Jeff Belanger - Real-Life Ghost Encounters

This edition published in 2014 by:

The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

29 East 21st Street

New York, NY 10010

Additional end matter copyright 2014 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Belanger, Jeff.

Real-life ghost encounters/Jeff Belanger. First Edition.

pages cm. (Haunted: ghosts and the paranormal)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4777-0678-7 (library binding)

1. Ghosts. 2. Haunted places. I. Title.

BF1461.B3865 2013

133.1dc23

2012048803

Manufactured in the United States of America

CPSIA Compliance Information: Batch #S13YA: For further information, contact Rosen Publishing, New York, New York, at 1-800-237-9932.

First published as Our Haunted Lives by New Page Books/Career Press, copyright 2006 by Jeff Belanger

For my sister,

Susan,

who is always good at talking to people.

Acknowledgments

This book simply would not exist without the people who agreed to be interviewed for it. To those who shared their very personal and profound experiences, I thank you for the trust you placed in me. And I thank you for standing up and furthering the discussion of the supernatural.

Id like to thank author Studs Terkel for the inspiration on how to document peoples life experiences and how to present them in book form. Terkel is a master of drawing out the story from the people he interviews, and Im a big fan of his work.

Thank you to all of the people who helped me network with and contact witnesses of ghostly phenomena, especially Stephen Wagner from Paranormal.About.com.

Thank you to my editor, Christopher Carolei, for sharing the vision of how this book should come together, and thanks Michael Pye, Laurie Kelly-Pye, and Linda Rienecker for all that you do.

To my wife, Megan, who puts up with all of the oddities that come with having a job like mine. Her pride in me and her support of my writing continually pushes me to work harder and do better. (I guess after all of these years, Im still trying to impress her.)

And thank you to the Ghostvillagers of the world. The people who have visited and contributed to my Web site, www.ghostvillage.com, have always inspired me. I appreciate their support and the global community they have created.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Haunted Homes

George Lutz, Amityville, New York

Aimee Wagner, Framingham, Massachusetts

Linda Dix, Toledo, Ohio

Tim Beauchamp, Grove, Oklahoma

Kim Strain, Sitka, Alaska

Janie LeKay, Birmingham, England

Sharon Moritz, Chicago, Illinois

Morris Sabanski, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Chapter 2: Ghosts We Know

Rev. Father Scott E. Kingsbury, Los Angeles, California

William Gilbert, Brooksville, Florida

Lee Prosser, Foyil, Oklahoma

Robert Allen, Huron, South Dakota

Kathy Flaherty, Hog Island, Rhode Island

Jim Demick, Rockwood, Michigan

Heather Coker, New Palestine, Indiana

Sierra Gregoire, Benson, Vermont

Suzy Lehman, Jasper, Tennessee

Michael Wright, Salem, Virginia

Chapter 3: Ghosts on the Job

Jeff Revis, Dayton, Tennessee

William Zastrow, Austin, Texas

Jennifer Neighbor, Savannah, Georgia

Michael K. Mather, San Diego, California

Connie Cook, Las Vegas, Nevada

Bobby Mackey, Wilder, Kentucky

Chapter 4: Haunted Hotels and Inns

Jaci Burkett, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Tom Haikin, Derby, England

Nora Quick, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Chapter 5: Near-Death Experience

Sandra Brooks, Clifton Forge, Virginia

Chapter 6: While You Were Sleeping

Jerry E. Spivey, Brooklyn, New York

Gino, Sterling Heights, Michigan

Ian Yeung, Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

Chapter 7: Ghost Hunting

Travis Hayes, North of Albany, Louisiana

John Zaffis, Stratford, Connecticut

Bill Jimenez, Ph.D., San Diego, California, and Pico Rivera, California

Chapter 8: Ghosts Out and About

Erika Emal, Aix en Provence, France

Lokela Dakine, Laie, Oahu, Hawaii

Glossary

For More Information

For Further Reading

Index

Introduction

When I started writing about ghosts and the supernatural, I began with some of the most famous haunted places. The Tower of London, the White House, Archer Avenue in Chicago, and Gettysburg were all certainly high on my supernatural radar. I was intrigued by the history, stirred by the legends, but completely gripped by the first-hand accounts I heard from the many witnesses of supernatural events at these renowned haunts.

Through the years, Ive spoken with many hundreds of people who have shared their very personal and profound spiritual experiences with mefrom encounters with strange cold spots, unexplained knocks, disembodied voices, even detailed conversations with relatives who have passed on. I have heard conviction in the voices that told me about their brush with the other side, and Ive seen the wonder that returns to the witnesss eyes as they recount the incredible events theyve experienced.

For centuries, ghost experiences were told and retold by oral tradition. Even todayin a world that chronicles almost every event no matter how mundane via photograph, video, audio, and/or written worddetails of ghostly encounters are still spread mainly by word-of-mouth. But that trend is changing. Today, belief in the existence of ghostly phenomena is on the rise, and some people are willing to come forward and share their own stories on television programs, radio call-in shows, and Internet sites. These people are quickly finding they arent alone.

Real-Life Ghost Encounters is all about the experience, that life-altering event that provesat least to the witnessthat there is indeed life beyond death. This is a collection of my very spirited conversations with people who have experienced ghosts. Some of the encounters are frightening, some are touching, and some are simply quirkyit seems the other side also has a sense of humor.

These accounts are presented in the words of the eyewitnesses. Every effort was made to preserve the nature, nuances, and dialogue of each interview, because I want you to know these people. Understand that no one was placed on the hot seat with a lone spotlight shining on them. These are conversations.

Youll notice that some of the grammar may not be perfect. We ask that you forgive both the author and editor, but this is how people talk. It doesnt make them ignorant or even uneducated; we simply dont speak the way we write. If you were going to an important job interview, you would likely wear your best business attire, youd sit with your back straight, and youd carefully answer each question in an articulate manner. Though this is putting on your best face and placing your best foot forward, is it the real you? No, its the polished and careful you. The real you is that person on the couch in sweatpants on a rainy Saturday morning. And if we could stay with the couch analogy for just a minute longer, now imagine how that person in sweats speaks. Imagine you had a friend come overthe kind of friend you know well enough that you dont have to change out of your sweatpants for. Your dialogue with that person would be relaxed. Some English snobs may say lazy, but I would call it intimate. And though William Strunk and E.B. White might have cringed while reading an exact transcript of two friends talking, the reality is that the language works. Information and meaning are shared and understood, and the content is genuine. Theres beauty in that.