Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 22:31:19 EDT
From: <LMS5@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Family Ghost Tales

  This happened in our family almost 10 years ago (hard to believe it has been
that long).

  My Uncle Red died about 10 years ago which, sad to say, was a relief for my
Aunt. My Uncle Red was never the greatest of husbands or fathers and had a
tendency to tip a bottle more than once too often. My Aunt being a devote
Catholic refused to divorce him. One year to the day he died she shed her
mourning clothes and starting attending the local Senior Citizen's dances.
It didn't take her long to meet a most wonderful man (they are still happily
married to this day :-). Now the story starts to get interesting..

  When they married there was a problem with what to do with my Aunt's house.
She didn't want to sell it, but renting can be risky (My Aunt and Uncle lived
in this house all their lives). Fortunately, they found a wonderful tenant in
a young single mother with a baby. The house is a small row house at the bottom
of a hill. When you walk into the house there is a staircase going straight up
the righthand side. In front of you would be a short hallway with two archways
off of it on the left. The first archway is to the living room and the second
to the dining room. The kitchen is off of the dining room and the only exit
from there is out the back door.


  About a year after my Aunt remarried, my Mother and my Aunt were in a
church (I can't remember the reason for the visit) with others members of our
family. On their way out my Aunt stopped and lit a candle, my Mother didn't
want to be noisy but was concerned about why my Aunt was lighting a candle.
My Aunt smiled and told her it was Red, which did shock my Mother quite a bit.
Till she heard the rest of the story. My Aunt told her how a few weeks before
she received a phone call from the women who rented her house. The woman said,
"I have never met your late husband, but....". She told my Aunt how it was
late one evening and the baby was already sleeping. She shut off all the
lights, locked the doors and went upstairs. She walked into her daughters room
at the top of the stairs but couldn't help feeling that someone was watching
her. The was enough light from her daughter's room to cast down on the hallway
below where she saw a gentleman standing. She said she looked at him and said
"Can I help you with something?", at which point the man walked into the
dining room. She walked downstairs turning on lights as she went. She went
into the dining room and then the kitchen. There was no one there and all
the doors and windows were locked and shut up tight. The man she described to
my Aunt fit the description of my Uncle Red.

  Nothing much happened for the next two years and the incident was pretty
much forgotten (my aunt remarried around Christmas and all other incidents
took place near Christmas just in case anyone wanted to know). Till my Aunt
received another phone call from her tenant (same one as before). By now
her daughter is about 3 years old. She told my Aunt that she put her bed that
night fairly early in the evening and sat down to watch some TV
(the daughter's bedroom is at the top of the stairs). When she heard her
daughter call, "Mommie, Mommie, come upstairs and meet the nice man". Which
she did. As she reached the top of the stairs she saw a man kneeling by her
daughter's bed, he stood up and she could see it was the same man she saw in th
e downstairs hallway two year earlier. He then turned walked and disappeared
into the corner of the room.. Yes, she saw him disappear. So, there was another
round of lighting candles and blessing the house :-) A few weeks later, my
Aunt's daughter told of a very vivid dream she had. She dreamt that her father,
my Uncle Red, came to visit her. He was worried because he could not find her
mother. She said she told him that my Aunt was happy now, etc.. etc.. etc..
Since then there has not be another story about my Uncle Red's visiting.
Personally I think he felt bad and just wanted to set things right with my Aunt

Anyway, that is the end of that tale. That is our only family ghost story.
We have other family stories about seeing things (not ghost, events). There
is also another family story where a loved one long gone visits in a dream that
is so alive and real that you feel can of weird when you wake up. I have never
seen a ghost myself, but I told my Mother (we are close and I love her dearly)
that when she dies she had better not dare come back and visit me! I don't
think I could handle it very well. She smiled (I don't think she believes in
ghost) and said she wouldn't, but I know her... she will... at least once :-)

Anyone else have some family ghost stories?

Laurie