From: Anonymous
To: obiwan@ghosts.org
Subject: My personal story
Date: Friday, February 22, 2002 3:31 AM
Location: Indeterminate
Dear Obiwan,
I've been reading stories on your page for a few days now, and they are all interesting. My family has had many instances of spirit sightings-most of them have been family members who have passed on just saying goodbye. Sometimes, they've come back after their deaths just to let us know that they still love us and are watching over us. Well, my particular story has nothing to do with my family. And everything to do with the restaurant my husband worked for before he was transferred to a different location of the same restaurant.
This particular chain of restaurants(I will NOT name them-I really don't feel like being sued if you post this) usually rents or buys older buildings that have a history. Well, this particular location used to be a restaurant called The Valley Fort. And that restaurant had been around for a while before the restaurant my husband works for (if you post this, please don't use my e-mail address-the muckety mucks don't need to find out that I posted, and ride my husband over it) bought the place.
Well, the very first time I visited, I got a strange feeling just walking in the door. And after a while, I noticed odd things here and there. Since it's a restaurant with a full bar, late nights are not uncommon, and I had the experience several times of sitting at the bar and hearing someone walk over my head. You cannot get on top of the roof of the restaurant without specifically knowing how to get up there. It's not easy, and even then, there's nothing really to the roof itself-nor would you attempt it at one in the morning.
Also, one night, while sitting at the bar, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye (once again it was a late night, and I was the only person actually sitting at the bar, and I was watching TV), and turned my head to watch in sheer terror as a wineglass turned, all by itself, from upside down, the way the bartenders place them, to right side up.
I had odd experiences like this from time to time, and finally asked my husband if he knew that the place was haunted. And shortly after that, one of the cooks told him that the place had a ghost-without him asking. Then, his district manager told him that he'd had an experience where he'd gotten there in the morning, with one of the cooks, and as they were both in the office, they both heard someone calling the district manager's name. They split up and searched the restaurant, and found no one there but the two of them. Another cook talked about cold spots, and seeing the outline of a person.
Finally, the district manager told my husband that they knew who the ghost was. I will not name him-if you name something, you can very well summon it, and I really don't care to do so. The district manager told my husband that the ghost was a bartender for The Valley Fort, who died behind the bar one night of a heart attack. He was very well-liked, and by all accounts very friendly.
Well, the experiences kept happening, and stupidly, I started saying goodbye to him at night, calling him by name. I learned my lesson by doing that, because after that, the last night that my husband worked there before he transferred out, was when the last experience I had happened.
That particular night, I was sitting in the office with my husband, just chatting, and I decided to go up front. Well, as I was in the doorway to the office, in between the office and the kitchen, I heard a deep, booming voice say, "Well, hello (my name)!" My husband told me that the next thing he knew-since he didn't hear the voice-was me screaming, and racing back into the office, in hysterics, babbling about hearing him speak to me. He went out into the restaurant with the cordless phone and a kitchen knife, looking for whoever it was that I'd heard. When he got done searching, and didn't find anyone, he calmed me down a bit and asked me what had happened. I told him, and I was still gasping for breath, shaking, and crying all at the same time. We managed to get our belongings together and get the hell out of there as quickly as humanly possible.
To this day, I will not go back there. Daytime, nighttime, I don't care-I'm not going back. I don't want to hear the ghost call me by name again, nor do I want him to appear in a more physical form, either. I am so glad my husband was transferred. I couldn't face going there to pick him up again. I hope that the spirit eventually passes over to the Other Side, but I think he's still there. Even the postal lady commented, coming in the building once, that there was a spirit there-and she was shaken by it, too.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. Feel free to reply to me.