Well, being a Christian, I dismiss any strange feelings that I have gotten or, sometimes when the hair on the back of my neck stands up, I remind myself that the only life after death that I believe in is eternal life in heaven. However; I have a story about a man that is a friend of mine, and is no doubt a Christian, but believes whole heartedly that he has seen an apparition.
About five years ago myself and childhood friend headed to the Mississippi Delta to do some deer hunting on his father in law's lease. We stayed with his inlaw's during our visit. These are fine people to say the least. The food was great, fellowship was wonderful, but the hunting wasn't so hot. However; the weather was hot, but this didn't dampen our spirits because the bunk room in which we were staying had two bucks over 170" hanging on the wall. Well, the first afternoon I hunted a tripod stand. The afternoon produced nothing but mild temps, a little rain, and alot of fog. I exited the stand at dark, and headed for the truck to meet my buddy's father in law. As I left the field, I started the uphill climb to the pick up point. As I was walking up the road, I realized the the balmy 70 degree evening dropped to what felt like 30 degrees. I had one of those hair standing up on your neck feelings, and started reminding myself of my beliefs. Something just didn't feel right. My pace quickened as I rounded the bend and was quite relieved at the sight of headlights waiting for me. The delta is spooky anyway, in my opinion. Nonetheless, I climbed into the truck and was greated by a friendly smile. "did you see any?" he asked. No, but all I could think of was one of those 170" bucks stepping out. He smiled and said, "yeah, I wounded a buck that size in the road, right around the bend." He then went on to tell me that it was in the 70's on a rainy balmy night just like this. I laughed, and said jokingly, well that buck must be haunting the bend because it sure felt erie walking up through there. It felt 50 degrees colder. I was just making conversation.
My friends father in law got kinda got pale, and said, remind me to tell you something when we get back to the house. He didn't say much on the way back at all. I knew he was spooked. Well curiosity got the best of me, so I asked?
He began by telling me that He shot this huge buck
right at dusk and imediately started trailing him. He looked for about 30 minutes, and darkness fell. He smoked at the time,and all he had was a cigarette lighter. Flame on, and he picked up the trail. He had just gone into the woods in the bend of the road when it started raining straight down. Fearing that he would loose the blood he continued. He stopped, the temp seemed to drop suddenly, and he looked up and saw a small boy standing about 15 feet from him with his head hanging low. He instantly spoke to the boy with no response. He said that he just knew that the young child was lost, but how did he get in the middle of nowhere. He spoke two more times with no response. He began to approach, and realized the child hadn't moved a muscle. He was just standing there. His gut sank, He knew something wasn't right. He bolted towards the truck. He said he didn't stop running until he reached the vehicle.
There was only one house within a 10 mile radius, and it was a field hand that worked for his father. He stopped at the house, and reported the missing child. The man said he knew of no missing children in the area. Curious he asked the fieldhand, "isn't there a graveyard on the property somewhere?", "Where is it?" The field hand described the exact location that he had just left. Curious again, he asked if there were any children buried there. The field hand told him that there was a 9 yr old boy buried there about a year befor.He was in a farming accident.
The next day he rounded up a search party to look for the deer in daylight. The deer wasn't recovered, but he went back partially because he wanted to see the place in daylight. He was still in disbelief, but said that the exact spot where he saw the boy, there was the 9yr olds tombstone.
He went on to tell me that he was a Christian man, but that he definately believed in ghosts because there was no mistake of what he saw. He told me several other chilling stories about this farm, but there not near as chilling as this one.
As for me, I am still a non believer, but would never call this man a liar. I can't explain it. I do know, that something spooked him in the woods that night. I could see his eyes watering the entire time he was telling me the story.
Hope you enjoyed the contribution. I find myself reading this thread every night. It reminds me of campfire tales from retreats past. Keep em coming. This is very entertaining.