The Phantom Visitor or The Bedside Ghost

As some of you know, we've made "reports" of strange visitors before. Like our Ghost Kitty, Casper. Unfortunately, this took place after viewing our favorite Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Episode, "The Cardboard Box". But, we viewed a few other programs after "The Box", so our memory should have been clear. As always, no alcohol nor controlled substances were involved. Except some acetaminophen. The thing about "The Box" is that it was so wickedly clever on many levels (especially for its time) and a great story of the supernatural...

But we digress, our senior editor went to sleep around 11pm and found himself soundly asleep when he was awoken by someone else checking the thermostat (it was in the single digits last night, outside...). So, it must have been cold enough to drive ghosts and other things-that-go-bump-in-the-night indoors... He managed to go back to a sound sleep in short time.

Later, even later, he was awoke in the dead of the night by somebody tugging at his right elbow. The significance of the elbow being that it was swollen and smarting with pain near the outside of the joint for the past several days. Also, his elbow was in the opposite direction of the light from the thermostat's location. So it wasn't another visit to that...but something else.

When he awoke, he opened his eyes to see a pale, shining white, human-shaped form standing between his bedside and the wall opposite. It seemed to be retreating from him. He could not make out any "facial features". But it seemed to have a body, a head and possibly arms. The thing was retreating from him and seemed to disappear or dematerialize out of the wall behind him. Too tired and too sleepy to be startled by this thing, he whispered "Mother" (she passed away 4 years ago) and went back to sleep. We told him today that he should have jumped up to the window to see if he could see it outside. He said he guessed he didn't want to - he just wanted his sleep!

Strangely, his elbow was no longer swollen and smarting with pain. Just a little tender to the touch. He wished the thing had touched his thigh...and his empty wallet pocket... He didn't believe it was a dream...but it could have been some kind of hallucination, or illusion...or...

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Image licensed under Creative Commons by Sapphireblue

Ghost Kitty: Updated: Casper (What our senior editor is calling his ghost cat, for now...) is, apparently, back. He felt it batting at his feet during the night last night, Wednesday, December 2, 2009, but never saw the thing...

We know - this is nuts. But, our senior editor claims to have a new pet. He saw it in his bedroom Tuesday night (Nov 17). He claims he saw the tail of a black cat (erect) pass quickly by the foot of his bed - and there has never been a cat in his place... When he saw it he said "What the Hell!" in his Walter/Jeff Dunham voice. He has not seen it since. But later Tuesday night, he could feel it pawing the hell out of his foot, just the way a live cat would in play. No, no...he wasn't drinking...

He can only guess that it might be the ghost of one of the twin black cats that used to hang around his front porch. They disappeared just about a year ago. Sigh, just when we thought things might get back to normal.

FOM: Wikipedia page on Ghost. "Real Ghost Cat" image link on flickr.