Earlier this week I agreed to do an open house for a colleague. He is 31, tech savvy, stat smart, super duper power broker. I get to have the potential buyers who come through the open house, and he gets to have activity at his listing, which pleases the seller. I based my decision of doing the open house on the pictures, which were professionally done, and the house looked interesting. Also, it is on a block that has a bike path, so there would be a lot of potential. Interesting indeed. I viewed the house on Wednesday, prior to this weekend's open house but after I made the commitment to hold it open. I knew the house was vacant, so I took a colleague with me. The house was in the historic district, and had been built in 1898. At the front porch, I thought, I don't want to go in here. When I got inside, I was interested in the features of the living room and dining room, such as original crown molding and hardwood floors. My friend who went with me got separated from me for a moment, and when I found her, she was on the stairs to the basement. I should say cellar. I said, "You're brave, going to the basement alone." and she said she could not get herself to go all the way down the stairs. Long story short, we got to the upstairs bedrooms, and I got uncomfortable. I tried to focus on the remodeled bathroom but with orignal cast iron claw foot tub. Then she and I were in a room where an access to the attic had been walled off. In that room, I got the creeps. She said, "I don't believe in ghosts, but I'm getting out of here." I said "I do think there are ghosts, and I'm getting out of here!" Well, today I had to tell the listing agent that I could not keep my promise to do the open house for him. He asked me why and I told him that I was too uncomfortable to be able to represent it properly. He didn't act too bad about it, but I think he does not understand the intuition or sense that I felt chilled to the bone at the house. The so called garage for the house is an old converted carriage house (detached from the main house) and the garage has a dirt floor. I got the creeps in there too. I just hope that this young popular power broker doesn't go around mocking me because I got the creeps. I've held his houses open before, with no problems. I guess I have to respect my intuition more than I need his respect, or not. Does anyone have any thoughts on this, or am I thinking about this too much? All in a day's work.

You should always follow your intuition. Some ghosts are friendly while others can cause havoc. Yes, I lived in a haunted house for a summer.

I would also follow intuition, Lynnie. Manifestations of these sort come in several forms. Good spirits which do not make one uncomfortable, and others of the disturbing sort which, in its extreme form, is of the most evil type. People often dismiss the paranormal but, one needs only believe in the presence of good and the holy to know that there is a side which is opposite to that. Are you familiar with the history of the house?

I BELIEVE totally and have had too many personal experiences not to...

Now, why don't I believe in ghosts? I believe in spirits, as in my Mother's spirit is with me, but I don't actually believe a place is haunted. PL, did you find out any history on the house? Meredith, do tell us more. Were you scared?

Princess, I'm intrigued and have thought of this a good bit today! I wonder, have you researched the house's history and its owners?

Not certain if I believe in Ghosts or not. Most of my ghost are alive. Mayhap my mind is closed -- yet, I'd love to hear some of ya'lls stories.

The autumn when I was 21 I moved into an old house with two friends. I should say squatted, as the house was set for demolition and basically abandoned. We didn't have much money, as you can surmise. The outer door that led to the main downstairs area was locked, but a back door door leading upstairs was broken, so we stayed on the 2nd floor.

Because there was no door lock, we each put a small lock on our respective rooms. Our 2nd night I came home and although the lock was still on my door, the room had been trashed. So was the kitchen and my friend's room. Nothing had been stolen. There was no way anyone could've scaled the wall to my window. Also, we heard the sound of someone going up and down the stairs all night long -- except no one was actually there.

We were all pretty scared, so we brought our sleeping bags into the living room so we'd be together. We figured we had ghosts, and perhaps that's why a perfectly sound house was being torn down.

The exact same thing happened the next night.

The following day, I straightened my room and taped a note to my door before going out:

Dear Ghosts,
We're sorry to disturb you but we're poor and have nowhere else to go. Please try not to mess things up as we really can't afford to live anywhere else right now. We mean you no harm."

After that, nothing was messed up in the house, but we still heard the walking up and down the stairs all night.

One day a friend visited me, and when he was about to walk down the staircase to leave, he saw an apparition of himself falling down the stairs. I never saw anything, but on occasion -- little things in my room were moved.

Wow, Meredith, I bet your friend did not want to mount those stairs again. I first heard the word "poltergeist" (noisy ghosts.) when I was a teenager in my father's house in New Jersey. What stories I could tell about that house! I think it was originally built in the 1930s. My father and step mother bought it from a distress sale in the 1960s. My step mother told me that when she first visited the house, one of the upstairs bedrooms had a lock on the door from the outside. Because it was bank-owned, the house was sold "as is" locked door and all. Bolted from the outside. Remember "skeleton keys?" That's what these doors had: glass door knobs with skeleton keys. Well, there was no key that opened that door. Eventually my father broke the lock. Not one of us kids who slept in the room had a good night's sleep. For some reason, at 10 years old, I had a mental picture of a skeleton hanging in the closet. That could just be a mind game of the phrase "skeletons in the closet." One night, I had to sleep in that room, on the lower bunk bed. I stared at the closet door in fear of it opening on its own. Until I fell asleep. What woke me was an ice cold feeling across my body, like you feel when you open your fridge on a really hot day. My step mother said, "If walls could talk." No matter how cheery of a nursery she made it, her subsequent children son and daughter (my half-siblings) could not, would not sleep in that room. Evil events subsequently occurred in that room. I don't know if I believe in ghosts but I was fascinated by "Casper the friendly ghost" when I was a kid. I do have a fascination with after life, and movies such as "Ghost" and "Always" intrigue me. There is no denying that I have felt the presence of those who passed on. In fact, a couple of times in my life I have been "guided" by those in the after life, as if they have become guardian angels or at least messengers. I'd be likely to make friends with a spirit. BUT the spirit in that house that I was to hold open was not willing to make friends! And, both of us felt the presence. I do not know the history of that house that I was to hold open. Nor did I ever have the chance to learn the history of my father's house. My step mother predicted that house "would fall into itself, the walls would come crashing down" only she did not mean literally. Indeed. My older brother and I called it the "house of horrors." There's way more to the story, but it's morbid. Oh, in my current life with my husband, I have insisted on brand-new homes never lived in before because I think I may be too sensitive to previous and/or left-over vibes. Mustang, I certainly understand what you mean by your ghosts are alive. I have plenty of other ghost-stories. Some are good, some neutral, some scarey, some validated by others who experienced the same thing in the same place but at a different time or at the same time!