Have
you ever seen a ghost? Unfortunately I am one of those people who have
never had a convincing experience to make me believe. I do have a few
friends who believe in ghosts but have never seen one and a few who
believe they have seen one. Why do some experience these things and
others don’t.
I am not saying that I have not had creepy things happen to me or thought for a moment that I was witnessing something supernatural. I have had conversations with people who say they have seen a ghost or experienced a supernatural event and I have come across common expressions in the stories. One of the most common reactions is “I just froze” or “I was so scared I couldn’t move” or another reaction is “I ran out of there so fast”. So why do some of us have these experiences and others not? I think one explanation is in the way you react to the experience. The human mind is a lot like a computer it can have valid information put into it but it is not interpreted incorrectly due to the circumstances surrounding the experience. I must admit my first reaction is not to stand and wonder or run in fear but confront what I am experiencing and find an explanation for what I am witnessing. I am not saying I am not afraid as it is only natural to frightened but I want to know what it is that I am witnessing. This was demonstrated to me in a very practical way a few years ago while on holiday in Tasmania. The person I was traveling with is someone who believes she has experienced a supernatural event and seen a ghost so when booking accommodation my attention was drawn to a particular establishment that was haunted- I booked it.
The main part of the house was once the residence for the commanding office of an outpost of troops who guarded a small group of convicts. The convicts managed government stores not far from Port Arthur. The little port was the public landing point for settlers moving into the Port Arthur area. As you can imagine the stories of brutality and hardship of the Port Arthur convicts make the location perfect for a ghost story and with the added murder of a convict in store room of the house the property had gained a reputation in the local area as a haunted house long before it was converted to a B&B. The home has been beautifully restored without loosing any of its original character and is situated right on the waters edge with no development around. I could imagine that it must look pretty much how it would have looked over 150 years ago. Our room, once the office of the original home was simple but decorated tastefully with a view out over the water.
We had decided to do the ghost tour at the Port Arthur historical site and we were bitterly disappointed to find that the tour was far more theatrical than historical and not very scary. It was however a fun night and did not get back to the B&B until after 11pm. As we drove into the parking area the lights were off in the house. After fumbling in the dark to let ourselves in we managed to find our room in the dark after taking a few wrong turns, one into the kitchen and one into the original store room that we were told earlier in the day was the most haunted room in the house. After making it to our room m we turned on the lights, had a shower, threw out cloths on to a wooden chair next to the bed and got into bed. It was a particularly dark night with only fingernail moon, low cloud and a strong breeze blowing, it probably made it a little more atmospheric than it might have other wise been.
Soon after getting into bed and drifting off to sleep I was suddenly woken by my friend with an elbow in my back. Can you hear that? She whispered slowly to me. Not being awake and still in a dream I ignored her and turned over and told her to go back to sleep. What seemed like a split second later, but was soon to find was more than an hour I was again woken with an elbow in the back but the whisper in my ear this time was far more fearful and panicked. Can you here that? A bit more alert this time I asked what she could hear. There is some one sitting in the chair next to the bed and he has been there for about an hour. The chair we had put our cloths on was next to her side of the bed and as she drew herself closer to me and further way from the chair I was pushed to the edge of the bed so I turned the bed side light on. I asked her had she seen something and she described the sound of the wooden chair creaking as some one sat in it and that she thought she saw someone when she first heard the sound. After reassuring her that there was no one in the room I turned off the light and drifted back off to sleep.
It was not long till I was woken by her literally pushing me out of the bed and yelling that there was a man sitting in the chair next to her. Gaining my bearings and having been pushed out of the bed anyway I turned the main room light on. By this time she was bordering on tears and begged me to check the room again. After looking in the wardrobe and in the hall out side I told her to swap sides and I would sleep on her side of the bed if it would make her feel better. Before she could say yes she was back in the bed and huddled under the sheets. I turned the lights off and got into bed. Being fully awake and unable to go back to sleep I lay silently listening to the dark room around me. It is times like this that your senses become hyper receptive and I began to imagine all sorts of sounds but after 10 minutes or so there was one sound that I could hear above all the rest and it was the sound of the chair next me as it creaked under the weight of some one sitting in it. I instantly reached over and turned on the light. My friend just lay there and did not move I nudged her gently, she was sound asleep. As I stood there in the center of the room I began to question my own ability to rationally explain what I my self had experience. There was only one thing to be done. I turned off the light and instead of getting into the bed I crouched down next to the chair and stayed very still and very quiet. After about 10 minutes it began, a slow creaking, cracking sound but it was not coming from the chair. Next to the chair and under a small table was a bar fridge and every so often when the fridge came on the ice in the little freezer creaked and cracked as it cooled. It sounded just like someone sitting in a wooden chair. I got up, got back into bed and went to sleep.
To this day I have never told my friend what I found and I have listened to her tell that story many times and each time it gets just that little bit more elaborate but she remains convinced that she saw a ghost that night. I don’t think it is difficult to see how some ghost stories begin and I don’t think it is that difficult to see why some people are convinced and others are not. When the mind is willing to accept what you are experiencing as reality it is a simple step to a wrong conclusion.
I am not saying that I have not had creepy things happen to me or thought for a moment that I was witnessing something supernatural. I have had conversations with people who say they have seen a ghost or experienced a supernatural event and I have come across common expressions in the stories. One of the most common reactions is “I just froze” or “I was so scared I couldn’t move” or another reaction is “I ran out of there so fast”. So why do some of us have these experiences and others not? I think one explanation is in the way you react to the experience. The human mind is a lot like a computer it can have valid information put into it but it is not interpreted incorrectly due to the circumstances surrounding the experience. I must admit my first reaction is not to stand and wonder or run in fear but confront what I am experiencing and find an explanation for what I am witnessing. I am not saying I am not afraid as it is only natural to frightened but I want to know what it is that I am witnessing. This was demonstrated to me in a very practical way a few years ago while on holiday in Tasmania. The person I was traveling with is someone who believes she has experienced a supernatural event and seen a ghost so when booking accommodation my attention was drawn to a particular establishment that was haunted- I booked it.
The main part of the house was once the residence for the commanding office of an outpost of troops who guarded a small group of convicts. The convicts managed government stores not far from Port Arthur. The little port was the public landing point for settlers moving into the Port Arthur area. As you can imagine the stories of brutality and hardship of the Port Arthur convicts make the location perfect for a ghost story and with the added murder of a convict in store room of the house the property had gained a reputation in the local area as a haunted house long before it was converted to a B&B. The home has been beautifully restored without loosing any of its original character and is situated right on the waters edge with no development around. I could imagine that it must look pretty much how it would have looked over 150 years ago. Our room, once the office of the original home was simple but decorated tastefully with a view out over the water.
We had decided to do the ghost tour at the Port Arthur historical site and we were bitterly disappointed to find that the tour was far more theatrical than historical and not very scary. It was however a fun night and did not get back to the B&B until after 11pm. As we drove into the parking area the lights were off in the house. After fumbling in the dark to let ourselves in we managed to find our room in the dark after taking a few wrong turns, one into the kitchen and one into the original store room that we were told earlier in the day was the most haunted room in the house. After making it to our room m we turned on the lights, had a shower, threw out cloths on to a wooden chair next to the bed and got into bed. It was a particularly dark night with only fingernail moon, low cloud and a strong breeze blowing, it probably made it a little more atmospheric than it might have other wise been.
Soon after getting into bed and drifting off to sleep I was suddenly woken by my friend with an elbow in my back. Can you hear that? She whispered slowly to me. Not being awake and still in a dream I ignored her and turned over and told her to go back to sleep. What seemed like a split second later, but was soon to find was more than an hour I was again woken with an elbow in the back but the whisper in my ear this time was far more fearful and panicked. Can you here that? A bit more alert this time I asked what she could hear. There is some one sitting in the chair next to the bed and he has been there for about an hour. The chair we had put our cloths on was next to her side of the bed and as she drew herself closer to me and further way from the chair I was pushed to the edge of the bed so I turned the bed side light on. I asked her had she seen something and she described the sound of the wooden chair creaking as some one sat in it and that she thought she saw someone when she first heard the sound. After reassuring her that there was no one in the room I turned off the light and drifted back off to sleep.
It was not long till I was woken by her literally pushing me out of the bed and yelling that there was a man sitting in the chair next to her. Gaining my bearings and having been pushed out of the bed anyway I turned the main room light on. By this time she was bordering on tears and begged me to check the room again. After looking in the wardrobe and in the hall out side I told her to swap sides and I would sleep on her side of the bed if it would make her feel better. Before she could say yes she was back in the bed and huddled under the sheets. I turned the lights off and got into bed. Being fully awake and unable to go back to sleep I lay silently listening to the dark room around me. It is times like this that your senses become hyper receptive and I began to imagine all sorts of sounds but after 10 minutes or so there was one sound that I could hear above all the rest and it was the sound of the chair next me as it creaked under the weight of some one sitting in it. I instantly reached over and turned on the light. My friend just lay there and did not move I nudged her gently, she was sound asleep. As I stood there in the center of the room I began to question my own ability to rationally explain what I my self had experience. There was only one thing to be done. I turned off the light and instead of getting into the bed I crouched down next to the chair and stayed very still and very quiet. After about 10 minutes it began, a slow creaking, cracking sound but it was not coming from the chair. Next to the chair and under a small table was a bar fridge and every so often when the fridge came on the ice in the little freezer creaked and cracked as it cooled. It sounded just like someone sitting in a wooden chair. I got up, got back into bed and went to sleep.
To this day I have never told my friend what I found and I have listened to her tell that story many times and each time it gets just that little bit more elaborate but she remains convinced that she saw a ghost that night. I don’t think it is difficult to see how some ghost stories begin and I don’t think it is that difficult to see why some people are convinced and others are not. When the mind is willing to accept what you are experiencing as reality it is a simple step to a wrong conclusion.
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