Ghost Stories

Hi all,

I am starting this thread to encourage those that have had paranormal experiences to share their stories, and for the curious to be spooked...

I have a few stories if my own... I am in my mid twenties and have only been having these inexplicable experiences for the last 10 years or so. There is a history of ghost sightings on both sides of my family, my Great Grandmother and my Great Aunt have had many experiences of the weird kind so I guess it runs in the family.

Some of the first major frights I got was in a flat in Maynooth that I lived in in Maynooth for 3 years while I was in college there. It was a flat above a hardware shop in Main Street, the original house was built in the mid 1800's: although recently sold, had been in the family until then. It was pretty badly converted, the back bedrooms were built on, at the end of a long hallway that I was usually terrified to walk down at night. My room itself was usually fine. It had a window that led onto a badly built attic that used to rumble in the wind, but I got accustomed to those sounds. One night while I was trying to go to sleep I had a very uneasy feeling, the house was quiet and there was no wind. I was lying there stock still, I couldn't shake the weird feeling that I had. This knocking started on the back of my wardrobe, which led onto the attic. Not a sort of 'something being moved in a wind banging' but a definate KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. I could almost hear the knuckles. This continued for ages.... I asked it to stop but it just got worse, like whatever it was was taking pleasure in it. Remember, there was no access to the attic and there was no wind...

This ramshackle of a place was above a hardware shop (the cobblers children are never shod...) it was a Saturday afternoon and I had forgotten my key. I rang the bell a couple of times but there was no-one home so I had to run into the shop to get a spare key. I was on the phone at the time chatting away so I had no fear in my mind, i wasn't expecting anything weird to happen... To get into the flat you had to mount a flight of stairs, turn a corner and walk down two halls. I opened the door, and started climbing the stairs. As I got to the middle, I heard footsteps running at me from the hall around the corner. Needless to say I legged it. The atmosphere there was pretty eerie and hostile at times, my guess was that the former owner, definatley a middle aged man was not too keen on what had become of his former home and didn't like women. There was never any activity reported by men.

I lived in a cottage in Maynooth for a time near the new shopping centre. They were originally built as home for workers of the former mill, which was being knocked at the time so were built in the early 20th century I guess, maybe earlier. On moving in to the place I just knew there was something there, but this time the feeling was more of a peaceful presence, definately nothing hostile. I could sence it was female strangely enough. You could feel the presence at the top of the stairs and in the halls especially.
At weekend I was usually alone in the house as my housemates would return home for the weekend. I had just gone to bed and settled in for the night when I heard stirring downstairs, doors opening and closing, footsteps, things moving around... I thought oh, O---- is home, (he had the bedroom downstairs). Thought nothing of it and went to sleep. Next morning I was fixing myself some breakfast, and O---- arrives - from Dublin - where he had stayed for the night...

One night a friend and I were lying in my bed and got a very heightened sence of the presence. We both saw this kind of mist materialise and float around the room. We were both pointing at it so there was no chance this was an optical illusion. We were both pretty freaked but there's safety in numbers and we both laughed it off under the covers and eventually went to sleep. A couple of years later he told me he had seen a woman in the corner of the room that night, but the woman, who was wearing a black dress, had no face I'm glad he didn't tell me then... He also told me this woman had visited him in his own bedroom next door once, he woke up to find her standing next to his bed... I'm kinda glad I'm not that sensitive.

The most recent and the only sighting I have ever experienced was at Portlick Castle near Athlone in Co Westmeath. My brothers wedding was taking place there, it is a beautiful location, on the banks of Lough Ree. The castle is 900 years old and we were to stay there for the weekend.
I was a bit nervous about this because the castle has a reputation for being haunted. Of course that wasn't going to stop me staying there. One of my sisters friends would not attend the wedding at all as she is a sensitive and was reluctant to meet the spirits of the castle. I have never met this woman and am very eager to... anyways - My boyfriend and I arrived on the Friday afternoon a few hours before the wedding was to take place and were shown to our room by the owner. On the way there we entered the Great Hall and I felt an immediate *whoomp* like something had just flown through me. Our room was up 6 flights of stairs at the very top of the castle. We got dressed and left the room to join the guests. It was 2pm. At the point of the stairs that met the Great Hall there is a gate where the back stairs continue to the kitchens. We were chatting away contentedly, there was no fear or trepadation. He went on ahead into the Great Hall, and I noticed a light on the bottom stairs, something seemed to be taking form... I could plainly see a blue light - the colour of a gas flame with shafts of light streaming up form it, plainly in the shape of a mans arm, hip and upper leg. It was walking up the stairs! As I gasped, it stopped, turned and decended the stairs, ast which point I had pansied off into the hall pale in the face. I told the owner this story later by the fire, and he told me he sees the same thing... among others.

I think i might have written enough for this post, I hope it provokes lots of discussion and story telling.

Sweet Dreams,

Deelee :eek: