HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: eiverson@nmsu.edu (Eric Iverson)
Subject: Re: Bunch of stories...
Organization: Computing Research Lab
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 22:52:33 GMT

In article <1992Aug22.151647.78@gems.vcu.edu> jmclaughlin@gems.vcu.edu writes:

   One of my mother's friends related that she got a phone call one day.  The 
   connection was horrible and the voice very far away, but it was distinctly her 
   mother.  Before she could say anything, her mother told her several numbers, 
   and the connection cut off.  She was pretty stunned, as her mother had passed 
   away some five years previously, but she wrote it off and tucked it away in 
   the back of her mind as one of those weird experiences.  A week later, she was 
   kicking herself severely as those numbers turned out to be the winning numbers 
   in a multi-million dollar lottery drawing that no one won!!!

I read a book once called "Phone Calls from the Dead" that details a
number of these incidents.  Apparently the call lasts a lot longer if
the recipient doesn't realize the caller is dead.  However, there were
lots of calls along the lines of the one mentioned above too.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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: kyle@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Kyle Wohlmut)
Subject: Re: A Pointless Plea
Followup-To: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Summary: (Spoiler/No Spoiler)
Organization: Rocking Pig Enterprises
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 17:03:24 GMT

In article <mwalker-250892090022@mwalker1.npd.provo.novell.com.>
mwalker@novell.com (Mel "Walk-ER" Walker) writes:
>In article <1992Aug25.135552.6471@infonode.ingr.com>,
>palmerc@abulafia.b21.ingr.com (Christopher "Madame Palm" Palmer) wrote:
>> Could we agree to not dissect the ghost stories posted here?  If a
>> particularly interesting one (skeptically speaking) gets posted, lets
>> carry it over to alt.folklore.urban or sci.skeptic.
>> 
>> I really enjoy reading ghost stories, but I really don't believe in
>> ghosts or paranormal phenomena.  What enjoyment (and chills) I get
>> from reading ghost stories (in print or posted on the net) relies on a
>> suspension of disbelief.  If you think you have an explanation for an
>> event someone posts, e-mail it to him or carry the conversation
>> elsewhere.
>> 
[stuff excised]
>> I don't want this newsgroup to evolve into a forum for presenting then
>> debunking paranormal and supernatural events--there are other
>> newsgroups for that.
>
>Why don't we just add a "SPOILER" or "DEBUNKING" to the subject line? That
>way, we could still discuss explanations that may not fit in a.f.u or s.s,
>and people wouldn't have to read them if they didn't want to.
>
[stuff excorcised]

I agree with him (Mel); I may or may not want to read a 'spoiler' on a
given story, but I think they're appropriate enough for the group.
It's easy enough to put 'spoiler' or whatever in that Summary-line
that nobody uses, and if you want you can just skip over that message
(especially since this seems to be a fairly high-volume group already;
but we'll see how long that lasts as all the regulars spew all their
good ghost stories).

P.S. BOO!

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
                       /               
/'''   Kyle Wohlmut    -  'Heute back ich, morgen brau ich, und       
c-OO                   /   uebermorgen hol ich mir der Koenigin ihr      
   \   Rocking Pig     -   Kind.  Ach, wie gut dass niemand weiss,
  -     Enterprises    /   dass ich kyle@csli.stanford.EDU heiss.'    
                       -                                              
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From: Ingrid.Towey@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Ingrid Towey)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: The Good-Bye Ghost
Date: 26 Aug 92 15:06:58 GMT
Organization: Extended Bulletin Board Service


The ghost stories do seem to be getting a little thin, so I thought I'd
throw in one.  

My mother-in-law is a widow, and her husband died about 10 years ago.  The
night of his death she was lying on her bed crying, and she felt someone 
wrap his arms around her from behind.  She didn't turn around to look.  She
didn't have to.  She knew whose arms those were.

I think she believes that he came that night to say good-bye.  

I was surprised that someone else on this forum told a very similar story
about her cat snuggling with her from behind right after the cat died.  I
didn't save that story  or know whose it was, but this seems to be a common
theme.

Ingrid Towey




--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  bbs.oit.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: adelekta@kentvm.kent.edu
Subject: Re: scent of lavender
Organization: Kent State Univ.
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 20:31:23 GMT

 
Funny you should mention it...
 
 Several years ago I worked on a farm that was *incredibly* haunted...
we identified at least 3, most likely 4, individual "ghosts" (one of which was
a horse, strangely enough).
One of the "ghosts" was that of a female, most likely the wife of the previous
owner who had died in the house. On several occasions, the scent of a perfume
that was heavily scented with lavender was noticed... two occasions in specific
I remember: while standing outside, we were suddenly aware of the overwhelming
scent of the perfume, all around us and coming from no apparent direction; and
once when we were in a completely enclosed basement, when a wave of the same
perfume swept through the room then dispersed.
 
Aside from this experience, I have no knowledge of the scent of lavender being
associated with hauntings in particular (though that's not saying much :)
From: fnord@pine.circa.ufl.edu (Elmer Fudd, Millionaire)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Is anyone archiving this?
Date: 1 Sep 92 18:36:35 GMT
Reply-To: fnord@pine.circa.ufl.edu
Organization: University Domain (edu)
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4


Well, is anybody archiving any of this?

I mean it seems like what we've got here might well pass for an
electronic "working" version of a new Phantasms of the Living or
something.

But then again, I suppose that since USENET is so informal, any
data that might be shoved up here wouldn't really be useful until
we could get REAL data via interview with the ppl involved.

AND noone knows what lurks behind the motivations of Usenet posters.

Well, OK, bad idea.. At least, not very feasible idea.
Don't shoot me.  please.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories,dc.general
From: guest@dhhalden.no (.GJEST)
Subject: Re: Ghost of Abe Lincoln
Summary: Anyone know about this?
Organization: Ostfold College
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 18:03:49 GMT

In article <3744@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov> pnh@fcsparc6.ncifcrf.gov (Paul N Hengen) writes:

>Hello. I've heard that the ghost of Abe Lincoln lives(?) under
>or around the Lincoln Monument in Washington, D.C. Does anyone
>know more about this? -Paul.

Yeah.
Since he is a ghost, he can't live.
Ghosts are dead!
--GH--
From: egl1@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Elizabeth G. Levy)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: Scariest movie
Date: 31 Aug 92 16:29:40 GMT
Reply-To: egl1@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Elizabeth G. Levy)
Distribution: na
Organization: Columbia University


>jlysagh@hubcap.clemson.edu (james joseph lysaght) writes:
>
>>In article <1992Aug31.091839.11455@doug.cae.wisc.edu>, christin@cae.wisc.edu (Christine Haas) writes:
>
>>About the movie "the Day After"

Watch the British nuclear holocaust film, _Threads_, which makes _The
Day After_ look like what it is, an American melodrama.  _Threads_ has
a nice, uh, documentary feel to it.

--
Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song
Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or long.
			-- T.S. Eliot, "The Wasteland"
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: finneyrc@newton.ccs.tuns.ca (R Craig Finney)
Subject: Re: Street lights
Organization: Technical University of Nova Scotia, Halifax, N.S.
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 03:17:28 GMT

In article <mwalker-240892172940@mwalker1.npd.provo.novell.com.> mwalker@novell.com (Mel Walker) writes:
>
>Enough magnetism to trip a relay at the top of a light pole that is
>surrounded by metal would distort tv screens, play havoc with digital
>watches, and etc. Also, if the relays were that easy to trip, passing cars
>would probably do it with the magnetism generated from the electrical
>system. Heck, the power flowing to the light might even do it.
>
>Disclaimer: I could be totally off base about this. It's been a while since
>college physics.
>
>------
Well Mel.  There is also a wire that goes from the light down into the ground.
I have seen them on some poles.  It may be there for grounding purposes, or
others that I can not think of.  Someone did write that their car and other
cars would set off the light.  And I do distort TV screens if I geat too close
to the TV or the antenna (sp).  I can be wrong.  I think I may write to
N.S. Power and see if they reply.  Maybe they can shed some light on the subject
No PUN intended.
-- 
Agent 36
(Everyone is sane in their own reality)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: jdahl@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Jared Dahl)
Subject: Re: Scariest movie
Date: Fri, 04 Sep 1992 12:57:15 GMT
Distribution: na
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM Rochester

In article <wallich.715456352@pepper>, wallich@ncd.com (Ken Wallich) writes:
|> kyle@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Kyle Wohlmut) writes:
|> 
|> >There's an old (30's?) film called 'Freaks' that a lot of college type
|> >theatres show around Halloween, which is truly scary... anybody know
|> >it? (It's even scarier because the 'monsters,' a troupe of circus
|> >freaks, are real-- and actual circus performers were used in the
|> >film...)
|> 
|> I would have to disagree about 'Freaks' being a horror film, or even
|> scary.  I thought it was a well done film, but more in the mystery
|> vein.  I also thought the treatment of the 'freaks' was very well
|> done.  Not sappy, not exploitive, but it treated them as real people,
|> who just happened to be a bit different from most of us.  I'd still
|> recommend it, but don't go into it looking to get frightened.
|> 
|> Just to get in my vote, I'd have to agree with a prior poster that
|> "The Shining" probably frightens me more than any other film I've
|> seen.  I especially liked the fact that the actual 'scary' scenes take
|> up very little of the running time.  Most of the time is spent in
|> suspense.  A type of suspense that doesn't lessen with repeated
|> viewings though, unlike most exploitive slasher/horror films.
|> 
|> Of course, this really has little to do with 'ghost stories', and
|> probably belongs in one of the movies groups, but what the hell.

Folks, this is a good topic, but lets take it over to alt.horror
since this it belongs there.  alt.horror is an ongoing discussion 
of horror novels and films, and just spawned a new child in
alt.vampyres.  Check it out!!
 
Jared Dahl
-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
| Jared Dahl             | "My heart is human, my blood is boiling, | 
| Systems Programmer     |  my brain IBM"                           |
| IBM - Rochester, MN    |              -- STYX,  "Mr. Roboto"      |
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Opinions expressed are mine, not IBM's.
From: toms@fcs260c2.ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: Street lights
Date: 27 Aug 92 02:32:40 GMT
Organization: Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center

In article <1992Aug25.193038.17016@math.utah.edu>  writes:

...
>I 've had the problem with streetlights all my life. Sometimes I'm approaching in my ca
>in my car, sometimes on foot-actually it doesn't need to be car.
>Sometimes the lights come _on_, but usually they go out (70/30)

...
>I got a couple of good jolts as a young person.
...

Now this is curious:  several people seem to report both being shocked and
having this street light effect.  Remember those magnetotactic bacteria?  They
have single cell magnets in them that help them move down (North in the
northern hemisphere, south in the southern!) - Suppose that a strong current
through the body is sufficient to orient a large number of similar particles in
someone's body.  Perhaps a weak magnetic field is formed.  If this is correct,
one should be able to detect this field with a SQUID detector.  All you have to
do is fly the posters to your lab!!

This is a neat group just because there is a nice source of stories AND
people willing to critically look at them.  Maybe some new phenomena will
emerge.  Wouldn't it be nifty if we really figured out that ghosts exist?...

  Tom Schneider
  National Cancer Institute
  Laboratory of Mathematical Biology
  Frederick, Maryland  21702-1201
  toms@ncifcrf.gov
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: CSMSETS@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (CSMSETS)
Subject: Re: Haunted Hospitals?
Date: 26 Aug 92 15:59:35 PDT

In article <1992Aug26.163345.27286@cs.unca.edu>, on 26 Aug 1992 16:33:45 GMT,
mcmahan@cs.unca.edu (Scott McMahan -- Genesis mailing list owner) writes:

>
>Jim Heath (jheath@CERIS.Purdue.EDU) wrote:
>: I recently had occasion to spend a lot of time visiting a
>: hospital and it occured to me to wonder why there seem to be so
>: few stories about ghosts in hospitals.
>
>There's too many people for one thing, and too many bright lights.
>Besides, even a *ghost* wouldn't want to hang around a hospital.
>That's bad enough when you're alive. I'd haunt a house or something
>first.
>
>Ghosts need secluded, dark places.
>
>Scott

If I recall there are a few ghost stories that happened in hospitals
(the ones I recall are Cedars-Sinai Hostpital and UCLA Medical
center). I can't recall the stories but one had to do with a spouse
of a patient and the other had to do with an over dedicated nurse.
     --Ed
From: wrd@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Wm. Race Dowling)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: Street lights
Date: 30 Aug 92 03:49:34 GMT
Organization: Carderock Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center
X-Organization: (formerly David Taylor Research Center)

In article <1992Aug24.172816.16406@watson.ibm.com> platt@watson.ibm.com (Daniel E. Platt) writes:
* 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
*|> >the time).  And I'm not including the times of the day when the light
*|> >sensor tells the street light to turn off (like in the early morning) but
*|> >late at night (anywhere from 10pm to 3am).
*|> >
*|> 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.
*|> 
*|> Not exactly a ghost-story, huh?  Sorry, but this caught my interest.
*
*The same thing happens to me.  I was not badly shocked any time in my life.
*While this phenomena seems to happen regularly to me, it doesn't seem to
*happen to others I know unless they're with me.  Seems to happen most frequently
*with Sodium lights (those sort of orange/pink lights).  I would wager it isn't
*electrocution that causes it, but I'll be darned if I can figure out
*what does!
*

I responded to a similar thread a few months back in sci.skeptic. This
happens to me as well, but it's caused by the reflected glare from my 
bald head which sets the sensor to think that it's noon!
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: jpainter@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Jeannette Painter)
Subject: Freaks
Organization: The Ohio State University
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 16:04:58 GMT

>There's an old (30's?) film called 'Freaks' that a lot of college
>type theatres show around Halloween, which is truly scary...
>anybody know it? (It's even scarier because the 'monsters,' a
>troupe of circus freaks, are real-- and actual circus performers
>were used in the film...) 

I had to laugh when I read this post because I saw Freaks about
five years ago with a couple of friends of mine.  It was an
interesting movie, however, one of the lines that we most
frequently quote is from this movie.  Does anyone remember "Gooble
Goble, Gooble Goble, now you're one of us.  I'll never be one of
you, you freaks!  (Gasp).  Sorry, just had to share.
From: coffman@plains.NoDak.edu (Clark Coffman)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: Street lights
Summary: Hmmm... Been happening for 6 years
Keywords: city lights
Date: 4 Sep 92 02:17:48 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: North Dakota Higher Education Computing Network

This is an interesting thread. Since I moved to Fargo, ND six years
ago I've noticed this type of incidence around the university here.
At first I thought it was me. Every night on my way to work I'd pass
beneath this one street lamp and it would turn off as I approached.
I didn't always pass by at exactly the same time eithor. For along
time this particular light was the only one to do this.

Now I've been working alot of 12 am to 8 am shifts and have found a number
of other lights on campus that do this also. It's almost got to be
the power company switching the lights except that the lights on campus
I believe are controlled by the campus power station. Hmmm.. I wonder
if this is just a practice that has slowly spread to many other
power companies over the years.

I don't remember ever seeing this when I was in high school, but I do
remember the power companies used to turn off sections of business
districts late at night. A different section every other week or so.
Maybe this is just another form of power savings.

But then again......

 ___________________________________________________________________
| Hey, who else would you expect to be responsible for what I say?  |
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     |______________:-: "Richard Bach" :-:___________________________|
From: mort@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Jeff Mortensen)
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 08:10:05 GMT
Subject: Re: Ghosts in my life
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories

In alt.folklore.ghost-stories, walrus@bessel.umd.edu (Grig Larson) writes:

>  
> Now I live in Reston, and things are ok. We have a ghost here, but she's
> a friendly one, and once we made a "contract" that she could go as she
> pleased as long as she didn't interfere with anything, and she stopped
> tossing cups at us (another story, but this file has gone on way too long).
>  
	I have but one question, do ghosts follow you every where you both
	live, or is that just luck?????????  I also have to ask why you call
	yourself a skeptic in these matters when it seems they happen all 
	the time, and you believe every one of them as being supernatural.

	Hell, I wish I had a ghost in my house, it would make life much more
	interesting!
Morty

> 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: kyle@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Kyle Wohlmut)
Subject: Re: Scariest movie
Organization: Rocking Pig Enterprises
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 16:21:48 GMT

In article <1992Aug30.013506.28339@news.nd.edu>
wlamonac@tolkien.helios.nd.edu (william "no caps" lamonaca) writes:
>You wanted a list of the scariest movies- here is a list of my 3 faves:
>
>Well, not scariest, but spookiest- "The Haunting of Hill House" (based on
>Shirley Jackson's novel by the same name.)
>Kind of creepy- "Carnival of Souls"
>Very Creepy- "Vampyr" (A somewhat obscure German movie from the early 1930s)

For big-name movies I nominate Amityville as the scariest ever...
(though the book is even scarier!  Jody, the Rocking Pig!  Brrrr!)

There's an old (30's?) film called 'Freaks' that a lot of college type
theatres show around Halloween, which is truly scary... anybody know
it? (It's even scarier because the 'monsters,' a troupe of circus
freaks, are real-- and actual circus performers were used in the
film...)

More recently, a British film called 'Paperhouse' scared the knuedeln
out of me-- but it had a too-happy ending...

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
                       /               
/'''   Kyle Wohlmut    -  'Heute back ich, morgen brau ich, und       
c-OO                   /   uebermorgen hol ich mir der Koenigin ihr      
   \   Rocking Pig     -   Kind.  Ach, wie gut dass niemand weiss,
  -     Enterprises    /   dass ich kyle@csli.stanford.EDU heiss.'    
                       -                                              
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: judim@wes.on.ca (Judi Mota)
Subject: Re: Scariest movie
Organization: Waterloo Engineering Software
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 01 Sep 1992 17:59:52 GMT

In article <zwhnn3f@lynx.unm.edu> ledlow@triton.unm.edu (?) writes:
(some stuff deleted)
>At a particularly gruesome part, we all heard a noise
>outside, and one of our garage doors (we had a four-car garage), was opening
>by itself.  this was the first time this had ever happened.  I was a bit
>nervous about going outside to check it out, but did anyway. 
>

This reminds me of the story my girlfriend told me about waiting for her 
husband to come home and she assumed he had when she heard the garage door
go up.  When he didn't come in, she went to look and although the door was
open he didn't come home for another 1/2 hour.  It happened a few times and
scared her silly.  Then, on his way to work at 5 a.m. one morning her 
husband tried a hunch.  He clicked their remote and he said at least a dozen
garage doors in the neighbourhood went up!  No ghosts!  Everyone had their
doors set on the same frequency.  He said it was a hoot!

Judi
 

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: finneyrc@newton.ccs.tuns.ca (R Craig Finney)
Subject: Re: Street lights
Organization: Technical University of Nova Scotia, Halifax, N.S.
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 03:48:52 GMT

In article <1992Aug25.160341.7975@bmw.mayo.edu> gacya@.mayo.edu (A. Marquis gacy) writes:
>Didn't you guys ever go streetlight kicking when you were kids?
>You go walking along kicking streetlights ( you know, the big 
>     Stuff Deleted

Kicking a street lamp in Halifax is like kicking a big tree.  Really.
Street lamps are on large wooden poles about 1.5 feet thick or concret
poles about the same thickness.  Sorry.  No flame intended.  Your lamps
must be on small hollow metal poles.


-- 
Agent 36
(Everyone is sane in their own reality)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories