The "ghostly encounter" that my wife and I had involved two distinct events and one long-term oddity.
My wife was out of town and I had just gone to bed, when somebody sat on the bed between my legs. At first I thought it was one of our two cats, but I saw that they were both where I thought they were - at the head of the bed. So I looked toward the foot of the bed expecting to see that someone was there. In fact I remember thinking that it might be some kind of maniac who had broken into the apartment. I remember thinking that I was probably in for the fight of my life. But when I looked down, nothing was there! I could still feel it sitting there, but... yep, hmmm, there it is, I can feel it, but I can't see it.
After taking a moment for this all to register, the reality of the situation sank in and I flew out of that bed. I spent most the rest of the night lying on the couch and staring down the hall; trying to figure out what the hell I had just experienced. In the end it was just too strange so I opted not to tell my wife. And even by the next morning, my own mind was trying very hard to dismiss the entire event. The day did seem surreal as I knew that it did happen, but at the same time, it really is amazing how quickly we will try to rationalize something like this. And even stranger is that although I had no doubt that what I experienced was real, later, when I heard other people telling similar stories, I would react as before - oh sure sure sure. Then I would realize that my story would sound just as ridiculous!
But here's the real kicker: Even though I had never told my wife about all of this, when I was gone a few weeks later, she had an almost identical experience. I had just driven for eight hours to my parent’s house. Upon my arrival, I called Tsu to let her know I was there. When she answered the phone, her voice was shaking, she was clearly upset, and she proceeded to tell me what had happened. In her case, she felt it "sit" right next to her.
Only then did I admit to my own experience. So I enjoy a rare luxury. I had a sort of independent confirmation of my own experience by someone who didn't know anything about it.
We each had the one “sitting” experience and that was it.
Allegedly related [in ghostly terms], we also experienced a recurring, inexplicable odor - the intense, sweet smell of flowers. The odor would suddenly fill the room, linger for perhaps a few minutes, and then go away in an instant. We lived in an apartment with a dedicated A/C system with no forced air exchange to the outside. And although it might be possible for a smell for permeate the apartment, say from an apartment below, to me it seemed impossible for the smell dissipate so quickly. For example, if I opened a bottle of perfume and let the smell fill the room, it might take an hour to air the room out again; even with the window open. Also, sometimes the smell was in the living room, and sometimes it was just in the bedroom. This was also seemingly inexplicable given the intensity of the odor.
Obviously I don’t know that the odor was in any way related to the “sitting”, but since smells are often associated with “hauntings”, and since it did seem to defy explanation, we have always tended to link the experiences. We continued to smell the flowers on occasion until we moved a year or so later. It was a unique experience for both of us – nothing like it before or since.
Now, I realize that to a person reading this, it is just another ghost story. And I realize that the immediate assumption is that either I was mistaken, or that I am lying. But it is the gospel truth. I can only say that you enjoy the luxury of doubt that I don’t. I know what happened. It was just as real as any other real experience in life. And it did change my life. I can’t deny what I experienced.
To this day I use my experience to gauge the truth of stories told by others. There are certain emotions that go along with something like this. They are emotions that AFAIK are unique. When I listen to someone describe an alleged inexplicable event, I sometimes detect that same emotion in their voice and on their face. When I hear or see this, it is very difficult to dismiss their story. I don't think anyone can relate to this unless they too have experienced the seemingly inexplicable. I don't think you can fake it.
They take these things as gospel and even teach courses about these things.
