Not your usual ghost story

From: G (cibinvestigate@aol.com)
Story type: Ghost
Location: United Kingdom
Source: Form Submission

OK. First off this isn't your average 'ghostly encounter'. I've never been alone in an old house with a long history of death and torture, i've never been to a graveyard at midnight and i don't have a dark, deserted basement.

I'm 25 years old and have a secure job in a management position, good educational background and no history of mental illness. All this is being threatened by the presence of what i can only describe as a 'ghost'.

I first 'met' him 10 years ago when he sat next to me on a bus on the way home from school. he chatted to me like any other dear old man does on busses, but i remember thinking it was really odd that i don't remember him actually getting off the bus.

over the next 10 years he has been a persistent visitor to me. sometimes staying with me a few days, sometimes disappearing for months on end. He shows up at the office, in my home, in pubs when i'm out with friends, even at a motorway services on the M6. And the strange thing is, he isn't transparent, or deathly pale, or any older than he was 10 years ago.

He looks as alive as anyone else. His name is Vincent and he's still 74 years old. Another thing, He doesn't walk through things. He opens doors, walks round my desk, steps over the piles of newspapers on my lounge floor. not what you'd expect from a ghost. And he doesn't fade away, or disappear, he just isn't there any more. And my friends think i'm mad, and that i talk to myself, and that i ask an empty chair for its thoughts, And all Vincent says is '*tut* They don't know i'm here'.

I've never been psychic, have no intuition and never believed in the supernatural. Is this real or have i slowly been cracking up for the last 10 years? Have I really got a ghost that has no connection to me or any of the places i go, but that just wants to talk to me? If so, Why? Any comments appreciated to the above email address.