My story begins when my wife was diagnosed with an incurable cancer called Mesothelioma, caused by exposure to asbestos fibres, which I had carried home on my clothing.
It took about 3 weeks to confirm the worst; this was a very stressful period.

Two nights after the bad news, I had a dream, in the dream my wife and myself were at the Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane, we were talking to a Doctor, I saw in the dream the furniture in the room, also the seating configuration for the 3 of us. Then a voice from above said “one hundred and eighty five days". The voice was not the Doctors, it was a very clear male voice spoken with much authority.

Some 5 weeks later, we attended a meeting with the Doctor I saw in the dream, this meeting being the very first time with this particular Doctor, the Doctors facial features were exactly same as the dream, also the Furniture (chairs) were the same as visualized in the dream, and the positioning of the seating was the same.

I had not told my wife about the dream, as you will understand.

When I returned home, I got a calendar and worked out the Date 185 days in the future.

The Doctor in the dream turned out to be part of the Chemo Therapy ward, my wife received three lots of Chemo Therapy, I think the treatment probably extended her life.

I had really believed my wife would pass away on the 185th day, this belief reinforced by the dream visions actually happening.

When the 185th day arrived, this belief had weakened considerably, my wife was in a fair condition, although the cancer was still present, the treatments had slowed the growth.

The 1st visit to the Chemo Ward took place about Midday, about Midday on the 185th day my Sister phoned, informed me that our Mother had just died, my Mum had gone to the bedroom for a nap, a few minutes later my Sister looked into the bedroom, our Mum had passed away.

Sometime later I told my Sisters, (I have two sisters) this Story, straight away my eldest Sister said, “Oh my God, Mum used to pray to God asking to be taken instead".

I strongly believe my Mother had her prayer answered.

Beate Craker from Wynn Vale, South Australia, sent in her stories about the spooky encounters within her house.

I'm 46 and have been married for 23 years now. My husband who was the world's biggest skeptic can now say that after being married to me he has a strong belief in the afterlife or the supernatural.

This happened 12 years ago in the same home we are in now.

One night we stayed up late admiring hubby's new fish that he took great pride in. The night was getting late and into the early hours of the morning. Both children were fast asleep in their rooms and we were both tidying up to go to bed. Then suddenly, we both heard the sound of a child running through our lounge room and the footsteps came running into the kitchen where we both were. We both looked in the same direction to see a black smoky see-through figure about the same size and height as our children standing still as if the child-like figure was looking at both of us, and it then turned and ran into the laundry and disappeared. I immediately went to check on my kids and they were fast asleep in their beds. When I returned to the kitchen, my husband was AS WHITE AS A GHOST and would not speak of this incident for a couple of years.

Many strange things have happened since then, and I can say that I truly believe in ghosts. For instance, everyday I would make the beds before I would walk my two children to school. Then returning home, the beds would have been messed up again or made differently to how I made them. I also could hear, and even still to this day, I hear people talking quite clearly and someone always touches me sometime during the day or night with their cold hands.

For 3 months, I would wake up around the same time at night, usually between 3 and 4 am hearing as plain as day the sound of a big brass band playing outside my window. It was a beautiful noise but no one else could hear this. So, after visiting my doctor, he sent me to have my head examined for possible tumors, but I'm as healthy as the day I was born. The brass band has stopped playing but other things have not. For instance, when I'm home alone and am having a shower, I can hear the light switches being turned on and off constantly. Then when I come out the bathroom, some lights in the other rooms are on and doors of rooms are opened.

We have 2 dogs and 8 cats, and sometimes one of our dogs will run up to something and look straight up at nothing and growl and bark at whatever it sees. My cats have been fast asleep near us then suddenly wake to hiss with their backs arched up and run away to another part of the house.

My daughter then aged 4 used to wake up just after midnight and talk to someone in her wardrobe having lengthy conversations. When asked who she was talking to, she would always say it was grand-dad who had passed away 2 years before and was asking her to look after her brother who was just a baby and how he would have liked to have met him but he passed away before my son was born.

When I'm home alone now, because my husband is at work (night shifts) and both my children have moved out, sometimes I think I see someone in a white-yellowed shirt staring at me then he quickly disappears when I look back.

Hubby and I have also felt a few times that someone is sitting on our bed with us, and have also felt the weight of someone on our legs. Even the bed is depressed where it sits.
The last 2 years or so we have been taking photos and visiting cemeteries and to our surprise there are always orbs and other things that we capture in our photos. A,t one grave site there is what appears to be a see through tombstone, where there is nothing there but some sand that they use to fill in the new graves, and you can take pictures during the day also and have this tombstone appear in the photos.

One night we decided to tape or EVP voices, and as usual, I would talk to the people saying hello and say their names out loud too. To our surprise when we returned home and were listening to the tape, we could hear ourselves and then when I was saying hello to this one deceased female, we could hear on the tape as clear as day 'she's calling my name', we both had chills upon hearing this and have not done it since. We both know that this voice was not mine and there was no one else there this night but us.

One evening, I was taking pictures of a rainbow and surrounding area. In one incident, I took 3 photos that were in the opposite direction to the sun and to my amazement in the second photo was a large bright round object as big as the sun in my photo but the very next picture it was gone. These photos were taken only seconds in between one another. Now whenever I take photos, I always have orbs in my pictures and I do use 4 different cameras. I have experimented by taking photos inside the house and viewing them straight away and then I would talk to the orbs asking them to appear and in my next lot…. lo and behold they are there as clear as.

Many strange and unexplainable things happen to me, I feel, see and hear stuff all the time. I strongly feel that if we open our minds to possibilities of the supernatural world then some of us might be privileged to experience it!

Diane Buckland from Sydney, Australia, has sent in her tails of accounts with things that go bump in the night.

I am 43 and live alone. My boyfriend stays with me a fair bit. However, for the past month he has been in hospital with stomach cancer. I have MS.

I have felt a presence around me for most of my life, a hand on my head, arm and or leg, sitting on my bed while I sleep. One night I was in a dead sleep, and someone sat on my leg and woke me up. I yelled, "What did you wake me up for?”. I was angry.

Another time, I was shaken, and heard someone speaking in Latin to me, he seemed angry. I think that was a warning, because I made a decision I shouldn't have. So that was rather justified I guess.

However, the other night was the craziest encounter I've ever had. Even while trying to write this I feel him standing behind me watching. I have chills like those that I always get when I have a visitor, and it gets very cold.

Another time, I was sleeping on my stomach as usual, in a dead sleep. A “jerking” motion awakened me. It was a ghost who was being very very naughty to me, and as I woke slowly, I yelled "stop it, stop it!!!" I turned around but no one was there. Before falling back to sleep I covered my rear with a pillow. I am too embarrassed to say exactly what he did, but it’s not what you might first think.

I sometimes also see a dark figure in my hallway going in or coming out of my en-suite. Also, I find that when I pray before bed, I can normally get a good nights sleep.

Lisa Celentane from Frankston, Victoria (Australia), sent in her story about being awakened in bed by someone, even though she was alone.

Hi, my name is Lisa and I live in Melbourne. This is what happened to me on March 17th 2005.

My daughter Amanda was in New York alone and sick. We had been on the phone that evening trying to arrange a flight for her to the UK to stay with friends. As all mothers would be, I was very worried and concerned for her. It was at about 1.30am and I had finally fallen asleep, when I sensed that someone had pulled the covers off and slipped into the sheets next to me. A comforting arm then came around me, and I remember thinking to myself, this is exactly what I need right now. I felt comforted. A hand then started stroking my hair as if to relax and comfort me, and I remember very clearly thinking this is so nice and just what I need, thinking that my partner was the one comforting me.

For a few minutes this went on, when all of a sudden I realised that my partner was not staying at my house that night, and I was alone!!!

Well my heart pounded and I flew out of the bed and raced down the hallway, and I’m sure that my feet did not touch the ground.

I sat in the lounge for awhile thinking what do I do, when finally, I went back to the bedroom and noticed that the covers on the side of the bed that I do not sleep on were pulled back as if someone had got out on that side.

I searched turned the house upside down and found nothing.

I was scared for a while afterwards, as I did not know what it was or who it was.

Then on March 17th 2006, again asleep in my bed, and with my daughter back in Australia safe and sound, a similar thing happened. I knew that someone was laying next to me and stroking my head as if to say its alright, and again it was very soothing. I again then realised I was alone, and with that, I felt a sharp poke in my back which woke me up and then saw out of the corner of my eye, as I was flying out of bed, the covers on the bed move as if someone was getting out.

I still to this day do not know what was going on.

Kerryanne Matthews from Burleigh Waters, Queensland, sent in her story about her own NDE, and that she is now not afraid to die.

I would like to talk about my own near death experience, which occurred in Mona Vale Hospital, Australia in 1983.

I was admitted suddenly after having experienced an agonizing attack of gallstones, and had to have an urgent operation very quickly. I don't know how far into the operation this happened, but while they were removing my gallbladder I awoke and smelt the strongest antiseptic odor, and heard the cardiograph machine near my head beeping in time to my heart.

I wanted to let the staff know I was awake but could not open my eyes or move to make any signals, I heard them all talking while they worked on me, & even felt a strong clamp-like feeling on the top of my abdomen.

I felt fully conscious mentally, but couldn't move an inch physically, as I was worried about what might be going to happen. Then suddenly, the cardiograph started increasing the beeping sounds until finally it just went into one level long sound, and at that moment I had a very clear calm thought "I'm dying" and felt a sudden rush of movement & activity right above my body. I guess they panicked, however to me, it felt that everything that made me what I am just came together to form a whole being, and it was the warmest & most joyous feeling imaginable.

I also started to rise upward and remember being dimly surprised that I could still hear the heart machine, as by this time I didn't have any ears. This memory will never leave me, and I've been longing to experience it again. I used to be afraid of dying, now I really look forward to it.

Marilyn Giblett from Hastings Victoria, has sent in her spooky stories about being held in her bed by a ghostly spirit.

My first experience with something strange was when I was about 16. I had been messing around with a Ouija board on my own, when one night, I woke up feeling very frightened. My nighty was up around my neck and my sheets were off my bed but the blankets had remained tucked in. I had not felt anything except frighten.

Then, when I was 23, I was feeling sick, so I went to lay down while my partner took the children to McDonald’s for tea. Whilst I as laying there, a very beautiful woman was floating in front of me, and she was wearing a long flowing white dress with what looked like very long white hair. She had such an angelic face, when all of a sudden, she change into a horrible looking hag of woman and screamed at me to get out. I was so scared that I couldn't move.

When I finally did, I ran to the front door where my partner was walking towards it. He asked me if I was ok because I looked very bad. I told him what had happened and he believed what I told him.

The next time this happened, I was 24 years old, and again I was awakened with the doona being held over my head and the feeling that something was holding onto each of my legs. I was screaming for my partner to help me, but he couldn't hear me. I am 100% sure that I was not dreaming.

I have had a number of other experiences where I have felt I was being attacked and I would like to believe that I was dreaming, but I really don't think so.

Nancy from South East Queensland Australia, sent in a couple of her own Spooky Stories.

Congratulations on a terrific web site.

I live in South East Queensland Australia and came across your site searching for answers on some very strange things that have happened to me over time.
I am a very normal, successful; business owner and have been bought up well and in a loving and fairly wealthy family.

Just to give you an idea that I am not a nutter or anything. I have had a number of out of body experiences where I was floating above my body and watching myself sleep. I also had one where I travelled from my home here in Brisbane to my Aunts home (her husband passed away). She was walking to the window with a stool to close the top window as a southerly buster was coming. I was just floating about the home about 20 inches off the ground and came out from her bedroom where her husband passed away. I then floated up the hallway at great speed although not in enough time to save her, as the curtain fluttered in the wind and made her fall from her stool. She fell and broke her ankle.
I awoke the next morning remembering this.

I was down at my parents place in Lake Macquarie NSW about two weeks later and was sitting in the kitchen having a cup of tea with my mum and my sister and I said "I had a dream about Aunty Carol a few weeks back, she fell off a stool trying to close a window". Well my mum and my sister went white. It actually happened. I was there!

I have a number of other strange things that have happened to me as well, and I would love to share them with someone and perhaps they can tell me, “why me”.

Also, I had to share a home at Clayfield in Brisbane once with another girl. Someone always followed me about that house.
I could feel it. Many strange things happened to only me there. A man was sitting in his bathrobe in the kitchen one morning and very calmly asked me why I was in his house. Other things also happened.
I later found out that the owner of the house and his wife had been on holiday up in Noosa and had been in a very bad car accident. The husband died at the scene and she was transported to hospital by air. She never returned to the house as she couldn't manage it with losing her husband. He was a barrister. They had lovely furnishings because she rented the house furnished, being unable to return there having lost her husband. Her mother apparently took care of her affairs with the house.
One night in the small library/study where he had all of his books in, I could here them moving. I went in and one was slightly out. It was one of his legal books in regards to motor vehicle accidents and the law etc. It was as if he was trying to tell me something. I believe he wouldn’t move on until his wife returned to the house. He was not dangerous but I knew he was there.

That's just a few of my stories.

Kind regards,

Nancy

Bec Wilson from Civic, ACT, is seeking others with similar experiences to what she has had over the years.

My Story is not spooky at all I would just like to hear from other people that have had similar experiences.

At the age of about 3 years old to around 5 years old, I would always tell my mum that everyone in my family had a colour (maybe aura)? Mum was pink, nanna was yellow, pa was brown, dad was green and my little sister was yellow, I always associated people will there 'colours', I don't ever recall seeing these colours but maybe I have just completely lost all memories from it.

And up until my sister was born I had an Imaginary friend called Bruce. I don't know where I got the name from being 3 and all, but I remember one day when mum was about 6 months pregnant and we were talking about my new baby brother or sister in the car, I looked next to me in the back seat of the car and said that Bruce's mum is having a baby too, and that he said good bye....I still remember exactly where we were, in Jannali, and remembering that I wasn't scared, I didn't become scared of (what ever was out there) until I hit puberty and started hearing, feeling and seeing things in the corner of my eye.

The house we lived in was built in the 1930's and as far as I know no-one died there but there was definitely 'something', still looking for something. My little sister saw a lady in a red dress standing near the clothes line, on a some of grass that was sunken a bit. I had some VERY scary dreams that didn't stop until we moved.

I have seen lots of clairvoyants and love reading about the Afterlife, but I have never come across anyone that can acknowledge my colour thing and 'Bruce'. I hope that one day if Bruce was my friend again that he could help me help other people from the other side.

Thank you for reading! - Bec

Kaye Kolster from St Helens Park, New South Wales sent her thoughts on many unexplained phenomena.

My friends and I have had many unexplained things happen. Like hearing a baby crying in the house and there was no baby, or the time there was a hot spot in the hallway like a heater being on. We used to lie in bed and you could feel that someone was sitting on your bed or touching you.

One night we were having a get-together with a few friends and one of our friends was mocking the spirits, which is something we never do, and we told him not to. Next thing you know, the man that was mocking saw a little boy and said he could feel his heart hurting, like it was getting pulled out of his chest. Then he was talking in tongues saying there was a dog buried under my house and that the fireplace had to be pulled out. It’s like he was possessed, he was talking like a different person. After about an hour of this, with him running around chasing this boy and scared out of his mind, he never spoke to us again. As this was happening you could hear a little girl laughing and it felt like she was sitting on my lap, you could see the imprint. She was saying, “I told you so.”

A lot more things have happened over the years, but they don’t scare us.

Kathy Kloss from Adelaide tells of her ghostly experiences, and that they don’t always have to be scary.

Myself and boyfriend had been living in a half Housing Trust home with my two children aged three and two. A few years passed before I was up the duff again with my third child. The house wasn’t the best, but we did what we could to it to make it our home. In fact, it was our little piece of heaven.

It would take us at least five months before we realised we had company. Little things were being moved – but it only seemed to be the baby’s things. We’d told a few people about the weird things that were happening to us and they’d laugh, so we kinda gave up on that.

After the baby was born I had a feeling that I always had someone watching over me when no one would be the room. The baby would start to cry but when I went to him he’d be fine, as though someone had already come to hush him up. This would sometimes send a cold shiver down my spine, but it wasn’t a scary feeling. After a while I decided this presence must be a boy, a little child aged around four or five, lovely in nature and who just wanted to play and be loved.

At night myself and other half would be watching TV and hear the kids running around in the kitchen. When we got up to take them back to bed we found they were still in bed and asleep.

Anyhow, we have moved only recently and I miss my little mate. It feels a bit weird without him, and sometimes I feel bad for leaving him behind because he was with us for so long. It’s funny how we don’t have the noises at night that we’re used to. And sometimes I wish I could have maybe got in contact with someone to come to the house and help him get to a better place and move on.

So ghosts or spirits, whatever you want to call them, don’t always have to be scary. And now I know.

Stacey Bobeldyk from Morayfield, Queensland, seems to have a degree of clairvoyance as well as other paranormal talents, as her Spooky Story suggests.

Sometimes I can see things coming. My father-in-law was on the ladder building a horse shelter. Next minute my mind flashed and I knew he was going to fall. He fell before I could warn him and got a deep cut on his arm.

When my other half Sean was in a car accident on his way to work I had a kind of feeling something serious had happened to him. He rang two hours later saying he’d been in a car accident.

A couple of nights later, after moving into our new home, my three-year-old daughter had just been put to bed when we heard her screaming. We rushed in and ask her what was the matter. She was shaking under the cover and said she’d seen a man in her room. Sean and I looked at each other and searched her room, but there was no sign of anybody. I said to Sean that it must have been a ghost. He sighed and said, “Don’t be silly.” I told him that children have more chance of seeing spirits than adults do. A few months later I found out that Kassie’s biological father (who had never wanted to be in her life) had passed away roughly around the time she’d seen a man in her room.

Sometimes I see things flying around the room, but when I look closely there’s nothing there. Or I’ll go outside for a smoke and hear a child crying or talking. Running to Kassie’s room I’ll find she’s fast sleep.

Pauline Ferrando from Sydney has sent her brief tale of an encounter with a ghost.

One night when I was half-asleep, I saw a little girl standing at the end of my bed and I was too scared to scream. Then a car drove past our house and the car lights scared the ghost away. I tried to get some sleep and finally I did and when I woke up in the morning I walked behind my bed and found my diary open and that all the stuff on my shelves had been knocked of . There was a blanket hanging over my bunk bed ladder that was perfectly strait when I went to sleep then in the morning there were creases in the shape of little feet.

Catherine Adkins from Castle Hill, Sydney, tells of a rather vivid dream she had whilst cat sitting for her sister. If anyone has a view on her story, please email us.

I'm writing this because I still don't understand what this experience was, only that to this day, some 22 years later, it still haunts me.

Before coming to Australia, I lived in the university city of Oxford, as did my younger sister and her fiancé. They lived in the usual Victorian terrace house of 3 floors with their cats. One particular night they asked if I could "cat sit” as one cat had been ill and needed medication. I agreed and spent a lovely evening in before going to bed in the 1st floor bedroom with the sick cat who seemed to want to stay with me all night.

It wasn't very late around 10.30ish and I began to drift off to sleep. The bed orientation was head to the sash window and as I drifted off to sleep, I began to hear the tolling of a bell, a clear, deep, "mournful” toll. Then it seemed a man was asking me to follow him and join him. As the bell continued, I realised that there were millions of voices asking me to join them - how I knew this I don't know but I just "knew" that there were millions of people right outside the window. I knew I had to get out of that room as fast as I could but found it very hard to wake, but I did. The cat was sitting in the corridor waiting for me.

My sister and her husband came home in the small hours of the morning to find me dressed and ready to leave by taxi - which I immediately did and I never set foot in that house again.

Even as I write this I am full of fear at the memory of what seems to this day, very, very real. Probably just a dream, but enough to scare me very much.

I was wondering if anyone knew what this could be? I think if I had some more information I could perhaps deal with it better. Or was it simply a vivid dream? I'm convinced not though.

Might seem silly coming from a married woman of 46 with children of her own, but I have no problem with ghosts etc, they have been with our family all our lives and all our children know a lot of the old stories.

This experience though is something totally different and it worries me, so if anyone has any ideas?

Melanie Riach of One Tree Hill Adelaide, has sent in a story about an encounter she had with a ghost in her home.

Yeah Yeah, you say maybe ghosts aren’t real or u don’t want to read a heap of words and sentences well this is quite interesting here it is

Ok this is how it goes. I was alone in my house about 11:30 I went up stairs n turned the lights off and I herd a noise it wasn’t the cat she was on my bed it wasn’t the dog she’s on the floor and especially not me. I went down stairs with the lights OFF. I wonder what it is if it’s in the house and when I can feel secure so I walk down stairs as I wonder and then I feel a QUICK BREEZE now I’m scared...

I went down the bottom of the 12th step then I saw a blur staring at me. It really came towards me but I could hardly see it because it was like seeing a really grey cloud against a white grey background. Then it just disappeared and really that was it so I guess I never told anyone but I believe in ghosts since that day. :)

One constant query is that of whether pets have souls or spirits that live on after their own deaths. No one knows, but this Spooky Story from Lana Ritchie of Nambour, Queensland suggests that there may well be something. A similar story can be found in our second book, told by Pamela Kildea, on page 112 of The Dying Experience & Learning How To Live.

In 2001 my loved cat Sha-Sha died. She had had a hard life from kittenhood and did not have a good relationship with dogs at all! Anyway, ever since her death she has been hanging around the house and following my mother constantly. She was really her mother’s cat. She runs around the house, hides under tables, and even follows my mother downstairs to the clothesline.

However, the really lovely thing about our cat is after she passed away, we went to her favourite spot in the garden where she would bask in the sun almost all day. We found her groove in the mulch where she would lie and found that her grooves had formed the shape of a perfect heart. She has still not moved on here in 2007, we just remember that she really loves us.

Sherrin Stanbrook from Townsville Queensland, shares her stories about the ghost of her grandmother visiting her.

This story happened about five years ago when my grandmother passed away. We sat in the hospital and waited until Grandma’s final hours came. Grandma spoke to all of us and waited for my brothers to arrive in town and spoke to them as well. When she closed her eyes and passed away, it looked like she was just sleeping (it was my first experience of death). We were all emotionally upset, especially me as Grandma and I were very close.

My fiancé took me home and he had to go back to work. I said to him, “Just lock everything up. I’m going to go and have a sleep.” As I drifted off to sleep, I felt a presence of someone sitting on my bed. I said, “Is that you, Tristan?” No answer – he had gone to work. I tried to go to sleep again, but I felt the bed sink as if somebody was sitting at the end of it. I woke up with a fright, but then I realised it was Grandma, checking to see if I was ok before she moved on. It was my first experience of a ghostly presence.

My second story was about four weeks after my grandma died, and it was a week before our wedding day. I was fast asleep and I had a dream. The setting was this. My bridesmaids had already gone into the church as the wedding ceremony was about to begin. Dad and I were getting ready to walk down the aisle. Mum started crying and said, “Sherrin, look around.” There was grandma all done up like she used to be when she was younger, and she was wearing the dress that she showed me before she passed away (we buried her in it). You could see she was so proud that I had met a wonderful man who she knew would look after me, but also was sad that she couldn’t have lived to see our wedding day. Anyway, she said to me, “Sherrin, you look lovely, and your life is going to turn out fine. Everything is going to be ok.” With that I woke up crying. It was morning and I rang Mum straight away.

I believe there are spirits in our everyday world.

Kerryanne Matthews from Upper Coomera QLD, sent in her story of what appears to be a visit from a rather hostile entity over forty years ago.

This happened to me in approximately 1965 when I was seven years old. My mother had died very tragically and I was staying at the home of her closest friends while still going to school. I was as happy as I could be while there, and probably thought it would be my home forever. I shared a room with their youngest teenage daughter, Suzie, and on the shelf above her bed there was the cutest electric lamp. When a cord was pulled from the inside, music started playing and small fish inside the shade started to circle around in time to the tune. The only thing was it only lasted for a very short time and when it stopped I had to get up, go over and pull the cord again.

One night I was just about to get up and do this when suddenly there was an extremely hard, violent push down on the side of the bed. No one else was in the room. I curled up on the other side of the bed against the wall in self-defence totally terrified, and once again there was another equally strong push which almost tipped me out of the bed! What followed was two of the most room-shaking stamps on the floor, as loud as anything. The whole room – windows, dressing table, walls and everything – rattled. I think I stayed in that same position until the next morning.

This happened forty-two years ago, and it still terrifies me as much now as it did then. I don’t know what it could have been, just something very hostile and angry.

Janelle Macauley, of Gosford, New South Wales, had an experience that obviously affected her even if not necessarily spooky so much as scary.
This isn't really scary it’s freaky but not scary. It was the night of my grandfathers’ funeral, and it was well after 1am. I was lying in bed wide-awake when I heard a knock at the door. I looked out the window but nothing was there, so I went back to sleep and then there was a knock again. I started to get really scared, so I hid under the blanket. I then felt this presence sitting at the end of my bed, but it finally went away. The next morning, my mum said that she had a dream that someone was knocking on the door and that she felt a presence, and when she heard the knock she went to answer it and it was my grandfather holding a teddy bear with rosary beads.

Brian Roberts of Cabramatta, New South Wales, sent us his story about what happened when he and a few friends held a séance in a graveyard.

When I was sixteen years old, my friend Steve, his sister Fran and I were really into haunted houses, graveyards at night and séances. Fran was always the one to conduct the séance as she was the eldest.

During this particular séance, we decided to kill the lights and conduct it by candlelight to add to the atmosphere. As we placed the tips of our fingers on the small, overturned glass, Fran began her familiar chant: “Are the spirits with us? We mean you no harm. We welcome you into our home.” Then as the glass moved, we all looked at one another and with our eyes, assured each other that we weren’t moving it.

Fran asked, “Are you male?” We watched as the glass slid straight to “Yes.” “What is your name?” “John.” Then Fran asked something she hadn’t asked before: “How did you die?”

Then it happened. All three of us, at the same time, were pushed backwards with our heads hitting the floor with such a force as to make our legs lift into the air. At the same time, the candle flame shot up from an inch to at least twelve inches and as I lay looking up at the ceiling, I saw a face with the most evil-looking eyes leering down at us. It took us a good five minutes before we could pick ourselves up and switch the light on.

That happened in 1978, and to this day I have never done it again.

Melissa Russell of Rosebud, Victoria sent this story of what she believes was a strange and unusual encounter of a somewhat spooky kind.

When I was about nineteen years old, my boyfriend at the time and I were coming back from babysitting my sisters’ kids. It was after twelve at night. As we turned onto the freeway there was a little girl of about ten standing at the side of the road. She was wearing a long white dress and had long brown hair. She was just staring straight ahead. I kept looking back after we drove past, but she didn’t move. It was very creepy.

Leesa Mcmahon from Central Mangrove, NSW, tells us about her family’s encounter with the ghost of a little girl.

I was living in a rental house on acreage in Mandalong, NSW, with my partner and three children. My twelve-year-old son and I had been watching TV but my youngest child was due for a bottle so I got up and walked towards the kitchen. As I walked past the hallway I saw a spirit of a little girl just standing there looking at me. I thought it was my six-year-old daughter because it seemed so real, so I went to her bedroom. She was in bed sound asleep so I knew then that there was a spirit in our house. I decided not to tell my son as he has a gift, he had seen spirits in our former house. After I had seen the little girl again with a white glow around her I went back to the lounge room and sat down, then I asked my son to warm up the bottle. He got up and on his way back towards the lounge room he passed the hallway and just freaked right out. He was crying and shaking and told me he’d just seen a little girl standing in the middle of the hallway covered in blood. He said her hair was really messed up and had blood all through it, and her clothing was ripped and torn and also covered in blood.

Anyway, after a couple of days of trying to get over it, my son was outside playing in the yard and when doing a handstand, she appeared again while he was upside down. She was skipping around him in nice clean clothes and was holding a bunch of flowers. At that moment, he felt safe and not scared of her. I think to myself that my son saw the way she’d looked when she passed on, then he saw her the next time the way she was laid to rest. After that, we used to see her every now and then, and she could also pretend she was other living people who lived at home. When we moved out of there I found out that our house was built right on top of an old graveyard.

I would love to know how the little girl died, but I suppose that will remain a mystery. Since then we have moved three times and she has come and visited us.

Sometimes the spirits of the dead make their presence known by unusual means, including a chilly feeling in the atmosphere, as this Spooky Story from June Robinson, of Sydney shows.

My young nephew was in the production of Macbeth at the Sydney Opera House a few years back with the well known Australian actor Colin Friels.
I got to go backstage and meet everybody, which was very exciting. But while sitting in the audience watching the play, at the part where the three witches gathered around the cauldron and recited the spell that we all know so well, a freezing icy chill descended from nowhere. I sat frozen solid and shivering in my seat but thought how wonderful that they could make something like that happen in a nanosecond.

When I went backstage afterwards I asked the production crew exactly how this had been achieved. They just stared at each other and then back to me and said "We don't have any effects like that". I also asked the some of the actors and even some friends who were in the audience if they had felt the icy chill, but they said "No".

You now can't tell me that the witches incantation, which some say Shakespeare stole, isn't real. I know for a fact that it has a real power to it.

Anna Rovis, of West Sunshine, Victoria, tells of what seems something like a synchronicity.

Not a spooky story as such, but I found out a friend of mine had unfortunately taken his life. I hadn't been in contact with this friend in 4 years.
The day I found out, I went home and thought I'd play a song in dedication for him. I have a lot of songs on my computer and only picked one song. (a song out of the blue so to speak). It was Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. While it played, I thought of the good times and the sad times of our past. I spoke to him, cried to him and asked the questions I would never get answered.
Four days later, I went to his funeral. It was a lovely gathering reflecting on his happy-go-lucky attitude to life. His friends there were in a band and wanted to sing him a song at his service. I didn't personally know them myself. It was a very emotional moment for me. The song they began to play was Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.
I took that as a sign! He's there!!
I hold that in my heart forever.

Talina Solway from Queensland’s Gold Coast sent in this very strange and also Spooky Story from her childhood.

When I was about 4 or so we (my mum and I) moved into this old Queenslander and I met this little boy we used to climb the tree and play together. my mum had her friend and her little boy come over one day and the little boy I played with threw him off the bed and across the room what mum didn't tell me was that there was no little boy I was the only one who saw him mum just thought I was going through a phase of imaginary friends so when her friends child got thrown across the room by what appeared to be thin air and I said it was my friend she freaked out and moved us out that very afternoon!

White roses were a special part of this tingly Spooky Story which Rachel Cole of Alice Springs sent in.

This happened a few years ago, and I have to admit it still makes me shiver to this day.

My name is Rachael and I have always had an interest in the paranormal and spirits and all that sort of thing.

I was living in a very old house in my hometown with a friend of mine who was very much into Wicca. I have always had a natural talent of being able to feel and hear spirits – although I cannot see them physically, I can see them in my mind. Anyway, one day we were sitting at our dining table and I turned to my friend and said, “There’s a man in the kitchen. He is very upset and very disfigured.” This was not unheard of in our house, mind you. Anyway, she looked at me and said, “We’ll see if you can talk to him,” as this was something I was trying to expand on in my learning about spirit contact. So I said in my mind, “Who are you and what do you want from us?” I remember not getting an answer from him but he came up behind me, put both of his hands on my shoulders, and then it was like I was transported to another time, but I was seeing everything through his eyes. In my mind I saw my back was burning, and my face too was covered in flames. I remember feeling so horrified at what was happening to me and trying to call out, but my mouth was taped shut. I saw two men standing near me laughing, and then I realised that I was not an older person like I saw in the kitchen but I was a young man, roughly 25 or so, I would think.

He let go of my shoulders and I came back into my own mind, and my senses slowly returned to me. Once I could function properly again, I said to him, “What do you want from me?” He said quite simply, “I want you to tell my wife I love her and that I don’t hurt, and I miss her but I’ll come for her when it’s her turn.” So I said, “Okay, I can do that.” He proceeded to tell me that the lady I needed to talk to lived in the elderly persons’ home next door to me. He also said, “She won’t believe me, but tell her that Johnny Boy loves her and sends her white roses,” as affirmation that he is here.

I was a bit worried about scaring the poor lady, but I did as I’d said I would and found his wife, Joan. I proceeded to tell her what the man had asked me to, that he loves her and all of these things. She looked at me as if I was stupid and said, “How do you know these things?” I told her quite honestly that he had visited me and showed me how he died, and that he’d asked me to come and visit her to pass on his message. Well, needless to say she was quite flabbergasted, but she didn’t ask for confirmation. Then just before I left, I turned around to her and said, “By the way, Johnny Boy loves you and sends you white roses.”

Once I told her that, she went pale and started to tremble. She invited me in and I went in the house with her, and on her piano I saw a photo of the man Johnny Boy. It was the same man that had come to see me, but he was not disfigured in the photo. He was young and handsome. She told me the photo had been taken about a week or so before he died.
She told me that he had been on his way to enlist in the army when he was attacked by two men and was knocked unconscious and set on fire. That was how he died.

Well, once we had finished talking and I had left, I went home again and being quite tired from it all, went to lie down. As soon as I lay down, Johnny Boy came back again and said he’d heard what I’d said to Joan and that he was very thankful to me for having done that for him. Then he disappeared, and I never saw him again.

Mind you, every so often when I open my front door, there lies a white rose.

On October 24 recently, we received the following Spooky Story from Alyssa Lewellyn and sent it to our special consultant on such matters, the Reverend Barry May, who besides being an ordained Anglican minister is also the Chaplain to the Western Australian Police Force in Perth, Western Australia. Reverend May’s response would be worthwhile noting by anyone in a similar situation and he can be contacted through this website by email by sending your stories to us and asking for his opinion or help.

style[font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;|Just over a year ago, I finally left a house which had terrified my daughter, myself and my ex. For the first 4 years we could feel strange presences and heard many noises but just put it down to being an old house. They became steadily more frequent and unnerving. It got to the stage where my daughter, who was just 17, moved out because she couldn’t take it anymore as she sees spirits and is quite psychic. Then, as my relationship with my ex became more verbally abusive, so did the haunting.
I was desperate for harmony and change and decided to try a protection and love ritual derived from Egyptian teachings that a Clairvoyant had sold to me. That was a big mistake. My ex moved into my daughter’s old bedroom and the haunting reached fever pitch.

Every night doors would open and close, footsteps pounded loudly in the kitchen and all over the house, the coat hangers in my wardrobe would smash together and the most horrible scratching noise would follow me from room to room. Every time I tried to close my eyes, the noise became louder. It was terrifying. So much so, that when the wardrobe doors flew open and everything inside came flying out, my ex fled too and I was left alone in the house with nowhere else to go.

That’s when I felt them touching me and standing close, they even got under the covers and started feeling me up. One night when many of these things happened I went into a state of paralysis where my eyes were open and I was aware and terrified but couldn’t move, only pray.

I didn’t sleep for 6 days straight and thought I would go mad if I couldn’t find help, or that my heart would eventually cease beating altogether. One night I stood still trying to work out where they were when a great gust of wind blew in my face accompanied by an evil hissing sound and a noise with a feel like a sonic boom, I sought help through a group of spiritualists and with the help of many they discovered, through separate visions and meditations, myself included, that there had been three murders of women in this house over a 150 yr span, all by their spouses.

The original perpetrator from 1830 had been influencing the men of the house into doing his will. His wife and sons spirits were also trapped in this house, as he would not let them go to the light or be together. They said he saw me as he did his wife. After many amazing experiences, including the help of Angels, they were set free and I was shown how to protect myself from him. He is still in that house but through the help of my guardians and deceased loved ones I was protected until the means to leave came to me.

I still have to drive past it sometimes and can feel his presence even from the car. I feel sorry for the next people that rent that house, and pray that they are not a couple or that they are spiritually strong enough to resist his influence.

Reverend May’s response to Alyssa Lewellyn’s story

Hi Mike,

I read Alyssa's story with interest. Her experiences are real enough, and obviously very dangerous. There are obviously several poltergeists present, and although she doesn't live in the house any more, the spirits will continue to haunt the new residents, as ghosts/specters stay in houses generally, although some move with families. I have been involved in the exorcisms of the houses of two families where the wife in one case, and the wife and 11 year-old daughter, in another, experienced sexual molestation in their beds, in the women's cases with their husbands sleeping alongside of them, quite unaware of the assault taking place within a few centimetres of them, and the girl alone in her own room, suffering the same indignity! So this is not uncommon.

I am concerned that Alyssa consulted a clairvoyant and used pagan teachings and practices to try and combat these beings. To me this is dangerous, at least for me as a Christian priest. Likewise I am concerned that she consulted a group of spiritualists, as they come from a different perspective from myself, and personally, I would shy clear of this sort of involvement altogether.

Blessings,
Barry.

The Rev'd. Barry J. May,SSC, JP, Th.Dip

Missionary and marathon runner Geoff Hinds had an NDE after a heart attack when still aged only 48 and it helped him find new and better directions for his life.

I have hidden my story for the usual reasons, but a re-kindling of interest in what you are doing by a re-union with Lucy Buxton who printed an article I wrote. It's Possible in Fun Runner days, and had come to the Wayside Chapel once when I conducted an All Faiths Celebration, has prompted me to share the one spooky incident I have experienced (apart from looking in the mirror each morning).

It was when I had a heart attack in 1987, something I was not supposed to have, being a Fun Runner and even doing the Australian Marathon in 1986, but at 48,I was taken from work to hospital - I will always remember the receptionist saying as the ambulance men wheeled me past her," You'll do anything to get out of work, won't you".

The second night of hospitalisation, there was a setback to my recovery, and Doctors rushed to the bedside. I can distinctly remember floating above my body, and saying, Can we go visit Ted first? (my mentor Ted Noffs was in hospital from a severe stroke). There was an unseen voice saying, No, go back and learn.

So, when I went on the internet my first thought for a handle was "Still Learning".

I hope I have and am! My direction has been three visits to the Philippines where I have not only spoken to crowds at churches, but brought back person-to-person projects where sponsors have helped me directly aid poor people.

Gavin Daley of Panania, NSW, had what could well have been a combination of astral traveling and an alien visitations, or maybe just imagination perhaps? Who knows?

One night I was lying in bed trying to get to sleep but couldn’t because my mind was thinking about the world, as you do at times. I began to imagine that I was flying in space amongst the stars, then while I was enjoying this I decided to take a plummet into the ocean.

It was the middle of the night and the water was dark, I was drawing the water towards me, also the deep dark depths.

I was alone it seemed, I stopped and tried to absorb all that I was in. It did feel kind of real actually.

I opened my eyes and thought that I really do need to get some sleep, but I seemed to gaze into the ceiling for a while. I was playing tricks with my eyes, moving them in and out of focus, and then I rolled over and looked out my door and down the hallway.

To my amazement, some of the shadows seemed to move! Hang on its not windy out side and no one is at the front door, what is making the shadows move? Just as I pondered this, these shadows moved from one side of the hallway to the other, finding cover beside the other door openings along the hallway.

This cant be I protested to myself! My eyes are open and I can see 2 foot high (times 3-4) men or beings ducking for cover, in my hallway!!! Turned the lights on went and inspected but nothing. Back in bed after 1-2 minutes and they are there again!

That’s it I said, roll over and close your eyes and go to sleep. I could not stop thinking about it. They were now around me, one seemed to be penetrating my flesh somehow. I quickly turned my lamp on again, nothing!

To much FEAR in me stopped me going back into that room, that night I went and made a coffee and waited until I could leave for work, probably the first time I arrived early. I had never felt so much fear!

Rachel Carter from Idaho (USA), sent in her story about the spirits that are all around us.

I guess I will have to begin by saying that spirits are around us all, every moment of every day. Some of us can see, sense, and even speak to them at times. Others choose to go the other way. For me I have been called a Light – sort of a false door for those who have yet to pass over. So you can choose to believe the story I am about to tell or not, that is not important. I have many, but this one I think will speak to those that have the same gift.

I was about fourteen when I had a life-changing experience. I won’t go into the details, but I chose to leave home. Before that point I had a sort of friend that would always be close by. My older sister and I never got along as children, much of that being my own fault. But when I left home, my sister was attacked by this friend of mine. You see, he couldn’t leave my house. For whatever reason, he was trapped there. So when I left, he felt that he’d lost his only way out. He blamed my sister for making me go, even though she had nothing to do with me leaving. He took her candles and smashed her mirror in her room. If I remember correctly, she was even cut herself by the glass.

After that he kinda gave up and faded into the home. He is still there today, as he was long before he became attached to me – trapped to face whatever torment he was meant to for the crimes he committed in life. He doesn’t talk to me any more, but he lets me know he’s there.

I tell this story for people who share my gift to let them know they need to understand that spirits don’t always understand, and in order to help them you have to forget that you do understand. My sister now is much more powerful in her gift than I had ever hoped for her, because he helped her to see. Everything happens for a reason, and my wish is that your happenings be loving, joyous ones.

Robert Leaver, a former member of the Australian Federal Police, sent in his story about a premonition/dream that came true.

Back about 1983 I was a member of the Australian Federal Police and Based at the Civic Police Station in Canberra.

I had been working a week of what was at the time the early night shift 10pm to 6am, the normal night shifts were at 11pm to 7am. The 10pm to 6 am was to cover shift change over from afternoon shift to Night Shift if any jobs came through.

One of the tasks of the early shift was to cover the "deaths" as they were called. Back in those days they were time consuming (lots of paperwork) and required considerable stamina as we were required to attend the autopsies.

This particular set of shifts which was seven in a row was a bit harrowing because we had done, I think from memory about 3 previous deaths that week.

As a 22 year old and fairly sensitive I stressed about this. Now you might say I was a probably being affected by this and yes your probably right however the big key is how I was being affected.

On about the 5th shift for this week I had woken up and spoke to the girl I was living with at the time and told here I was thinking of going off sick because I had had a dream that day that showed me an elderly lady rubbing her face and her abdomen and her face was quite clear to me she looked at me quite forlornly.

The worst part was I new she was dead.

Amanda said to me your being stupid go to work. To cut a long story short I did go to work.

About 20 minutes after going on patrol I received a call that we had a death at Canberra Hospital I think it was known as ward 12B not sure its a long time ago. The message was a death had occurred.

At that time all deaths not having a signed death certificate required an autopsy and hence the calling of police.

We attended the hospital and on arrival we were ushered into the room by a nurse. When I looked at the corpse I realised that it was the lady I had dreamed of in my dream.

Upon seeing her I felt rather weird.

Later After the autopsy as a result of an investigation that it was discovered that doctors had performed a laporotomy of the patient because she had become quite ill, but had been unable to determine the cause of her illness.

After the autopsy it was discovered that she had been hit on the side of her face by one of the swinging doors in the hospital and had ruptured her spleen.

The lady had bled to death internally. In fact I can't be 100% sure however I was told unofficially that the Morgue staff had removed several cups of blood from the body of the deceased.

My biggest issue from this point is although I am not exactly what I call a skeptic or a believer I was able to clearly dream the event. My dream as far as I can tell was about 3pm in the afternoon. Her death must have been in the evening some time between 3pm and 10pm unfortunately I do not remember the actual time of death. (It must be remembered it was recorded on the original paperwork).

It is my belief that I was made open to this situation because of at least 3 reasons:

1. I was in a state of stress

2. I have a sensitive nature

3. I believe she wanted to tell someone what had happened.

I tell this because I read several accounts on this website and felt someone should hear this it spooks me even to this day and reinforces some things that I experienced as a child, nothing quite this significant but interesting none the less.

Rosemary Bitossi from Yarravel (NSW), sent in the following two Spooky Stories that happened to her Father.

My father is elderly and my mum and dad always listen to Mike Agostini on the radio, and they have asked me, their daughter, to send in two stories that happened to Dad.

1) In hospital I had been dozing, and suddenly I woke up to see an old man with hair like white wool sitting by the side of my bed. I fell back into my pillow with surprise. He never spoke, neither did I. I thought to myself, “You’re not one of the doctors.” He was leaning over the rail of my bed, very close to me, and he was looking into my chest area as if he was examining it. He seemed to be assessing a problem with my lungs and heart. Then as fast as he’d appeared, he vanished. He never walked away, just vanished. I can still picture his white hair. He looked old, yet not wrinkly as you might expect. I got a terrible fright with this experience.

2) I had just returned home from shopping with my wife. As I stepped into the lounge room, I felt the presence of my father and brother, both deceased. They seemed to be looking around to see how I was. I think my dad knew that I felt their presence and bang! they just went. I stood for several seconds thinking about this. I hadn’t been thinking about them before – just as I took my first step into the lounge room.

Shakira Roe has had many unusual experiences and shares one with us now.

Hi, my name is Shakira. When I was growing up my father would tell me many spooky stories that he'd experienced himself, the scariest of them all was this.
My dad was only young and he was sharing a bed wit his older brother as they had a lot of children. One night when they were sleeping my dad said to his brother "stop breathing so heavy, its keeping me awake" . His brother rolled over and said "its not me so it must be you". They decided to hold their breath so they could tell who it was . They counted to three and both stopped breathing but they could still hear it. It was coming from the wardrobe at the end of their bed (this wardrobe had been there before they even moved in) in the dark they laid there listening to the breathing get closer and louder. When all of a sudden the blanket they were using floats up into the air, they both screamed and ran straight into their mother's room. There’s many more, but I thought I'd share that one. Shakira