Keep coming back here for more true paranormal stories. The top one is always the newest.
Story 75
Rattled
After their parents separated, Eric and his two young siblings took turns staying overnight with their dad at his apartment.
One evening, when it was Eric’s special time with his dad, they sat in the living room watching TV. Suddenly the door to the apartment started to rattle. The doorknob kept jiggling and rattling until Eric’s Dad got up and looked through the peephole. He didn’t see anyone.
He yanked the door open and looked all around. The knob continued to shake and rattle even as he did that. But there was no one in sight.
“That was crazy!” Eric told me.
Although the kids didn’t know it at the time, that was not the only odd thing that happened at their dad’s apartment.
One morning, when he got up and went into the kitchen, Eric’s dad found all his cupboard doors open, even though they had been shut the night before This happened repeatedly during the year that he lived in the apartment.
Perhaps the most disturbing incident occurred when Eric’s dad was all alone, enjoying a warm, relaxing bath. He was suddenly shocked by the touch of a freezing cold hand on his back. He quickly turned around—and saw no one.
When he walked through the nearby hallway, he would sometimes encounter inexplicable cold spots.
He swears that there was something in that apartment.
However, he didn’t want his young children to be frightened, so he didn’t tell them about the paranormal activity until they were older—and he had left that haunted place.
Story 74
A Touch of the Paranormal
There is a lot of history in Turner Hall. And at least one ghost.
The original hall was built by the German Turners* of New Ulm in the 1850’s, burnt down during the Dakota Conflict in the 1860s, was rebuilt in 1866, added onto in 1873, renovated in 1900 and partially burned again in 1952.
The restored Hall remains a mainstay of the town. It used to be exclusive to members but is now open to the public. And its famed rathskeller in the basement is known as the oldest bar in the state.
That underground level is where Barbara’s story takes place.
She got a job working in the basement kitchen back in 2008. The woman who hired her said, “Within the first two weeks, you can expect a welcome from one of the Turner Hall ghosts. Don’t be alarmed. They’re friendly ghosts. It’s a way of being welcomed, not something startling.”
That conversation was rather surprising to Barbara, if not startling.
Shortly after she began her new job, Barbara was working in the kitchen alone. The only other employee present was the bartender in the next room.
Suddenly, Barbara felt a tap on her shoulder. Surprised, she turned around and saw…nothing. “Hey, is anyone there?” she called out. No answer.
Barbara might have felt frightened, but she remembered the alert given when she took the job. She realized this was her welcome from the ghost. The tap had been gentle, not aggressive. Instead of being scared, she felt safe and welcome. The ghost was indicating they had seen her and she was now accepted as a part of the place.
Barbara said, “It was a really cool experience.”
But it happened only once. The ghost quietly welcomes people but does not harass them repeatedly.
Employees at Turner Hall regularly ask new people who start working there if they have been told about the ghost. Forewarned is forearmed. No need for fear.
Interestingly, Barbara said that she had never heard of volunteers at the Hall having any ghostly encounters. Only employees.
However, when people invite paranormal activity at the Hall, it may happen. A friend of hers and other people who attended such an event heard a ghostly whisper “Over here!”
And when out-of-towners put a flashlight on a table, inviting ghosts to turn it on, it instantly lit up. They couldn’t believe it. So, they asked the ghosts to turn it on again. Same result. Barbara’s friend jokingly credited a former customer who had passed away.
Both of these occurrences happened near the kitchen where Barbara had her encounter.
Apparently, the Turner Hall ghosts prefer the basement. Or maybe they love that German beer has been raising spirits there for over 150 years.
*In the nineteenth century, Turners created German-American organizations that promoted physical education (especially gymnastics), and provided social, political and cultural opportunities for German immigrants.
Story 73
Her Father’s Music Box
When her oldest son was little, Dee had a music box that was part of a wine decanter set. The wine went in the middle and there were wooden cups.
She was scolding her son for getting into something, and all of a sudden, the music box started playing on its own.
Dee thought, “Oh…kay.” She felt it was her dad, because of what had happened at an earlier time.
A beautiful wooden music box that had belonged to her great grandmother had sat in her aunt’s linen closet for years because it was broken. Finally, Dee’s dad gave it to her, even though it wasn’t functioning.
Shortly after he passed away, it started playing on its own, despite not having worked for decades. It was the perfect sign from her beloved father, who had given her the heirloom passed down through his family.
Dee said, “Now it’s not working again because someone over-torqued it, probably one of the grandchildren.”
She’s waiting for her dad to come back and fix it for her.
Again.
A pair of parental paranormal stories from Dee shows that it’s not always what you see that matters. All of your five senses can reveal signs from the other side. So, pay attention.
Story 72
Her Mother’s Lamps
Dee’s mother was Italian and a very strong woman. Dee said she was her role model, and that’s where she got her own strength and character.
A lot of furnishings in Dee’s house came from her mother, “So she surrounds me and I talk to her all the time,” said Dee.
When her mother passed away, Dee inherited some money, so she decided to buy a new couch. She still has it, because it was hardly used when her children were growing up, sitting in the living room that was rarely entered (except on Christmas).
Dee’s friend Mary is a decorator and came over to help her when Dee moved into a new home. They put the couch in the living room and placed tables on each side.
However, Mary was not in love with Dee’s table lamps. She said, “Dee, you must have different lamps that we can put in here.”
“Well, I have these lamps that were up in the bedroom that my mother always told me I needed to put in the living room. They were hers.”
When she showed the lamps to Mary, the decorator declared that they were perfect for the living room. So, they were moved there and everything was soon arranged.
When Dee came down the next morning, no one was in the house. Everyone had left. But there was a strong scent of her mother’s signature perfume L’Air Du Temps, and the distinctive smell of Ben Gay, which her mother had used to treat her arthritis.
Although she didn’t see or hear her mother, Dee knew she was there. She felt her mother saying, “See, I told you I was right!” Her mother had wanted her lamps in a prominent place, not hidden away in a bedroom.
When Dee is making Italian food, especially the meatballs, sometimes as she looks down, she thinks, “Are these my hands, or are they my mother’s hands shaping this?”
She said, “I think that connection never goes away. It gives you great peace.”