Ghost in a huff?

[Scottish_Girl]

I've posted elsewhere about my odd experiences, but thought I would start a thread for this one. Not only did I experience what seemed to be the 'ghost' of my dead friend, but he appeared to still be able to show 'emotion' and made it clear he was 'pissed off' with me.

I met Mark at work when I was 19 and he was 25 - he was a First Officer with BA. We were never 'boyfriend/girlfriend' (apart from one drunken fumble in the early days which we soon laughed about and never tried again) but we hit it off from the moment we met, had such a laugh together...he was a silly sod with a filthy sense of humour - and we also shared a lot of heartache over our respective love affairs, and were generally great pals and saw each other frequently until he was promoted to Captain and moved bases away from my hometown. We kept in touch by phone, met up now and again and he came to my wedding etc, but I had not heard from him for a while when I had a phone call from a distraught mutual friend family friend one night in 1995 to tell me Mark had died very suddenly while abroad, from a brain haemorrhage. By this time I was married and had a child, my son was 5 years old.


After the funeral, on a beautiful day in June, I was sitting in my back garden thinking about him and the fun we had, and I remember thinking 'Oh Mark, I'm so sorry..I wish you were still around' and I was suddenly prodded in the boob! Seriously, I don't know how else to describe it, but it was a real 'jab' as if to say 'I am still here' and it is just what he would have done when he was alive.


Months later, when I had stopped thinking about him at least once a day, I had another really strange experience. In order to tell this I have to mention two things. My son at the time was into 'Power Rangers', and he had a set of walkie talkies. If you pressed a button on one of the units while the other was also switched on, it would emit this high pitched 'screech' until you pressed the button on the other unit to reply. We also had a big drawer in the bottom of the unit in our living room, and everything went in there when I was tidying up in a hurry....kids toys, newspapers...(once found a rotting cheese sandwich in there but that is another story) ...

Anyway, I was lying in my bed one night about 11pm, my son had been in bed since 8pm, and my husband was fast asleep. I was dozing, and suddenly heard the unmistakeable sound of this Power Ranger walkie talkie, which only ever happened when someone pressed the button on one of the units. I assumed my son was awake and playing with his toys, so I went through to his bedroom, and he was fast asleep. The screech was coming from the living room....from the bottom drawer of the unit. I opened the drawer, and a photograph (not in a frame) of Mark which had once been propped up on the unit and must have dropped in, or been knocked in literally shot out of the drawer and fluttered up into the air. Please suspend disbelief as I tell you this - I promise this is true, and I have no reason to lie. I don't believe it any more than you do probably, but it really did happen. It was almost as if he was saying 'Hey! You've forgotten all about me, bloody photo shoved in a drawer'.

The really weird thing about it is that although one half of the walkie talkie set was in the drawer, the other half had gone missing and never turned up again...and it never made the noise again (it couldn't, without the other half.)

[Araneus]

Not only did I experience what seemed to be the 'ghost' of my dead friend, but he appeared to still be able to show 'emotion' and made it clear he was 'pissed off' with me.

Err, no. What you "saw" was a photograph fly up in the air. Assuming that this is the ghost of your dead friend displaying emotion towards you is stretching credulity to the extreme.

I was dozing

but it really did happen.

'nuff said.

[Scottish_Girl]

Hmmm. So much for my theory that skeptics are crusty and dry, lacking in humour and manipulate statements to suit their own purposes.

I am not trying to prove anything to you, nor am I about to get into an argument about what I did or did not see. Just sharing an interesting story, and stating the facts as they happened to me. Believe what you like!

Must be hellish trying to squeeze a thought through that closed mind of yours.

[Araneus]

I am not trying to prove anything to you, nor am I about to get into an argument about what I did or did not see. Just sharing an interesting story, and stating the facts as they happened to me.

And there was I assuming that posting a thread on a discussion forum meant you wanted to discuss what might have actually happened. Clearly the objective was that your report should be accepted at face value and taken to be the unquestionable Truth. My mistake.

Must be hellish trying to squeeze a thought through that closed mind of yours.

Wow, three posts in and we're already into the stupid cliches.

I don't think the "Jackson's law" commentary ever made it onto the website, but the rule that "As a discussion with a believer grows longer, the probability that the believer will accuse the skeptic of being 'closed-minded' approaches 1" holds truer than ever. It's a pity they don't have the faintest idea what the phrase even means.

[Scottish_Girl]

Fine. Whatever floats your boat.

My original post was friendly, and IMO your reply was rude, scathing and scornful and did not appear to invite further discussion.

[tablemonkey]

Those walkie-talkies can pick up baby intercoms and maybe the battery was running out on the one in the drawer?

I think the jab was probably coincidence. Sometimes we get those feelings but if a person is thinking of a deceased person at the time, then that person might think it has something to do with it. But why should he wait for the time you were thinking of him?

If it had been anything other than his photo would you have assumed it was him? Or just put it down to a natural occurrence?

[Araneus]

My original post was friendly, and IMO your reply was rude, scathing and scornful and did not appear to invite further discussion.

I'm sorry if you interpreted it that way, it was supposed to be lighthearted.

Nevertheless, there are plenty of mundane explanations for a photograph jumping out of a drawer that do not involve the ghost of a dead relative. When combined with your admission that you had been dozing (and therefore could have been half-asleep at the time, or even dreamt the entire thing), the evidence of paranormal activity is not very strong.

Your assumption that the walkie-talkie cannot make a noise without the other one is also incorrect, as tablemonkey pointed out. These devices operate on a fairly narrow range of frequencies and it is quite possible that a similar device operated in the vicinity could trigger activity from your walkie-talkie.

[MRT]

If the photo was knocked into the drawer by accident, it is possible that it was stuck between the top of the drawer and the horizontal bit just above (whatever that is called - I know nothing about furniture). If it was in that position, it would naturally shoot out when you opened the drawer. I oten have things shoot out of drawers when I open them - that's because I stuff too much in them.

[Scottish_Girl]

Thanks for all the interesting thoughts on this. I tried jamming a photo in the drawer like the last poster suggested....but when I opened the drawer, it didn't 'fly' out the way I remembered the original photo did......it just fell back into the drawer.

There were no babies in the immediate vicinity from memory (for the baby monitor theory) but I guess someone up the street could have been using one...or some other item of equipment that made it screech like that out of the blue.

[Cuddles]

There were no babies in the immediate vicinity from memory (for the baby monitor theory) but I guess someone up the street could have been using one...or some other item of equipment that made it screech like that out of the blue.

All walkie-talkies, baby monitors and similar are just radios. The more professional radios, used in sports for example, can select from several different channels to avoid precisely the sort of cross-talk that you describe. Cheap radios like toy walkie-talkies can't, they will just be stuck on one channel that will be common to many devices. A radio you have picking up a signal from another radio is not in the least unusual. All it means is that another one working on the same frequency. A good example of this would be American Pie 2 (if you haven't seen it, don't), where a conversation between the main characters is picked up by the police, truckers, childrens toys and various other radios.

There are plenty of other less likely possibilities, that could result in a radio pulse on the same frequency, such as a power surge, military tests, solar flares and so on. And of course, it is always possible that it was simply the lost radio landing on its transmit button as fell wherever it was that you couldn't find it again.

[wooo_oops]

...as if to say 'I am still here' and it is just what he would have done when he was alive.

...It was almost as if he was saying 'Hey! You've forgotten all about me, bloody photo shoved in a drawer'.

It's possibly the meaning we attribute to these coincidences which make us think it could be a message from beyond the grave. Imagine if what had flown out of the drawer was something else other than a photograph? Because of the circumstances, you may still have found a meaning behind it, albeit a different one. When odd things happen, we tend to look for an explanation. When it can't be explained, an alternative may be invoked, such as a paranormal one.

Try this:
http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/Articles/si92.html

[Scottish_Girl]

Talking about angry ghosts....

This one seems in a right flounce.

http://www.castleofspirits.com/hamptonghost.gif

http://www.castleofspirits.com/hamptoncourt.html

[median]

A 'ghost' with an uncanny knowledge of interlocking fire door pushbars no less ???

[donnygirl]

hello scottish girl
forgive me but you seemed to let yourself get talked out of something you know happenened
i wouldn't
i know that most people say there are explanations but sometimes there just aren't
must apologise new on here with a very open mind
gonna get shot down now aren't i?

[Araneus]

forgive me but you seemed to let yourself get talked out of something you know happenened
i wouldn't
i know that most people say there are explanations but sometimes there just aren't

must apologise new on here with a very open mind

It's interesting that you claim to have an "open mind", whilst also suggesting that Scottish_Girl should accept the paranormal explanation as fact and refuse to consider any alternatives, which would be very "closed-minded" indeed.

In fact Scottish_Girl should be commended for being open to alternative explanations.