsteps of Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird, as she researches for a book she never publishes…

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