HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: CSMSETS@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (CSMSETS)
Subject: Re: Late feline companion
Date: 21 Aug 92 17:54:01 PDT

In article <1992Aug21.122136.10940@access.digex.com>, on 21 Aug 1992 12:21:36 GMT,
betsy@access.digex.com (Betsy Marks) writes:

>
>In article <1992Aug19.032236.29882@engage.pko.dec.com> moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com writes:
>>
>>This is "The Vanishing Hitchhiker" ghost story/urban legend, described in an
>>urban legends book by that name, as well as the "Bringing Mary Home" song,
>>and also as a story called "Lavender" in a paperback full of ghost stories,
>>strange events, pirate treasure, etc. called "Strangely Enough!" that I had
>>as a kid.  Any fan of this group would like this book.  Wish I still had it.
>
>I had a couple of those "True Ghost and Supernatural Stories" books when I was
>a kid.  I remember being fascinated by the subject (probably what got me
>interested in ghost stories to begin with), but I can't remember the names of
>the books, and they are long gone.
>
>I probably bought them (there were 2 or three as I recall) through the
>Scholastic Book program in my school.  Anyone out there still have them or
>know some titles?  I'd love to get a copy.
>
>-Araminta (Goddess of Phonelists)
>
>     <betsy@access.digex.com   h) 202/244-2958   w) 202/554-9066 x262>
>
One book that I remember was called _Haunted Houses_ by Joseph Braddock
(I just looked it up on our library system) if its the same book that
I remember it has some good photos (some that are fake and some that
can't be explained). I think I just might hit the lib. next week and
see if it is the same book...I can feel the goose bumps already...
       --Ed
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: dcseward@athena.mit.edu (DeWitt C. Seward IV)
Subject: Father's Death
Summary: death of father known by daughter
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 15:58:12 GMT

I have an interesting little story, perhaps one that many out there have
experienced.  First, let me give a little background into my family.  It
is well known to us that we can kind of communicate between each other.
There have been countless examples of, for instance, my father coming
home from a long trip early and my mother having made dinner for him,
without "normal" knowledge of his early arrival.

Anyway, the ghost-story comes in when my grandfather (father's father)
died.  This is how it happened:

One night, early in the morning, my aunt calls my father (her brother)
and is a little disturbed.  Now, this is quite unusual since their
family is known for not being disturbed by anything.  She told dad that
she had had a very disturbing dream just then.  She thought that
something was wrong with their father.  Since he was in fairly good
health, dad didn't think anything of it, so he decided to call his
father (my grandfather) just to appease his siter.  Well, he kept
calling for two days, but nobody answered the phone.  Dad began to get a
little worried at this point, so he called the police.  When they
checked on the house, they found that granddad had died.  Of course,
when dad told the officers when he thought his father had died, they
were suprised since that was what all the evidence pointed to.

This story is good since there are several witnesses who really don't
care one way or the other in terms of if it is true or not.  In fact, I
had forgotten all about it until this news group popped up.  I was
wondering, how many instances of this "unnatural" death knowledge are
there out there?  It might be interesting to see if this is a common
thing or not.

-dcs
dcseward@athena.mit.edu
From: phanes@hal.COM (Pamela D. Hanes)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: School Ghosts
Date: 21 Aug 92 17:10:48 GMT
Followup-To: phanes@hal.com
Organization: HaL Computer Systems, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: arwen.hal.com


  I attended a boarding school in Watford, England for two years in the
  early 80's.  The school was built in the late 1800's by the Masons, 
  and the locals still called it the Masonic School for Boys though it
  had not been owned by the Masons for some time.
  The buildings were constructed of brick, and surrounded a quad with 
  beautiful flowering trees.  The area behind the buildings were large 
  green fields, which filled with heavy fog almost every night.  And
  there was a clock tower, an imatation of Westminster, which sounded
  a deep bass on the hour and half-hour.
  My brother had attended the school a year before I began my studies
  there, and when on vacation would tell me stories of the ghosts that
  wandered the campus.  Being the skeptical person I am, I told my brother
  he was imagining things (in not so polite terms).  Of course, being an
  older brother, he had a previous record of telling little white lies
  every now and then, and I blew off his stories.
  In any case, the following year, I began my studies in England with great
  eagerness.  I moved into a small room off a larger room in which four
  other girls were housed.   I knew the other girls from my school in
  Saudia Arabia, so it was like being a part of a small family away from
  home.
  Not too long after our arrival, we began experiencing strange occurances:
  the volume on our stereo going up and down without any help from us, 
  footsteps on the floor above our rooms though the floor was empty, and 
  the lady.
  The lady was first seen peering out the windows in our room to the fields
  and the fog.  I had made a late night (after curfew) run to the Chinese
  takeout place in Bushey Park, and was walking across the fields in the
  fog, trying to keep from being caught.  As I approached our building, I 
  saw a woman looking out of the window from our room.  Her hand was on the 
  curtains, drawing them back, and it appeared she was looking straight at
  me. 
  I figured it was our house mother, and that I was busted, and about to be
  confined to my room for a few days.  So I sauntered into the house not
  caring how much noise I made.  When I got to the room, I found my fellow
  roommates sound asleep, and the woman still there.
  It wasn't our house mother, but instead a woman who appeared to be in her
  early thirties wearing a black floor length dress which appeared to be in
  a style of that found in the early 1900's.  She was there for only a few
  more seconds, then disappeared.
  Several times after that I and my roommates would see the woman or just
  the impression of her hand on the curtains.  She always seemed to be
  looking out into the fields for someone, and we came to suspect she would
  watch for us, especially when we padded out after curfew for Chinese food.

  ~Pamela Hanes
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: jlysagh@hubcap.clemson.edu (james joseph lysaght)
Subject: ghost on the roads
Organization: Clemson University
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 13:33:57 GMT

Here are two that happened to my wife and I in the past year. 

One evening we were driving home from the campus.  We were in our Cadillac
on an empty country road out the back of the campus with the windows open, 
the wind blowing in, the radio on loudly, the
engine noise, and a bad power steering pump whining, and above all this
noise we VERY distinctly and undoubtably heard a voice outside the car
cryout "help me!"  I immediately slammed the brakes and shut off the
radio and we listened for a minute but heard no more.  We got out and
looked around and found nothing.  We immediately got in that car and
raced at high speed back down the road to the campus fire station and
told them what we heard.  The Firemen came out to the same spot and
police cars came and we had ourselves a regular manhunt.  We could find
no sign of anyone anywhere in the area.  It realy shook up my wife and I
because the cry was loud and sounded very painful.  But we found
nothing.  

Another time we were driving home from babysitting some children that my
wife takes care of.  It was late at night and the road was dark.  We
were not going all that fast.  All of a sudden out of the darkness some
old guy just stepped out right in front of my car.  My wife screemed and
I locked the wheels and we skidded right into him.  There was a thump from
my having hit the poor guy.  We jumped out of the car all upset because
we NEW there was a man under the front of the car.  We hurried to the
front to try and give first aid but there was no one there.  No sign of
anyone at all.  Either we jointly immagined it, or we were duped by
something REALY weird!  I still drive EXTRA carefully down that road
now.

Jim
a t

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: jlysagh@hubcap.clemson.edu (james joseph lysaght)
Subject: Re: Animal instincts?
Organization: Clemson University
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 17:40:49 GMT

> >>                                     There are also many cases of animals
> >> spontaneously dying within a few days of their masters.  Weird stuff.
> >

This one point does not seam all that weird to me.  It is not all that
uncommon for MANY species of animals to "Die of loneliness" when a close
friend dies.  I know for a fact that it is very common for rabbits and
birds to die if they are kept as pairs and one of the pair dies.  I have
heard that there are many dogs where if you own two and one dies, the
other will die in short order unless you are able to give it the love it
needs in the abscence of the mate.  I have lost a few pets this way.  It
amazes me more, that certain animals know their master is sick or dead
when they are far removed from that master as in the tale of the dogs
howling for the lady who died at the hospital.

Jim

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: dlm@unislc.uucp (Dennis McCurdy)
Subject: Re: pet hauntings
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 17:00:10 GMT

MICHELLE ESAIA (esaia@vax.sonoma.edu) wrote:
: 
: I don't think I can agree with the supposition  that ghosts necessarily haunt
: where they were killed... at least not with pets!

This is interesting. I've known when pets have died (not that it happens
often) in two instances. 25 years ago when I was in college I woke up one
night with an overwhelming feeling our family dog was there. In my sleepy
semi-conscious state I even reached out to pet him! I called my parents the
next day and they told me he had died during the night after being hit by
a car.

More recently, I was doing some consulting work in Kingston, New York, last
year and again was startled by a feeling our dog was right there with me. 
I called home to my wife (in Salt Lake City, Utah) to discover Sam had died 
that morning. Strange.

: Michelle 
-- 
Dennis L. McCurdy          |
 dlm@unislc                |
 dlm@unislc.slc.unisys.com |
 (x4103)                   |
From: gfm@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (George Francis McBay)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: answering the phone before it rings
Date: 22 Aug 92 06:30:25 GMT
Organization: /etc/organization

In article <1992Aug20.183429.20814@samba.oit.unc.edu> Ann.Feeney@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Ann Feeney) writes:
>goes off.  When the connection is made, there's a very tiny little 
>click sound off some phone models, that's enough to cue one
>to pick up the phone, because one is so used to picking it up after 
>that click, regardless of whether or not it has rung yet.

	It could also be the the fact that the live "ring" voltage is being
sent to the phone.  I myself am rarely close to any phone when it rings,
so I haven't encountered this, however I know that I (and quite a few people
I've talked with) can "feel" electrical currents nearby.  Not that I can sense
them completely consciously, but if I'm near something electrical thats on,
but "dead" I can feel that it's not getting electricity somehow, it's
kind of weird but I'm sure lots of you out there do it too, not that this
has much to do with ghosts :)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: cmadrid@sedona.intel.com (Corrina Madrid)
Subject: House between the worlds????
Originator: cmadrid@sedona
Reply-To: bupham@cmdnfs.intel.com
Organization: AME Group, Intel Corporation
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 21:43:40 GMT


I tried posting a couple of days ago but never saw me letter.
I wanted to know a little more about the story behind The
House Between the Worlds (or something along those lines). 
Can anyone help?

Keywords: 

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: CSMSETS@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (CSMSETS)
Subject: Re: Father's Death
Date: 21 Aug 92 17:16:31 PDT

In article <1992Aug20.155812.4401@athena.mit.edu>, on 20 Aug 1992 15:58:12 GMT,
dcseward@athena.mit.edu (DeWitt C. Seward IV) writes:

>..Stuff deleted...
>there out there?  It might be interesting to see if this is a common
>thing or not.
>
>-dcs
>dcseward@athena.mit.edu
>

Related to this are two stories that I have:

The first one deals with my Grand Father (my father's father). He had
been i'll and was in the hospital. My mom and dad used to visit him
every nite after work and they claimed that he was getting better. On
a thrusday nite during their usual visit my Grand Dad told my mom that
she had to bring the kids by before midnite that night to say good-bye
(the kids being my brothers and myself) because "they told him that
they were coming to take him tonite and this was his last chance
to say good-bye". My mom thought he was just tired and babeling and
since we were going to visit on Saturday it could wait. Well, my parents
got a phone call around 1 am the nite telling them that my Grand Father
passed away in his sleep sometime after midnite. My mom still can't
forgive herself for not listening to him.

The other story has to do with an ex-girlfriend's Grand Mother.
Her Grand Ma was in the hospital (I think with phlabitis (sp?))
and was not doing to well. This woman was a real fighter. She was
very down to earth and didn't believe in any of that "hogwash and
popycock" to do with ghosts, and/or metaphysics. When we went to
visit her she started to look around the room and looked at me
(she had never met me before) and said "Oh, your a different one
tonite".  When my girlfriend asked her what she ment she said
"He's not the one that usually comes to visit", and "Where are
the children". When we asked her what children, she looked toward
the foot of the bed at the wall and said "Oh, its not there now.
At nite a door opens there (pointing at the wall) and mostly
children go thru in gowns, mostly children.."  We tried to get
her to elaborate on this and she did alittle but then started to
talk about her late husband and said that he apologized to her
last nite for giving up (he died of cancer a few years before)
and she said that he told her that there was nothing wrong with
giving up and it was her time to quit. She continued to talk like
this, but what she talked about wasn't all like this, most of it
was very lucid conversation.  The next day before we could visit
again, she died. We never got a chance to talk to her more about
these vists that she had. I've always wondered about that.
      --Ed
From: gdrew@cs.umd.edu (Greg Drew)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: Street lights
Date: 21 Aug 92 21:52:08 GMT
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742

In article <BtCMs4.8y3@encore.com> dmillard@encore.com (Debbie Millard) writes:
>In article <0095F6E1.1DEAF660@convax.iar.nrc.ca> brinskelle@convax.iar.nrc.ca writes:
>>   It's probably just coincidence, but it seems as though everytime I pass
>>under a street light driving my bicycle it turns off (or at least 20-30% of
>> [stuff deleted]
>>   I'm wondering if this has anything to do with the fact that I have been
>>electrocuted once in grade 9 electricity and once before (not much just the
>>wind knocked out of me)????
>
>[stuff deleted]
>thing that happens to Jeff.  On a regular basis, street lights,
>or group of lights, will go off as I approached them.  He said
>[stuff deleted]
>I'd never thought of the electrocution theory 'til Jeff mentioned
>it, but I was thrown about 30 yards by a poorly grounded
>mobile home when I was about 14.

I guess I can add "me too".  I have noticed for years that streetlights often
go out as I approach them.  I had always figured that this must be some 
inherent characteristic of the lights (it is only the mercury vapor or 
the sodium type which do this).  My best guess is that the lights were going 
off because of vibrations in the ground when I walked (they are small but 
they are there, just ask any geologist setting up earth monitoring equipment).
Is this something that does not happen to everyone?  If it only happens to a 
few of us, I guess my theory is wrong. 

						-- GDD
PS. I have accidentally gotten shocked too many times for comfort; as a kid I
would play with (and take apart) anything electrical I could get my hands on.
I still do, but I do not get shocked; experience breeds caution :)
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Drew                 | N3MXX 
gdrew@trellis.cs.umd.edu  |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: N020BA@tamvm1.tamu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: answering the phone before it rings
Date: 22 Aug 1992 22:31:27 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University

In article <21AUG199217433028@rigel.tamu.edu>
enw2049@rigel.tamu.edu (WALKE, ERIK N) writes:
 
> . . .Editing. . .
>Many times in the past few years I have answered the phone after only
>one ring; that is, the phone at the reciever's end rings only once.
>When this happens, the caller very often expresses suprise that I could
>have, quoting, "answered the phone before it rang."  The point is, of
>course, that it *has* rung, at least at my end, the one that matters.
>
>Apparently-and this may not be true for all phone circuits, at all times
>or in all areas-the first ring of a call is heard by the reciever but
>not caller.  I have had the converse experience-calling someone and then
>hearing them answer without first hearing their phone ring-and it is a
>bit startling.
 
   The ring that a caller hears is a set of two tones set to his/her phone
by the central office. The ring that the called party hears is a signal
sent to the called party by the central office. The sequence of events is
this:
   (1) Caller dials #
   (2) Central office sends ring pulse to called party.
   (3) Central office sends tone sequence to caller (ringing).
   It is quite possible, given the speed of modern digital switching, for
the called phone to ring before the central office sends the tones back to
the caller.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: elee9sv@rosie.uh.edu (92H01722)
Subject: Female Ghosts
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 05:07:00 GMT

a house in Miami. When they walked in my Uncle immediatly wanted to buy the
house. He later said that it felt like a woman was with him and being um...
very close. HIs wife had a completely different effect. She felt threatened
by the pesence here as if someone wanted to leave Tom and "her" alone.
Their baby daughter monoica started crying and woln't stop until they left
the house. Tom always regretted not buying the house but my aunt said
that she probalbly would have left the family if they would have bought
it.


Garrett Henke -------Huzzuh! I am STILL Zoltan KING of the gypsies!----
From: eiverson@nmsu.edu (Eric Iverson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: Whats real anyway?
Date: 23 Aug 92 03:51:23 GMT
Organization: Computing Research Lab

In article <7895@lee.SEAS.UCLA.EDU> ygoland@edison.seas.ucla.edu (The Jester) writes:

   So many of you have had these experiences, are you satisfied to say
   'its a ghost' and leave it at that? What the hell is a ghost? Why do
   they bother you? Where do they come from? I have had no experience
   and this questions bug me. For those who have been through
   encounters of whatever sort, I should think these questions would
   drive you insane! 

In the cases where one person sees something that others don't it
would be very difficult to produce physical evidence.  However, if you
have been following this group you should have seen the posts where
tape recordings and photographs have been made.  Admitedly they could
have been hoaxed, but it is highly doubtful that all of that type of
evidence is faked.  The problem is, there are ways to fake the
evidence and so then the skeptics assume that any of that type of
evidence must have been faked.

I think your misgivings lie not with the inadequacy of the evidence
but with the inadequacy of the scientific method.  The concept of
immortal souls existing beyond the life of their host body has very
little physical evidence to back it up.  And yet there are thousands
of cases of near death experiences in which the same major components
occur over and over again.  Could it be that we all have the same
hallucination as death approaches?  Since we do not have the same
dreams this seems unlikely.

So until we expand our definition of what constitutes reality and find
a way to measure it, we will just have to go on the large body of
anecdotes from those who have experienced it first hand.  On the one
hand, this is very frustrating, but on the other hand, it is a
powerful incentive for continued research.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eric Iverson				Internet: eiverson@nmsu.edu
Computing Research Lab
Box 30001/3CRL				Life is something to do when
New Mexico State University		you can't get to sleep.
Las Cruces, NM 88003-0001			-Fran Lebowitz
VOICE: (505) 646-5711	
FAX:   (505) 646-6218
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: gfm@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (George Francis McBay)
Subject: Re: Modern Ghost Stories
Organization: /etc/organization
Distribution: public, world
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 06:42:14 GMT

In article <1992Aug20.222028.27835@Csli.Stanford.EDU> kyle@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Kyle Wohlmut) writes:
>works.  Take a normal video camera and pop in a tape, point the camera
>at a TV showing just static, and tape the duration of the cassete.
>Then rewind and play back the video of the static on super-slow
>motion, one frame at a time.  Apparently after a while you will see
>people's faces in the TV screen, just different faces one after the other

	While I don't think this has anything to do with the supernatural,
I bet you'll see something :)  I know I've watched static channels A LOT
just to "see what I could see" you'd be amazed at the things an active
imagination sees forming and animating in the static.  Sort of the way
you see funny pictures made from clouds or shapes on wood-paneling board.