Getting To Know You Day: Ghosts, Are You A Believer?

This is a meme actually from last Wednesday over at Create A Connection. Holly, the hostess for the day, came up with some very interesting questions and I enjoyed reading the other participanats answers, so I decided to play. Sorry it's a little late. Here goes.

1) Did you grow up in a household that believed in ghosts and spirits?
There were only my parents and me, and I don't remember ever hearing them talk about whether they did or not. I remember my grandparents and their friends telling ghost tales that happened around where I live, but don't know if they actually believed in ghosts or not.

2) Growing up, did you attend camp where you told ghost stories around the camp fire or were you one who found scary movies when you were in high school? What intrigues you most about ghost stories or scary movies?
I never went to camp, but my friends and I used to tell scary stories sometimes, and my grandpa and older cousins used to tell me ghost stories that were supposed to have actually happened in areas very near where I live.

I discovered scary movies when I was eight or nine years old and a much older cousin was staying with us. We would watch Shock Theatre late on Saturday nights in the mid-fifties. I was terrified of the wolf man for years afterward. I'm not a fan of monster movies though, although my husband is. I hate the torture, zombie, slasher, demons, and gore movies. I prefer the psychological thrillers and I enjoy many of the paranormal movies and some of the TV shows, although I'm not sure how much of it I actually believe.

3) Did your family ever have a story about a ghost/spirit that visited? Did anyone in your family ever see a ghost?
I have experienced things during the night several times, which I won't go into here. My husband says I was dreaming, but I'm not so sure. I would declare that my eyes were wide open. A couple of times I was afraid, but most of the time I wasn't. It would just feel kind of weird and I go back to sleep. I also remember some other family members saying they'd experienced things.

4) Have you ever been anywhere that you felt a strange presence you couldn't explain?
Oh, yeah. There were always certain rooms in certain houses I was terrified to go into by myself and it felt creepy even with someone. There was no reason for me to be scared. There have been other places as well.

5) What's the scariest or spookiest thing that's ever happened to you?
One of the scariest recently was not too long after my dad died unexpectedly three years ago I was still asleep one morning and I was awakened by his voice calling my name from outside the kitchen door. It sounded like he used to when something was wrong. I jumped out of bed, ran to the door, and opened it. I then remembered that he was no longer with us physically, which made me think it might be a warning that something was wrong with mom. I called her and she was ok. It could have been a dream, but it was so real that I was shaken for a while.

6) Have you ever known anyone who was not a believer suddenly have something happen to them that changed their mind?
I think so.

I guess that's it. Thanks Holly! This was interesting and fun and kind of spooky. :)