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Today's Poll: Do you believe in ghosts?

By Howard B. Owens
Karen Miconi

Maybe not Ghosts Howard, but I do believe in the "Spirit World". We have a friend that looked into a position, as a security guard for Rolling Hills. The owner needed someone to stay from dark to morning. He declined. Would any of you do it? Its a Very interesting subject Howard(for some).
There is a young man from Batavia, Frank L., does physic readings for people, house cleansings with burning sage, and who has gone on many ghost hunts at Rolling Hills. He also had the pleasure of meeting the Ghost Hunters on one of their visits. He took a picture, in the building, that is believed to be Alonzo Green. He was a patient, in the hospital, long ago. When they researched this man, they found out he suffered from TB. In the pic, he is wearing a hospital gown, crossing over a hallway. The pic is undenyable, and spooky. Frank's physic abilities are known by many. I believe there are Many spirits with us, here in Batavia. I just dont think Most people feel their presence.

May 14, 2010, 9:56am Permalink
Howard B. Owens

Topic came up yesterday and I glanced at the calendar as I was trying to come up with a question and the "psychic faire" spurred the thought ... and I needed a poll question.

May 14, 2010, 1:19pm Permalink
George Richardson

I don't believe in ghosts but I do believe in zombies. It's the time of the season. I like graveyards, they're like parks without anybody around to bother you.

May 14, 2010, 3:12pm Permalink
George Richardson

Howard, do you think it is weird that 61% of poll respondents believe in ghosts? That's really not so bad considering 95% of Texans believe in chupacabras. Ricky P, our idiot Governor, claims he shot one while jogging.

May 14, 2010, 6:34pm Permalink
tom hunt

For those who shop at Johny's on Ellicott Street, the next time you are there, ask Linda the Inn Keeper to show you the picture she took several years ago. She was outside taking a picture of an individual changing a flat tire on this car pointing the camera at the building. When the pictures came back, it showed the normal scene, however, in the window of the establishment there are the enlarged faces of two ghosts peering out at the activities. There was nobody inside at the time of the picture!

May 15, 2010, 12:12am Permalink
Dave Olsen

I don't know if I believe in ghosts per se, but surely we humans don't know everything. My family and I lived in Maryland for 10 years in an very old town, our house was built in the 1940's, it was surrounded though by 18th and 19th century homes. Lots and lots of ghost stories, everyone had one. My children claimed to have seen ghosts in the house, my wife had an encounter. I never experienced anything. My wife was reading and had on the TV late one night. There was a show on about ghosts, but she wasn't paying attention to it, so she shut off the tv. The tv then turned back on, and surfed through the channels until stopping on that program. I said,"What did you do?" She said "I let her finish watching her show"

That's mine, now we need more

May 15, 2010, 7:31am Permalink
Bea McManis

Many years ago, one of my jobs was to take pictures that were used for New York State Harness Licenses. The camera was a Poloroid with four lenses so that four "passport" size pictures were instantly developed.
This man came in wearing a very light colored polo shirt.
I took the picture, but when it developed, you could only see his head.
Thinking I had forgot to change the camera settings from the night before, I adjusted the settings and took it again.
Same thing. Only his head.
I tried four times and every one of them was the same.
I asked him to come back later in the day after I had the camera adjusted correctly. He told me he would come back that evening.
He died of a massive heart attack that afternoon.
I'm not sure if there is a connection, but I remember telling my mother about this strange event. She said that once, in the era of the Kodak Brownie camera, she took a picture of three of her cousins at a picnic. Several months passed before she had the film developed.
In the meantime, one of the cousins passed away. When the pictures came back, that picture of the three cousins showed two of the them very clearly. The third cousin, the one that died, was only a faint image even though they were standing together (he was in the middle) and in the same light.
Do I believe in ghosts? I never gave it much thought until I moved into an apartment in a lovely Queen Anne style home.
My answering machine would go off in the middle of the night even though the phone hadn't rung. My TV would go off and on at will. I would set something down and turn around to get it and it would be gone only to reappear in a different place (okay, that might be just plain absentmindedness).
When I mentioned it to my landlord, he said that he was having dinner in the dining room with a friend when they watched a family portrait fall from the wall. Second later, he got a call from his sister telling him that his brother had just passed away. The portrait was of my landlord and his brother and sister.
The house was originally owned by a doctor, at the turn of the last century, who used a portion of it as a hospital and many people had died in the house.
The "spirit" followed me to the Towers, or maybe a kindred spirit was already there. Shortly after moving in I misplaced my glasses. I searched everywhere for them. Finally, in desparation, I even moved the couch to the middle of the room to see if I had dropped them under or behind the couch. As long as I had the couch away from the wall, I took out the vac and cleaned that area.
I put the couch back. The phone rang and while I was talking on the phone, I happen to look in the direction of the couch. My glasses were clearly visible just under the couch.

May 15, 2010, 8:15am Permalink
Billie Owens

I think supernatural things occur, but I never had any personal experiences on that topic until moving to New York in 2007. While house-hunting, we rented a two-story townhouse on the waterfront of Canandaigua Lake.

It is a newer development with all the townhouses linked together in several rows. In the master bedroom upstairs there was an antique bedroom set, probably from the Victorian Era.

Time after time, when I was lying in bed, I felt the bed rustle ever so slightly, and got the impression that something was on the bed. At first, I thought it was the strong winds that blew through the area.

Then I realized, the sensation was limited to the bed, not the windows or floor or other rooms or furniture. It was as if a finger ever so delicately mades traces around me on the bed and under sheets, and sometimes the bed itself felt like it wiggled.

The moment came when I got spooked. It was in the morning and Howard had left for work, but I was sleeping so soundly I hadn't heard him get up and get ready. Then the tracing sensations, etc., started, and they were bugging me, starting to wake me up against my will.

Finally, I rose up, slapped my hand down on the bed and said "Knock it off!" fully expecting my husband to be at my side. To my astonishment, I was alone. I certainly woke up then!

We stayed there a total of three months. After that occurrence, I took my afternoon nap in the other bedroom and tried never to be in the Victorian bed alone. I didn't feel the spirit was bad or scary, just unsettling and possessive about that bed.

May 15, 2010, 1:01pm Permalink

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