So who's seen a ghost?

[Miss Moppet]

[quote=""EC2""]I think so. I've had a few very minor experiences (that's if you count John Marshal chucking bits of pottery at you as minor!) [/quote]

Maybe he ended up chucking something at you in desperation because he'd been talking away for ten minutes or so and you, not being attuned to it, couldn't hear!

Edited to say: have any of your other characters been in touch? I mean apart from through your work with Alison.

Edited again to say: I've just looked aside to see it has got really misty. Spooky! Actually the spookiest thing that has happened all week is that the pumpkin I made into a lantern has dried up and started to collapse. I should toss it but it really looks sinister now so it's all the more appropriate.

[EC2]

[quote=""Miss Moppet""]Maybe he ended up chucking something at you in desperation because he'd been talking away for ten minutes or so and you, not being attuned to it, couldn't hear!

I think you're right on that one! I do get a feel of his presence - it's a bit like a very strong, dizzy pressure in the upper sinuses - but the linguistic communication isn't there. I have a friend from re-enactment who lives in Orkney and has similar skills to Alison. She's never met Alison, but describes JM in exactly the same terms as Alison does, and once complained to me that JM was hanging around using her as a post box to get through to me!

Edited to say: have any of your other characters been in touch? I mean apart from through your work with Alison.

Not on a regular basis unless Alison is present. The only other one is Hugh Bigod II, and that was to do with his relationship with Mahelt beyond the scope of the novel and beyond the grave. I suddenly got this really powerful floral but masculine smell at my PC which I somehow knew was Hugh. Saw Alison later and we sorted out the problem. To add re Alison that other than people from history I'm investigating, we had my mother in law turn up at a session last December, the week after her funeral. That was fascinating because I recognised her immediately from the speech patterns and from the things she talked about. So in this case we were actually dealing with someone I had known personally, and could verify what was coming through.
MIL did say she loved my father in law and was waiting for her Billy. My FIL, who is 'her Billy' (88, a character and fit as a flea) when told, said 'she'll be waiting a bloody long time then.'

Edited again to say: I've just looked aside to see it has got really misty. Spooky! Actually the spookiest thing that has happened all week is that the pumpkin I made into a lantern has dried up and started to collapse. I should toss it but it really looks sinister now so it's all the more appropriate.

[/quote][/QUOTE]

ROFL! I'm cleaning the fridge in a minute. There's enough in that to make a decade's worth of horror films!

[michellemoran]

MIL did say she loved my father in law and was waiting for her Billy. My FIL, who is 'her Billy' (88, a character and fit as a flea) when told, said 'she'll be waiting a bloody long time then.'

HA! That's the fighting spirit (no pun intended).

[Miss Moppet]

I do get a feel of his presence - it's a bit like a very strong, dizzy pressure in the upper sinuses - but the linguistic communication isn't there.

There are two times I have felt something like that. One time was ages ago when I visited this very very old house near Abersoch in Wales - my mother was with me and sensed the atmosphere also. Another time was years later at Hampton Court, in a room with linenfold panelling which was supposed to be one of the oldest parts of the palace.

I have a friend from re-enactment who lives in Orkney and has similar skills to Alison. She's never met Alison, but describes JM in exactly the same terms as Alison does, and once complained to me that JM was hanging around using her as a post box to get through to me!

So many biographers and novelists writing about people who died centuries ago would be madly jealous of you getting followed around by your subject! A couple of times when I have visited places where one of the people I have been working on has lived I've thought I kind of sensed a benevolent presence but it is most likely just my imagination.

Of course it's great for JM too, he gets to set the record straight! Unlike the other historical characters who don't have access to a 'postbox.' Unless they can learn to type, I have heard of spirits sending messages through computers.

The only other one is Hugh Bigod II, and that was to do with his relationship with Mahelt beyond the scope of the novel and beyond the grave. I suddenly got this really powerful floral but masculine smell at my PC which I somehow knew was Hugh. Saw Alison later and we sorted out the problem.

Intriguing! Hope you can tell us more once the Mahelt book is out. I wonder where the scent came from. Maybe a soap Hugh liked or herbs his clothes were stored with?

To add re Alison that other than people from history I'm investigating, we had my mother in law turn up at a session last December, the week after her funeral. That was fascinating because I recognised her immediately from the speech patterns and from the things she talked about. So in this case we were actually dealing with someone I had known personally, and could verify what was coming through.
MIL did say she loved my father in law and was waiting for her Billy. My FIL, who is 'her Billy' (88, a character and fit as a flea) when told, said 'she'll be waiting a bloody long time then.'

Haha!!

ROFL! I'm cleaning the fridge in a minute. There's enough in that to make a decade's worth of horror films!

You just gave me an excuse for putting off cleaning mine a bit longer - "It's my Hallowe'en decoration!"

[EC2]

[

QUOTE=Miss Moppet;43837]

Intriguing! Hope you can tell us more once the Mahelt book is out. I wonder where the scent came from. Maybe a soap Hugh liked or herbs his clothes were stored with?

Actually it was akin to rather strongly perfumed toilet cleaner!
I knew Hugh and his wife had been having issues - she felt he'd betrayed her by leaving her at a time of crisis. A few years after the end of my novel's timeline, Hugh died, and Mahelt got very angry about that -he'd let her down and gone and left her in the lurch again. I'd been writing about that theme when this smell started up. I remember looking all around, checking my study for a spilled bottle of perfume, sniffing myself to see if I'd overdone it with the deoderant, and even going out of my study into the loo in case someone had been busy with the Harpic without me realising. Back to my study and the smell was still there - most strongly around my PC, and I had an intuition from goodness knows where that it was Hugh. (I don't think he really did smell like Harpic toilet cleaner in his lifetime, I just think it was a way of getting my attention, and a bit less agressive than chucking pottery!). Anyway, I got Alison to have a word and we sorted the difficulty.
Which all sounds totally bonkers - in spite of which, I see myself as a grounded, down to earth sort of person. I think things exist beyond our ability to understand, and it's our choice how we react to them when they come along.

[Madeleine]

Hampton Court is one of the most haunted places in the UK, so it's not surprising you felt something there.

I wouldn't mind John Marshal haunting me, though I'd be more likely to end up with a toothless old ghoul or hag!

[TonyHays]

we lived in an old farmhouse that had started its life as a log cabin before the Civil War. What we used as the den/living room was actually the cabin part. We only had a couple of window air conditioners, so, in the summer, my father and I would bed down on the two couches in the den, with the doors on either side open for cross breeze. One night, I woke up and there was a woman, in 19th century dress, standing at the foot of the couch. She simple stood there and looked at me for a few seconds and disappeared.

[Miss Moppet]

[quote=""EC2""][

I knew Hugh and his wife had been having issues - she felt he'd betrayed her by leaving her at a time of crisis. A few years after the end of my novel's timeline, Hugh died, and Mahelt got very angry about that -he'd let her down and gone and left her in the lurch again. [/quote]

That is such a typical reaction. Mahelt obviously needed some grief counselling but unfortunately it wasn't available, she would just have to work through her feelings by herself.

Madeleine, yes, I've always heard that Hampton Court is super haunted. I think the Catherine-Howard-running-screaming-down-the-gallery thing is a Victorian invention, but it seems a couple of years ago they caught a ghost on CCTV.

[juleswatson]

This is such a brilliant thread!!! Thanks for reviving it so I could read all the cool stories. I am very intuitive in every other way but have never seen / sensed a ghost so am quite jealous of everyone who has, even if it was scary at the time. Having said that, if I am ever staying somewhere spooky I think "No, really, don't want any ghosts scaring me" so maybe that does the trick ha ha. EC, thanks for all your fascinating tales, it's all very intriguing. Esp the one about the dead farmer! If so many people (and we are all pretty normal - well, normalish - here) have had so many experiences then there must be something in it.

[LoveHistory]

A couple of times when I have visited places where one of the people I have been working on has lived I've thought I kind of sensed a benevolent presence...

Then you must be doing a good job.