Ghostbusters

Many people don't know this about me, but I am obsessed with the occult. I believe in ghosts, demons, magick, cryptozoology, and all that weird jazz. One of my favorite things to do when I was younger was go with a group of friends to a supposedly haunted place (usually a cemetery) and ghost hunt. While not every trip yielded results, some were pretty freaky (even if it was just in our heads). These are the ones I remember.

Before I start, I must give credit where credit is due: My mom is the one who first got me to notice the supernatural things around me. She told me stories about the house we lived in (and she still does), which I was too young to notice myself. One thing she told me about was when she was feeding the dog one day. She looked at the double windows that showed into the kitchen and there was an old lady standing next to me, staring at my mom. Apparently, I hadn't noticed the lady and happily ate whatever food I was eating.

I, however, had different experiences in that house. None of which were violent, by any means, but freaky to a young boy. I slept most of my youth with my closet light on because my closet door had windows that showed into the hallway. When the light was off... I watched shadows walk like people up and down the hallway. This led to a lot of sleepless nights... until I started sleeping at the foot of my bed where I couldn't see into the closet.

My first ghost hunting trip was when I was 14. My buddy Antoine's family were also interested in the supernatural, and they were the ones who officially introduced me to the occult. They let me join in on a Ouija session, told me stories of their own, and even took me ghost hunting for the first time. Antoine's mom was a wiccan, as well, which was interesting. Nothing happened on my first trip out, so it was kinda disappointing... but fun!

It wasn't until I was 16 that I had my first odd encounter. I went with Antoine and his family to a cemetery in Ladora. We stalked around the cemetery (which they said a witch's coven had all been buried there) for about an hour before deciding to call it quits. On the way out, I felt a weird sensation at the nape of my neck, so I turned around. And there it was, a transparent... well, it looked like someone on their stomach... crawling across the ground behind me. I told everyone about it, but when we started looking, whatever it was had disappeared into thin air.

When I was 17, Kent and I started traveling around and visiting different cemeteries around the area. Now, Kent also has his own stories of the supernatural, involving the ghost of a soldier that would come visit him at his mom's house. Well, he'll probably kill me for revealing this (I think I was supposed to keep it a secret), but he is a little psychic. Not foretell the future or read your mind psychic, but he can sense things other people can't. In this particular instance, Kent, my cousin Mark, and I went to 13 stairs outside of Palo... or at least attempted to. See, kids, it's TECHNICALLY illegal to be in a cemetery after dark. Sure, you can get permits (that's what shows like Ghost Hunters and its ilk do), but who has time and money to do things like that? Anyway, we got to 13 stairs and there was a sheriff there reprimanding some other kids, so we turned around and headed back toward Cedar Rapids.

Suddenly, it got VERY cold in the car. For those of you who are unaware, when a ghost is near you, the air gets colder. The weird part about this is that the heat was on in the car. On full blast. Suddenly Kent, in the passenger seat, spoke up:

"There's something in the car."

I looked in the rear view mirror as the windows in the back started fogging up. Matt started fidgeting.

"What's wrong?" I asked
"Something's scratching my back."
"It's not here to hurt us. It's trying protect us..." Kent said.
"From what?"
"From that cemetery..."

After a few miles, Kent announced that the spirit had left the car. So in silence, we drove to Cedar Rapids, then back home to Victor. When we got back to my dad's house, Matt took off his shirt and started to walk away from us, into the brightly lit kitchen.

His back was covered in scratch marks.

We took pictures (I'm not sure what happened to them) and when we got them developed, there was a glowing orb in the picture next to Matt. Kent and I were clean, but Matt had a glowing orb. In every picture. It was... odd... to say the least.

Anyway, I have lots of stories about ghost hunting with friends, but being that ghost stories are more of a Halloween thing, I think I will save some of them for then. And anyone who wants to have their own ghost story to tell, I'm up for it any time. Just give me a call. I know some neat places, and if nothing else, at least it's a story to tell.