HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: markw@antimatr.hou.tx.us (Mark Whetzel)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,rec.humor
Subject: Re: Thoughts
Summary: I thought it was a chalk line!
Date: 11 Oct 92 08:10:34 GMT
Followup-To: alt.folklore.computers,rec.humor
Organization: StarTrek and Lionel trains fan, Missouri City, TX

In article <1992Oct10.212112.14528@geovision.gvc.com>, pt@geovision.gvc.com (Paul Tomblin) writes:
> ara@wam.umd.edu (Ford Prefect) warlords:
> 
> >>>Patrick Jordan                      |          _
> >>>CSIRO Division of Radiophysics      |        // \   I am not a number,
> >>>NSW, Australia                      |       /( 6 )  I am a free man.
> >>>pjordan@rp.csiro.au                 |      () \_/
> >>>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thought #1
 ]>  Is this an old fashioned bicycle, or is it the freely swinging 'Mr. Limpy'
 ]>  with the numeral "6" tattood on his left plum?
Thought #2
 ]> I thought it was either a Hand Grenade or a Perfume sprayer
Thought #3
> Besides, it's perfectly obvious that the barphic in question is a top view of
> a fiddler crab missing his smaller claw.  Some government biologist has
> tattoed the 6 on top to keep track of his fiendish experiment.

I thought it was a chalk line.  My father was a carpenter for quite a few
years, and this little rounded do-dad went everywhere.  Had a metal hook
on a heavy string, that when extracted from the reel was layered with
dry chalk.  After stretching the string out in the intended line, he picked
up the string and "snapped" it to mark a line for the project.
The string then could be rewound back in for re-use.

-- 
M. Whetzel 
Home: markw@antimatr.hou.tx.us        | IBM RT/125 running AIX 2.2.1 
UUCP ..!uhnix1!lobster!antimatr!markw 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: kaminl@aix.rpi.edu (Lawrence Andrew Kaminsky)
Subject: Re: My Very Own Street Light Story
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 22:54:44 GMT

In article <Bvp26E.1AJ@nic.umass.edu> EDIAS@deimos.ucc.umass.edu (EMILIANO A DIAS) writes:
>In <5OCT199210451329@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov> devol@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov writes:
>
>> It happened!  While I was on vacation in Cancun, Mexico, my wife and I were 
>> waiting for a bus to take us downtown late in the evening when the street 
>> light we were standing under winked out.  All the other lights remained on. 
>
>This post reminded me of a peculiar street light in my neighborhood.
>This street light is usually lit, but it has never failed to turn off
>as I've walked by it.  I've never thought of this as spooky, just weird.

I think this happens to just about everyone. If it happens when you drive
under it, it was your headlights that caused it to go out. If it happens as
you walk under it, it was someone else's headlights. Or maybe you have a really
shiny head or something. Or who knows? Maybe you are possessed. All I know is
that is happens to me all the time, and I just mutter "Wot the fuk?" and enjoy
a laugh at something I truely don't understand.

-Matt
From: kamata01@ulkyvx.louisville.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Guardian Angel / Ghost
Date: 8 Oct 92 19:32:12 GMT
Organization: University of Louisville


This is a cute story... It happened to me when I was 5 years old.

I was living in California, the Rosemead area which was kind of a rough area. 
I was walking home from kindergarten, usually Mark, our neighbor's son walked
me home, this day he was sick and I had to walk myself home.  Our house was
only a block or two from the school, not far at all.  

On the coner, where I turn onto my street, there was this boy (only a 
couple of years older than me).  I was going to ignore him, but he would not
let me pass him. He kept blocking my way.  Finally he pulled a knife on me.  I
don't remember what he said, but it was threatening and I *WAS* scared.  This
old man came along and (I don't remember exactly what he said) and told the
boy to leave me alone.  The old man than told me to go on home, that my mom was
getting worried, and that I'd be okay.

WHen I got home, of course my mom was beginning to worry, I told her what
happened.  I told her about the man and how nice he was.  She was *Very* happy. 

A week or so later, we were looking through her pictures (something I love to
do) when I saw the man.  I pointed out that the man there was the one who
helped me. The distinguishing mark was a mole ( can't remember where it was
located) on his head or neck.  

She told me it was her Father, who died when she was 18, she had me when she
was 21.  So I think of him as my Guardian Angel.  By the way, he was a minister
when he was alive ( A very good one from what I've heard).

That's my Guardian Angel story.... cute huh ???  Heart warming ??
I think so

Kymberli
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: scarrobi@shearson.com (Steve Carrobis)
Subject: EXORCIST
Reply-To: scarrobi@shearson.com
Organization: Lehman Brothers, Inc.
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 17:46:16 GMT

In article 1bhfauINNk2l@rodan.UU.NET, evie@rodan.UU.NET (Evie Allen) writes:
> In article <aec1.717957682@crux1.cit.cornell.edu> aec1@crux2.cit.cornell.edu (Allen Chen) writes:
> >
> >After he finished the story, I remember him telling us about the movie,
> >_The Exorcist_ and that it is an actual story that took place nearby.
> >(I'm from Maryland, I believe it took place at Fort Washington or
> >somewhere like that).  I think that was one of the first things that really
> >got me interested in this field...
> 
> Have you ever been on the steps that were used in that movie? 
> (The Exorcist)  They are located right outside of Georgetown.
> A friend of mine took me their one night and we walked up and
> down them...I felt very strange..I quess it was just because of
> the movie...any other time I would think they were the steepest
> steps I'd ever been on.  I didn't know that actually took place
> nearby.  GREAT...I'm already scared enough to go into DC...
> 
> Evie


Thats nothing .. her bed room was a dorm room at my college .. Fordham University ..
Hughs hall . 4th floor ... talk about wierd goings on .. just after the filming they closed th floor .... but due to high influx they just reopened it to students ... 
when i went there i was a commuter.. but the stories i heard about that room ... man ..
well i have been out of college for a long time but it still brings back memories ... 

---
Steve C. 

 ==> A wise man once told me - There ARE NO Wise Men !
                             - Just fools who think they are.
---------------------------------------------------------------		
 I understand you need someone to do work.
 I don't do work, but, I know this guy who does.
    -Vladimir Taltos
---------------------------------------------------------------

   	


Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: lmathews@lonestar.utsa.edu (Leanthony R. Mathews)
Subject: Re: Previous article should be "The Tracks"
 (none)
Keywords: railroad tracks, child ghosts, San Antonio
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 23:39:08 GMT


Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: jlysagh@hubcap.clemson.edu (james joseph lysaght)
Subject: Re: Detecting ghosts
Organization: Clemson University
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 16:57:09 GMT


Interstign description of taping ghosts on a TV deleted.

     This was interesting.  I had heard a similar description once before but
in the version I had heard you turned a TV on to a non-channel  (one no
one is broadcasting on) and aim the video camera at it.  you run the
picture form the video camera thorugh a VCR taping it and back to the
SAME TV screen.  This supposedly would allow you to view and videotape
ghosts.  Some people even *CLAIMED* to recognize the VERY fusy images as
the faces of long lost loved ones.  
     Unfortunately in this instance 
(and this theory CAN NOT apply to your description at all) you are not taping
ghosts.  What happens here is every so often s little signal over steps
it's bandwidth from another channel or aliases itself on another
frequency and you pick up fussy ghostly images from another channel on
the one you are on.  You also get some old signals bouncing around from
originally strong sources that happen to fall into the frequency range
of the channel you are producin some effects of the screen other than
fuzz but not clearly anything meaningfull.  These could come from fm
radio (especially on TV vhannel 7 or 8) or other sources causing certain
colorations of the screen and the like.  With the Video camera filming
it and sending it back to the same screen you also produce feedback, yes
VISUAL feedback just like feedback in a stereo microphone.       
     Now, what are you seeing on your described set up?  I don't know...
ghosts sounds as likely an explanation as any.  If you are interested in
spooking some friends sometime though... try the setup I gave you
telling them you are filming ghosts.  You are bound to get some sort of
images that with a little imagination you could certainly convince
people are the ghosts of the long since dead!  Fun for a holloween party
or such.... some people have siances, some have ouija boards, I have
"Smile Your on Candid Nether World!"

Jim
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories,alt.horror
From: stame@emunix.emich.edu (Stewart Tame)
Subject: Re: LOVECRAFT'S GRAVE... WHERE?
Organization: Eastern Michigan University
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 23:36:25 GMT

In article <1992Oct6.135231.16117@husc3.harvard.edu> alvalent@husc10.harvard.edu (Alvin Valentine) writes:
>
>Where is it?  In Salem, Massachusetts, or Providence, Rhode Island, or
>elsewhere?
>

By odd coincidence I have my copy of _Lovecraft: A Look Behind The
Cthulhu Mythos_ by Lin Carter handy.

Page 129, an quote from August Derleth:

	'[Lovecraft] was buried three days later, in his Grandfather
	 Phillips' lot in Swan Point Cemetary, of which he had
	 increasingly written in the last decade of his life,
	 "where I shall someday repose."  Though his name is
	 inscribed on the central shaft, no stone marks his
	 grave.'

I assume SPC is located in or near Providence . . . 

		-- Stewart Tame

****************************************************************************
 I understand it's obligatory to mention Kibo somewhere in one's postings.
****************************************************************************
		Email:  stame@emunix.emich.edu
****************************************************************************
Disclaimer:  Not only do my opinions represent those of Eastern Michigan
University, but also those of Dan Quayle, Richard Nixon, Frank Zappa,
Pee-wee Herman, Bart Simpson, Tipper Gore, Murphy Brown, Maggie Thatcher,
and the Easter Bunny.
From: WAS104@psuvm.psu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Detecting ghosts
Date: 9 Oct 92 13:56:36 GMT
Organization: Penn State University

Not to get off the subject of stories or anything, but I was once watching a TV
Special on (I think A&E or USA one of those cable channels) Anyway! There is a
way to video tape "ghosts" with your TV: I will explain it as throughly as I ca
n, but if you don't understand, don't feel bad, my fiancee, watched the show wi
th me, and he didn;t understand either......
You need two TVs....
A VCR
A Camcorder
ANd all those connecting wires
set the two TVs on top of another, the camcordertapes the bottom tv running the
 "picture" into the top TV with the VCR, taping it as you go, The bottom Tv sho
uld be off, The top one on, (I used the analogy to the camcorder in a departmen
t store taping customers to show off a tv) so you can watch what your taping..y
our suppose to be able to see "ghosts" on either the top/on tv or on the playba
ck of the video......
Did anyone else see this, that might be better at the explaination of it.....i
know what i want to say but if I am explaining it right is beyond (get it beyon
d....sorry, i'm really sick, i needed a laugh) me.
                                                  tara
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: rbg41782@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Rich Grady)
Subject: Re: Cthulhu belongs here!
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 18:12:49 GMT

FURRJK@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu (Joel Furr) writes:


>Peder Larsen (pol30546@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu) writes:

>>        What's the big deal, let Cthulhu stay!!!  There is plenty of room
>>and if you don't want to read a story or comment about him, don't.  Even
>>I skip most of the articles concerning him but they are still interesting
>>and could even be considered a ghost story of sorts.
>>

>Absolutely not, Mr. Larsen.  You apparently have a misimpression of the reason
>for creating named newsgroups as opposed to having everything in one group
>called net.chatter.  You also have a total lack of comprehension of the
>purpose for having a newsgroup charter, which alt.folklore.ghost-stories
>manifestly has:

>      The charter of alt.folklore.ghost-stories is as follows: Alt.folk-
>      lore.ghost-stories is intended to provide a forum for discussion
>      and posting of ghost stories, both personal experiences and those
>      which have been passed on from others.  "Ghost stories" can
>      include local retellings of the "Vanishing Hitchhiker" legend,
>      popular local ghost legends, personal experiences, stories told to
>      you in dark rooms on Halloween, classic ghost story plot and

	IMHO, any of the Lovecraftian tales pretty much qualify under the 
charter.  Hmmm, are "Call of Cthulhu" or "The Thing on the Doorstep"
the type of story told in a dark room on All Hallow's Eve?  Yes. 

>      narrative elements, and so forth.  The purpose of all this is to
>      allow those interested in ghost stories to discuss and enjoy them
>      with one another.

>One purpose of having a charter is to explain to people such as yourself what
>the group is intended for.  Another purpose is to act as a guideline if and
>when people such as yourself refuse to behave politely and demand that your
>irrelevant, off-topic chatter is topical and that there's "plenty of room."

	There is such as thing as a kill file.....

>There is ALSO "plenty of room" in alt.horror.  Take it there.  Or return to
>alt.config and re-propose alt.cthulhu.

>PLEASE take the Cthulhu chatter elsewhere.

>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Joel Furr                                                jfurr@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: Matt Garretson
Subject: Re: Tucson Ghost story
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Distribution: world,local
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 00:56:21 GMT

In article <marleyt-071092094951@scarlett.ccit.arizona.edu> marleyt@ccit.arizona.edu (Marley Treadwell) writes:
 [story about ghostly hitchhiker deleted]
>The old woman stated that the
>young woman in question had been dead ten years and was hit on that highway
>and died. The trucker then showed her the scarf she left and she said that
>it happens all the time. 

Is it the same scarf each time? Or does the ghost have a collection?  :)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: bchapman@spartan.ac.BrockU.CA (Bruce Patrick Chapman)
Subject: Re: sources of ghosts
Organization: Brock University, St. Catharines Ontario
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 04:41:58 GMT

I believe that the usual term for that type of wormhole (at least psychic
is 'fugue'

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Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: scarrobi@shearson.com (Steve Carrobis)
Subject: my own street light story
Reply-To: scarrobi@shearson.com
Organization: Lehman Brothers, Inc.
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 20:40:12 GMT

yesterday i went to my old college to see a priest about marrying fiance' and me 
well wouldnt u know it still had those old style lightpost and when we walked under the one leading to his residence out it went .. i kinda chuckled and explained to my fiance' about what the other post was on the net ... well me being skeptical waited for it to go back on then we walked by it again ... out it went .. twice more it went out when we walked past it ... then after our talk with the priest i went outside and told my fiance' o.k. i am gonna try again .. as soon as i said those words .. the ligh

t went out ... 
it was pretty funny .... she thought that it was rigged to do that ... who knows there may have been a short in a wire .. but it was pretty interesting .. 
by the way my alma mater is Fordham U. Rose Hill...

---
Steve C. 

 ==> A wise man once told me - There ARE NO Wise Men !
                             - Just fools who think they are.
---------------------------------------------------------------		
 I understand you need someone to do work.
 I don't do work, but, I know this guy who does.
    -Vladimir Taltos
---------------------------------------------------------------

   	


Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: tgt33358@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Deus Imperator)
Subject: Re: My Very Own Street Light Story
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 19:35:57 GMT

In article <1992Oct6.231026.2989@radian.uucp> kathrynw%radian@natinst.com (Kathryn Whitworth) writes:
>
>Street lights?  Did I miss something good while I had to be working?
>
>Street lights go out when I drive by fairly regularly.  One place I lived,
>we could count on it going out.  Again, recently, I saw one go out as I
>drove by.
>
>Now I've *heard* this all has to do with the light sensors (you know, that
>turn the lights on at dusk and off at dawn) being overly sensitive or
>misplaced, or maybe the car's headlights aimed too high, but the evidence
>is weak.
>
>Kathryn Roth Whitworth
>
>
>

Hey!  This is Alt.folklore.Ghost-stories!  Take it to alt.fan.streetlights!
Or Alt.people.standing.under.streetlights.and.why.they.go.out.  Herr Furr(hur)
will flame ya if you don't...

Ob Cthulhu:  I was in Red Hook, NY (great name, let me tell you), visiting a
friend at Bard.  He told me of a home that everyone's _favorite_ author 
stayed at during times of writer's block.  Supposedly, a ghost inhabits the 
house, and inspired him to write.  Interesting muse...
	Anyone else know about this house?

-- 
I don't mind being the smartest	    / Thanatos, DeathUrge, Master of Unknown
man in the world...I just wish it   \ Time and Space tgt33358@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu 
wasn't this one...	       	    / "No, I don't know how much unknown is... 
	-Ozymandias 		    \	...THAT'S THE POINT!" 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: gorski@pslu1.psl.wisc.edu (Tom Gorski)
Subject: Ectoplasm
Organization: Physical Sciences Lab, University of Wisconsin
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 92 18:51:02 GMT

Hi!  I've been a reader of this newsgroup since its inception, and
I enjoy it very much.  

I don't have a ghost story per se to relate, :-( but I do have a question
which is somewhat ghost/psychic related--

  What is Ectoplasm supposted to be?

I remember in 8th grade, we had a "unit" on occult/psychic phenomenon
(hey, this was the 70's, before anyone realized how damaging this sort
of thing was to my Family Values!), and it featured a slide show
of 'famous' supernatural photographs, including old standbys, such as:

  > A pile of bricks from a just-demolished old New-England church
    someplace, purportedly haunted, where *one brick* can be seen
    levitating above the rest of them in the pile.  The story is
    that the brick floated there for a few moments, then fell onto
    the pile.

  > A modern picture of the altar inside a Cathedral someplace in 
    Europe, with the Ghostly superimposition of some middle-ages
    cleric types on the photo, except their standing about 2 feet
    below the present floor level!  Supposedly, research revealed
    that the floor was indeed about 2 feet lower some centuries ago.

And then there were these 'ordinary' pictures of psychics, presumably
in trances, that had this mucous-looking stuff called Ectoplasm
hanging all over them!  Honestly, it was flying out of their nostrils,
draped on their clothes, everything.  To my juvenile (!) mind, it looked
just like snot!

As I recall, the explanation given at the time was that this stuff
was some kind of photographable artifact of psychic energy, like the
"stuff that ghosts are made of," but that answer always did ring a
tad vague to me.

So, anybody out there want to comment on this Ectoplasm stuff?

--Tom Gorski
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: bchapman@spartan.ac.BrockU.CA (Bruce Patrick Chapman)
Subject: cthulhu
Organization: Brock University, St. Catharines Ontario
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 18:08:13 GMT

apparently this newsgroup will be less plagued by cthulhu etc...i was greeted
by the new cthulhu newsgroup on entering rn today.
BTW: I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS CALLED. I DO NOT SUBSCRIBE TO IT.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is forwarded mail.  Please send all comments etc. to the following
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Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: toma@hyperion.gsfc.nasa.gov (Tom Atwater)
Subject: Re: Lyric Theater
Organization: Code 916, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 10:22:25 GMT


Many thanks to those who sent me a copy of the Lyric ghost story,
which I had missed.
It was a very well-written and enjoyable story, and I have no doubt that
it is true.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: wanda@b3.b3.ingr.com (Wanda Worland)
Subject: Guardian Ghost (Angel?)
Organization: Intergraph
Distribution: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 13:37:21 GMT


       I had been sent to bed early that night as thunderstorms
were in the area and had managed to knock the power off.  I was
about 7 or 8 years old at the time, and I remember being very
frightened by the thunder and lightening.  A sudden, loud, clad
of thunder sent me under the covers where I'd be safe.

       At some point later in the night, I awoke gently to the
covers being lifted off my head.  I looked straight into the
face of an old gentleman with a long beard.  He was much like a
cloud, all white and smokey, and I could almost see through him.
He was smiling and had the most gentle eyes, and I was not
afraid.

       He only said one thing to me, "Don't put the covers over
your head anymore, the thunder won't hurt you".  Then he tucked
me in.  I don't remember his disappearing, just awakening in the
morning with the covers tucked under my chin and between the 
mattresses.

       When I managed to get freed from my bed, I ran to find my
mother and told her the story.  Funny, she'd always believed the
spirit of her kindly grandfather looked after her (he died when
she was young, and she loved him very much).  She told me it was
him looking after me.

       To this day, I don't know if I dreamed the old man, or if
my mom's grandfather really was looking after me.  All I know is
I've never been afraid of thunderstorms since, and I've never
seen him or any other ghost(?) since then.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: rhadden@isdres.er.usgs.gov
Subject: RE: traveling to Staunton
Organization: U.S. Geological Survey
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 20:40:25 GMT

There is a famous story in North Carolina about the brakeman who was sent
ahead to warn an oncoming train of a disabled one that was blocking the
track. The brakeman was killed swinging the red lantern, but he warned tohe
oncoming train of the danger and saved the lives of the passengers. Often, his
light is seen swinging down the tracks, a red glow that swings from side to side. Maybe your train driver, overcome with remorse after the accident, also returnes to the scene to wanr the children of the danger...
lee hadden