Shocking a Ghost

From: Ang (angiebarker20@hotmail.com)
Story type: Ghost
Location: Relative's  house
Source: Form Submission

I have numerous stories I could share about seeing ghosts. Some nice and some not, but the following is one of my favorites.

My cousin and I were taking care of my Aunt who was dying of cancer. During the last three days, I heard a multitude of noises as well as feeling the temperature change in the bedroom. Each night my Aunt would decide if she wanted to sleep in the hospital bed or the king sized bed which would determine where I slept. Aunt Connie decided to sleep in the big bed on this particular evening, so I slept in the hospital bed. Some time in the middle of the night I heard footsteps on the carpet, not a determined stomp but an even stride. I opened my eyes and saw a man of small stature with lanky arms leaning over my Aunt, reaching for her. He was wearing an old cowboy type shirt and had silvery hair that was parted and combed to the side. I couldn't necessarily see vivid color, but I could tell his hair was whiter than the rest of the apparition and that there was a print on the shirt. I sucked my breath in a little louder than I realized. He snapped his head in my direction and held a genuine surprised expression. He was obviously as shocked that I could see him as I was of seeing him. In a split second he disappeared. My Aunt and cousin were alert now and asking me what was wrong. I lied and told them nothing, I just had a dream. I didn't want to scare Aunt Connie but I had accomplished just that. She quizzed me about the dream and tried to get out of bed to hug me. I went to her and we hugged for a minute when she decided she needed to go to the bathroom. I ushered her to the toilet and closed the door. Susie, my cousin, began interrogating me. I told her the truth, that I had seen an man, probably in his 50's leaning over Aunt Connie. Before I could really reveal more details, Aunt Connie asked me to come help her. It took me a long time to get back to sleep so the following morning, I slept in, once we got Connie situated in her favorite chair in the den. When I got up for the second time, it was about 10am. As soon as I walked into the kitchen my Dad and my Aunt Wanda questioned me about the apparition. I had really intended on that staying between Sus and I. For one reason my Dad has always been skeptical about my visions being ghosts, even though I have had them since infancy. Surprisingly, my Dad was more curious than my Aunt. He asked for details about the appearance of the man, which I complied. When I finished relaying the occurrence, Dad contemplated a minute then left the kitchen asking my Aunt Connie where the pictures she had that were my Grandmothers. After about thirty minutes or so, we had moved on to a different topic over coffee and Dad enters the room with four or five pictures. As he hands them to me, he asks me to see if any of the characters in the photo's looked like the apparition. The pictures were black and white and of people I had never seen before. When I got to the third one I recognized the man. He was standing in front of a barn with two Australian Shepherds sitting next to him. I handed Dad the picture and told him that that was the ghost. My Dad's expression was of shock and curiosity. He asked me if I knew who that was? I told him I had no idea. He scratched his head and smiled. He told me it was my Great Grandpa Choate. He died well before I was born and was my Grandma's Father. I blinked my eyes and shook my head. Wow, was all I could say. It was only the second time in my life I had been able to place the ghost I had seen. I listened as my Aunt Wanda delivered her 'I knew you were gifted' speech when my Aunt Connie entered the room. She had been napping. She immediately asked about the excitement and my Dad gave her the details. She listened intently then delivered an interesting part of the scenario. Grandpa Choate died on Connie's 3rd or 4th birthday.

My Aunt Connie died two days later, the evening of her 44th birthday.