Christmas Phantoms
< Continued from page 1
The Phantom Carolers
Christmas music and carols seem to be in the air everywhere in the weeks preceding the holiday, but they usually have a logical source. Usually... but perhaps not always.
In 1986, ten-year-old Polin was hanging out in his room one night with his cousin, who always came to visit around Christmas time. "On this evening, we started to hear what we thought were the neighbors out singing Christmas carols," Polin vividly remembers.
"The sound of the singing was getting louder and louder as, I assumed, the carolers approached our house. In fact, they were singing my favorite Christmas song, 'Do You Hear What I Hear.' Interested to see, my cousin and I dashed to the window and started to look out into the dark night. What we saw, or should I say, didn't see was beyond words.
"Although the singing continued to get louder, there was no one outside! We went to other windows in the house to see better, but still there was no one in sight. We just stared at each other in disbelief. The eerie singing slowly began to fade, as if the invisible carolers were walking past our house.
"I kept telling [my cousin] there had to be a logical explanation for what we heard, but there was not. No radio, TV or other devices were on in our house. Later, we asked some of the neighbors if they were playing Christmas carols that evening. They quickly confirmed our fear when they said no. Needless to say, the song is no longer a favorite of mine."
Time-Traveling Car
Memories of our childhood Christmases and the notaligic "tales of Christmases long, long ago" can transport us back in time to relive those happy moments. Occasionally, perhaps, some of us can find ourselves caught literally in a time warp. Jane had such an unnerving experience when she was hurriedly doing last-minute Christmas shopping... and the stores were soon closing.
"I saw an antique store I wanted to go to, but couldn't find the parking space I wanted on the back side of the street," Jane says. "Giving up, I parked on the main side and got out looking at a 'sale' sign on the sidewalk. Crunching through the snow, I walked to the end of the building and found the perfect gift.
"I came out of the end of the building, turned the corner and headed down the street toward my car - which wasn't there! At all! My mouth dropped open and I just stared. My footprints were still in the snow where I'd gotten out, paused and looked at the 'sale' sign, but no car. It was now 5:30, and as I looked up and down the street, every store window was dark. No place was open for me to call the police and report my car had been stolen.
"I began to get frantic, pacing up and down, wondering where I could find a phone. Maybe there was one around the corner! Around I walked, and no phone. But there was a gray Monte Carlo that looked just like mine. I walked slowly up to it and it looked the same. I tried the key and the door unlocked. By now I was almost hysterical and started crying. I almost couldn't remember how to even drive back to my house.
"Did my 'wishing' make it so - wanting to park back there in the first place? Guess I'll never know."
Time Glitch
Erin also had an unexplainable time slip. Back in 1996, the 16-year-old was on Christmas vacation in Ocean City, New Jersey. It was a freezing cold, dark December day.
"My dad and I decided to take a ride over to the boardwalk and explore the barren shops and carnival rides," Erin recalls. "There was not one other soul on that boardwalk. We had walked about a half mile up the boardwalk, when we noticed someone coming toward us. The closer he came, we realized it was just someone jogging. We watched him come toward us. As we were getting ready to say hello, he passed and we smiled, and he just kind of stared at us.
"Then something totally bizarre happened. About four seconds later, I looked up and that same jogger was about 20 feet ahead of us again, coming toward us, like he had never passed. I was very confused at first, so I looked behind me to see if the first jogger was still running, but there was nothing behind us. I could tell my dad was going through the same questioning because he was looking behind us, too. So the jogger coming toward us was passing us again, the exact same guy, with the same clothes, the same strange empty stare! The same guy!
"There was no way he could have run back, pass us, turn around and come back toward us in such a short time, without us seeing. If it was a second jogger who looked exactly the same, then we would have seen him coming along with the other jogger; he was only about 20 feet behind the first jogger. We also would have seen the first jogger behind us when we turned around.
"To this day we both think something supernatural occurred, we just don't know what it was."
Next page >Evil Santa
The Phantom Carolers
Christmas music and carols seem to be in the air everywhere in the weeks preceding the holiday, but they usually have a logical source. Usually... but perhaps not always.
In 1986, ten-year-old Polin was hanging out in his room one night with his cousin, who always came to visit around Christmas time. "On this evening, we started to hear what we thought were the neighbors out singing Christmas carols," Polin vividly remembers.
"The sound of the singing was getting louder and louder as, I assumed, the carolers approached our house. In fact, they were singing my favorite Christmas song, 'Do You Hear What I Hear.' Interested to see, my cousin and I dashed to the window and started to look out into the dark night. What we saw, or should I say, didn't see was beyond words.
"Although the singing continued to get louder, there was no one outside! We went to other windows in the house to see better, but still there was no one in sight. We just stared at each other in disbelief. The eerie singing slowly began to fade, as if the invisible carolers were walking past our house.
"I kept telling [my cousin] there had to be a logical explanation for what we heard, but there was not. No radio, TV or other devices were on in our house. Later, we asked some of the neighbors if they were playing Christmas carols that evening. They quickly confirmed our fear when they said no. Needless to say, the song is no longer a favorite of mine."
Time-Traveling Car
Memories of our childhood Christmases and the notaligic "tales of Christmases long, long ago" can transport us back in time to relive those happy moments. Occasionally, perhaps, some of us can find ourselves caught literally in a time warp. Jane had such an unnerving experience when she was hurriedly doing last-minute Christmas shopping... and the stores were soon closing.
"I saw an antique store I wanted to go to, but couldn't find the parking space I wanted on the back side of the street," Jane says. "Giving up, I parked on the main side and got out looking at a 'sale' sign on the sidewalk. Crunching through the snow, I walked to the end of the building and found the perfect gift.
"I came out of the end of the building, turned the corner and headed down the street toward my car - which wasn't there! At all! My mouth dropped open and I just stared. My footprints were still in the snow where I'd gotten out, paused and looked at the 'sale' sign, but no car. It was now 5:30, and as I looked up and down the street, every store window was dark. No place was open for me to call the police and report my car had been stolen.
"I began to get frantic, pacing up and down, wondering where I could find a phone. Maybe there was one around the corner! Around I walked, and no phone. But there was a gray Monte Carlo that looked just like mine. I walked slowly up to it and it looked the same. I tried the key and the door unlocked. By now I was almost hysterical and started crying. I almost couldn't remember how to even drive back to my house.
"Did my 'wishing' make it so - wanting to park back there in the first place? Guess I'll never know."
Time Glitch
Erin also had an unexplainable time slip. Back in 1996, the 16-year-old was on Christmas vacation in Ocean City, New Jersey. It was a freezing cold, dark December day.
"My dad and I decided to take a ride over to the boardwalk and explore the barren shops and carnival rides," Erin recalls. "There was not one other soul on that boardwalk. We had walked about a half mile up the boardwalk, when we noticed someone coming toward us. The closer he came, we realized it was just someone jogging. We watched him come toward us. As we were getting ready to say hello, he passed and we smiled, and he just kind of stared at us.
"Then something totally bizarre happened. About four seconds later, I looked up and that same jogger was about 20 feet ahead of us again, coming toward us, like he had never passed. I was very confused at first, so I looked behind me to see if the first jogger was still running, but there was nothing behind us. I could tell my dad was going through the same questioning because he was looking behind us, too. So the jogger coming toward us was passing us again, the exact same guy, with the same clothes, the same strange empty stare! The same guy!
"There was no way he could have run back, pass us, turn around and come back toward us in such a short time, without us seeing. If it was a second jogger who looked exactly the same, then we would have seen him coming along with the other jogger; he was only about 20 feet behind the first jogger. We also would have seen the first jogger behind us when we turned around.
"To this day we both think something supernatural occurred, we just don't know what it was."
Next page >Evil Santa