From: “erica priest” dreamdaze@sbcglobal.net
To: obiwan@ghosts.org
Subject: northern illinois ghosts
Date: Monday, April 03, 2006 10:05 PM
I live in an Illinois town right on the border of Wisconsin. I have lived here since I was three, and am now 20. Over the years I have had several ghostly encounters that others may find amusing. My first experience was when I was about three or four, shortly after moving into the house. I was sitting on my floor, playing with Barbies, when I distinctly heard a woman’s voice call my name. I ran out into the kitchen and asked my mom what she wanted, and she said she did not call my name. I was so little, I thought nothing of it.
The next time something happened was when I was ten. I was talking on the phone one afternoon with my friend, when I heard a loud crashing noise come from the basement. It sounded like a whole glass cabinet full of china fell over and broke. My immediate thought was that someone had broken in. I said to my friend on the phone “I think someone broke into my basement, if you hear me scream, call the police.” She said okay, and I went downstairs to investigate. Not a single thing was out of place, and nobody was down there. This experience has repeated several times, and several other people have heard it, and they all thought it was an intruder. Not the case.
Also, one time I was sitting in my yard with a couple of friends, and got up to go to the bathroom, and when I came back, they said that the ashtray flew off the table, and there was no wind. We just kind of laughed about it. A while later, my lipstick flew out of my purse with nobody touching it. Also, when I was about four, my friend and I were sitting at the top of the basement stairs, when fish food flew off of the shelf and into the wall all by itself.
I have also had experiences in the woods by my house. There is a large field I would always hang out in. In the middle of the field it is peaceful. If you go by the surrounding woods, you will hear crunching on leaves like human footsteps, but nobody is there. This drove my friend and I crazy the first time we heard it trying to figure out who the hell it was. The footsteps were all around us, close by, but no human or animal was there. I have heard it many times, and just got used to it. I also saw what looked like someone with a flashlight looking for something, and we yelled out “hello” and no answer. We approached the flashlight, and it went away, and there was nobody there. As soon as we made our distance, it was there again.
I have never seen a ghost, but my mom’s friend said she saw a man next to her that no one else could see. There have also been clocks with dead batteries that have started working, and anything electrical is always screwed up. The scariest thing of all happened when I was alone. I was cleaning the glass tables in my living room, and I had music on. All of a sudden, I noticed the music was getting louder. I looked at the stereo, and the volume was turning up by itself! I looked at the remote for the stereo. Nothing was touching it, and no buttons were depressed. I looked back at the stereo, and the volume was still turning up by itself! For a moment, I was frozen with fear, windex in hand, just standing there. Eventually it got so loud I had to stop it. I turned it off. Right then I said to whatever is sharing my house with me “Please don’t ever show yourself to me”, and thank god it never has. That is all I have for now, I hope you have enjoyed it! – Erica