This subsection of the site will contain the personal stories of paranormal experiences that members of TRAX have had, as well as those stories submitted to TRAX by readers.

Enjoy!

*************************************************************

T.R.A.X. Member's Stories

*************************************************************

T.R.A.X. Founder

 Here are two different things I've experienced in my own life, events separated by many years....

My father was in the Navy for over twenty years, and when I was eleven years old, we were stationed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, living in Navy housing. That year, my mother decided to let me have a Halloween party with the kids in our block.

It was great fun, she was a genius with all the whacky and hillarious games we played, and it sure beat the heck out of going door to door trick or treating. As the evening began to wind down, we kids decided we were going to have a seance to end it just right. After all, it was Halloween, so what would be more appropriate, right?

So we all sat down in a big circle in the living room, with me facing the patio doors. The candles were lit, the lights were turned out, and we began our seance with every bit of serious intent as any group of adults would have.

One girl there decided we should try to contact her recently deceased grandfather, she missed him and wanted to see if she could talk to him. We agreed, and as we held hands and focused, she began to call his name.

A few minutes went by as we all focused intently on the task at hand. Then, for some reason, I opened my eyes, and looked up towards the top of the patio doors.

Floating across the ceiling, headed directly towards me and looking right at me, I saw the disembodied head of an old man.

What can I say? This being my first experience with any such paranormal stuff, and being only eleven years old, I totally freaked out, let loose with a scream that would have done any horror movie actress proud, and thereby started a stampede of kids screaming and shrieking as they one and all leapt to their feet and ran hellbent for leather out the front door! My mother and her friend stood in the kitchen, mouths open in shock, not having a clue what had just happened to cause the abrupt and noisy end to the party, and not one kid stopped to get any details on why they were running for their lives!

It's hilarious now as I look back on it, but I assure you that at the time it happened, it was every bit as real to me as the kids sitting in the room with me. There was no doubt whatsoever in my mind as to what I saw, and it left a lasting impression on me. Whether it was a product of my own youthful imagination, or a true manifestation, is something that can never be proven one way or another, but it gave me a lifelong sense of compassion and understanding for anyone else who has ever experienced anything paranormal.

On to my second major event, at least major from my perspective.....

This particular event occurred approximately seventeen years ago, when my middle son who is now twenty years of age was about three, and we had just moved into an apartment complex in a nearby town here in Tennessee.

Anyone who has endured a move knows what a real pain it is, it seems to take forever to get unpacked and reorganized, and you spend more time than you want living with most of your things in boxes. I had just gotten my son's bedroom finally set up, still had several boxes to go in my own bedroom, and decided to call it a night.

Settling into bed with a good book, I read for a while, enjoying the peace and quiet that only a parent understands when they've battled a rowdy three year old boy as they also try to set up a home. Finally deciding I would try to get some sleep, I put the book down on the bedside table, and reached up to switch off the bedside lamp, leaving only the bathroom light on down the hall as I always did.

With my hand still on the lamp's light switch, I felt every hair on my body stand straight up and I froze in place, looking at my bedroom doorway.

Standing there was a full body apparition of an old woman...

My mouth was literally wide open in shock, and I could NOT move, I was so surprised. She wore the typical shirt dress that many old women wear, I could even see the cloth belt around her waist, and she was wearing those lace up support shoes that old women tend to wear. Her hair was short and curly, and she was wearing glasses.

She stood there in my bedroom doorway for a few moments, wringing her hands, looking confused. Then she walked into my bedroom, walked to the end of my dresser past the mirror, in which I also saw her reflection, seemed to fiddle around with some jewelry I had in a basket on the end, started wringing her hands some more, then she turned around, and walked out of my room, just disappearing from sight in the doorway.

As soon as she vanished, I flipped the lamp back on and leapt from my bed, first checking on my son, who was still asleep, then running through the entire apartment checking every room and turning on every light.

No one was there.

With chills running all over me, knowing that most people would never believe what I had just seen, I went through every room, praying that whoever she was, she would go to the light and find peace, as I lit some candles and did every cleansing ritual I'd ever heard of, Christian or otherwise.

I never saw her again, but when I said something about what I'd seen to a couple of my neighbors, and when I described her, they told me I had just described the old woman who had lived in the apartment right before I moved in. She had become very ill and had been put in a nursing home.

I suspect she may have died and was visiting the last place she had known as her home, though I was never able to find out for sure. Still, though I've had many strange things happen in my life, it was the single most powerful paranormal encounter I've ever had in my life.

******************************************************

Reader Contributions

******************************************************

 (feel free to submit your own stories to trax  @  tennessee.usa.com for posting here)

(TRAX does not endorse or verify the stories submitted here, they are accounts shared with TRAX for publication, for the reader to consider; we also do not pay for these stories, they are personal accounts shared freely here)