What are Ghosts? Really?
by Katherine Grayson
As children, we are assured by our parents that there are no such things as ghosts. My husband, Brad, and I have four kids. I too, have said this when they were young, but do I believe it? Do you? Are we telling the children this to ease their fears or our own?
Brad grew up with a residual haunt in his home and never stopped believing. As an "adult", I "didn't believe" in ghosts anymore, even though I had had experiences I couldn't explain my entire life. About five years ago, we lived in this tiny, little house where we would hear unexplained noises in the kitchen. It sounded as if someone was rattling my dishes. At first, it startled me. Then, it just became the norm. Brad called it our kitchen ghost. We never felt threatened, not even the kids--ages 9-13. We just kind of laughed about it--especially when our dog would dance and play with someone in the kitchen that we couldn't see. I still couldn't quite accept a ghost in my house though OR a ghost period.
Brad and I would stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning talking about experiences that he had when he was a child and then talking about things that had happened to me when I was a kid. He finally looked at me and said with love and a smile on his face, "Honey, sometimes you can be so stubborn!" But he was right, I had been saying that there was no such thing as ghosts, but the truth was there is definitely something happening in my home that I could not explain.
Having these experiences really got my curiosity up. I began to do research and watching any type of "paranormal" television show that I could find. I even checked books out of the library. As I began to read about all these "fantastical" occurrences that other people were having, I wondered if they were full of it or could those things really happen? Could people really sense things being wrong? Could objects really be moved? Thrown? Could I really SEE an apparition? I had no idea that by asking these questions, and secretly wishing that I could, would open my family up to something for which we were not prepared.
Within a few short weeks, the atmosphere at our home changed dramatically. I came home from work one day and as soon as my foot stepped across the threshold, I knew something was different. I thought someone had been in the house. I immediately called Brad and told him that someone had been in our home. Of course, he thought we had been robbed and wanted to know what had been taken. When I told him nothing, he was confused. As I was talking to him, I was also checking every nook and cranny because I could not shake the feeling that whoever was in my house was still there. . .watching me. I found no one, but couldn't shake the feeling. I became sick to my stomach--even lightheaded. I literally wanted to crawl out of my skin.
About half an hour later, Brad came home. He described walking through the door "almost as if hitting a wall of unease". He felt the same things I did. We both knew something was there. That was the day that I became a true believer in. . .well, I didn't know what to call it, because I didn't know what "it" was, but I was scared. We knew that whatever was in our home was not our friendly little kitchen ghost anymore--it was dark, angry, and seemed intent on scaring us as you will see.
As parents, the last thing we want is for our children to be scared, especially in their own home. We are a very open and honest family and talk about everything--including my research; however, we did NOT tell them about what happened that day or what we felt. We didn't have to. They, too, felt the difference upon coming home from school. None of them said anything, but boy, you could see on their faces that they knew something had changed.
Other than the "feelings", the really odd and more scary things happened more gradually. There were the times when I KNEW I had put things in one place and they were in another. Occasionally, I would hear a voice when I was home alone. By the way, I didn't dare tell anyone about this until much later because I was terrified that I was simply losing my mind. Then things got a little more dicey. Two nights a week Brad would work overnight and then he was on-call the rest of the week, so there was really no telling when he would be home and when he wouldn't. Several nights in a row, when he was gone, I was awakened by a very deep, loud, male voice in my ear. I never could understand what he was saying, but I can still feel the breath on my ear. The first couple of times, I responded by turning over quickly and of course, no one was there. The next night, I made no physical reaction. I was simply too scared. I thought that maybe if I didn't respond, it would just go away. Big mistake! When I didn't respond, he poked me on the shoulder. I let out a yelp and flipped over and I heard a male laugh.
Also during this time, when Brad would try to go to sleep during the day, he would hear running through the house that would end at our bedroom door and someone would beat on the door. Of course, he would jump up, only to find the house completely empty. There was a time where he even saw a male face in a mirror in our dining room laughing at him.
One Saturday morning, I woke up early and decided to lay on the couch and watch some television. It was a rare weekend when all the kids were gone to other places and it was just the hubby and me. As I am laying there, I hear his phone ring. . . and ring, so I get up to make sure he gets it. When I get to the hallway, I hear a strange noise coming from our sons' room. I realize it is coming from the closet, but not just from the closet--the toy box in the closet. I am completely freaked out by this point. I start dumping toys everywhere. It turned out that not one, but two battle bots (with on/off switches) have been turned on and are battling at the bottom of the toy box. Shaking, I take this into our bedroom to show Brad. Neither of us knows what to make of it. To help take my mind off of it, Brad takes me out to breakfast. When we return, I find that my son's clothes have been folded and are lying on top of the blanket that I had been using on the couch. Mind you, no one has been at our home and the clothes had been in the dryer in the garage.
At this point, I am at my wits' end. I am scared. There is "something" in my house and I don't want it here anymore. When the kids get home that day, we decide it is time to start talking about it. Come to find out, they have been having their own experiences, but didn't want to say anything, because they thought that we wouldn't believe them. Our youngest had been seeing shadows walk by in the mirror by the door. They all had heard voices. Our youngest daughter had seen a man come stand by her bed at night. She was terrified! The oldest two mainly just felt uneasy in our home.
That night at about 2:00 in the morning, I got up to go to the bathroom. I heard a noise and when I looked over, I about passed out. Leaning over, looking at my computer, was a teenage boy. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, except he only had thighs--nothing from the knees down. He had really dark hair. When I gasped, he turned and looked at me, grinned the most awful grin, and then took off towards the kitchen so fast I was left wondering if I had really seen what I KNEW I had just seen. Of course, I ran in there and no one was there.
I started sobbing. This was my fault. I knew from my research that supposedly people could "invite" dark or evil spirits into their homes and lives and by my secretly wishing I could see some of these things, I had done just that. I had subjected my family--my children, to this thing! Brad got up and just held me. He tried to reassure me. What we didn't know was the scariest part was yet to come. . .
Remember how I said that our youngest daughter said that a man would stand over her bed at night? Well, apparently, whatever this thing was, it wanted her attention because the next night as she was walking out of the kitchen, a glass was thrown at her. It missed her, thank God, but it scared the you-know-what out of us all!
We talked about what to do, who to turn to, but we had no idea. I mean, who can you really turn to in these types of situations? We could contact one of those television shows, but number one, would they really come? Two, are they for real? Three, how long would it take for them to get here? Four, do we really want our lives broadcast on national television?
Instead, I confided in a friend. Thankfully, he didn't think I was crazy (at least not to my face) and he actually had his own stories to tell. He suggested that we read a passage out of the Bible. We did it that very same day and immediately everything stopped. The feelings of unease and being scared stopped. Our home was our home again! Everyone felt and slept better. It was amazing! After a couple of months, even our friendly kitchen ghost returned.
We live in a new house now and have many unseen guests. Our home has been investigated by a local paranormal group and through their investigation and evidence it was discovered that there are seven spirits that live here. There were close to 100 electronic voice phenomenon caught during the investigation. We even have some video evidence. None of it scary though. In one of the many EVPs, the question was asked "Why do you stay here?" and the answer was "We are comfortable here." We have become used to our house guests and they even give us a sense of peace and protection.
Since that time, Brad and I have joined that paranormal group--Sooner Paranormal of Oklahoma S.P.O.OK. The entire experience left me with many questions though. What are ghosts? Are they really the spirits of those who have passed on? Are they angels? Could they be demons disguising themselves as those we loved? Why are they here? Why do they communicate or try to communicate with us? Just as I believe that I unwittingly invited the dark spirit into my home, I believe that we have invited our new friends into our home. But how is it that we really did this? How do they "know" that they are welcome or wanted? To me, the most important, burning question is "Who are they and what do they really want"?
About the author: My name is Katherine Grayson. I am 36 years old and am married to the love of my life. We have four beautiful children, ages 18, 17, 15, and 14. I am a teacher and my husband owns a trucking company. We began investigating with Sooner Paranormal of Oklahoma--S.P.O.OK about a month after they investigated our home last May, so roughly about 10 months; however, I have been researching, as I said in the article, for about five years. I am fascinated with all that we have experienced and learned so far and continue to experience every day. It seems that each time I am brave enough to share something with someone, I find out that they too, have had experiences that they cannot explain. This leads me to believe that so many of us are afraid to talk to others for fear of ridicule, but we are just dying to share and get answers.
Brad grew up with a residual haunt in his home and never stopped believing. As an "adult", I "didn't believe" in ghosts anymore, even though I had had experiences I couldn't explain my entire life. About five years ago, we lived in this tiny, little house where we would hear unexplained noises in the kitchen. It sounded as if someone was rattling my dishes. At first, it startled me. Then, it just became the norm. Brad called it our kitchen ghost. We never felt threatened, not even the kids--ages 9-13. We just kind of laughed about it--especially when our dog would dance and play with someone in the kitchen that we couldn't see. I still couldn't quite accept a ghost in my house though OR a ghost period.
Brad and I would stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning talking about experiences that he had when he was a child and then talking about things that had happened to me when I was a kid. He finally looked at me and said with love and a smile on his face, "Honey, sometimes you can be so stubborn!" But he was right, I had been saying that there was no such thing as ghosts, but the truth was there is definitely something happening in my home that I could not explain.
Having these experiences really got my curiosity up. I began to do research and watching any type of "paranormal" television show that I could find. I even checked books out of the library. As I began to read about all these "fantastical" occurrences that other people were having, I wondered if they were full of it or could those things really happen? Could people really sense things being wrong? Could objects really be moved? Thrown? Could I really SEE an apparition? I had no idea that by asking these questions, and secretly wishing that I could, would open my family up to something for which we were not prepared.
Within a few short weeks, the atmosphere at our home changed dramatically. I came home from work one day and as soon as my foot stepped across the threshold, I knew something was different. I thought someone had been in the house. I immediately called Brad and told him that someone had been in our home. Of course, he thought we had been robbed and wanted to know what had been taken. When I told him nothing, he was confused. As I was talking to him, I was also checking every nook and cranny because I could not shake the feeling that whoever was in my house was still there. . .watching me. I found no one, but couldn't shake the feeling. I became sick to my stomach--even lightheaded. I literally wanted to crawl out of my skin.
About half an hour later, Brad came home. He described walking through the door "almost as if hitting a wall of unease". He felt the same things I did. We both knew something was there. That was the day that I became a true believer in. . .well, I didn't know what to call it, because I didn't know what "it" was, but I was scared. We knew that whatever was in our home was not our friendly little kitchen ghost anymore--it was dark, angry, and seemed intent on scaring us as you will see.
As parents, the last thing we want is for our children to be scared, especially in their own home. We are a very open and honest family and talk about everything--including my research; however, we did NOT tell them about what happened that day or what we felt. We didn't have to. They, too, felt the difference upon coming home from school. None of them said anything, but boy, you could see on their faces that they knew something had changed.
Other than the "feelings", the really odd and more scary things happened more gradually. There were the times when I KNEW I had put things in one place and they were in another. Occasionally, I would hear a voice when I was home alone. By the way, I didn't dare tell anyone about this until much later because I was terrified that I was simply losing my mind. Then things got a little more dicey. Two nights a week Brad would work overnight and then he was on-call the rest of the week, so there was really no telling when he would be home and when he wouldn't. Several nights in a row, when he was gone, I was awakened by a very deep, loud, male voice in my ear. I never could understand what he was saying, but I can still feel the breath on my ear. The first couple of times, I responded by turning over quickly and of course, no one was there. The next night, I made no physical reaction. I was simply too scared. I thought that maybe if I didn't respond, it would just go away. Big mistake! When I didn't respond, he poked me on the shoulder. I let out a yelp and flipped over and I heard a male laugh.
Also during this time, when Brad would try to go to sleep during the day, he would hear running through the house that would end at our bedroom door and someone would beat on the door. Of course, he would jump up, only to find the house completely empty. There was a time where he even saw a male face in a mirror in our dining room laughing at him.
One Saturday morning, I woke up early and decided to lay on the couch and watch some television. It was a rare weekend when all the kids were gone to other places and it was just the hubby and me. As I am laying there, I hear his phone ring. . . and ring, so I get up to make sure he gets it. When I get to the hallway, I hear a strange noise coming from our sons' room. I realize it is coming from the closet, but not just from the closet--the toy box in the closet. I am completely freaked out by this point. I start dumping toys everywhere. It turned out that not one, but two battle bots (with on/off switches) have been turned on and are battling at the bottom of the toy box. Shaking, I take this into our bedroom to show Brad. Neither of us knows what to make of it. To help take my mind off of it, Brad takes me out to breakfast. When we return, I find that my son's clothes have been folded and are lying on top of the blanket that I had been using on the couch. Mind you, no one has been at our home and the clothes had been in the dryer in the garage.
At this point, I am at my wits' end. I am scared. There is "something" in my house and I don't want it here anymore. When the kids get home that day, we decide it is time to start talking about it. Come to find out, they have been having their own experiences, but didn't want to say anything, because they thought that we wouldn't believe them. Our youngest had been seeing shadows walk by in the mirror by the door. They all had heard voices. Our youngest daughter had seen a man come stand by her bed at night. She was terrified! The oldest two mainly just felt uneasy in our home.
That night at about 2:00 in the morning, I got up to go to the bathroom. I heard a noise and when I looked over, I about passed out. Leaning over, looking at my computer, was a teenage boy. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, except he only had thighs--nothing from the knees down. He had really dark hair. When I gasped, he turned and looked at me, grinned the most awful grin, and then took off towards the kitchen so fast I was left wondering if I had really seen what I KNEW I had just seen. Of course, I ran in there and no one was there.
I started sobbing. This was my fault. I knew from my research that supposedly people could "invite" dark or evil spirits into their homes and lives and by my secretly wishing I could see some of these things, I had done just that. I had subjected my family--my children, to this thing! Brad got up and just held me. He tried to reassure me. What we didn't know was the scariest part was yet to come. . .
Remember how I said that our youngest daughter said that a man would stand over her bed at night? Well, apparently, whatever this thing was, it wanted her attention because the next night as she was walking out of the kitchen, a glass was thrown at her. It missed her, thank God, but it scared the you-know-what out of us all!
We talked about what to do, who to turn to, but we had no idea. I mean, who can you really turn to in these types of situations? We could contact one of those television shows, but number one, would they really come? Two, are they for real? Three, how long would it take for them to get here? Four, do we really want our lives broadcast on national television?
Instead, I confided in a friend. Thankfully, he didn't think I was crazy (at least not to my face) and he actually had his own stories to tell. He suggested that we read a passage out of the Bible. We did it that very same day and immediately everything stopped. The feelings of unease and being scared stopped. Our home was our home again! Everyone felt and slept better. It was amazing! After a couple of months, even our friendly kitchen ghost returned.
We live in a new house now and have many unseen guests. Our home has been investigated by a local paranormal group and through their investigation and evidence it was discovered that there are seven spirits that live here. There were close to 100 electronic voice phenomenon caught during the investigation. We even have some video evidence. None of it scary though. In one of the many EVPs, the question was asked "Why do you stay here?" and the answer was "We are comfortable here." We have become used to our house guests and they even give us a sense of peace and protection.
Since that time, Brad and I have joined that paranormal group--Sooner Paranormal of Oklahoma S.P.O.OK. The entire experience left me with many questions though. What are ghosts? Are they really the spirits of those who have passed on? Are they angels? Could they be demons disguising themselves as those we loved? Why are they here? Why do they communicate or try to communicate with us? Just as I believe that I unwittingly invited the dark spirit into my home, I believe that we have invited our new friends into our home. But how is it that we really did this? How do they "know" that they are welcome or wanted? To me, the most important, burning question is "Who are they and what do they really want"?
About the author: My name is Katherine Grayson. I am 36 years old and am married to the love of my life. We have four beautiful children, ages 18, 17, 15, and 14. I am a teacher and my husband owns a trucking company. We began investigating with Sooner Paranormal of Oklahoma--S.P.O.OK about a month after they investigated our home last May, so roughly about 10 months; however, I have been researching, as I said in the article, for about five years. I am fascinated with all that we have experienced and learned so far and continue to experience every day. It seems that each time I am brave enough to share something with someone, I find out that they too, have had experiences that they cannot explain. This leads me to believe that so many of us are afraid to talk to others for fear of ridicule, but we are just dying to share and get answers.