The store

We have experienced very little activity in the house so far this fall and winter. Abnormally quiet whereas this time of year is usually rather active. My wife's store which is located in a very old building in a small neighboring town, on the other hand, has taken on the strange. I think I've mentioned the murmering my wife says about drives her batty there. She plays the inhouse music to mask the murmering. I have to admit I have not heard the mermuring there although it did happen at our house a couple of times in the past. But this store has displayed human "illusions", "ghosts" or whatever to me twice. These are the first really strong impressions of people that I've encountered. My wife has had several episodes, through the years, in various places we have lived; but I only had very quick impressions before. The latest occurred today. We had the store open until 4pm for last minute Christmas shoppers. Around about 2 oclock in the afternoon I entered our backroom to get a drink from the small frige we have there (No it wasn't alcoholic). As I entered the backroom I saw, what I at first thought , was my wife; but the dress was all wrong and besides I had just left my wife at the cash register helping a customer. The woman was wearing a medium dark blouse and navy blue long skirt. She had a dark scarf on her head and was bending over and, I suppose, was looking at a basket of mixed merchandise. On  reflection she looked very much like an Amish lady. I did not see her face and she vanished before I could say anything. These things take place so suddenly that you really have no oppertunity to react to them other than think "What the heck did I just see?" Maybe my wife and I are cracking up. I'd hate to think so. But these experiences are so real, at the time, only the vanishing act distinguishes them as something other than normal. The red haired boy I saw in my fist such encounter last summer, I would recognize if I saw him again. He was that real looking and was facing toward me; whereas the dark lady, today, had her back in my dorection. I guess I'm just curious as to what the heck I'm actually seeing. I don't think she was a Christmas spirit, but it is Christmas eve.

Halloween was a bummer

I always anticipate Halloween. The strange oval and circulor transparent artifacts that have shown up on some of my Halloween pictures are sure to keep one guessing. But this year, using the same cameras, films, etc; not one strange artifact appeared. Once I got a few of these strange disks on a couple pictures that I had taken just prior to Christmas,  I will undoubedly take pictures over Thanksgiving and Christmas and I will ever be alert fot the disks but our best season has passed with no luck. Any hunters of the strange, out there, who have any helpful ideas? I'm open to suggestion.

Films are back

Halloween films are back from York. Fifty two photos in all. Not a single one shows the transparant disks that have shown up in previous Halloween shots. Not one, none, nada, nyet. I shot the typical places, at the same times as before. I used the same cameras and film. For whatever reason there were no transparent disks on any of these photos. A really big disappointment. But nothing showed up on the digital camera either. Most unusual I think. I guess the next oppertunity will be the Winter Equinox on Dec. 21st unless some should make an appearance during other times when I'm photographing the ordinary. But that really is rare. The only difference that I can think of between this Halloween and the previous five, is that it was rainy. The rain did cut down on the number of trick or treaters from about 400 to 150. But I really wouldn't think it would have any effect on whatever is causing the disks to appear.

Halloween

  The weather outside was frightful. Although the hour set aside by the village for Halloween trick or treat was rather pleasant the hours preceeding the event were cold, windy, and wet. Must have scared off a lot of kids and their parents because I only had about 150 trick or treaters as opposed to the 400 that usually show up. So I'm well stocked with treats for next year. No, I do not give out candy. I quit that years ago during the great poison candy hoax. I give out misc. toys, scissors, balloons, hot wheels, stuff toys, bagged Mickwey D's premiums, cameras, light sticks, and anything else I happen onto during the rest of the year. The fact that almost all the towns and villages picked the same night for trick or treat helped a lot as well. As for this old house. I took pictures with the digital camera, with a film type camera, and used ultra violet for several shots through the digital camera. Of course I have the digital shots and they are disappointing. Not a single artifact showed up on any of the photos. This is the first year I didn't get any of the transparent disks in my shots on digital. The two films I shot and sent away have not come back yet and if they do not have any duisks this will be the first year in several years that they were absent. But maybe the films will show them. We just have to wait and see. The ultraviolet shots were spooky looking but nothing abnormal showed up in them. I'll let you know if anything shows up in the film shots. I took pictures in all the usual places late at night on both Oct. 31st and Nov 1.

Strangeness at the store

Whether or not the following story is paranormal or something else, I guess, is up to the individual. The story is true but could have a more rational explaination. This occurred   to my wife at the store she owns in a small town. The story as it was told to me by my wife. She had just opened for business a few minutes ago, she heard a car pull up in the gravel outside so she awaited the customers. In came an older couple who appeared to have walked out of the 1950s, The woman wore a jacket and skirt. The jacket was definitely 50s style and the skirt was below the knees. She wore a scarf on her head but her hair style was an obvious mimic of Mamie Eisenhower. The mans dress was typical male shirt and trousers (mens styles do not change a great deal.) They were pleasant and walked about the store. Finally the man said," We're looking for linoleum, you know, the kind that looks like carpet when it is lain." My wife told him we don't handle linoleum and directed him to the only store close that might. That type of linoleum, as far as I know, hasn't been manufactured since the early 1960s.  The man finally said, "I don't know this stuff", indicating the merchandise in the store. He and his wife said they would check out the referred stored and left. Looking after them as they left, my wife saw they left in a nice newlooking 1960s Pontiac.  My wife is in her 60s and is well aquainted with styles and vehicles of the 50s and 60s. So what did we have here? Makes you wonder.

Are ghosts scarey?

Since I saw the youth, who wasn't there, I have had several people ask if I was scared. As this was the first human figure I have ever gotten a good look at; I would have to say "no". Seeing the boy and the few seconds that elasped before he faded out, I just thought he was a customer. He was gone so quick that I had no time to register anything. I was left standing there wondering just what I had encountered. I was not scared, just a bit confused. I was looking right at him so I know he didn't leave. Nonetheless he was gone. So upon reflection the only thing I could come up with was he was a "ghost". I have gotten glimpses of people ,who couldn't be there, a couple times in the past, but the effect was so quick that only a general discription could be given. I have had, on several occassions sightings of dogs in this old house that were substantial enough that I though they were my dogs or that some stray dog had entered the house. But not people, until this time. I think I could identify this young man if I ever saw him again. But he definitely did not scare me. I doubt anyone would be scared because it started so normally and passed so quickly that you are left scratching your head and saying, "What just happened?"

My wife's store

My wife talked me into watching her store again today while she went into Columbus for new merchandise. I arrived at the store at approximately 10:30am. The stores does not officially open until 11, but I wanted everything in place. I had walked to the front of the store to turn on an "open" sign and had turned to return to the checkout area which is midway and near the main entrance. I looked up and saw a young boy, about 15 or 16 years old stasnding at a table my wife had arranged merchandise on. He was a bit scruffy looking with uncombed brown curly hair. He appeared to be bucktoothed and was wearing a lightblue shirt with dark blue stripes running both horizontally and verticall on it. His shirttail was out in back and he was wearing jeans. Just as I started to ask him if I could help him find anything he just faded away. That perplexed me about right. Phantom dogs I have definitely seen on several occassions but people are rare. To have seen him long enough to take in that much detail is a first for me. I have had glimpses of people before; but no mistake on this one, he looked real enough until he faded out. Then I had two other bits of strange; at around 11 oclock, a bit after, I distinctly heard footsteps going back through the rear salesroom. No mistaking that, the floors are barewood and sound out very nicely. Thinking someone had gotten in and I missed them, I hurried to the rear salesroom and there was noone there. There is no place to hide and the rear salesroom deadends in a bathroom. No one there either. Then around noon, with no customers in or around the store (I had had several but they had made their purchases and left) leaving the store empty except for me; I heard several hard, sharp, raps like someone really striking a wooden door quire hard. Both doors leading into the store are wood but with large glass windows. There was no sign of anyone anywhere. The rest of the day was uneventful. My wife says she experiences the weird there frequently and so she was nor surprised. I was putting out Halloween merchandise today and I thought how appropriate.