Philosophical 11

Greetings!

Thought I would post this as a starter and see what interesting stories that may pop up. Incidentally, I tried to post this yesterday but when I hit the "submit button"....it disappeared into cyber space. Perhaps an omen!

I moved here 3 years ago to escape my demented ex wife and during that time have had strange happenings.... nothing spectacular but just interesting which perhaps can be explained away.

Miscellaneous insignificant items would disappear. Now I am an anorak and I know where I put everything. But they disappear. I have a cat and it's collar disappeared. Searched high and low but gone. It turned up after a week under my bed which was one of the first places I looked on a number of occasions. That's the only thing that reappeared.

Items would suddenly fall over on top of my dresser. My gf saw her handbag move slowly across a table.

Found an intact well decomposed rat under my sofa where I sit. Wasn't there a couple of days prior.

Came home one night and found both internal fly screens laying on the floor.

My gf was having a nap waiting for me to come from town. Felt a hand on her shoulder and the sensation that someone had sat on the bed beside her. Thought it was me. It wasn't. No-one was there.

She woke up one night and saw "a face on the wall"

She has a friend who sometimes visits and sits outside. The friend saw "something" one evening left and returned placed garlic and salt on the window.

Two electronic devices (weighing scales and BP monitor) switched on by themselves.

Most recently which prompted me to write this:. She goes back to her family at the weekends and I leave the door unlocked on Monday morning so she can get into the house if I am still asleep. Couple of days ago, I awoke and found her and her teenage daughter outside. They had been waiting an hour for me to wake up. They said they couldn't open the door... even though they have a key. They said it must have been locked with the internal latch. It wasn't....I never use that. The door was also unlocked. I turned the handle with ease and it opened.

She reckons that my ex wife has got a witch to put some sort of spell on the house. I told her that she didn't need a witch... Which didn't go down to well.

Anyway...that's your starter for 10 as Bamber Gascoigne used to say.

Raffin

A lot of incidents there, some with likely ordinary explanations, others not.

I have heard in the past and now sometimes from my wife about ghostly observances and happenings. Stories about particular trees featured twice. And recently my wife noticed a pregnant woman who was sitting on steep steps leading down to a beach resort. There one minute gone the next, she said. Was she a pregnant ghost, as she believes? Or just went quickly somewhere nearby...though later I saw there wasn't much scope for that.

There's a lot of witchcraft going on in certain places here, yes, but I don't know if beliefs in ghosts etc is especially common. I suspect it may be... due to low.education standards.....and a radio station my wife listens to airs long ghost stories in a low, gravelly voice, seemingly every day...even over Xmas.Though it can be argued belief in religion isn't much different!

Philosophical 11

Yes Raffin, as you say much of what occurred can probably be rationally explained, but I just keep an open mind on such matters. One such series of incidents which I neglected to mention (and I am sure there are others which will later come to mind) is her missing touthbrush. We keep them on the washbasin and a few months ago it disappeared. Found it a few days later down the plughole. Easily happens I guess, but it's happened half a dozen times times now. How did that happen?

This brings me to witchdoctors. Very many about it seems but sadly with negative reports. But there again, we only hear the negative reports. An acquaintance of mine ( local) was bitten by a dog a few years ago and he went to a witch doctor who treated it by rubbing leaves on the wound to prevent rabies. Sadly he died of rabies in very distressing circumstances 3 months later.

A middle aged gentleman pitched up to the local hospital here a few days ago to see the doctor. He had a leg that was swollen to twice it's size....and black. He had also gone blind. Apparently he went to a witch doctor to cure what I presume is diabetes.

In both cases, they could not afford to pay 150 PHP to see the doctor...or more likely to pay for medicines.

Then of course, we have the "White Lady". An apparition that appears for some unknown reason. My partner and her sister saw one when they were kids coming home from school one evening. I had no reason to disbelieve what they saw when I hear their story in such detail.

Incidentally, I concur with your last sentence.