When I was a child, I could see ghosts.  Yes I know this sounds crazy – but it’s true. 

The very first time I was aware that I had seen a ghost was when I was about six years old.  I had woken up in the early hours of the morning, and saw a dark silhouette stood at the end of my bed.  I could not make out any distinguishing features, yet I sensed that it was a man. He was holding the bedposts at the foot of my bed, leaned towards me and he smiled at me.  At the time, as I was tired, I simply assumed it was my father and that he had stepped into my room to see if I was ok (as there was a thunderstorm raging outside).  However, when I mentioned it to my mother the following morning she looked at me perplexed and said “your father was at work on the night shift?”  After being told this, I came to believe that I had actually seen the spirit of my grandfather, and that he had simply dropped in to see me and say “hello”.  I didn’t feel at all scared, if anything I felt comforted by the experience.

As I grew older, I witnessed several other spirits, including spirits of cats and dogs.  But as I became more aware of the world around me, I started to understand what ghosts were.  I had watched some horror movies such as Poltergeist, and I began to realise that seeing ghosts was not considered “normal”.

It was not long before I started to fear seeing spirits, and as my fear grew, I began to see them less.  The last spirit I remember seeing, was in a small convenience store of all places, when I was 17 years old.  From then on in, I never saw another spirit.

Although I could no longer see spirits, I still knew that they were still there as I could feel their presence.  The film the Sixth Sense was very accurate with their description of “feeling the prickly things on the back of your neck”.  I know when there is a presence near me, as I either feel a shivering or cold sensation or I break out in goose-bumps.  I have even had experiences where I have been touched or had my hair stroked by a spirit.  One ghost was even so bold as to pinch my bottom as I was running a bath!