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2003 Encounters:
Haunted House and Failed Exorcism - La Plata, Maryland

Mt. Iron Apparition Caught on Videotape - Mt. Iron, Minnesota

Dissolving Figure at Fort Garry Hotel - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

The Dark Specter on Charles Island - Milford, Connecticut

Little Girl, Long, Red Hair - London, England

Poltergeists and Shadows - Iceland

Shaking Beds and Psychic Visions - Chino, California

Circling Chinese Bride - Shandong, China

A Name Called and a Bloody Nose - Princess Anne, Maryland

Unwanted Ghostly Roommates - Naples, Florida

Haunted House in Rochester - Rochester, New York

Ghostly Meow - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The Breath of the Soul - Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines

Annoying Entity - Indiana

Spirits Magnet - Hopkins, Minnesota and Joshua, Texas

Ghostly Escape From Alcatraz - San Francisco, California

Basement Gravestone and Haunted Noises - Collinsville, Connecticut

"Help Me, Mommy!" - McCalla, Alabama

Spooked in Forest Park Cemetery - Brunswick, New York

A Protecting Shadow - San Antonio, Texas

Cat Haunting? - Battle Creek, Michigan

Warm Breeze From a Fallen Friend - Fillmore, California

A Ghostly Fight at St. Francis Hotel - San Francisco, California

Chicken Skin in the Mango Tree - Haleiwa, Hawaii

Tormented by Tall Shadow Man - Manchester, New Hampshire

Mom's Visit and the Smell of Gardenias - Minneapolis, Minnesota

Granville State Forest Orb - Granville, Massachusetts

Evil Voice Over Neil Sedaka - Indianapolis, Indiana

Cochem Castle Ghost - Cochem, Germany

Evil Stocky Specter - Iowa

Rage at a Malignant Presence - Noblesville, Indiana

The Haunted Farnsworth Inn - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Drawn to Psychic Energy - Herndon, Virginia

Ghost of Mars? - Hooe, England

A Sign from Pappaw - Texas

Ouija Boards and a Shaking Bed - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Misplaced Objects and Strange Events - New Hope, Pennsylvania

The Haunting That Follows - Norman, Oklahoma

Woman's Mocking Laugh - York, Pennsylvania

Evil Apartment - Phoenix, Arizona

Troubled House Spirits - Mount Sterling, Kentucky

Gabrielino Indian Family of Spirits - Pico Rivera, California

Capital Memorial Parks Cemetery Mausoleum Visits - Pflugerville, Texas

Spillway Light - Cave Run Lake, East Kentucky

Rafter Man at Summer Camp - Dahlonega, Georgia

Winnipeg's Haunted Fort Garry - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Swallow Hill Road Haunted House - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Slapped in the Face - New York, New York

Shadow Figure at a German Manor House - Outside of Hamburg, Germany

Visit From the Angel of Death - Tel-Aviv, Israel

Ouija Board Warning - Ontario, Canada

Psychic Energy Cloud - Los Angeles, California

Heavy Breathing and a Flying Penny - San Roman and Edinburg, Texas

Scratching Around the Room - Walnut Creek, California

Ghostly House Guests - Arizona

Family's Guardian Angels - Mesa, Arizona

Eerie Premonition - Paralowie, South Australia

Angry Spirit with Black Eyes - Columbus, Kansas

Ghost of the School Caretaker - Fermanagh, Ireland

Forest Park Cemetery Shadow - Troy, New York

One Last Visit From Daddy - Monticello, Arkansas

Vicious Hag - Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

Phantom Tennis Court - North Cambridge, Massachusetts

Mural Orb - Palm Beach County, Florida

Civil War Soldier Ghosts - Marietta, Georgia

Supernatural Magnet Dog - Indianapolis, Indiana

Late-Night Footsteps - Bethel Island, California

Haunted Bathroom - Orchard Park, New York

China Hutch Orb - Chisholm, Minnesota

Creepy Childhood Home - Indianapolis, Indiana

Puppy Orb - Minersville, Pennsylvania

Family Spirits at a Birthday Party - Princeton, Illinois

Spectral Attack at Forest Park Cemetery - Troy, New York

Hong Kong Master, Protecting Spirit - Sai Kung, Hong Kong

Greyhound Orbs - Canastota, New York

"We'll Never Get Out of Here" - New Jersey

Louden Road Ouija Board - Fredericksburg, Texas

Midwestern Georgia Ghost Hunt - Georgia

Dreaming Man - Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

Night Shadow Man - Ontario, Canada

Brooklyn Doorman - Brooklyn, New York

Nightly Horrors at 1:15 AM - Brisbane, Australia

Prankster Boy - Hopkinsville, Kentucky

The Hand in the Dresser - Livonia, Michigan

Childhood Orbs and Mist - Hibbing and Chisholm, Minnesota

Tagging Along and Playing Pranks - Central Illinois

Spirit Send Off - Lowell, Massachusetts

Attacking Old Hag - Bradbury, California

Back Porch Woman - Greensboro, North Carolina

Returning Grandfather - Brampton, Ontario, Canada

Ireland Ghost Bus Tour - Dublin, Ireland

Halloween Work-House - Penicuik, Scotland

Held Down Sleeping - Souderton, Pennsylvania

Visiting Christmas Mist - Fairborn, Ohio



Added September 22, 2003

A Sign from Pappaw

Rate this encounter:
Votes:49 Rating: Rating = 7.33 Ratings Breakdown
Heatherly, Texas, August 2000, info@ghostvillage.com

I am not currently experiencing any hauntings, but I do have a tale of a spiritual encounter. I will begin by prefacing the story with the events leading up to the event.

My grandfather passed away in hospice care in July 2000. I spent his last night on Earth with him, holding his hand and reading the Bible to him -- which was his favorite literature.

He was an artist and a carpenter and spent his last remaining years up in his home carving beautiful artwork out of wood. He loved his simple life and carved because he wanted to, never once selling his museum-quality work. He would only give it away to anyone who truly appreciated it.

At 88, he was about 80% deaf and completely blind in one eye, and nearly blind in the other. After a stroke six months earlier, his health declined quickly and he simply gave up on life.

As he lay in the bed, I sang to him although he probably could not hear me or even knew that I was there, as he was in a coma-like state with his eyes open. He had stopped eating and was severely underweight, and it was hard for me to see him like that -- knowing how much he loved life and living. Many times he cried in his last few years, saying that he loved life and didn't want to die.

During his last living moments with me I looked down into his distant, foggy eyes, knowing he couldn't hear or see me and told him that the baby goose that he held at my house the last time he visited had grown up and now had four babies of her own. His eyes filled up with tears and turned red, and his mouth began to quiver as if he was trying to say something. He hadn't spoken in nearly two weeks. His love for animals and nature transcended through his limitations that night.

I knew he would probably die that night, so I sat next to him with my hand on his chest, feeling his every breath and heartbeat. He didn't pass away until the next day -- after I left. He was alone, which is what I didn't want. I didn't want his spirit to leave his body and to look down at an empty room. That bothered me for a long time.

In an attempt to comfort ourselves, we turned to his Bible. He was much more dedicated to the Word than we ever were, but knowing that it was so close to his heart, we thought it would ease our minds. My mother said to read something that he had underlined or highlighted -- which is something his Bible was full of.

I read the first thing I opened to that was underlined. You do not have to understand the Bible to feel the power behind these words from Thessalonians which read:
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore, comfort one another with these words."
We all felt a chill run through us.

At his wake, I waited until after everyone left, and I cut a small lock of his beautiful, thick white hair and placed it in an envelope.

As myself and my friend walked to the vehicle to leave, I opened the door and a mourning dove flew into me as if trying to enter the truck with me. It injured it's wing and I brought it home. I rescue and rehabilitate small animals all the time, so I mended it's wing and let it go about a week later. I took that as a sign from my grandfather, as we had that bond of loving all creatures great and small.

A couple of weeks later, in August, my best friend was at my house and I was showing her a videotape of my Pappaw (that is what I called him), because she had never met him. I wanted to share with her the kind of person he was.

For nearly two hours we watched him talk about God, Leonardo DaVinci, his childhood, his 24 brothers and sisters, his beloved mother, and we saw him play his guitar and sing old, sad songs about homeless children and hobos -- songs that made grown men cry, including himself.

After the tape was finished, I got up to go to the kitchen for something to drink, and my friend went to the restroom. At that moment, we both heard a loud musical tone that sounded like a doorbell. Since I do not have a doorbell, we both said, "What the heck was that?"

We both reentered the living room where we had been watching the tape, and searched everywhere for where the sound came from. My heart sank as I realized what it was.

About two years earlier I had one of those cheap doorbells that you plug into the wall, using a battery operated button at your front door to operate the sound. I became so irritated by all the neighborhood kids ringing it that I just took the button off and put it in my piano stool. The battery had gone bad anyway. I never unplugged the part that rings. I had forgotten it was there because it was hidden behind a chair.

That was eerie enough, but what really got me thinking was when I explained to my friend that I had the ringer set to only ring one long tone. To change it to the traditional two-toned "ding-dong," you had to take the back off of the unit and set the switches according to the manual.

Needless to say, it did ring in the "ding-dong" fashion.

Oddly enough, it was my friend who said, "Maybe it was your grandfather saying 'hi'." It hadn't even occurred to me.

Shortly after that, I was explaining what happened to my mother on the phone, and it happened again! She could hear it and we both fell silent.

He was letting me know that his fears of leaving his family behind were pointless, and that he was with the rest of his family in Heaven. I believe he was thanking me for being there for him when no one else could.

It has been three years since his death, and the doorbell has not rang since.




2014 Haunted New England Wall Calendar by Jeff Belanger photography by Frank Grace
Check out the 2014 Haunted New England wall calendar by Jeff Belanger and photography by Frank Grace!


Paranormal Conferences and Lectures
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Jeff Belanger and “The Bridgewater Triangle” at Dedham Community Theatre - April 6, 2014 9:00PM

The Spirits of the Mark Twain House - Hartford, Connecticut - April 12, 2014

Paracon Australia - East Maitland, New South Wales, Australia - May 10-12, 2014