HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: samw@bucket.rain.com (Sam Warden)
Subject: Re: Street lights
Organization: Rick's Home-Grown Un*x
Date: 23 Aug 92 18:05:19 GMT

dcleek@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Dick Cleek) writes:

>"best" theory is that my car emits some stray signal that triggers the
>street lamps, but?
 
The first few times it happened to me while I was driving, I assumed I
had a misaligned headlight that was shining up onto the photocells.
I've seen other cars on the road quite clearly do this.  But mine
were ok.  I'd still tend to discount it when driving with lights on.
The interesting part is that it happens when I'm _walking_.  :-)

-- 
 
samw@bucket.rain.com (Sam Warden) -- and not a mere Device.
 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: enw2049@rigel.tamu.edu (WALKE, ERIK N)
Subject: Re: more answering a phone before it rings
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 19:54:00 GMT

In article <1992Aug24.154949.27635@hubcap.clemson.edu>, 
jlysagh@hubcap.clemson.edu (james joseph lysaght) writes...

       (editing. . . )

>Aparently what is happening is that the phone company sends a
>signal to your phone and has to wait for a response to tell if the phone
>is on the hook or not before it is able to ring the phone.  Even though
>the signals travel at light speed they have to travel through MANY miles
>of wire and then be processed by a computer at a rate much slower than
>light speed and then send the ring signal back to the phone.  All this
>would indeed account for the time delay between the click and the ring.
> 
>So, one unexplainable phenomenon explained, kind of kills the excitement
>from that one doesn't it?
> 
>Jim

       Actually, I think it's pretty neat to know the real answer this 
       way.  The excitement isn't the same as with eerie unexplained 
       stuff, but it's very satisfying to understand a reason for some-
       thing "mysterious."

***************************************************************************
  All opinions expressed by this user are well-reasoned and insightful. 
  Needless to say, they are not those of his advisor or university.
**************************************************************************

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: hoagy@ais.org (Matthew Rupert)
Subject: Re: "Ghost Response" (was Re: Moody's Light)
Keywords: Ghost, Modern, Weird, Psychology, Fear
Organization: Kampus Krusade for Kush
Distribution: na
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 20:07:37 GMT

jhugart@news.weeg.uiowa.edu(Jacob Hugart) did speak previously,and did say thus:
>
>Ever wonder why people have this response to alleged ghosts?  (No offense
>intended.)  If you see a rainbow, a phenomena which is certainly ephemeral, you
>don't feel fear.  Some people have responded that some ghosts make them feel
>calm and at peace, but the far more prevalent reaction is fear.
>
Normally, we tend to fear the unknown.  Not necessarily an inherent
"skeptic" fear, but a psychological reactive "FLEE!" fear.
I, for one, would not wish to be in a house by myself, sitting in my
chair, reading a book, look up, and see a semi-solid figure with
a bloody axe in its hands stalking towards me.  Calm and peace
would *not* be my first choice of emotions.

>Is this because ghosts are inherently fearful?  Something similar would be a
>reaction to a large, charging animal...a fight-or-flight response.  Or is it
>that we have learned that ghosts are terrifying, creatures out to get us, like
>the vampires and werewolves of folklore?
>
I've been doing paranormal resarch for 5 years, and I always have a predominant
reaction of "RUN LIKE HELL!".  sometimes, I do, after 5 years, but it's
just that sudden "this cant' be happening" feeling you get.

>It seems that *some* ghosts are malevolent enough to instill fear in humans, at
>least according to the posts in this group.  But others, like the Moody's light
>ghost I'm following up, don't seem to be threatening, even though the informant
>decided to flee.  Notice that the second time the informant encountered the
>ghost, he had more friends and drove after the ghost...maybe he scared the
>ghost?
>
Nah, it's not scary per se, but the whole idea is scary.  A light
with almost no substantial physical dependancy floating in mid-air,
then a figure is then apparant?  Welp, I'd be a little freaked.

I'm sure ghosts are more than after-images...they probably can have
feelings, as they're tied here for some reason.  It's also
possible(notice the word POSSIBLE) they eat, drink, sleep, etc.
We just don't know.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: steve@nmt.edu (Steve "GimpMeister" Cook)
Subject: Re: Haunted Hospitals?
Organization: New Mexico Tech
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 01:50:15 GMT

In article <1992Aug26.163345.27286@cs.unca.edu> 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.

	I remember hearing about some theory as to the reason for
a ghost to haunt a particular spot.  It's usually because the deceased
had some particular attachment to said location.  If a person didn't 
like being somewhere when they died why would they want to come back when
they are dead?  There are a lot of stories about ghosts coming back after
they died in wars because they liked being at home... stuff like that.

-steve
-- 
"I won't come out, You must come in to me.
 Into my womb garden where I peer out.
 Where I can construct a universe within the skull to rival the real."
-James Douglas Morrison
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: farland@outland.b24a.ingr.com (Theresa McFarland)
Subject: Repost Rose Hill PLEASE !
Organization: Intergraph
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 00:23:24 GMT

In article <9208200052.AA14179@news.cis.ohio-state.edu> FURRJK@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu writes:
>We only just now got this newsfeed recognized at Virginia Tech, and I
>find people already discussing a Rose Hill story that resulted in a lot
>of mail... um, can someone repost it?

Indeed!  We've only had this newsfeed for a couple of days, but the 
Rose Hill story sounds _very_ interesting.  

If you can't post it, Could you email the story to me?
From: betsy@access.digex.com (Betsy Marks)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: Father's Death
Date: 23 Aug 92 12:42:17 GMT
Organization: Express Access, Greenbelt, Maryland USA

To follow this thread of death foreknowledge, I have a question I can't answer
personally, since I have no actual experience with the phenomenon.

If you know someone who has forseen a death in the family (parent, child,
whatever), has it always been the mother/grandmother of the person, or the 
child of the person?  So far, I haven't heard any reports that it was a man
who had the experience, unless the man was the child of the dying person.
Anyone know differently?

Just for the record, I think that both discussion threads are connected, 
because of the way ghosts exist in this reality plane.  I have a ghost story
I can relate, as soon as I can get a copy of last Halloween's Rochester Times
Union - they did a story on the house across the street where I grew up.  We
always knew that house was weird, but never knew how weird till my sister and
I read the article.

Cool stuff - keep it coming.

-Araminta (Goddess of Phonelists)

	"I do believe in spooks.  I do believe in spooks.  I do, I do, I do
	 believe in spooks."	Ray Bolger as the Cowardly Lion

     <betsy@access.digex.com   h) 202/244-2958   w) 202/554-9066 x262>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: jdahl@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Jared Dahl)
Subject: Re: College Ghosts
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 17:45:09 GMT
Distribution: na
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM Rochester


     I have heard from several alumni of Eastern Illinois University
that one of their dorms is haunted.  "Mary", as she is known, has 
been frightening the female students who live in a particular dorm
for many years.  I have heard some first-hand accounts from people
who have had contact with Mary, but I can only remember a few of them.

     It seems that during the summer, the dorm is only occupied by
the dorm's summer staff.  One night, the person who related this story
to me heard a series of screams from her next door neighbor.  She ran
over to the other room and found her neighbor in bed, sobbing and gasping
for air.  It seems that this girl had been sleeping on her back when she
was awakened by pressure on her chest.  When she opened here eyes, she could
see a white aparition floating above her, and found that she was unable to
breath!  The force soon subsided and the girl let out a scream.  she moved
out the next day.

     The same person also told me a story about some people on their wing
who had been badmouthing Mary.  They had a fire in their room shortly 
after this (the storyteller was the RA) but no cause could be found.
The girls apologized to Mary and had no more trouble.


Are there any EIU alumni or students who can give me more info on
this?  I would appreciate it, especially the name of the dorm.

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.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: egl1@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Elizabeth G. Levy)
Subject: Re: Three Men and a baby..scariest movie
Reply-To: egl1@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Elizabeth G. Levy)
Organization: Columbia University
Distribution: na
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 02:05:55 GMT

In article <HALAZAR.92Aug29211509@media-lab.media.mit.edu> halazar@media.mit.edu (Michael Halle) writes:
>
>Not wanting to dilute the quality of this group, but how would a small
>child commit suicide with a shot gun?  Did he saw off the barrel first?
>Is there a shadow of a saw in another corner of the room in some scene?
>Maybe he hooked it up a street lamp and walked passed it?

A Rube Goldberg contraption, with a candle burning through a thread
holding up an anvil positioned above a see-saw which is tied to an
electric fan that will blow on a windmill that powers an electric
motor that will wind a string that pulls the gun's trigger.


--
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: st890270@pip.cc.brandeis.edu (LUCIFER)
Subject: College Ghosts
Reply-To: st890270@pip.cc.brandeis.edu
Organization: Brandeis University
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 18:27:03 GMT

This is a story I heard from a friend of mine, and maybe I can get her to 
post it herself, seeing as she knows it better, but here goes.

Here at Brandeis we have a dorm called the Castle. from the outside, it is
a preaty good facsimile of one.
Two years ago, two guys lived in a double on the third floor of the Castle.
Everything was fine until shortly before Holloween. They had the room 
decorated in the usual manner, including a Jack'o'lantern (carved out 
pumpkin). Then odd things began to happen. Bad luck seemed to follow them
wherever they went. One guy fell seriously ill, the other was dumped by his 
SO. And neither felt comfortable in the room. They felt like they were being
watched, the electrical outlets were acting up (I think one of the guys 
received a nasty shock from one of them). This discomfort seemed to be 
especially bad with the Jack'o'Lantern sitting there, watchin them, so they
took the thing and dropped it out the window one day. After that, everything
returned to normal, and no more odd occurences happened.

The interesting thing is that, unknown to the friend who was telling me this,
a Brandeis senior had hung himself in that room 6 years ago (I heard of this 
from a friend of the deceased).
From: jpl1@Ra.MsState.Edu (John Patrick Lestrade)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: Three Men and a baby..scariest movie
Date: 31 Aug 92 17:56:46 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Mississippi State University

The scariest movie I have seen was one of the ads for one of the 
candidates for president of the US.  goose bumps all day!

(Re: ghosts and 3 men and a baby:  get a life.)

--
John Patrick Lestrade, PhD        
cnesta::lestrade
jpl1@ra.msstate.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: betsy@access.digex.com (Betsy Marks)
Subject: Ok, That's it.
Followup-To: betsy@access.digex.com
Summary: Over the skeptics
Organization: Express Access, Greenbelt, Maryland USA
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 13:06:54 GMT

I just want to say that I really have been enjoying all the posts so far,
except for the ones about debunking the Three Men and a Baby story and the ones
about the street lights.

C'mon people - if I wanted to read about why these things aren't real, I would
still be subscribed to sci.skeptic.

Please take it there, take it to e-mail, or LIGHTEN UP!

'nuff said.


I do have one story, related to the lights in only the most marginal of ways.

Back when I was a sophomore in college, my first year at SUNY New Paltz (in 
upstate NY for the geographically challenged), I met my best friend throughout
college and parts thereafter.  She was a little strange, sometimes given to 
drinking and recreating in ways I generally didn't partake of.

Anyway, the first real night we spent together as friends, we took a walk into 
town to relax and have a few drinks.  I usually had something liquour-ish,
like sombreros or something.  She liked the stronger stuff, and usually stuck
to Southern Comfort.  By the time we were done at the bar, I was pretty mellow
but she was starting to go a little crazy.  We started back up the hill to 
school, on the main road to the east of campus.  As we got to one of the 
parking lots, the street lamp directly ahead of us blinked off.

She freaked, and started saying a lot of things about how she always did that
and how she hated it.

Then another light went out, about two lights away.  She started to, well,
babble about how she knew something terrible was going to happen but she 
couldn't tell me and what did it matter anyway, since there was nothing anyone
could do about it, anyway.

I tried to calm her down, got her back to the dorm and settled in, then went
back to my room and went to sleep.

I don't remember if it was the next day, the next week, or something close, but
a bridge collapsed, taking a lot of cars with it, and it was apparently this
event that set her off.  For all you research hounds, the year of the event 
was most likely 1983, but I don't remember the location.  All I can recall was
that the bridge fell due to stress, not to any natural disaster (flood, earth-
quake, etc.).

I have at least one more concerning my friend, but I'm going to wait.

-betsy {Araminta, Goddess of Phonelists}

     <betsy@access.digex.com   h) 202/244-2958   w) 202/554-9066 x262>
From: hummell+@pitt.edu (Andrew G Hummell)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: crop circles
Date: 30 Aug 92 14:02:14 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <1992Aug28.194118.21109@StarConn.com> sallyh@StarConn.com (Sally Holmes) writes:
>
>I thought the crop circles had been exposed as the work of two jokers in
>England and their copiers?
>
>Sally

While, I agree that this is not the group for crop circle discussion, I have
some things to point out about the people who have "come forward" to confess
that they had been creating the crop circles.

First, *no one* who cas come forward has been able to explain or demonstrate
how they bent the crops over without breaking the stems of the plants (the
stems of plants in true crop circles are not bent).  Sure they have been able
to create their own circles, but they always break the stems of the plants.

Second, the reason that these people confessed is that there is a nice little
monetary reward for anyone who has proof on the origins of the crop circles.

This is info that I have gleamed from "Sightings" on FOX and from various
(legitimate) newspaper and magazine articles that I've read on the subject.

Andy
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  "I'm not insane...just a reasonable facsimile."  | Hummell@unix.cis.pitt.edu
  "Character is what you are in the dark."         | Andy Hummell ...that's me 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: lib-asst@hq.hq (Library Assistant)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: In Search of ... Ghosts/Ghost Photography
Date: 26 Aug 92 16:52:54 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science

I thought this might fit somewhat along the lines of ghost
stories/sightings (and paranormal activity): tonight (Wednesday,
August 26) on the Arts & Entertainment Channel (A&E) on cable [sorry
for those of you who can't get cable] at 10:00pm to 11:00pm EST,
they'll be broadcasting two episodes of In Search of ..., and the
subjects will be ghosts and ghost photography.  These are re-runs of
the original series and re-done (the way the credits look) for A&E.
The host/narrator is Leonard Nimoy.

nml

--
========================================================================
+ Newton Loui (currently Library Assistant - MIT LCS/AI Reading Room)  +
+ lib-asst@hq.lcs.mit.edu   Temping for Kelly Services                 +
+ "You're just a temp.  I'm a full-time person; I'm going to be here a +
+ a long time." - terms of endearment from a former office mate before +
+ my current temp assignment in the Reading Room                       +
========================================================================
From: finneyrc@newton.ccs.tuns.ca (R Craig Finney)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: Street lights
Date: 26 Aug 92 03:36:52 GMT
Organization: Technical University of Nova Scotia, Halifax, N.S.

In article <1992Aug25.033127.353@engage.pko.dec.com> moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com writes:
>For quite a while there was a defective streetlight on my street.  It would
>shut off for no reason, regardless of whether anyone was around, stay off
>for about a minute, then start up again, then after several minutes would
>shut off again.  Repeat all night long.
>
>I have seen this before, it may be a common failure mode.
>
>Since they shut off suddenly, but start off slowly a random passer is not
>likely to notice a light start up, but would notice it if it shut off
>suddenly.
>
>-Mike (sorry to be a spoilsport)

You are not a spoilsport.  People are on this to find information.  All
information will eventually lead to the truth.

What you say makes sense.  But a common failure would eventually lead to
a breakdown.  One light that I walk under, has been going out since I moved
to Halifax 3 years ago.  The light works, when I am not around, so it
should have broken down a long time ago if it was a common failure.
What seems to be happening is that the system is being shut off.

Now to disprove anything that I may have been leading up to.
It is hard to say that the light works when I am not around, since
I need my senses to tell me that it is not working.

I have a strange test that deals with electricty.  If you have a 
multi-meter, one that measures resistance, try measuring the resistance
of the body at the temples.  Wet your temples and place the probes to them.
At a high enough level, some voltage will go through.  Try to comtrol the
level with your thoughts.  Don't worry it is safe.  The amount of electricitythe
the body can take is alot.  I read an article once on electro-magnetic
radiation that the electrical discharge between the neurons of the brain
is around either 10 Million or 10 Billion volts.
Is there anyone that can confirm or disprove or would like to offer their
advice.
-- 
Agent 36
(Everyone is sane in their own reality)
From: mwingo@morgan.csc.bcm.tmc.edu (Michelle Lynn Wingo)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: cemetary
Date: 4 Sep 1992 19:48:02 GMT
Reply-To: mwingo@morgan.csc.bcm.tmc.edu (Michelle Lynn Wingo)
Organization: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tx
Originator: mwingo@morgan.csc.bcm.tmc.edu


I'm really enjoying reading this newsgroup, but surprised that there haven't
been many tales about graveyards.

When I was in high school, many moons ago, several of my friends and I used to
go to a neighboring small town in Oklahoma - Okarche.  We had always heard
stories about the cemetary there having a tombstone that glowed.  One night
we ventured out to the cemetary with several other people from Okarche.  They
had told us the story, and needless to say, we wanted to see this for ourselves.
It was amazing!  Driving by, we could see something glowing out in the center
of the cemetary.  It was really weird, because there were no lights, it was
a very dark night - no moon light because of total cloud coverage, and no
houses around for a mile.  At first, I thought maybe it was the lights from
the car reflecting off of the tombstone, but we drove back by with the lights
off, and there was still the glow.  A little more about the cemetary, it was
approx. 50 ft by 50 ft., not very large, and it had quite a few trees.  Also,
it was very old, and the tombstone that was glowing was out in the center of the
cemetary.

I would have to agree, The Exorcist has been the scarriest movie I've ever
seen, with The Shining running a close second.  I enjoy reading
Steven King.  When I saw Pet Cemetary for the first time on HBO, I was by
myself in a hotel room in Chicago at a convention.  This was pretty scarry,
but it was probably because I was by myself.  Not to get off of the subject,
but I heard last summer that Steven King's The Stand was going to be made into
a movie.  Has anyone else heard such a rumor?

I have one more question.  Is there a newsgroup for dreams?  I have very vivid
dreams every night.  Most of the time someone is chasing me and trying to kill
me.  My husband has told me that it is not unusual for me to sit up in bed 
during the night and to start talking.  He says that he can never understand
what I'm saying.  When he wakes me up, which he doesn't do very often because it 
tends to upset me, sometimes I will see what ever it was that I was dreaming about.  Vivid dreams are kind of a pain, I never feel fully rested the next
morning...
  

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: smintz@sedona.intel.com (Stephen Mintz exp 11/92~)
Subject: Re: Scariest movie
Originator: smintz@alamo
Organization: Intel Corporation
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 21:52:56 GMT


I almost forgot another good movie, "Ghost Story"...:)
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.ghost-stories:246 dc.general:2028
From: pnh@fcsparc6.ncifcrf.gov (Paul N Hengen)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories,dc.general
Subject: Re: Ghost of Abe Lincoln
Date: 31 Aug 92 15:47:56 GMT
Followup-To: alt.folklore.ghost-stories

: >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.

|>>Gee i would have thought that his spirit woul be either in the opera house,
|>>the boarding house across the street, or where ever he is burried.  I don't
|>>know how he could be someplace that wasn't there when he was alive.

All the stories I've heard now state that Abe the honest ghost resides
in the room of the white house where he stayed...something about
other presidents who have seen it, including R.R. The dog was said to
have never gone into the room because he was spooked! -pnh.