Paranormal Magazine UK

By Charlene Kemp

Christmas and ghost stories, it may seem that the two don’t fit together well, but they actually do. When you think about it why wouldn’t our love ones pay us a visit at such a special time if they can, to offer us reassurance, make us feel their prescene and their love.

Even though it is not popular now days, in victorian times it was somewhat of a tradition at christmas time to gather around a fire and tell one another spooky ghostly tales. Remember that the victorian era is where spiritualism, seances, ectoplasm and table rapping became popular so it would make sense that victorians would have done such traditions rooting back to their roots in pagan custom.

Evidence lining this is in a line from ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ where it is mentioned ” There’ll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of christmas long, long ago…”

There is also the Dickens classic ‘ A Christmas Carol ‘ which is properly one of the last remaining tales of a haunting one may associate with this time of year.

Then there is the miracles that surround Christmas itself, and that being the birth of Jesus Christ.

So I decided to look up 5 ghostly tales of christmas to somewhat put you in the spirit 😉 and of course follow a forgotten tradition.

THE CHRISTMAS VISITOR

I had an unusual visitor on Christmas Day, 2008 and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Santa Claus passing by my house in Bloomington, Indiana. The day started in typical fashion with the opening of gifts around the Christmas tree. I served an early Christmas dinner for family and friends, and everybody departed by 5 p.m., except my sister and brother-in-law who live with me. They were sleeping in a bedroom at the end of the hall with the door open.

I went into my bedroom with my dog, Toby and shut the door securely. Toby curled up on the foot of my bed to sleep, like he always does. It was chilly, so I pulled the blankets and comforter up around my head and curled up to nap for an hour.

I was just dozing off when I heard the latch on my bedroom door open. I waited several seconds for my sister or brother-in-law to ask me whatever they came to say, but there was no other sound. It was almost 7 p.m., so my bedroom was pitch black. I had left lights on in the kitchen and the bathroom, and there were lots of christmas lights in the living room, so the hallway would have been well lit.

I would be able to see whoever was at the door just by lifting my head.

I pushed the blankets down and lifted my head from the pillow, but just as I would have been able to see who was in the doorway, an extremely bright light hit me right in the eyes. I shielded my eyes and yelled, “Turn out that @#%$ light! You’re blinding me!” The light immediately disappeared and I heard the bedroom door latch closed. My bedside light is a touch lamp, so I tapped it on and looked around the bedroom. There was no one in the bedroom except me and Toby.

Toby jumped off the bed and went to the door without showing any signs of alarm. At first I wasn’t frightened because Toby is a Dutch shepherd — well trained to be an excellent watchdog and proven personal protection dog.

Since Toby was already up, I decided to go let him outside and see what Sis or brother-in-law needed. When I went into the hallway, I could see both of them still in bed. I took Toby to the living room to let him outside, and there was nobody there either.

So who opened my bedroom door and turned a spotlight on my face?

Ordinarily, I’m not a skittish person, and strange noises or lights wouldn’t alarm me, but this situation was just too eerie, and the light had made my skin crawl. Let me add that the latch on my bedroom door is broken in such a way that the inside door handle must be jiggled for the latch to pop out and engage. It makes a very distinctive sound that I’m used to listening for, because if it doesn’t latch, the door swings open. I am absolutely positive that the door was latched closed when I got into bed, just as I’m certain it was the door latch I heard during the incident.

When I left the bedroom, the door was latched closed again. I couldn’t understand how my sister or brother-in-law could have come into my room and then returned to their own bed and crawled under the covers in the few seconds it took me to reach the hallway, but I figured it had to be one of them, since Toby always barks and growls at everybody and everything he doesn’t immediately recognise.

When brother-in-law got up to get ready for work that night, I asked him what he wanted earlier in the evening when he opened my door. He looked puzzled and said, “I never got up and I certainly never opened your door. I slept soundly the whole time I was in bed.” Okay… I then asked Sis, “Did you want something earlier this evening when you opened my door?” She also looked puzzled and said, “I dozed off and on, but I never got out of bed and I never saw or heard anything in the hallway.” She leaves their bedroom door open at all times and she faces the hallway so she can see whoever is coming or going throughout the house.

So who was my special Christmas visitor and how did they get in and out so quickly? Like most people, the thoughts of loved ones are always close at hand during the holiday season. When I first went to lie down, I was thinking how happy I was that my small family had enjoyed a pleasant Christmas, but it would have been so much better if my mother and brother had still been alive to share it with us. I would like to think it was my brother’s spirit stopping by to say “Merry Christmas. I still think of you, too.”

I haven’t been able to debunk this strange event or find any kind of rational explanation. I’m half afraid that my heart stopped during my sleep and the light I saw was the bright light people report after near-death experiences. Leave it to me to see the Stairway to Heaven and ruin my chance at eternal paradise by saying “Turn out that #$%@ light!” I’ve made a mental note that if I ever see another bright light to clean up my language… just in case. — Scarlet Dragon

http://paranormal.about.com/od/trueghoststories/a/haunted-christmas_2.htm

WARNED BY A GUARDIAN ANGEL

It was just a few days before Christmas, 1991, and I had some last minute Christmas shopping to do. Working full time and being a full-time mom, this was a rare chance to get out and have some time to myself. It was dusk, and the weather was overcast and chilly. I entered the store with a real Christmas spirit. I browsed here and there. Looking down at my ragged purse, I realized that perhaps I should splurge and buy myself a new purse.I decided that since I was there to shop, I may as well buy myself a new purse.

After about five minutes of browsing, I noticed a man. He did not bring attention to himself, rather something brought my attention to him. He was a young adult, dark-skinned, tall, with a head of long, dark, curly hair. He was really good looking with a well-defined jawline, high cheekbones and a great complexion. He was wearing a long, tan-coloured trench coat. He was standing in front of me about 10 feet away. He seemed interested in the purses also.

I resumed looking at every purse in the aisle when out of nowhere — and totally unexpected — a voice boomed in my head: “Look up, you are being followed!” Instinctively, I looked up without hesitation. There was the same man, standing several yards in front of me, still looking at purses. Of course this unsettled me, so I decided to leave the purse aisle. I went to a couple of other departments in the store, but the same guy was never more than 20 feet away from me.

He was unlikely store security.

The man was tracking me all right, but for ominous reasons. Unbeknownst to this man, I had been alerted to his presence by that voice.

By now my Christmas spirit was fading, and I decided to check out. As I approached the check-out counters, there stood the same young man, reading a paperback book from the book racks. I paid for my goods and headed for the front exit lobby doors.

As I approached the front exit, I saw this same individual again. He was in the store lobby, pacing back and forth! I was immediately reminded of how a lion acts in a cage at the zoo. And now I knew this person was just as deadly. A people greeter was standing just a few feet from the exit doors. I told her, “That young man in the trench coat in the lobby has been following me through the store. Can you please get someone to walk me to my car?” She said, “Yes, I’ll be right back.” I just stood there because I did not want my stalker to realise I was “onto him.”

I looked to my right. The canteen was there, and maybe I could waltz over and look at the menu. I was starting to get hungry. As I started to walk toward the canteen, my skin crawled. There in the canteen area, sitting at a table, glaring right at me, was my would-be stalker. His eyes met mine for about three-seconds. They were full of hate.

A guardian angel had thwarted whatever evil plan he had for me, and he was pissed. He walked back into the store while I stared at the floor, and then set down at the canteen to maintain an innocent demeanour. But the glare in his eyes gave it away. He knew I had been warned by a guardian angel — and I knew that he knew it. — Tonja Earles

http://paranormal.about.com/od/trueghoststories/a/haunted-christmas_2.htm

The Returned Relative

It was Christmas time of 1995 or ’96 at my aunt’s house on a reservation in North Dakota. Some of my family was in the living room watching television, the kids were playing in the rooms or sleeping, and my uncle, aunt, and I were sitting at the table putting a puzzle together. My cousin, who worked at a casino, would come home around midnight or 1 a.m.

This night, as she pulled up and was walking toward the house, she looked in the window and saw me sitting at the table, my uncle sitting across from me, and someone standing to the left of me and someone standing in the corner, so she continued to walk in the house thinking nothing of it. As we were sitting there talking, she looked at me and asked who was standing next to me a few minutes ago and who was in the corner. I told her no one and she said, “Yeah, there was someone standing next to you. It looked like your mom and she was playing with your hair.” (I have long hair, which I used to wear down all the time.) She said this person was running her hand on my hair, like a mother does to a child.

It kinda freaked me out, being I was probably only 12 or 13 at the time. My cousin swears up and down that someone was standing over me rubbing my head and watching me put the puzzle together with my aunt and uncle, and that there was another person standing behind this person. We got around to thinking it was probably her mom she saw. (She passed away on her birthday a week before Christmas back in 1992.)

In my family we consider our aunts and uncles to be just like our moms and dads. After thinking that it could have been her, it didn’t scare me so much. However, we couldn’t figure out who the person was standing in the corner. And always around Christmas time something strange always happens … and we just think it’s her visiting us. – V. Page

http://thestir.cafemom.com/celebrities/165955/5_true_christmas_ghost_stories

The Haunted Tree

My parents and I lived in a small home that was around 90 years old. The year would have been 1996. We lived there from the time I was seven years old to the time I was 19. From the very day that we moved in, I felt that I was not alone. One year around Christmas time, I was having a friend spend the night. The heat had just shut off briefly and she and I were sitting in the living room watching television when the temperature dropped substantially. As I rose to turn up the heat, the Christmas tree began to shake violently. Ornaments were falling off right and left and she and I were terrified! We ran upstairs and lay down on my bed. My white cat curled up with us and my door was open slightly. When I gazed out at the dark hallway, I was horrified to see a tall white figure run down the hall. I turned to my friend and she acknowledged that she had seen the exact same thing. She never spent the night ever again. – Caitlin Williams

http://thestir.cafemom.com/celebrities/165955/5_true_christmas_ghost_storie

The Ghostly Choir

On Christmas Eve night, 1978 at about 3:00 a.m. in Klamath Falls, Oregon, I was suddenly awakened by a choir singing. The house was new construction, miles from the nearest church. I strained to hear any words that I could understand or a tune that I could identify, but I could not understand the language or tune. I did get a feeling of “angelic” exaltation, reverence, and gladness of heart. This was truly a heavenly choir lifting their voices on high, singing hosanna in the highest, in an unknown tongue, without accompaniment of instruments.

I examined the television, but it was turned off, as was the radio. I explored outside, but the singing was not heard outdoors. The way the countless male, female and children’s voices entwined together, the tonals going from operatic highs to the deepest bass voices in perfect harmony. It must have lasted about 10 minutes, but it was touching for an eternity. – Mel

http://thestir.cafemom.com/celebrities/165955/5_true_christmas_ghost_stories