Do You Believe in Ghosts?

[Janetleighgreen]

I hope you like my story, which takes place at a hotel. It all occurred on my honeymoon in July of 2014.

Firstly, let me offer some background information on the hotel. Room #501 is haunted. It is said that a happily engaged couple checked-in and was given this room. Unfortunately, the husband, who was a sailor, was ordered to go aboard a ship and sail off on business. The wife was told that her husband died and she hung herself in the room. Over time, the room was forever haunted. People have witnessed apparitions, door slams, and furniture moving. The hotel was built in the early 1900s after a massive hurricane swept through. This is now appropriate for me to mention that the hotel I am speaking of is the Hotel Galvez in Galveston, Texas. (Galveston is prone to experiencing a good amount of hurricanes). The Hotel Galvez is situated just across the street from the sea wall. My husband and I went in the basement to check out the hotel’s little museum displays and artifacts. We were looking at the photos that showed the hotel being built. It was said that a lot of dead bodies that resulted from the hurricane were covered by the hotel’s foundation. That is sad. No, we did not stay in room #501, but we did visit the 5th floor. It was unusually quiet. However, my story does not involve this room; my story consists of another haunted area of the hotel: the women’s restroom on the 1st floor.

My husband and I were walking around the hotel and pondered on what to eat for the evening. We remained on the first floor because there was plenty of space to just lounge around and walk. I was relaxed and pleased with the many people that were also walking about the hotel. It would be rather creepy to have no one around and hear echoes with mysterious origins. When we reached the end of a hall on the left side of the hotel on the first floor, I was relieved to see the women’s restroom. I had consumed a ton of water throughout the day and the view of the ocean made my need to go to the restroom strictly demanding. Before I stepped inside the restroom, my husband then said, “oh, this is the haunted restroom.” I just stared at him. Why was he telling me this now?! My bladder felt like it was going to explode if I did not go soon. In a matter of seconds, I started to feel a little scared. I pleaded with my husband to hold the bathroom door open or to at least be near it…just in case. There was no one else around this end of the hall and it did not seem like anyone was in the restroom.

So, my husband held the door for me. Beyond the door, it is a straight little entrance and then it turns left where the stalls and sinks are. I was not fully aware of what my husband meant by ‘haunted.’ I stood there and listened for anything. I saw that all the stalls were empty. It was dead quiet. I probably stood in a frozen state for about 30 seconds. I did not hear or feel anything. It seemed TOO quiet. Then, I picked a stall to use. It was clean, smelled fine, and the stall door could lock in place perfectly. The middle stall is always the best! Once I got done, I flushed the toilet…everything was still fine. Then…I just stood there frozen again. It felt like someone was watching me. Yet, I was the only one in the restroom. I thought I saw a shadow just behind the stall door. Again, I did not see or hear anyone else walk in or out of the restroom. I did not think about it too much and decided to leave the stall. By the time I opened the stall door, the toilet flushed on its own and that is when I ran out. I had flip-flops on, which made the traction a little slippery. My husband, thankfully, was still holding the door open for me and I darted right past him. In between the time of me leaving the stall and running out of the restroom, I, as well as my husband, heard a stall door bang shut loudly.

I researched online about the women’s restroom at this hotel. Of course, I came across people’s stories about other haunted areas of the hotel – room #501 and #505 as well as a salon bathroom – and some of these people have reported that they heard ‘breathing’ in the women’s restroom on the first floor. At the time that I got home comfortably and decided to read about this, I attempted to recall if I did hear anything. I did mention that it was dead quiet, but I do recall hearing something when I was just standing in the stall. Honestly, if my husband would not have told me about the haunted aspect of the restroom, I am not sure what my expectations would be without knowing. When we returned to our room, I did not think much about it. I guess I lacked the knowledge of knowing why the restroom was haunted, which caused me to simply push it out of my mind. However, I, as well as other people with similar experiences, find this all fascinating! This story seemed more of a calm paranormal story, but it is still a curious thing.

Cool story! Thanks for sharing!

[samnrivera]

yes yes yes yes yes. my grandmother's house gave me more than enough reasons to believe. I'm currently reading the haunting of hill house and it reminds me how much I love the dark and spooky...to a certain degree of course

[missy1234]

I believe that ghost can exist to those who believe in them.

-- 13 Oct 2016, 17:59 --

There has been recent speculation that portals have opened up more to the suernatural world.

[TaraCarnes]

I used to never believe in ghosts, until I was in DC in 8th grade for a school trip. Being the 14 year olds we were, my roommates and I got a ouija board just to see what would happen. I was always skeptical of spirits and ghosts. I was one of those see-to-believe type of people, and I had never had an encounter. However, I have been an agnostic person since day one. We messed around with the ouija board, and to my surprise, the piece we all had our hand on moved. I didn't believe it at first. I thought maybe one of my roommates had been pulling it with her hand. As time went on, however, my skepticism vanished.
The AC unit in the hotel room was set on cold, and it was set on fan so it wouldn't turn off. To our surprise though, it did. My best friend at the time got up to check on it, and said it was still marked on fan, and it shouldn't have kicked off. Just as she said that, the alarm clock next to the bed we were all crowded on starting freaking out like there was interference. All of our phones were turned off for the night, so nothing should have been interfering with it. This made another one of my friends cry, and she didn't want to play anymore. I told her it was all a coincidence and to keep playing.
So we did.
We continued, and the alarm clock would occasionally protest with it's static, the AC unit switched to heat once and kicked on while it was off in another incident. I was starting to believe a bit more, but I was still convinced it was a coincidence. I always used logic to make sense of things and so far, everything, albeit a bit creepy, still made logical sense.
My friend kept on and off crying during the whole thing, and finally we decided to stop torturing her so we quit. As I turned my head to look at my friend who was throwing a fit, I saw a shadowy figure by the door to the hotel room in my peripheral vision. I looked back real quick with a gasp, but it wasn't there anymore.
I can remember it to this day. It was a veteran of some kind. He wasn't hostile or anything, I could almost . . . feel that he was good. He was adorned in medals, wearing what looked like an old Navy uniform. I only saw him for a split second, but I can remember every detail.
I was convinced he was trying to communicate with us through the alarm clock and the AC unit. I rationalized that since we were in DC, there were probably tons of old veteran spirits around the area, and he happened to be the one we were lucky (or unlucky in my scared friend's case) to communicate with.
So, to answer the question; yes, I believe in ghosts.

[cwoodfin]

I do believe, I have really no other way of explaining the weird vibes I sometimes get or walking past a mirror and something catches your eye but it's not there when you fully look.

[SandraH]

Not sure if I believe in ghosts, but I believe there are things we cannot explain and it is possible ghosts exist. I lived in a house a few years ago that everyone said was haunted. My husband and I experienced some strange things while living there. One night my husband had already gone to bed and I was watching TV. Suddenly my little dog became very upset and was barking and ran out to the den growling. I had to go get the dog and quiet him so he wouldn't wake my husband. Then it sounded like someone running past me though I didn't see anyone and my dog went ballistic again. I thought my husband was playing a trick on me and I followed the sound of the footsteps back to the den and turned on the light to see the door out to the deck was open (which it had not been just a minute before). I closed the door and locked it thinking I was locking my husband out on the deck and it served him right for trying to freak me out. I went to the bedroom thinking I would leave him locked out for a couple of minutes for his being so mean, but when I got to the bedroom and opened the door, there was my husband in bed fast asleep. I woke him up and we checked all the doors (which had dead bolt locks that needed a key to open them) all the windows, and we had been home and inside the house with the doors locked all afternoon and evening. Both of us were totally freaked out over what had just happened and so was the dog.

[Bookdragongoddess]

I do. It happened at my parent's house. I have heard voices of a woman speaking rapidly then a male voiced spoke to her. I could tell it was English they were speaking but damn it I could not understand one word of it. They were whispering. No radios no one by the house (it is out in the country and it was night time). I even went to look outside for anyone walking on the road. No explanation. The power went out there one night I heard that woman rambling again. No male that time. It spooked me more that second time. No lights and I was alone.

[melindataylor67]

I do believe in ghosts though I have never had any personal experience with them. I believe in a lot of things like aliens, other planets and galaxies, God, angels, spirits, reincarnations, horoscopes, psychics, witches, Satan, demons, other religions. I am very open to a variety of possibilities in this life and other lives and existence planes. I also believe in science and nature. Life is so complex and I see no reason why there has to be only 1 explanation for things that has to be right. I do not feel that we have all the answers in this life and that we are not meant to and part of our journey is figuring it all out.

[Bruin Dez]

When I hear noises or feel that there is someone around me, when I can't actually see anyone around me, then I feel comforted by assuming it is a ghost. I'm not afraid of the idea that ghosts are the dead who hang around. Sometimes I will dream about a deceased relative and accept it as their ghost or spirit paying a visit.

[MamaBex]

I can't say that I do or don't believe in ghosts. I have had some things happen around the house that seem to be a little unexplainable. I have never actually seen a ghost though so it's kind of hard to believe in something that you can't see.

[electricsunflowers]

I do (because I've had my own experiences,) & I think they can be good or evil. The same way humans can be. I think spirits or "ghosts" are humans just seen in different lights maybe. And a good paranormal book is more to give me an eerie feeling than a horror flick is to. I guess because my mind imagines it stronger than a screen could present to me, so it's my own fault!

[Michelle92]

I totally believe in them. I have a lot of respect for that realm. It is an interesting topic and you will find a lot of people with amazing stories. So if you are not to scary, you can add a book to the mix.

[rosalyncaar]

No, I don't believe in ghosts. But, like any good reader, if you have a good story about ghosts I'll be happy to listen.

[mchatten]

I believe in ghosts bit it is something I try to not think about. I picture ghosts as something unfinished. I believe that every human being has some sort of energy around them, something that surrounds them through their whole life. When life leaves their body, there has to be something that stays behind. And if the person feels like their life has been cut short way too early or somebody wronged them, it is hard to move on and let the energy die. Unlike other people, I have never had any supernatural encounter in my life (fingers crossed that it will stay that way) but I think it is simply because I choose to not focus on that. I would definitely never try to summon a ghost or spirit. Why toy with something that we don't understand.

[Geniephd928]

Hi,

I definitely believe in ghosts because, a day after my late husband passed away, I was singing the song "Unforgettable" using my karaoke machine (I'm a professional singer), and, while I was standing there holding the microphone in my hand, I was pushed forward by some invisible force. I am convinced it was the ghost of my late husband to whom I was singing the song "Unforgettable.

Geniephd928