I've never seen a ghost - and like it that way - at least not in the way most people describe, or the way it is being described. Not really interested in poking around in that area because in my world-view what you focus on you start to manifest - and in this area things can get pretty responsive. No thank you.
Here's one of my ghost stories.
I was working as a bookkeeper for a small college in New York state about 20 years ago. It was a very small school and the accountant and I shared a large office in a suite of offices. The rooms were in what amounted to the 1st floor of an auditorium. One would enter the building through large wooden doors and then two staircases would sweep upwards left and right to the auditorium. The auditorium had a stage. It was all hand-built just before and during WWII so it was quite beautiful, the wood, the windows, everything was hand carved. It was a place that had seen a lot of history in the small community. This auditorium was used by the resident dance troop. Downstairs to the left was the bookstore and to the right were the suite of offices where I had my office. To the back were the dressing rooms for the stage, and further back storage, props and costumes.
We were changing over the bookkeeping to a new computer system and I was laboring over substantial data entry, finding it easier to do all this data entry once everyone had gone home. I began staying after 5:00 p.m. First I stayed until about 7:00, then 8:00, then 9:00. A security guard would come around checking the doors and would often stop to chat. One night he found me still at my desk close to 10:00. He advised me to go home. I lived on-campus. It was very safe and I wanted to get this system change-over done. The security guard said it wasn't the outside he would be concerned about. I asked him what did he mean.
The security guard shared that he refused to be in the building after 10:00 p.m. He said he just didn't like being in the building at night. I asked if he ever had been and oh-yes he said he had. So what happened, I asked. He wouldn't say, just that I should go home. I reasoned that I was alone in the building - and he said I was - that when he locked the doors at 7:00 that was it. It was only me and I was locked in. But now I was curious because I was certain I was hearing someone enter the building after 7:00 p.m., a couple of nights in a row. Not possible he said. But I told him what I heard and asked him who was coming in the front door in the evening. He told me no one. He was the only one with the key and the front door was locked at 7:00. He used a side door on the other side of the building for his exit. Go home, he said.
Off he went. What follows is what I 'heard' over several nights.
As I sat doing my work I began to hear what sounded like the front doors opening. It sounded like a stream of people entering, as for a function. It was very festive. People were chatting and it was all friendliness. My office door opened out to the reception area, and that room's door was partially ajar, which opened out to the lower entrance space which was why I figured I was hearing the crowd come in. I half expected someone to pop their head in and say 'hi'. I looked at the clock - it was 10 minutes to the hour, 11:00 p.m.. Very strange time to have a function or meeting but the auditorium was notoriously difficult to book, it was in heavy use during the day so I figured maybe this was the only time they could have their study group or whatever it was. They flowed up the stairs and above me was one of the function rooms where meetings took place. I heard chairs being moved, footsteps, the drone of conversation, even glasses tinkling. Then it became relatively quiet right at 11:00, though I would occasionally hear murmurs. It sounded like a meeting was in progress. At the hour of 12:00, suddenly the chairs were being moved again, the muffled sound of random conversation began again and many footsteps went out of the room and down the stairs and out the door. I heard the doors close. I was not afraid - it seemed all normal and friendly and I really thought a function had taken place that I hadn't been told about. Shortly after, probably minutes, I decided to go home myself and was surprised no one was about - the pathways deserted, no lingering conversations happening.
The second night it all happened again - so on the next day I began to question people - what function was happening at 11:00 p.m. at night? Blank looks. None - or none that anyone knew of. I should ask the security guard, so the next night I did. He assured me there were no functions that late at night and again suggested I not stay in the building past 10:00.
Now I was aware something was odd - but I also was very close to finishing my data entry and I stayed very late that night - not just to 12:30 but close to 2:00. Even though I now 'knew' that there was no one in the building, still I heard the entry. It was still all very happy. Again I heard the clear sounds of exit from 12:00 until 12:10. Then the building sunk into a very deep silence. I was on the homeward stretch and decided to push until very late. At 1:00 I sense something change in the 'atmosphere' of the building. It became very cold. I had once been told that one sees 'etherically' out of the side of one's gaze, not dead-on, and that's what happened. I 'saw' someone standing in the reception office - but when I looked dead-on, no one. Back to my work, and he was there again, I could even describe him, smiling, jovial, looking at me. He was 'telling' me to go home. Suddenly in front of me I sensed a very agitated presence - like a woman - railing at me, very angry - disturbed I was there. If I looked dead-on there was no one there, but looking down I could see her in my peripheral vision. Then an image came into my mind that there were many people in the auditorium and suddenly I felt my skin prickling. I knew I should not be in the building. The man I could sense in the reception room was now more insistent that I go home.
I stood up, got my stuff, and walked out rapidly - I don't think I turned out the lights - and from that point on I never worked past 5:00 and if I was in the building after that I always made sure there was at least one other person with me.
Reality? Yes - but not physical reality. Perceived because of several factors - the most important being that it was a building saturated with residual etheric/life forces. What was being perceived were not 'living' in any physical sense but were old powerful forms still playing out. I am not a seer - I do not 'know' in that realm - but I know it is best not looked at too closely because there are aspects to it that are antithetical to peace of mind unless one has a firm command of self.
I know someone who feels that the abductee experience is an etheric experience.
P.S. I voted 'No' - I don't believe in ghosts - because I don't believe they exist as defined by the popular imagination. I think the experiences of ghosts are perceived through a filter that is rooted in physical universe pre-conceptions.
On the one hand, voices and murmuring has often been reported in alleged hauntings, on the other hand, I think it has been shown that some surfaces can resonate with radio waves and produce sound if an emitter is in the vicinity. Did you hear anything that would point clearly to a radio or TV programme, like music or jingles?
Holy crap. You are kidding me, right? I mean, I had really taken you for a nuts-and-bolts UFO researcher who won't even consider the paranormal, especially after you sounded quite sceptical about a ghost hunting experience in another thread.
I was expeecting something like goggs' old woman who dissappeared in a dead end (which was interesting, too), but that's just something else entirely.
