Issues has determined that a great deal of reader interests lies in the paranormal, therefore, we shall continue to delve into the subject. This week a reader shares her story of living with The Unexplained.
Rich in history, a hot bed of emotion, there is little wonder that one would not be able to find psychic hotspots in and around Abbeville. These hotspots may be fun to visit, but one of Issues' readers found it was a bit irritating living in a hotspot, here is her story:
Buying a house can be exciting, especially when you enjoy refurbishing and refinishing. One South Carolina family found that excitement would soon turn to frustration, and we're not discussing the typical frustration remodeling can cause either!
I became familiar with this occurrence as it was happening back in 2000. A worldwide group of friendly individuals gather on a site called Rememory where we are allowed to write true stories in various real life categories. Many of the members of this site email or chat regularly; unfortunately, a few of us would learn that chatting with "Big Bunny" during her "Ghostly episodes" could be detrimental to our own sanity!
One of the categories the members could write in was called "I'm Sure I Saw A Ghost." Big Bunny was certainly sure she was being haunted, although her first few stories indicated that her husband was the ghost, taking her supplies and tools and hiding them on her. As the stories of her remodeling progressed, so did her aggravation. It was apparent that someone (or something) DID NOT want her to continue her work. Her dog took to barking at empty rooms, she would straighten a room only to return to find it messed up and her tools were no longer being misplaced, they were totally missing.
Big Bunny is perseverant, her steadfast persistent seemed to be paying off, the house which had been quite the shambles when her family had moved in, was now looking pretty good. So good, as a matter of fact, that Big Bunny thought it was about time to finish up the roll of film she had started when she had first moved into the house. She had decided to get her film developed and share her wonderful accomplishments with all of her friends. She was so excited; she could barely wait for the film to be processed. She was in for a BIG SURPRISE!
Nearly all of the pictures she had taken held a little surprise for Big Bunny and her family; an apparition? Well, certainly not something she had seen through the viewfinder when she was taking the pictures.
Big Bunny was stunned, her confusion quickly changed to amazement and then to excitement; she just may have caught the culprit that was haunting her house, on film, and she was going to share these pictures with everyone! (OR WAS SHE?)
Big Bunny told everyone about the apparitions that had appeared in the pictures, promising to scan them immediately so that she could share them with us. Prior to this point in time, her family members had felt that the mysterious disappearances were a figment of her imagination. Over the next couple of days, her inability to scan pictures to share with her friends would push the friends towards questioning her sanity as well.
We all knew that she could scan pictures with no apparent problem; after all, she had shared other photographs with us. Now, however, she was claiming that the picture would appear different than what she was scanning. Okay, readers, think about this, how can something appear different than what you scanned? You place a photograph on the flatbed scanner, click scan, and WaaLaa, the picture appears on your computer screen, right? Not according to Big Bunny She claimed that she scanned a picture of an apparition but the picture that appeared on her computer screen was one of a FISH!
Well, maybe my friend needed a vacation! How else could you explain a picture of a ghost changing into a picture of a fish? The longer we waited for Big Bunny to scan her pictures and email them to us, the better her excuses for the delay became. Her next excuse was the picture was a distorted black and white photo of something else. After threats from her friends to send her to scanning school; Big Bunny finally informed us that she had managed (after several attempts) to scan the correct picture into the computer. Finally, we were going to see Big Bunny's Ghost (I believe I can still hear the echo of a faint laughter as those words appeared on my monitor.)
Well, I will admit that she emailed the pictures promptly. I was extremely excited; I had to see this ghost! Maybe, I should rephrase that to I thought I wanted to see that ghost! As soon as the email arrived I brought the picture up on my screen. Well, maybe we should say I tried to bring the picture up for viewing, because as soon as I did my computer crashed! A few days later, after completely restoring my computer to original, I asked Big Bunny to try to send the picture again. She warned me that other people from our little group had experienced similar computer difficulties when they attempted to view the picture and suggested she print the pictures and mail them to me. I knew it was just a fluke! (Opps, I hear that laughter again!) Let's skip the details and just explain this; after restoring my computer to original for the third time I asked Bunny to mail me the copies she had printed out!
Needless to say, Big Bunny finally finished the remodeling and the haunting seemed to stop. Last year she moved from that house. So, last week when we discussed using her story and her pictures as part of Issues Paranormal Study, I did not anticipate any problems. Please note: I said "Did Not Anticipate." After a few email attempts, Big Bunny finally sent the pictures (not copies) to me via standard U.S. Mail. I scanned the photos, putting each of the pictures onto a disk. They scanned beautifully, there was no brightening or contrast adjustments necessary; and then I uploaded them to the web again, ......and again, ......and again, ........and again!