GO BAck
Tom Crawford's
Scary Experience
Back 1999, I used to live in a small apartment with two dogs. At night time, I'd usually let them come in my room and sleep on the floor next to my bed.
One night in August, I woke up around 3 AM because I heard my dogs whimpering. As I opened my eyes, I saw a dark figure standing directly over me. It didn't have any defining features - it was just like a black mist. Startled, I tried to get out of bed but discovered that I couldn't move my body.
It was as if something very strong was holding me against the bed. I struggled for about a minute before the figure finally dissipated. Once it was completely gone, both of my dogs jumped up on the bed with me and they were trembling from fright.
My initial reaction was to think that it had just been a dream or a figment of my imagination. However, that wouldn't have explained why my dogs were so frightened.
Obviously, they saw the same thing I did. Although I never again saw another physical manifestation of this entity, I sensed it many times after this encounter.
My dogs also sensed it and they would sometimes frantically run out of the room, without explanation, and begin trembling the way they did that night.
After a few months of this, I decided I couldn't deal with it any longer and moved to a new apartment. I haven't seen or sensed the entity since.
Copyright (c) 2009 Tom Crawford
Tom Crawford Copyright (c) Gabriel Gonzalez
GHOST SOURCE
Sometimes we all need one place where we can go to get information on a particular subject. Well, when you need to find out about ghosts then Ghost Source is the place. Ghost Source is your source for the scariest true ghost stories, real haunted houses, paranormal experts, the paranormal field guide and all things ghostly.
MUW met up Tom Crawford from Ghost Source to get the spooky details on some of the countries scariest places and to get his take on why we shouldn't mess with ghosts.
Originally based out of California, Ghost Source is in the process of moving to the East Coast so that they can provide better coverage of haunted places in the US. They also plan on setting up a satellite location in Spain so that they can begin to explore Europe's haunted locations.
MUW: How did the idea for Ghost Source come about?
TC: One night back in June of 1999 around 3 AM, while driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles, I found an AM program on the radio where people were calling in and sharing their experiences with things they couldn't explain. One of the most common things that the people mentioned was how embarrassed they were to share these stories with their friends and families because the reaction would be a roll of the eyes or something dismissive like "Oh, you must have just imagined it." It made me think that it would be great if there was an online resource that people could use to share their experiences with others and also read the experiences of other folks from all around the world. A type of group therapy almost. The very next day I began to design and program the website. It officially launched on July 4, 2000.
MUW: What interests you the most about ghosts?
TC: What interests me most about ghosts are the stories and history that go along with the stories themselves. For the moment, despite all the advanced technology many ghost hunters use, it is impossible to prove definitively whether ghosts exist or not and I feel that that determination is a personal decision that should be left up to my individual users. Rather, I am interested in finding out the facts of the haunted locations and learning more about the lives and tales of the ghosts believed to haunt these locations.
MUW: What is one of the scariest places in the US?
TC: I've been to many haunted locations and I think the place that made me feel most uncomfortable was the former house of Mary Ellen Pleasant in San Francisco, CA. One of the rumors associated with the haunting is that passerbys often feel the sensation of someone either spitting on them or pushing them. While researching this story (which was published in FATE magazine and then later republished on the site: http://www.ghostsource.com/hauntings/hauntings_voodooqueen.php), a local psychic who was with me at the time was inexplicably tossed to the ground by what she could only describe as "unseen hands". After that happened, she refused to remain near the premises and waited for me several blocks away while I finished up photographs. While nothing happened to me personally, I felt very uncomfortable the entire time I was there.
MUW: What is your favorite ghost story?
TC: I won't choose a favorite of any of the user submitted stories, because I like them all. However, my favorite legend is the one of the Ghost by the Sea in Charleston, South Carolina. It involves the ghost of a young woman whose love of a sailor was vehemently disapproved of by her father. He refused to let them see each other, at one point locking her in her room to prevent her from visiting him. Because the young man was a sailor, his deployment in Charleston eventually ended and he was relocated to Virginia without the opportunity to say goodbye. While in Virginia, he received news that she had died from yellow fever. The young man requested to attend the funeral but was forbidden to do so by the girl's family. To add injury to insult, they dug several graves in cemeteries throughout the city so that the young man would never know exactly where she was buried. Forever tormented with the grief of her lost love, she is believed to frequent the old Unitarian cemetery in Charleston which is believed to be her actual burial place. You can read more about this legend here: http://www.ghostsource.com/hauntings/hauntings_ghostbythesea.php
MUW: Do people ever tell you of times they tried to summon ghosts?
TC: I've been contacted by many users who have informed me that they have tried to summon ghosts or would like to know more information about summoning ghosts. I personally believe it to be a dangerous practice and don't provide any information regarding that to my users and strongly advise them against attempting it. If a spirit has passed, let it rest in peace.
For all your ghost needs remember to go to Ghost Source.
