HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: v124qhu5@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Hot Stuff)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: re: a strange occurance
Date: 27 Jan 93 20:49:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

after my cat died when i was younger, i also had the experience of seeing him out
of the normal sight of vision. he would always be running towards me as to jump
on my lap. when i would turn towards him, he would not be there. my older sister
also told me that she would see him in his favorite spots, and turn to pet him, 
and there would be nothing. i always just thought it was because i missed him, 
but it never did happen while i was thinking of him...sara
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: 'Nother story
From: taylorn@kenyon.edu
Date: 25 Jan 93 09:08:25 -0500
Organization: Kenyon College

	When my sister-in-law was a teenager, she and a few of her friends
would get out a Ouija board to "play" with.  They found that who(what)ever
they were talking to would tell them things that would happen in the future. 
They always came true.  One time they were on the board and the doors on the
kitchen cabinets would open and glasses flew out and broke on the floor.  This
scared them so much that they threw the game out.  And again, and again.  The
board always showed back up again until they finally burnt it.  She has never
since touched a board and is ULTRA religious.  She said that she's afraid that
it opened doors she wish would have stayed closed.  

	Mind you, she is one of the most level-headed people you can imagine,
but she has had some really freaky things happen to her as an adult.  When my
nephew was about 2-3 years old, she said she had been sleeping and woke up and
saw something going into his bedroom.  She got up and followed it and saw it
go over to his bed.  When she got the the doorway of his room, it vanished.
From: gj156879@alfred.carleton.ca ( gj student 156879)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Ouija Warning
Date: 27 Jan 93 16:59:06 GMT
Organization: Carleton University

From what the person said, and from what I know:

He said (was it a he?) that spirits who are dead but haven't gone into
the light are somehow evil.  This isn't the case, in my experience.  A
reluctance to enter that big light thing doesn't necessarily mean
you're an evil ghosty with nasty powers.  There are many reasons a
spirit would want to hang out and watch earthly matters.

[Qualify this with the fact that I'm not sure I believe any of
this...]

For one thing, some spirits act as "guides" or influence human
behaviour in many ways.  For example: muses, dryads, and other
"spiritual figures".  From my experiences, I was told that the spirit
things around us take the name and form of human myth, but are in fact
spiritual "beings" that perform certain functions.  

There are some evil thingies, [if you believe in this sort of thing]
but there are also some confused spirits unaware that they are dead.
If you want to use a ouija board, go for it.  If you are paranoid that
you'll encounter a natsy evil thingy, do a candle ritual [as I
described before: light a white candle, light a black candle, put out
the black one and light another white one...]  or you could make up
your own ritual that you feel will keep only the good things around.

Once again, let me say: I still don't know if I believe in any of
this.  It's neat, but I remain unconvinced.  

I have heard stories about EVIL NASTIES while using ouija boards.
Anyone who actually takes what a ouija board says in a serious way...
Well, I don't think many people would.  But maybe that should be the
warning: DON'T TAKE OUIJA BOARDS TOO SERIOUSLY.

                                                  Nik
From: trifid@agora.rain.com (Roadster Racewerks)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: "Visionaries"
Date: 27 Jan 93 09:09:20 GMT
Organization: Open Communications Forum


Your "deja vu" sounds like you are beginning to be able to have "lucid" dreams.
This is a dream that you can influence semi-consciously, without completely
waking up. I've learned to do that, as a hedge against those nightmares I
mentioned having as a child. This is a new discovery of sleep science, maybe
you ought to get on one of the related newsgroups...

Suze

(May be "new", but I did it years ago...  ;-)
From: dessy@egr.msu.edu (Electric Monk)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: ed & lorraine warren
Date: 28 Jan 93 03:50:38 GMT
Organization: Michigan State University, College of Engineering
NNTP-Posting-Host: frith.egr.msu.edu


has anybody ever read any documentation on the files of ed and lorraine warren?
they are supposed to be bona fide "demonologists" and i have read some of their stuff-mostly amittyville horror/poltergist stuff-and also a lot of possession.
i would really be interested if someone would give more info or stories on them.
From: probe@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Prabal Nandy)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: A strange occurance
Date: 23 Jan 1993 22:41:15 -0500
Organization: Homewood Academic Computing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md, USA
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu


    Dark images in peripheral vision? From what you've described it sounds
very much like a sleep-deprivation disorder to me. Are you getting at least
8 hours of sleep? If not, try sleeping in on the weekends and you should see
a definite improvement over the next few days. There are also a couple other
things that it could be, but here I've suffered from great lack of sleep and
often begin hallucinating out of the corners of my eyes after a few days. 

-- 
      /| ________________   |probe@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu|  Lord of the Flies 
O|===|* >________________>  |probe@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu|  1st MPC Division
      \|                    | nandy@scivax.stsci.edu |  Colony Mechworks
  Velox - Durus - Infestus  |  nandy@fos.stsci.edu   |  Colony World Myops
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: malixi@sis.uucp (Julius Malixi)
Subject: ouija boards
Organization: Sheridan College, Ontario, Canada
 
Distribution: ont
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 21:29:39 GMT





The ouija is not a game, it was developed through the Indian ancestors
of Eurasia to come intact with the dead.  They felt a type of inter-
connection to be able to speak with spirtual figures.Little did they
know that it were spirits who were never ready to die.
Yes, they were successful, but they're all dead now. Makes you wonder

if they died from playing this DEADLY game.  Do not interact with the

dead.  I repeat, do not PLAY with the death board. h
 
 

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: jajmoore@lagrange.uwaterloo.ca (Moses Moore)
Subject: Shadow Creatures
Keywords: shadow, ghosts, animals, rats, corner of the eye
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 07:03:32 GMT

I've seen a large furry animal in my room, but when I look directly at it it vanished.  I assume it was quadroped, with the long body and wide base of the underside.  I had pointed to the place I saw it before I looked there directly, but it was gone.  I may have seen it a second time but forgot having seen it.

Sleep deprevation is a very plausable reason, except for the detail I was able to make out about whatever it was.  The front end (the furry body was slightly tapered) was out of my vision, but what I saw of the fur was that it was thick and grey and shaggy.  It's "rear" end was thicker than the "fore" end, leading me to believe that it was a four-legged creature with haunches for back legs.  The size of the shadowy creature wwas that of about a beagle without legs.


Visionaries:  I've been having cases of deja vu where I end up changing what I had dreamed what was going to happen.  Very disorienting, when I feel that what I'm doing is not what is supposed to happen.



Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: lls@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Lori Smallwood)
Subject: Re: Ouija Boards
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 21:35:36 GMT

In article <gj156879.727631066@cunews> gj156879@alfred.carleton.ca ( gj student 156879) writes:
>I'm new to this particular group, so I have no idea if this topic has
>been broached before, but has anyone in here had bizarre experiences
>with those spooky hunks of cheap pressed wood?  They can make for
>great fun and weirdness, both scaring you silly and for strange
>laughs.
>
>My own experiences are long and strange (too long to describe, unless
>someone pushes me into doing it) but involved demons, trees, wizards,
>dryads, lying spirits, etc.

Oh, please tell us!  :)

-- Lori



Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: lorenzo@spot.Colorado.EDU (Eric Lorenzo)
Subject: Re: Ouija Boards
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 17:48:42 GMT

In article <gj156879.727631066@cunews> gj156879@alfred.carleton.ca ( gj student
156879) writes:
>I'm new to this particular group, so I have no idea if this topic has
>been broached before, but has anyone in here had bizarre experiences
>with those spooky hunks of cheap pressed wood?  They can make for
>great fun and weirdness, both scaring you silly and for strange
>laughs.
>

	Personally, the idea of Ouija boards always has bothered me and 
I've never been able to bring myself to try one out.  I've also always
had a deep fear of clowns too for some reason.

Thanks for the time,
Eric
-- 
       --    O          The thrill is                   Eric J. Lorenzo
     ---   </\_      not just in winning,       lorenzo@Rintintin.Colorado.EDU
   ----  -\/\         but in the courage                  also @UCSU
      ---   /_         to join the race    -?               & @Spot
From: probe@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Prabal Nandy)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: Night struggles
Date: 28 Jan 1993 16:49:33 -0500
Organization: Homewood Academic Computing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu

   I think what you hear influences perception alot more than most people
are apt to realize. A matter of fact, (and it has been discussed here a
couple of times in the past) alot of things that go "bump in the night" and
things that also go "bump in the day" but are just inaudible under normal
circumstances. I would also hypothesize that Ghost are so often heard in old
houses primarily due to the groaning and settling of boards and windows and
such things... When have ghosts ever been seen in a modern cement and
plaster office building? It's a well known fact, also, that the tired human
mind is especially apt at producing images that mimic what we're
subconsciously afraid of... ex: "Old hag night terrors", Ghosts in the
night, Monsters... My father tells me a story of Morgue Guards found dead at
an English Hospital before he moved there... all fairly healthy, dead of
heart attacks... Thought to be victims of Ghosts.
   Sensory deprivation, as you might have heard is a great medium for
hallucinations of this sort... The human mind is not designed to produced
rational output under these conditions, hence, it produces its own set of
perceptions. (You must have heard about some of these experiments.) In the
end, on a quiet day, you can hear anything you want to hear....

								-Probe

-- 
      /| ________________   |probe@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu|  Lord of the Flies 
O|===|* >________________>  |probe@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu|  1st MPC Division
      \|                    | nandy@scivax.stsci.edu |  Colony Mechworks
  Velox - Durus - Infestus  |  nandy@fos.stsci.edu   |  Colony World Myops
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: 890692h@dragon.acadiau.ca (W Morris Hattie)
Subject: RE:ouija
Organization: Acadia University
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 05:23:34 GMT

I'm just posting to tell a story in keeping with the ouija board posting.
I come from a rather small community and we have lots of interesting happenings,but one of my friends has a way with these ouija boards. I guess his slightly
brave (or warped whichever you prefer) helps. He would take his board with a    friend to a graveyard and try to communicate with the spirits by setting on the place of rest with the board; he's had quite a few interesting replies, but one night he asked a question that annoyed the spirit and the ouija board flew right off the grave and landed a few feet away.

This lead to his next neat experience, he was very scared by this and decided
to try and destroy his board. He did not believe the stories that the only way
to destroy one was to soak it in holy water then burn it so i heard, anyway,
he and his friend broke it into many pieces and threw it on the table. When they awoke in the morning it was  laying on the table. He asked his parents why they had glued it together and they said it was there when they got up. Upon furthurexamination he found absolutely no sign of any cracks or glue marks or any signs that his board was ever damaged. This lead to his ceasing to use it for some 
time.

I know quite a few good stories from reliable sources so if anyone is 
interested then post and i'll relate some more.

NO SIG FOR NOW
From: molin@ptb.cl.msu.edu (Michael Olin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: THE CAT
Date: 22 Jan 93 04:32:57 GMT
Organization: Michigan State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: ptb.cl.msu.edu

trifid@agora.rain.com (Roadster Racewerks) writes:

> What's so bad about being haunted by a cat? Unless you don't like cats, that
>is...
>Give it a name and it'll probably get bored and go away...

Better yet, befriend it...  Lord knows, if you can be haunted by a cat,
there's probably also a mouse or two hiding in your fears.
--
  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                               |||      Sing a happy tune and
    molin@ptb.cl.msu.edu       |||     happy dancers will join
    Canton, Michigan USA      / | \     your trip.  -T. Golas
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: flournoy@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Raymond Suke Flournoy)
Subject: Re: An addition to a strange occurance
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University.
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 04:12:04 GMT

In article <1993Jan24.181412.10129@iscsvax.uni.edu> mcmurtrey@iscsvax.uni.edu writes:
>In article <93023.233329LMS5@psuvm.psu.edu>, <LMS5@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>> In article <1jt3ftINN52t@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>, probe@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Prabal
>> Nandy) says:
>>>
>>>   As I mentioned in my previous post, I've also had these kinds of
>>>hallucinations...  [list deleted]
>> 
>>   Things like this used to bother me until I found out from an eye doctor that
>>   have 'floaters'. I am not exactly sure what they are composed of but they
>>   make you see dark images like the above. Now, when I see something like that,
>>   I kinda find it amusing :-)
>
>        I occasionally have a problem with floaters also, they are strands of
>tissue that are in you eyes.  They are situated on the outside of the eyeball
>but inside your lid. They look much like a clear hair up to an inch long.  They
>don't hurt luckily.  I have no idea why they occur.  I do know that when one
>drifts across your cornea (they float around) it causes a very weird bluring or
>distortions.  They're not as wide as your cornea so only a band of bluring will
>occur.

  I'm not an expert, but I am a floater-sufferer, so I'll add what I
know.  Floaters are not actually foreign objects in the eye, but are
caused by rifts and incongruities that have formed in the jelly inside
the eyeball -- like knife cuts through Jell-O.  They are normally
associated with retinal detachment and tearing, and more mundanely,
with extremely poor vision and age.  They are annoying as all-get-out. 

  When I read the first hallucination post, I also thought of floaters
and other retinal problems.  If the hallucinations are really finely
detailed, then I don't know what to say, but the ones described as
'shadowy figures' sound like they might be caused by these ocular
problems.


--Raymond Flournoy        
======================================================================
flournoy@cs.stanford.edu         "For reasons I cannot explain
Computer Science Dept.            There's some part of me wants to see 
Stanford University, CA           Graceland"               -- P. Simon
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: lgraham@aisun2.ai.uga.edu (Laurel K. Graham [MSAI])
Subject: A strange occurance
Organization: University of Georgia
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 12:23:40 GMT

Hi.  I have always wanted to discuss this with someone, so I think I will
start with a newsgroup.  I say "a strange occurance" but really events
similar to the one I am going to discuss have been occurring as long as I
can remember.  This event, however, was particularly weird.

Basically, I have been seeing some very strange things in my peripheral 
vision.  Such as dark moving shapes, moving towards or away from me.  For a
long time I thought these were simply the product of my imagination working
over time.  

A couple of years ago, I lived in an apartment with three other girls.  One of
my roommates, Laura, was adopting this kitten which was hanging around the
complex.  She would bring it in, feed it, and then put it outside again.  She
did this for several weeks, until the kitten stopped coming around for dinner.
So, one evening one of my other roommates and I were watching television.  I
was sitting on the floor, in front of the T.V. -- eating a snack-- and my 
roommate was sitting behind me on the couch.  Out of the corner of my eye,
I saw the kitten running towards me across the living room floor.  I turned
to look at the kitten, and even stretched out my arms to stop the kitten from
gettting what I was eating.  When I looked, nothing was there.  I turned to
my roommate and asked what had happened to the kitten.  She looked at me like
I was crazy, and asked 'What kitten?'  I asked Laura if she had let the kitten
in; she said she had not seen the kitten in several days.

I still see dark objects -- moving and not moving -- in my peripheral vision,
but it is getting harder and harder to explain these things off to the mind.
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 23:33:29 EST
From: <LMS5@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: An addition to a strange occurance
Distribution: usa
 <1jt3ftINN52t@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>

In article <1jt3ftINN52t@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>, probe@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Prabal
Nandy) says:
>
>   As I mentioned in my previous post, I've also had these kinds of
>hallucinations... I'm positive that they have a definite psychological and
>physiological basis... But if your interested, some of my more dramatic
>peripheral vision hallucinations were:
>
>   A deformed, hairless dog-like creature in the back of our bathroom here,
>moving toward me.
>   Small, stilted, spiny humanoid creatures.
>   A large, black, hand-shaped flying insect flying just over my lamp.
>   Small fly-like creature that persist for up to 2-3 seconds.
>   Tall, dark, roughly humanoid shadows.
>

  Things like this used to bother me until I found out from an eye doctor that
  have 'floaters'. I am not exactly sure what they are composed of but they
  make you see dark images like the above. Now, when I see something like that,
  I kinda find it amusing :-)

  I do believe 'floaters' have been mentioned here before.

  Laurie
From: jfurr@polaris.async.vt.edu (Joel Furr)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: RE:ouija
Date: 26 Jan 93 20:31:34 GMT
Organization: Virginia Center for Lemur Fandom, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA (subscribe to alt.fan.lemurs TODAY)

In article <NML.93Jan25172729@csa.bu.edu> nml@csa.bu.edu (Newton Loui) writes:
>In article <AMATHUR.93Jan25132103@storm.EEAP.CWRU.Edu> amathur@storm.EEAP.CWRU.Edu (Alok Mathur) writes:
>
>[much stuff about ouija boards deleted]
>
>   I guess several stories on this newsgroup (if true) point us towards these
>   conclusion. Although I feel that this is an appropriate newsgroup for a
>   discussion of this sort, please correct me if I'm wrong (What does
>   the charter say ?).
>
>According to Joel Furr <FURRJK@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu> (probably instrumental
>in forming this alt newsgroup):
>
>The charter of alt.folklore.ghost-stories is as follows:
>
>Alt.folklore.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 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.
>
>Discussion of ouija boards, floaters, "Old Hags", and the like should
>probably be discussed in alt.paranormal, but who am I and what's to
>stop you?

Naw, I think it fits.  I probably should have thrown something in the
charter like "if it's spooky, tell it" and most of the Ouija stuff fits
that description.
From: gugler-sean@cs.yale.edu (Sean Gugler)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: RE:ouija
Date: 26 Jan 1993 01:17:31 -0500
Organization: Yale University Computer Science Undergraduate
	<AMATHUR.93Jan25132103@storm.EEAP.CWRU.Edu>
	<NML.93Jan25172729@csa.bu.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: toad.zoo2.cs.yale.edu
In-reply-to: nml@csa.bu.edu's message of 25 Jan 93 22:27:29 GMT

In article <NML.93Jan25172729@csa.bu.edu> nml@csa.bu.edu (Newton Loui) writes:
>According to Joel Furr <FURRJK@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu> (probably instrumental
>in forming this alt newsgroup):
>
>The charter of alt.folklore.ghost-stories is as follows:
>
>Alt.folklore.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 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.
>
>Discussion of ouija boards, floaters, "Old Hags", and the like should
>probably be discussed in alt.paranormal, but who am I and what's to
>stop you?

Yeah, lengthy discussions, debates of the factuality of such, etc.,
might better fit elsewhere.

BUT, please keep the _stories_ of these events rolling.
Or maybe cross-post them.

          - Sean
-- 
Sean Gugler                         gugler@cs.yale.edu     <-- Internet
P.O. Box 1902 Yale Station         gugseap@yalevm          <-- Bitnet
New Haven, CT  06520   USA         sgugler@music.yale.edu  <-- NeXT
(203)-436-0861            We both have truths; are mine the same as yours?
From: probe@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Prabal Nandy)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: Night struggles
Date: 23 Jan 1993 22:50:56 -0500
Organization: Homewood Academic Computing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu

  Again, this is exactly what I'd expect from that kind of problem. Take a
look at my long post on this subject awhile back, ("The Old Hag" phenomenon,
or I will repost it for you.)
  Though I must say, I am surprised that you are still having these episodes
at your age. Mostly I've seen it in younger children or people under
considerable emotional stress. Me, I had it until I was about 12 or so, and
then I managed to teach myself out of it. (Very distressing it was!) The
interesting thing was, was that learning that it wasn't dangerous and that
lots of people had the problem was KEY to getting over it. When it wasn't
scary anymore it stopped coming.

   Hope this helps alittle!


-- 
      /| ________________   |probe@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu|  Lord of the Flies 
O|===|* >________________>  |probe@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu|  1st MPC Division
      \|                    | nandy@scivax.stsci.edu |  Colony Mechworks
  Velox - Durus - Infestus  |  nandy@fos.stsci.edu   |  Colony World Myops