Welcome to the first installment of the Para-Cafe. The para-cafe is my own little electronic paranormal coffee shop, sans caffeine of course, though feel free to bring your own. Here we'll begin to share our personal encounters with the strange, weird and wonderful.
Are you an 'experiencer'? Unfamiliar with that term? Merriam-Websters doesn't officially endorse the word as we use it so check out the "About' page for more info on that topic. In short, if you've ever witnessed or encountered anything paranormal or unexplainable, you are likely an experiencer. Keep that term in mind, you'll likely be seeing more of it as we go along.
Soon there will be a variety of categories you can post your encounters in. Feel free to share photos and whatnot. As far as I know, Weebly supports that ability. If you have problems posting a photo, just let me know via the 'contact page listed above and I'll see what I can do. If you are able to post one, just make sure the photo or recreation you've created is legally considered yours. If its a recreation to illustrate your encounter, just let us know in your post.
Finally, I come to the reason behind this page. Perhaps I should say reasons, plural. First off the bat is my uncommon interest in many things strange and mysterious. I simply can't help myself. I've been this way since I was a small child. I saw my first 'ghost' as a young girl, perhaps five or six years old. It was a cat laid out, as cats are prone to do, just behind a threshold of my own room in a house we lived in near Atlanta, Georgia. We had living cats in that house though neither of them were pure white and vaguely see through. Really, I've yet to meet a living cat that exhibited that particular set of characteristics. White, yes. Transparent? Not so much. Oddly enough it didn't move. It was like a still picture, a strange whitish form on the floor that didn't seem to react in any way to my presence.
Memories tend to fade as we age so perhaps I remember a wadded up white towel or discarded piece of clothing as somehow catlike. I do recall pausing to consider it as I scampered across the small hallway into my sisters bedroom. It was late at night for a child of that age though my parents were still up. I'd made a quiet bathroom run into another bedroom and stood for long seconds gazing at the odd thing-on-the-floor across the hallway. It was just inside the door, laying there as my cats often did though it certainly wasn't Boots or Patches, being grey and calico respectively. I wanted to turn on a light to distinguish it further but knew I'd be caught out by my parents as I'd already been put to bed with my sister. I distinctly remember wondering if it was a ghost, already at that age knowing vaguely what a ghost was. I don't recall being afraid of the thing, more of an uneasy curiosity and a desire to reveal it mixed with a faint dread at what might happen if I turned on that light.
As such experiences go, this one is certainly not the most stellar example of a ghostly encounter. It might not have been a spirit at all though my young, innocent mind at that time was mostly convinced it was. I've had other, more convincing experiences since that time though we'll leave those for another post, or perhaps a line or two in the book project I'm working on.
Oh, didn't I tell you? Here we stumble upon the second major reason I've begun this website. I'm starting up a book project. Throughout my life I've been privy to a great number of ghost, ufo and other fascinating, first-hand stories of that ilk. Friends, family members, acquaintances and even the odd client or two of mine have all related the most strange and interesting stories to me. I hope to be able to pass some of them on to you here. Others, if I can acquire proper permissions, will also be presented in the book form I am currently working on.
Welcome again to the para-cafe. The floor is yours.
Are you an 'experiencer'? Unfamiliar with that term? Merriam-Websters doesn't officially endorse the word as we use it so check out the "About' page for more info on that topic. In short, if you've ever witnessed or encountered anything paranormal or unexplainable, you are likely an experiencer. Keep that term in mind, you'll likely be seeing more of it as we go along.
Soon there will be a variety of categories you can post your encounters in. Feel free to share photos and whatnot. As far as I know, Weebly supports that ability. If you have problems posting a photo, just let me know via the 'contact page listed above and I'll see what I can do. If you are able to post one, just make sure the photo or recreation you've created is legally considered yours. If its a recreation to illustrate your encounter, just let us know in your post.
Finally, I come to the reason behind this page. Perhaps I should say reasons, plural. First off the bat is my uncommon interest in many things strange and mysterious. I simply can't help myself. I've been this way since I was a small child. I saw my first 'ghost' as a young girl, perhaps five or six years old. It was a cat laid out, as cats are prone to do, just behind a threshold of my own room in a house we lived in near Atlanta, Georgia. We had living cats in that house though neither of them were pure white and vaguely see through. Really, I've yet to meet a living cat that exhibited that particular set of characteristics. White, yes. Transparent? Not so much. Oddly enough it didn't move. It was like a still picture, a strange whitish form on the floor that didn't seem to react in any way to my presence.
Memories tend to fade as we age so perhaps I remember a wadded up white towel or discarded piece of clothing as somehow catlike. I do recall pausing to consider it as I scampered across the small hallway into my sisters bedroom. It was late at night for a child of that age though my parents were still up. I'd made a quiet bathroom run into another bedroom and stood for long seconds gazing at the odd thing-on-the-floor across the hallway. It was just inside the door, laying there as my cats often did though it certainly wasn't Boots or Patches, being grey and calico respectively. I wanted to turn on a light to distinguish it further but knew I'd be caught out by my parents as I'd already been put to bed with my sister. I distinctly remember wondering if it was a ghost, already at that age knowing vaguely what a ghost was. I don't recall being afraid of the thing, more of an uneasy curiosity and a desire to reveal it mixed with a faint dread at what might happen if I turned on that light.
As such experiences go, this one is certainly not the most stellar example of a ghostly encounter. It might not have been a spirit at all though my young, innocent mind at that time was mostly convinced it was. I've had other, more convincing experiences since that time though we'll leave those for another post, or perhaps a line or two in the book project I'm working on.
Oh, didn't I tell you? Here we stumble upon the second major reason I've begun this website. I'm starting up a book project. Throughout my life I've been privy to a great number of ghost, ufo and other fascinating, first-hand stories of that ilk. Friends, family members, acquaintances and even the odd client or two of mine have all related the most strange and interesting stories to me. I hope to be able to pass some of them on to you here. Others, if I can acquire proper permissions, will also be presented in the book form I am currently working on.
Welcome again to the para-cafe. The floor is yours.