Our only experience was in England, at Beaulieu (pron. Bewley), where there are the remains of a once huge abbey and church. There were motorcycle races going on in the adjacent grounds of the motor museum, and we were walking in the cloister. All of a sudden there was the sensation of a huge bell jar's being dropped over us--all the noise went away, and we heard the sound of faint chanting. This went on for a good two minutes, after which the bell jar lifted and all the noise came back.

We later learned that the abbey is known for being haunted by the monks who were driven from it in the time of Henry VIII.

this post is REALLY interesting. thanks for starting it caph!! i don't know why i thought you were a male -- but am delighted to hear you're a mom.

omg, tahititams.
lordbalfor, you told us the places but not the stories. come on.....

melissa, i would love to know more about your unique gifts and the paranormal aspects of HI culture because i didn't know that about HI.
i believe, like mooselywild's story, it all begins with an eery feeling, where if you trust your instincts, it makes you receptive to whatever it is present.

things escalate when you appear to a slip into "another time" and past events replay or echo through the ethers....like underhill's story.

when you actually see, not just hear, something paranormal, like margot's amazing story, i believe that you've let yourself "in" somehow, and if you want, can have an experience like tamifor's.

I stayed a Guenoc Winery about 6 years ago and though it is haunted with Lilly Langtree's ghost, I felt a male presence ( seemed like he was not happy I was there). The next day when we talked about it with the owner, he said it was Lillys boyfriend who was there and only once in a while makes his presence known.

Oh boy, this will make people think I am a weirdo. The first time I had a paranormal experience was the night before I gave birth to our first daughter. It had been a scary pregnancy fraught with trips to the ER, laying in bed a lot, worrying about miscarriage and then premature birth. I was being induced (mostly because no one could take the worrying anymore!) and was very worried myself. It was taking forever and we were on the 2nd day. The DR. said that the next day he was going to break my water and either naturally or through cesarian I would have a baby by dinner. This was about a week after Thanksgiving on a Friday evening. My grandmother had passed away the Friday after Thanksgiving 3 years previous and I knew the baby was a girl and we were planning on naming her after my grandma. Now, if this was paranormal or just my psyche trying to calm me down, I had a dream the night before my daughter was born that my grandma came to visit me. I was crying and told her how worried I was about the birth, etc. My grandma handed me a baby swaddled in a blanket and showed me how beautiful she was and that she was very healthy. She spoke to me and told me to be brave and calm. The next day would be long and stressful, but the outcome would be great. She was right. My father passed away 5 1/2 years ago and he visits every now and then to give me advice and counsel. This drives my mother insane as she has never seen him and he doesn't appear to her. I believe in spirits, I too had a near death experience. But, instead of dying my father and grandmother told me this was not yet my time, I needed to go back and they promised to come for me when it was my time. In Gettysburg 3 years ago, I felt the spirits of several infantrymen on both Union and Confederate lines. In Paris, I dreamed about a young girl who had starved to death in the late 1800's. Luckily, my paranormal experiences have all been good and comforting.

Yikes, aliska. Nothing so dramatic but I was staying in a rented house on Nantucket and definitely there was a playful male ghost in the house. I would be getting dressed and suddenly the window shades would go up and start spinning around. Lights would get turned on in the middle of the night. One night, friends (a couple) were sleeping in the room next door. The man got up to go to the john and his wife felt him get back into bed next to her, but when she turned over to talk to him, he wasn't there!

I always felt guilty b/c I lied to the prospective onwners. The house was up for sale and the prospective owners came with their engineer to do an inspection. They asked us if we had experienced any ghosts and we said no not wanting to put them off.

I saw the documentary "The Ghosts of Grey Gardens" on PBS the other night.
http://www.ghostsofgreygardens.com/ They interviewed Ben Bradley and Sally Quinn who bought the house. Sally Quinn mentioned ghosts in the house.

This is kind of silly, but a true story! A few years ago we stayed at the Princess Kaiulani in Waikiki with another couple. There was a problem with our rooms on arrival, and the management put us in the 2 bedroom penthouse. We did a bit of unpacking and went out. When we got back from going out to dinner, both my friend and I stopped in the entry and commented that it "felt" like someone was in the room (but they weren't)...weird because we both felt this & actually commented on it. When I went into our bedroom, a pair of unfamiliar boxers were on the chair, "set out" as if they were put out for someone to wear. They were not my husband's and, in fact, belonged to one of the friends we were with. He was VERY embarassed & couldn't figure out how they had gotten to our room. We called down to the front desk, and a manager came up to talk to us. She was very concerned, but assured us that no one had entered the rooom in our absence. She was certain of this because management could track entry with the key card, and she was positive that no housekeeping or maintenance staff had been there. We jokingly asked if there could be a ghost in the hotel, and she became somewhat flustered and said, "Oh, there are some stories, but I don't believe any of it!" We walked around exploring the floor we were on, and noticed many sepia photos of Princess Kaiulani. The next morning we talked to a couple different hotel staff...both had numerous stories about the hotel, and assured us that is was definitely haunted. Apparently it was built on the property of the old palace, and Princess Kaiulani was known to spend much time in the gardens, hence, the name of the hotel. Hmmm....

This is fun !
If there are ghosts, I hope I get to see one ... I kinda like that scared fun feeling of What is that noise? Is it a ghost?
I prefer to think of ghosts as not malevolent or unhappy but perhaps watching over us.
corwin, I SO agree , that is a lovely idea, to think that there will be someone there , waiting to take us along on the next step :)
Kon bon wa Melissa! :)

LOL, I just went back and read the Ghost thread that Melissa linked here...laclaires answer to AnthonyGa regarding ghosts was hilairous!

To quote Bertrand Russell: "I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego shall survive." There's no verifiable evidence of the existence of an afterlife, or of ghosts.

OK, I'm being a wet blanket, and to tell the truth I like a good ghost story as much as the next man - try the beautifully creepy "Ghost Stories of an Antiquary" by M. R. James. But that's a temporary suspension of disbelief thing, and otherwise we may as well face facts.

Hi there, wet blanket, er, Neil! :D
When will you be coming to Oregon?

aloha scarlett!

mclaurie, that would never happen here...we are required to disclose night marchers, or if someone died in the home (if you know) in real estate. not that ghosts are so common, but as I say, it is the culture here.

corwin, I actually have a very low vibration compared to others, like my friend's nephew!

I used to be a banquet waitress at the Hawaiian Regent, and the ballrooms are said to be haunted. one of my friends could actually see one of the people in there! not me...but one night as I was setting the butter plates out before a function, 'someone' whacked my elbow from behind and sent my butter tray flying. I was the only one in the ballroom at the time! hoo boy.

This is for MelissaHI..
Aloha,
I have a friend who is from Oahu and she said that Hwy 1 is so haunted that when they travel that road that they bring food and other offerings..
I have heard of wild tales and wanted to see if you had any stories?
Also, the night marchers is scary and I have spoken to people that their parents or friends have experienced and it is something they say is so unbelievable but true...
I went to the Ritz in Maui and I felt the cold spots at the pool and the weird vibe..
I never heard of these stories until I went to the Hawaiian Islands and there is a mystical tone that you cannot explain but it is there..
I really am somewhat normal..;)

Tahititams: Well, not H-1. it was the OLD Pali Road, decades and decades ago. It wasn't food offerings, but if you had pork in your car it was very likely your car would stall on that road. If that happened, you'd throw your pork out the window and you could go on your way. But this road is no longer used as a main passageway, for at least 40 to 50 years. (Before I was born, at least!)

If you can, pick up a copy of any of Glen Grant's books on obakes or "chicken skin tales" on amazon.com and you will read about some of the most common occurences here in the islands.

Here's a tip that I got from a ghostbuster though: If you feel something, start thinking positive thoughts. Think about how much you love your family. think about good times. For some reason, positive energy, feelings, and thoughts makes spirits shy away.

Hi MelissaHI - Not counting a number of photos taken in Hawaii that obviously have "spirits" in them, (and I'm not talking about okolehau) three places I lived in on Oahu had ghosts. Once in a Kahala apartment I felt a definite hand placed on my shoulder when I was depressed. In an apartment on Pensacola Street quite near the Pensacola Fire Station, I experienced the infamous pressing ghost 2 or 3 times (and there was also the sound of scratching on my bedroom wall a few times as well...). It was only after I took Glen Grant's ghost tour of old Honolulu around 1992 that I realized what had happened to me. That was NOT pleasant. Oh, and a house I lived in on University Ave used to have a ghost who walked up and down the stairs at all times of the day or night. Used to open and slam the front door, too.
((S))((*))

I forgot something - years ago, before the Maritime Museum existed, the Falls of Clyde was docked close to the Oceania Floating restaurant (where I worked). I remember visiting the ship and speaking to the caretaker, who told a story about a woman visitor who'd seen someone she thought was a guide in costume below deck. That was until he walked into a post, split in two and disappeared. She even wrote to them about it for their files, but that was around 1975, so I assume that letter is long gone.
((S))((*))

drat. I wish I could somehow find that file on the ghost of the Falls of Clyde. I told Bob Krauss of the Advertiser about it and he got very excited! He loves promoting Honolulu's maritime history and adding a ghost to the mix would be fantastic!

ah, the pressing ghost. You know those are near fire stations, right? Also, Kahala, being near the water, is the site of many (I think) battles and burials. My friend's family & I experienced a fun, kind of rascal teenage Hawaiian girl ghost at their Kahala home over a period of time. I guess she felt like she was part of the family? The only person who ever actually saw her was my friend's stepbrother. The rest of us just felt her--bouncing on the bed next to Max while he played his guitar, or waking me up every night at 2:30, stuff like that.

Well, my friend's nephew in Kona was right. his grandmother passed away last night, right on (his) schedule. The great thing was, before she passed, she mentioned that she was seeing all these friends and family that had already passed on. They were greeting her and shaking her hand, I guess sort of pre-welcoming her to heaven so she'd feel comfortable doing it. What a wonderful and cheerful way to go!

Anyway....sorry, CAPH, I know this was supposed to be "travel and the paranormal," not "paranormal at home." ha!

I was so surprised to come home and find this thread in the top 50! Some great stories, guys! I enjoyed them all. But I was especially touched by your post, aliska. What a wonderful story about your dream of your grandmother!

Great thread CAPH52!!
Hey MelissaHI..
It is the highway that was completed about 10 years ago..maybe I got the wrong freeway but she did mention that if they had Pork in the car, the car would be ok but if they didn't the new car would act up and stall and they would have to call friends to bring some Pork and some other stuff and then the car would start up..
A good friend of ours lived in Condo Tower in Oahu and she said that one day above her head in her living room it starting raining from a mini cloud! Not from the roof and when she told me this story she was in her 70's and she said all kinds of weird stuff happened to her in that Condo..
I will be staying at the Royal Hawaiian in September and I have heard some stories that exist there..
Mahalo

I guess someone reading this thread might come to the conclusion that Hawaii is full of ghosts - not that I could dispute that.

I and various other members of my family have experienced different things in my parents' home - actually, I don't like to think about it too much because it creeps me out.

Melissa - I was also told about the thinking good thoughts when you "feel" something - and yes, it does seem to work.

Hi chepar! I was starting to think that, too....sorry! Truth be told, all the ghost stories I've heard make it sound like most ghosts here lead a very mundane existence. Go to work, go home. Go to work, go home. Not much to it.