My Thriller Thursday Story!!!!

Here in central Arkansas, we have a local radio station--Alice 107.7. Every Thursday in October, they do something called Thriller Thursday, where people call and email in their paranormal experiences. At the end of every Thriller Thursday segment, the talk show hosts decide which was the best of all the stories for that day, and they make the announcement and give prizes. I've been an avid listener since this all began some 10+ years ago. Everyone who knows me knows not to disturb me between the hours of 6-10am on Thursdays in October. I've either got my stereo cranked up, my computer going, and/or my earbuds in. I've submitted a few stories over the years. This week, however, my story won! You'd have thought I won the powerball millions! I didn't even know until Mandi texted me freaking out, which was immediately followed by a tag on facebook by an out of state friend congratulating me on my win, and then an email from the radio station confirming and asking which of the prizes I'd like.
I thought I'd share my story on here with you guys, and see what you think! I'm pretty tickled that I won. The story isn't the most pleasant, but it WILL give you chills. Enjoy!

  My paranormal group was small, but we always managed to find some good places to go, and we never really had any problems as far as being physically harrassed by anything. One night, we got the itch to go on an outing, and decided to hit up an old favorite. It was a cemetery, but we always got some of the best EVP and photo evidence there! There was maybe 6-7 of us, and we headed out. We always made sure to bring along a guy (people are crazy, and it’s not always a ghost looking to reach out and grab you), and tonight was no exception.

  Once we arrived at the cemetery, we decided to break up into teams. You’ll understand why, when my story is finished, but for the sake of parties involved, I’m going to change my teammate’s name. We’ll call him Jim. He was into paranormal things as well, but his stories were a lot darker and scarier than anything I’d ever experienced. He seemed nervous when we went, but it never bothered him enough to keep him out. He politely declined praying with the rest of the group (to each his own, but we prayed before AND after), and was always looking over his shoulder, as if something was going to “get him”.

   Jim and I ended up partnering up, and started to make our way around the cemetery. It was cold, and we were all bundled up. All was fine, until about halfway around the graveyard. Suddenly, he cried out, clutching his side. Startled, I asked what was wrong. “My side really hurts! It stings!” he said. I asked if maybe he brushed against something, or if maybe a bug had bitten him. Then I realized he was wearing not one, but two thick pullover sweatshirts, so that would have to be one ambitious bug!

  We radioed to the others that we were going to run to the car real quick, that Jim was having issues, but not to worry. As we came back upon the car, we stopped under the only street light in the whole place. Apparently, the burning and stinging was getting worse by the minute. Jim pulled the side of his shirts up so we could see what was hurting him, and it was BAD. Right along his ribs, there were three red, nasty looking scratch marks, as if something had swiped at him with long nails. I told him what I saw, and needless to say, he was done. After that, he refused to go on anymore outings with us.

  Fast forward a few years. Jim married the daughter of our head investigator, who had two children of her own.  At first, he was the model husband, stepfather, etc. AT FIRST. And then things changed. He got lazy. He got reclusive and mean. One night, as my best friend and I were sitting outside enjoying the weather and rehashing our day at work, we got a phone call from Jim’s sister in law. My best friend’s husband is a respected detective for the local police department, and the sister in law asked us to please call him and send him to such and such address. That night, they found out that Jim had been abusing his step daughter from the first day he’d married her mother. Which was shortly before the outing to the cemetery.

Some would think this and the scratches had no connection, but I genuinely believe that whatever was out there knew he was foul. 

It knew he was evil.

 And it didn’t want him there either .

Ghosts, Bridges, Hotels, and a Half Eaten Chicken Leg

I’m a paranormal fanatic. As in, I’ve been a member of a paranormal investigation group for the last 10 years. I’m not so much into aliens, UFO’s, or Bigfoot, but my ears do tend to perk up at the mention of the words “haunting” or “ghosts”. I’ve been searching the web for some new places for my group to check out, but everything is starting to sound like a book of urban legends. I’m beginning to wonder if there are any more genuine, unique hauntings. Come on! Give me something that’ll throw sticks and gumballs at me! Maybe a ghost that sings something funny in the dead (no pun intended) of the night. Or a spirit that appears right before your eyes and stares until you can’t stand it anymore and have to walk away! I’ve looked at some of these online.

 So far, there’s the typical “damsel in distress on a stormy night” story. She’s tromping along the roadside in the rain, and some poor hapless fool stops to offer her a ride. Once she gets in the car and tells him/her where she’s going, they drive to the location, only to find that once they arrive, she’s disappeared. And amazingly enough, whoever the person is who answers the door at the location (if said location is still standing) proceeds to explain that the girl has been dead for years. Cool story, bro, but I’m gonna need something a little less campfire at boyscouts-ish.

Next, we have the ever-popular “phantom lantern” story. This apparently happens a lot in Arkansas, which makes me wonder if maybe I should carry something a little more creative when I go somewhere creepy. I can see it now….. ((Ghost hunter)) “They say poor Amber was walking down this path over here with a chicken leg, and she was mauled to death by a bear. Some say if you stand right here where it happened, and sing something by Avenged Sevenfold, a half-eaten chicken leg will appear right here! With no explanation of how it got there!” See? Sounds way more interesting than the overused “man was murdered whilst walking along with a lantern, and now you can see his lantern light floating down the road”.

Onto the next.  From what I’ve read, bars and booze tend to piss off ghosts. I’m seeing at least 3-4 stories where disgruntled spirits will throw bottles and glasses from the shelves in bars, move the furniture, and aggravate patrons until they just can’t take it anymore! I can’t really blame the ghosts; drunk people tend to get on my nerves, too. I can’t honestly say that I’ve never been tempted to throw a chair or a whiskey bottle at an overly inebriated goofball who just didn’t know when to stop.

Then, we have hotels! I love hotels. Almost as much as I love ghost hunting. It would appear that ghosts do as well. There are tons of stories involving ghosts and some of Arkansas most prestigious and swanky hotels and resorts. The stories all read about the same: Apparitions in old-fashioned clothes who disappear, phantom footsteps and voices, etc. Wow! One story has a little girl in a pink dress, whereas the other has a large woman in a pink dress (sorry, that made me giggle for some reason). These ghosts are just not big on boundaries and personal space! There are plenty of stories of spirits brushing past, poking, pushing, or otherwise touching the living.

Why on God’s green earth  are there so many stories about bridges??? Des Arc Bridge, Mama Lou’s Bridge, Tilly Willy Bridge (heehee),  Cotter Bridge,  and Bono Bridge. Most of them carry the same history. A woman scorned by her lover  jumps to her death with her innocent infant child, and now you can hear crying, screaming, see apparitions of the poor lost souls, and if you go out there and say whatever it is three times, the ghost will appear and—and what?

Okay. So I’ve made my point. I do intend to investigate some of these just for the sheer purpose of debunking or proving them. I hope you don’t take my humor as disrespect or heartlessness toward the deceased. This entry was solely for comedic purpose.

........I do intend to haunt people with a half eaten chicken leg when I die, though.

Happy early Halloween, Y’all!