Reader Submission - A Good Scare
As promised, below is the guest post from this week's renter Matt Didier from The Paranormal Blog. If you enjoy this piece, be sure and check out his blog.
Many people come to blogs and sites like this with one thing in mind... a good scare.
One of the most common things we hear about our blog and sites is "C'mon, scare me!" or "Show me more pictures! I want to be scared!"
Of course, we see ghosts and hauntings as a genuine study that we apply science and serious research to... so therefore, a "good scare" isn't something we really offer... well, not really... that's the realm of Hollywood and certain horror novels... and for the most part, the "real" world of ghosts and hauntings is not all that exciting to read or look at for the third-party witnesses.
In fact, for the most part, "real" (reported/witnessed) ghosts and hauntings are rather mundane. Things seen from the corner of the eye, odd but subtle noises, strange things... but rarely, blood dripping from walls or apparitions lunging at people.
I'd remind the gentle reader, however, that these things are quite unnerving for the witness. One or two weird things can be easily written off... but many over a long period of time?
...and it's worse when they're sane, rational folks who have eliminated all "natural" possibilities for these things... when they get to those three little words that are so difficult for some to utter... "We don't know."
What's causing these noises? "We don't know."
What have we been seeing? "We don't know."
What's causing these things to move? "We don't know."
Of course, there's many people that say they know... and they could all be right... or they could all be wrong... but that's another post.
My point here is how mundane ghosts and hauntings can be... rarely are they more than a "whisper" in the dark.
For those that read this and said, "C'mon! There's gotta be some nasty blood-and-guts ghosts to scare me!", well, there are some... but they are a VERY small minority in the grand spectrum of what's reported to paranormal investigators. You might also want to take into mind what Stephen King once pointed out about a good scare... "Real horror is not something leaping out of your closet and yelling boo, real horror is something slowly coming out from under your bed and kissing your feet."
On that note, allow me to introduce to you the one report that does chill me that we received...
A fellow in Montreal, Quebec, was relaxing in his living room... previous to the day I'm speaking of, he had no reason to suspect his relatively new home was haunted, but this day would change this.
The fellow was on his couch when he saw an elderly woman walking slowly down a hall heading for the living room. This was unusual as there was no one who fit this description living in the home, nor did he expect visitors...
Quickly, before he had true time to truly react, the woman entered the living room. She was "solid" (not see through), and seemed perfectly normal in modern clothes... but one fact. Her mouth hung open and the witness described it as containing no teeth... no tongue... nothing... he said, it was pitch black. Her gaping jaws revealed nothing... her face calm and placid... but the mouth a seeming void of anything.
She walked through the room slowly and when he took her eyes off her briefly and then went to look again, she was gone.
This story, on it's own, does not seem all that scary... but to see what we have called "a black mouthed old lady" wandering without issue through your home... I'd say this would be most disconcerting.
Now, before anyone goes, "Great fiction!", it's not... even scarier is, she was not the only sighting of such a ghost... another home in another part of Montreal also said they saw her... or one... again a man, painting a room... same description. The woman looked normal until they noticed the open jaws and the black mouth. She too disappear when the witnesses took his eyes off just for a moment.
Neither witness knew each other (this we confirmed with a visit and by checking I.P. addresses) and since we didn't put the first story online, and the second "sighting" happened a few weeks later, it's unlikely that the story "leaked"...
...sadly(?) enough, there has not been anymore sightings we know of... but most of our investigators agree, a "black mouthed old lady" is about the scariest apparition we've been told about.
So, was it scary to you? Possibly not... maybe so... those that do find it frightening usually can see a mental picture of those old ladies... those that can't usually are more interested in the latest zombie flick and need the ultra-gory visual stimulation.
One last thing before I go... most apparitions we have reports of are not "transparent" or "see-through"... they are solid... and our witnesses say they cast shadows and break light... which adds credence to the "black mouthed old ladies"... because before the witnesses see the open mouth, they both were concerned that an elderly person had "wandered in" where they possibly shouldn't be.
So there you go... the scariest "true" stuff we know of... and yes, this is also true with most of the thirty-plus people we work with in our hobby.
Did I scare you? If so, don't worry... like I said, only two confirmed cases... but if you ever see "someone" who shouldn't be somewhere, look into their face... and make sure that indeed, they do have something where their mouth is.
Thanks to Andrea for letting us "bunk in" here as a renter... we hope that, perhaps, we can haunt here again in the near future...
From the Desk of Matthew "Double-Decker Bus Guy" / "Paranormal Blog Guy" Didier...
Many people come to blogs and sites like this with one thing in mind... a good scare.
One of the most common things we hear about our blog and sites is "C'mon, scare me!" or "Show me more pictures! I want to be scared!"
Of course, we see ghosts and hauntings as a genuine study that we apply science and serious research to... so therefore, a "good scare" isn't something we really offer... well, not really... that's the realm of Hollywood and certain horror novels... and for the most part, the "real" world of ghosts and hauntings is not all that exciting to read or look at for the third-party witnesses.
In fact, for the most part, "real" (reported/witnessed) ghosts and hauntings are rather mundane. Things seen from the corner of the eye, odd but subtle noises, strange things... but rarely, blood dripping from walls or apparitions lunging at people.
I'd remind the gentle reader, however, that these things are quite unnerving for the witness. One or two weird things can be easily written off... but many over a long period of time?
...and it's worse when they're sane, rational folks who have eliminated all "natural" possibilities for these things... when they get to those three little words that are so difficult for some to utter... "We don't know."
What's causing these noises? "We don't know."
What have we been seeing? "We don't know."
What's causing these things to move? "We don't know."
Of course, there's many people that say they know... and they could all be right... or they could all be wrong... but that's another post.
My point here is how mundane ghosts and hauntings can be... rarely are they more than a "whisper" in the dark.
For those that read this and said, "C'mon! There's gotta be some nasty blood-and-guts ghosts to scare me!", well, there are some... but they are a VERY small minority in the grand spectrum of what's reported to paranormal investigators. You might also want to take into mind what Stephen King once pointed out about a good scare... "Real horror is not something leaping out of your closet and yelling boo, real horror is something slowly coming out from under your bed and kissing your feet."
On that note, allow me to introduce to you the one report that does chill me that we received...
A fellow in Montreal, Quebec, was relaxing in his living room... previous to the day I'm speaking of, he had no reason to suspect his relatively new home was haunted, but this day would change this.
The fellow was on his couch when he saw an elderly woman walking slowly down a hall heading for the living room. This was unusual as there was no one who fit this description living in the home, nor did he expect visitors...
Quickly, before he had true time to truly react, the woman entered the living room. She was "solid" (not see through), and seemed perfectly normal in modern clothes... but one fact. Her mouth hung open and the witness described it as containing no teeth... no tongue... nothing... he said, it was pitch black. Her gaping jaws revealed nothing... her face calm and placid... but the mouth a seeming void of anything.
She walked through the room slowly and when he took her eyes off her briefly and then went to look again, she was gone.
This story, on it's own, does not seem all that scary... but to see what we have called "a black mouthed old lady" wandering without issue through your home... I'd say this would be most disconcerting.
Now, before anyone goes, "Great fiction!", it's not... even scarier is, she was not the only sighting of such a ghost... another home in another part of Montreal also said they saw her... or one... again a man, painting a room... same description. The woman looked normal until they noticed the open jaws and the black mouth. She too disappear when the witnesses took his eyes off just for a moment.
Neither witness knew each other (this we confirmed with a visit and by checking I.P. addresses) and since we didn't put the first story online, and the second "sighting" happened a few weeks later, it's unlikely that the story "leaked"...
...sadly(?) enough, there has not been anymore sightings we know of... but most of our investigators agree, a "black mouthed old lady" is about the scariest apparition we've been told about.
So, was it scary to you? Possibly not... maybe so... those that do find it frightening usually can see a mental picture of those old ladies... those that can't usually are more interested in the latest zombie flick and need the ultra-gory visual stimulation.
One last thing before I go... most apparitions we have reports of are not "transparent" or "see-through"... they are solid... and our witnesses say they cast shadows and break light... which adds credence to the "black mouthed old ladies"... because before the witnesses see the open mouth, they both were concerned that an elderly person had "wandered in" where they possibly shouldn't be.
So there you go... the scariest "true" stuff we know of... and yes, this is also true with most of the thirty-plus people we work with in our hobby.
Did I scare you? If so, don't worry... like I said, only two confirmed cases... but if you ever see "someone" who shouldn't be somewhere, look into their face... and make sure that indeed, they do have something where their mouth is.
Thanks to Andrea for letting us "bunk in" here as a renter... we hope that, perhaps, we can haunt here again in the near future...
From the Desk of Matthew "Double-Decker Bus Guy" / "Paranormal Blog Guy" Didier...
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