Ghost in the Car

Witness: Rachael
Location: Newburyport, Massachusetts
Date of Encounter: 1999

For approximately two years of my life I was able to see and feel ghosts. I'm not sure why this happened, and why this went away, but I believe it is because I was young (early teens) and I was depressed. From the research I've done, children seem to send out energy that attracts spirits, especially if you are in an unstable state of mind like depression. Most of the time I could only see them out of the corner of my eye or could just feel their presence (short of breath, heavy pressure, tingling, feeling of being watched). In every encounter except one, I was alone, so it was hard for me to even believe that it wasn't a dream.

However, one summer night my brother and I were driving in downtown Newburyport (which has many haunted places). We took our usual course down this road that has a stop sign directly between the old jailhouse and graveyard. It is not a busy intersection, so normally you only stop for a few seconds, which is probably what we did, but I'll never know for sure. We had the windows down and the music blasting, but all of sudden I couldn't hear the music anymore and the crickets outside were really loud. Before I knew what was happening I was standing in the middle of the street and could clearly see all around me even though I knew that I was still sitting in the car. I could feel somebody sitting in the backseat, but for the life of me I couldn't turn around. Then just as quickly as it happened I was once again sitting in the car and I couldn't hear the crickets anymore. I looked over at my brother and he had the same terrified look on his face. I asked him if he had felt that, and he said "Yeah! Let's get the hell out of here!" After, we talked about what we each experienced and the same exact thing had happened to him. Neither of us could see each other when the ghost was in the car. My brother has never experienced anything supernatural before or since that night. That night was proof to me that what I was experiencing was real.

Another random experience was also during the same summer I believe. It was during the day and I was inside the house by myself and my parents were working outside. I was in the kitchen getting something to drink and was about to sit at the kitchen table when I looked up and a ghost was passing through my kitchen table. He looked like a 1950's greaser and he was almost solid from the waist up. He had thick black hair in a pompadour, white t-shirt, and black leather jacket thrown over his shoulder. He glided halfway through the table and then vanished. By that time I was pretty used to my encounters, so I just shrugged and sat down.

I honestly kind of miss being able to see and feel spirits.