Missing Ghosts

Name:            Greg
Email:           greg1066@hotmail.com
Location:        Various
Anonymous:       
Type:            Ghost
Date:            Monday, December 27, 1999
Time:            11:06 AM

Let me begin by saying how much I enjoy your page. I don't actually believe in ghosts (and know of at least one case where the belief seemed to be very harmful), but I do love a good ghost story, and the ones told as real are the best.

Many ghost stories reappear time and time again with slight alterations. Others, though, seem to vanish. That isn't so surprising for stories you only hear once, but then there are others that may be heard three times from three sources in a year, and then you go ten years without meeting anyone who knows anything about them. The below are all of this category. Some of these stories are very silly, which may explain why they faded away. Still, perhaps folks can help me pin down some of these old departed friends, all of which are *supposedly* true. Have you heard the one about the:

Bathtub Baby: There is a house (of no particular location) in which a baby drowned in the bathtub. If you fill the bath up with water and turn off the light, you will see the blue infant staring up at you from under the surface.

Dancing Legs: This ghost supposedly resides in rural Ireland, although I've only ever heard the story in Queensland, Australia. Apparently, there is a set of legs (up to the waist) that go wandering around the roads of Ireland at night. Sometimes they stop and have a dance. Usually, they don't bother people, and will even get off the road to let them by. However, if they come across a drunken individual, they will approach and the drunkard will be forced to dance with them. I feel as if the story should end "and the drunkard will die soon after", but as far as I know, it doesn't.

Graveyard Shift: This one involves "a graveyard somewhere in New South Wales" and a "a grave so worn you can't read the name". I assume that this story does not actually have a real graveyard or grave as subject matter, although if anyone has heard a version with particulars, I'd love to hear them. Every few nights, a ghostly man can be seen digging away at this grave - without visible effect come morning. Shovels also disappear if left in the area and appear on this grave. I've never heard any accounts of what the man wants, or even whether this is his grave.

Headless Child: Sometimes this one takes place in England, and sometimes the United States. An old house is haunted by a headless little girl in a white dress - she visits on rare, unpredictable occasions and breaks things. A skeptic family moves in and is soon terrified out of their minds (why they don't move out after the first sighting, I don't know). After a time, the husband's father dies and his cranky, senile mother moves in with the family. She is told of the ghost, but is no more frightened of it than she is of anything. The first time the ghost appears, she catches it and gives it a good spanking - and the ghost never returns again.

Jigsaw Patient: There is a hospital "somewhere in the U.S." with a particularly pitiable ghost who appears to lone people. He is a middle-aged man with a handlebar mustache dressed in pajamas - but he has his legs attached to his shoulders and his arms attached to his hips! He crawls along the floor toward people begging them for help. Despite his helpless condition, he seems to inspire terror rather than compassion.

Oija Warning: A group of teenagers are playing with a oija board. To their amazement, the pointer starts to move of its own volition. It spells out "I SUGGEST YOU STOP PLAYING WITH THIS THING BEFORE YOU FRIGHTEN YOURSELVES". They stopped.

Tearing Sound: I tell them as I hear them, so don't blame me. A young couple move into an old house, but complain of being constantly disturbed by the plumbing at night - there is a frequent gurgling sound and then a noise like tearing fabric. They go nuts trying to locate the source - it seems to occur all over the house but never in the room they are in. In desperation, they try to locate the previous owner to see if he can provide any clues. Alas, though, they learn that the previous owner died in the house of a stomach disorder. Sadder still, they learn that he died alone and lonely, since no-one could stand his terrible flatulence.

Toy Story: A young girl gets a talking doll for Christmas - one of the ones with a string and a few phrases like "mama" and "I love you". It doesn't stay a talking doll for long, though, since she has a habit of holding it by the ankle as she walks down the wooden stairs, banging its head on each step. Soon the mechanism is broken and the toy is silent. Not long after, the girl starts to have periodic screaming nightmares - although upon being woken up, she can't recall what they are about. One night the screaming starts up, and the tired parents argue for a couple of minutes about who will go and comfort her. The screaming stops of its own accord and when the father arrives at the bedroom, it is empty. Instead, the girl lies dead at the bottom of the stairs. The distraught parents conclude that she woke in terror and went running blindly in the dark, falling down the stairs - but all the real injuries seem to be to the back of her head, which lies closest to the bottom step, as if she had been dragged down the stairs on her back, feet first. The doll is never found (although its hard to imagine the parents looking too hard for it, given their other worries). On one occasion when I heard this story, the girl's tongue had also been torn out by the roots and something was written low on the wall in her blood. The storyteller, however, couldn't remember what it was. Grr! Does anyone know?

Ugly Mary: This one is a version of the old Bloody Mary urban legend, and must be one of the silliest ghost stories I have heard. I take it you all know the Bloody Mary story - if you stand in front of a mirror in the dark and say "Bloody Mary" three times, she will appear - usually to kill you, but in some versions she just wants to frighten or drip blood on you. Anyway, in *this* story, she is said to come kill you. A group of teenagers are telling ghost stories in the dark and the Bloody Mary story comes up. One girl turns to a mirror and says "Bloody Mary!, Bloody Mary!" but then, presumably to be amusing, replaces the last one with "Ugly Mary!". Bloody Mary appears behind her, knife in hand, and is about to stab, but then stops, looks angry, says "bitch!" to the girl, and vanishes. Presumably, Bloody Mary had jumped the gun.

Where am I?: This story wouldn't be very interesting were it not for the unusual number of people I know who have sworn blind that someone they know swore blind that they were there when it happened. I even met one of the people who was supposed to have been there, but he refused to talk to me about it. A bunch of teenagers in Brisbane are playing with a oija board. They ask for some time if there is anyone out there, but get no reply. Suddenly, the pointer starts moving and spells out "WHEREAMI". After a quick consultation, one of the teens announces in a shaky voice "Brisbane!". The board spells out "FINEFUCKYOU" and stops conversing.

Greg (Greg1066@hotmail.com)