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Everyone who had read my posts in this forum knows that I do not believe in the paranormal, but I have had a couple of very creepy experiences that I have shared. I just had one more. Make of this what you will. I am NOT claiming that it is a ghost story.
Saturday night, my wife and I went to bed, probably between 2-3 in the morning. It should be noted that I had, for the past few nights, had dreams about a couple of deceased loved ones that were bothering me. Shortly therafter, we both heard a strange rattling in the room. It sounded to me like someone had picked up the Tums bottle I keep by the bed and started shaking it, although I could not quite tell where it was coming from. I opened my eyes and looked around in the dark. My wife asked nervously:
"Was that you?"
"No. I think it came from upstaires." That was a lie as it was clearly in the room, and she called me on it."
"That was here somewhere. That is scary!"
I made up another lie. "Babe, I think it was just my Tums bottle. I left it on top of my clothes there and it just fell over. Go to sleep." That was pure bull****, as it was a good, long rattle, and she did not believe it, but she had confidence that I was not worried. And I wasn't. I did not and do not know what the hell it was, but I could see that there was no one else in the room, and that is ALL that I was afraid of.
Now here is were it gets real spooky.
I only check my personal phone about once a week, since my wife and mom just call my business phone. But my business phone was suddenly dead. So I went to pick up my personal phone to call my mom only to find that I had several messages left on it over the last few days. It was the sister of a friend of ours that we last had over on Christmas Eve. We had invited him over on New Years, but he said that he felt real sick and couldn't make it.
I didn't know until I called his sister back Monday, but he had died.
Nightmares of the dead...the weird disembodied noise in our room...my business phone dying, drawing attention to my pesonal phone with the messages....the death of my friend.
First off: love you Paulie. We will miss you and I certainly hope you are up there with Uncle Eddie and David, and you can join them in my dreams any time.
Now that is out of the way, no, I just don't think it is a ghost story. There are a lot of things going on here. My wife panicked when she heard the noise, and that added to my feelings of it being something abnormal. I have no idea what it was, but it sure seems like there should be a rational explanation rather than the ghost of a dead friend coming back to rattle my Tums bottle.
Also, there is often tendancy to associate things that have nothing to do with each other. I had dreams about dead loved ones, which is perfectly normal. My phone, which I have dropped several times, died. I heard a weird noise. Individually, these things would not be strange, except for the noise, which I have not given up on figuring out. But put them together, whether they go or not, and a narrative starts to develop.
But at the end of the day, I felt the need to get it off my chest. So I hope you enjoyed. Conclude what you will.
Peace, and thanks for listening.
Last edited by cachibatches; 01-25-2017 at 04:24 AM..
I have no idea what it was, but it sure seems like there should be a rational explanation rather than the ghost of a dead friend coming back to rattle my Tums bottle.
Great story! Thanks for sharing.
Here is the thing: I too believe that there is a rational explanation for everything. However, only sheer human arrogance believes that we have the entire cosmos figured out. We have to learn to admit to ourselves that while there may indeed be a rational explanation, it may well involve things we don't understand yet. So trying to force explanations on it is the height of arrogance.
Ghosts may well be one of those unexplained parts of the cosmos. Or maybe not. Insufficient data.
If it was a ghost, my first question would be, "Why would a ghost want Tums? Do we still suffer indigestion in the afterlife?" Because that will be really disappointing.
Your initial conclusion was correct: "I have no idea what it was." Don't try to force an explanation until you have more evidence.
pills in a Tums bottle probably make a god amount of noise so it would attract you attention and not be easily explainable. Knowing that you are a paranormal skeptic, it would need something 'unlikely' to arouse your interest. If something 'fell' off onto the floor, you could easily just say it was a passing train or small earthquake, truck on the road outside etc..
Maybe there will be a loud knock or bang in the room next... keep a look out for that. I dont think you will be able to pass that off so easily !
Air bubbles in your home plumbing system. (Not a euphemism related to the Tums. I mean literally your houses's plumbing system.)
A mouse in the walls.
Cooling air in the walls might have changed the air pressure an an old nail the builder's left behind clattered down the inside of a wall.
Or it could have been a ghost.
There lots of possible explanations. But until further evidence presents itself, don't be in too big a hurry to make up your mind. I still haven't figured out my dishwasher fairies, but I'm not losing any sleep over it.
...then at some point you may come upon an un-debunkable, real life experience that will prove to you once and for all that it wasn't ''just your imagination''. You saw it, it was real, and even then you found it hard to grasp.
This is how I felt when I saw a full body apparition of a woman in my apartment in 2002.
The experience lasted about 10 secs, but it did happen. I was wide awake, standing in my kitchen, stone cold sober.
To this day I can see her clearly in my mind's eye and I still cannot grasp what I saw. But it happened.
My mind was open before this experience, but it opened even wider after. There are just some things that defy explanation.
I have no problem accepting the rattling of the Tums bottle as your friend's way of saying good-bye.
I lived in Phoenix during the "phoenix lights" episode and watched a senior military officer tell people "we have no idea what that is but we aren't going to mess with it" (which seemed prudent based on the enormousness of the event and the vehicle) so I know some things don't have obvious answers.
Around 2007 or so I moved my welding shop into part of a building that was very old and along the CT river in Vermont. The building had originally been a tissue or ribbon factory that employed escaped slaves. being close to the river and on a hillside there was a vertical shaft dug for sanitation that joined a horizontal tunnel 50 yards long that connected to the river. I was told that route was used as an escape route . between seasonal temperatures and the physical challenge of such an endeavor survival wasn't guaranteed. I have personally seen apparitions and had other weird things happen but nothing that couldn't be written off so I am open minded at least.
So you believe theirs spirits in heaven why can't you believe there are earth bound spirits??
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