October: Ghost stories anyone?

[Doug.38PR]

My Father was not afraid of much of anything.

Back about 1962ish he was running trotlines on the Nueces River (and the Frio and Atascosa) not far outside of Three Rivers, Texas. Down there they have smaller creeks called "sloughs" that feed into the main river.

He was camped on property owned by a farming family he knew. He had my two older brothers with him. They were aged about 8 and 9 then.

Late at night my Father was up by the fire, my brothers asleep next to him. From about 400 yards away he watched what appeared to be the light of a Coleman lantern come from a thickly-wooded slough into an open field.

It was common then for people to hunt/trap "varmints" at night for food or pelts and common for them to "trespass" on other's property, and approved of.

So my Father thought nothing of it. Until the "light" got to the center of the field and did not move for the next 30 minutes or so.

He got up from the fire and walked in the direction of the light and as he did so it "retreated" back into the wooded slough. So he returned to the fire. When he sat down and looked out there again the light was in the middle of the field.

He thought it was one of the landowners. He woke my brothers and called out to the "light". He got no response.

So he loaded my brothers into his pickup and they drove the road that left their camp, bordered the field, and ran along the slough.

As they approached the light it returned to the slough and disappeared into the woods. As he backed up it would re-enter the field. He did this several times and it reacted the same way.

Finally he had about enough of the "foolishness" and fired his .22 rifle in the direction of the light, but above it in case it was people "screwing around". The light did not move.

Finally my Father returned to his campsite in the pickup with my two brothers. They stayed in the pickup until dawn. At some point in the night the light simply went back into the slough and never returned.

My Father went out there in daylight and found no tracks.

My Father explained it away as a "reflection" of the moon on "airwaves". BUT...he slept that night in his truck with a loaded .22 rifle and his sons.......

That sounds like the Marfa lights out in West Texas. Unsolved Mysteries did a segment on that about 20 years ago where the lights would seem to keep moving away from people going after them in the middle of the desert.
I've worked that area you describe near Atascosa and Three Rivers a few years ago in McMullen County and stayed in Three Rivers for a time. Nolan Ryan has that good steakhouse. Can't for the life of me think of the county seat of McMullen county....worked in that courthouse for several months....courthouse, gas station and a hamburger place at an old motel....

anyway,
We have ghost lights like that near where I live in North Louisiana up across the state line in Crossett, Arkansas. (Southeast Arkansas)

That is creepy though. (I've heard creepy stories of our Crossett light passing through people's cars or coming up out of the road in front of people)

 

[Doug.38PR]

There truly is another world and if anyone can see people existing in that world, its my wife. Sometimes, she scares the living hell out of me!

Here's a extremely personal story that I rarely talk to anyone about. Since I feel as though I'm amongst friends here, I'll tell it to y'all. I may however try and delete it at some future point in time.

My father passed away in 1983 and since then, my wife has seen him in physical form twice. The first time was two days after his funeral when he came strolling through our front yard while she was watching the kids get on the school bus. He was dressed in the suit we buried him in AND, because I had pulled his tie lose before the casket was closed, she saw him well enough to tell me that. I hadn't told anyone that I did that on the day if the funeral.

Flash forward to January of 1998. My wife was in the kitchen on the evening of the 2nd baking chocolate chip cookies and our middle daughter, who was just shy of fifteen, was in her bedroom getting ready to go out for a few hours with friends. My wife took a tray of cookies out of the oven, turned toward the dining room to put them on the counter top, and my dad was standing plain as day in the dining room. Needless to say, she dropped the tray on the floor which caused our daughter to come out and see what happened. Our daughter told my wife she was eating too many chocolate chips!

About three hours or so later, our daughter was involved in a three car accident - three cars and seven people. Six walked away with one slightly injured and our daughter was mortally injured. She passed the next afternoon.

I / we firmly believe that my dad was there to help our daughter make the journey over. I guess there was nothing he could do to stop it or maybe, just maybe, he was there trying to warn us of what was about to happen. Who knows for sure what is really happening on the other side.

My wife has since seen our daughter standing in our bedroom twice. She has seen long deceased friends walking down the road past the house. Just the other day she saw someone beside the mail box who disappeared seconds later. I've now told her to not even tell me about it anymore because it just freaks me out.

Yes, things like y'all have written about above happen all the time but only a lucky (?) few get to actually see them.

BTW, here's another ghostly story (along with a picture I took) I told in another forum thread concerning my favorite town, Gettysburg, PA. http://smith-wessonforum.com/lounge/212490-sense-evil-2.html

I'm sorry about your daughter PA Reb. My uncle lost his youngest daughter who was only a few years older than yours at the time. Hurt even more than when his own mother died losing one of his own children, especially that young. I'm sorry my original post brought up such a painful memory for you.


I sent the page from that sense of evil thread to a friend of mine who ghost hunts as a hobby. He's been to Gettysburg (but not to ghost hunt). He's working up in West Virginia right now and has been to an abandoned Sanitarium up there (it's been on Ghost Hunters) and seen and heard a few spooky things.
I remember Unsolved Mysteries doing a segment on Gettysburg 20 years ago. The segment opened with two U.S. soldier reinactors sitting around talking in the park. Another reinactor (?) carrying a musket walks up to them. They say hello to each other. They notice the guy looks pretty realistic and rough. Smells horrible too. He simply hands them a few live paper cartridges with lead bullets in his hand. (according to them, life ammo hasn't been allowed in the park for 50 years). The cartridges looked old. When they looked up, the "reinactor" had vanished. The cartridges apparently were originals and very old.

People report walking through the woods in the park at night hearing drums beating, muskest firing in the distance. One group even a transparent soldier shivering in the underbrush and another had a transparent soldier with a lantern appear and disappear right before their eyes on the trail

A group of ladies going home one night form one of the buildings that had been made into a hospital at the time of the battle were going downstairs in the elevator. The elevator passed the first floor and took them into the basement....the doors opened and the basement was a hospital with men injured doctors working, like a step back in time. The ladies closed the doors and went back up and got out of there promptly.

 

[Wyatt Burp]

Radio guy Michael Medved once said on his show that while in college he and a freind snuck onto the Gettysburg battlefield and spent the night on Cemetary ridge. Then he said that's all wanted to say about that night. He's a pretty logical thinking type guy. Meaning, he'll exhaust all other explanations befor saying he saw ghosts. I called his show a couple years after he mentioned Gettysburg and asked him what he saw. He was very hesitant but then said he and his freind saw and heard masses of men (I think in grey) moving across a wide area in the night around them. I've wanted to spend the night at Gettysburg ever since.

 

[walnutred]

I think I told this before but since the topic of ghost stories came up. First off I want to point out that I don't necessarily believe in ghosts as such but I'll admit there are some things I don't completely understand.

In the late 1980s I was stationed at Ft. Lee, Va which is surrounded by the Petersburg Battlefield Park. In those pre-fence days I could walk out my barracks, cross the road and follow a well-worn trail through the woods which came out on the park road just north of Confederate Battery 8. Often on Saturday or Sunday morning I would cut through the woods to the park road and jog down to The Crater.

One Saturday I started my usual jog and when I went around a bend was hit by the smell of wood smoke. My first thought was that some reenactor needed to learn how to build a fire. On weekends they occasionally had reenactors on the site and as I'd done reenacting myself I enjoyed talking to them.

The next thing I noticed was fresh dirt at one of the bombproofs which was very odd. I slowed to a walk and immediately noticed a reenactor playing the role of sentry at the end of a shallow trench leading up to the bombproof. Rather than the usual friendly greeting the reenactor glared at me and said something over his shoulder to another reenactor who was crouched over a cook fire in front of the bombproof entrance. The other person stood up and I could see he was wearing an Union Officers uniform. They both glared at me as I walked by so I didn't stop to talk. Soon I was out of the smoky area so I continued my run to The Crater. That day I cut along the old RR line back to Ft. Lee so did not see the reenactors again.

Next day I decided to look them up and find out why they were in such a bad mood. On the way in I mentioned to a Park Ranger the fresh digging and he said no one was allowed to dig and no reenactors were scheduled for that weekend. Together we went back along the road and while I could find the remains of the bombproof it was very overgrown.

These guys did not fit the description of shadowy ghosts that people usually give. I thought they were reenactors and very much alive. The smells were real except there was a lot more smoke than the one camp fire I saw should have put out.

 

[PA Reb]

"I'm sorry my original post brought up such a painful memory for you."

No reason for any apologies Doug.38PR, no reason at all. Things like this happen in life all the time to good people and the memories of those events never leave. In fact, its good to sometimes share the memories with friends. Me relating that story was my way of saying "ghosts" (if that's what we're to call them) do indeed exist and my wife seems to be a beacon or an antenna for them to come to. She literally, scares the hell outta me with that stuff all the time !

 

[PALADIN85020]

I've experienced a number of strange things over the years.

When my dad passed in 1987, I had flown in to Phoenix from El Paso to be with him; I was lucky enough, together with my mom, to hold his hand as he breathed his last. The next morning, I was out on the porch in front of my parent's home in Paradise Valley. It had just rained, and beautiful rainbow arced across the sky. I felt it was a sign that my dad had found peace in heaven. When I returned home to El Paso, there was a postcard, signed 'Dad' - it was a gift subscription to National Geographic, and the illustration was a beautiful rainbow.

My uncle, my dad's brother, passed away from lung cancer about a year or so before dad died. I had talked with him on the phone a few days before he died. My uncle was always my hero, a WWII vet who always had the knack of understanding things of all sorts, and who taught me a lot as a boy. I really loved him. I was in my office alone when my aunt called to tell me that he had died. I hung up the phone and was standing at the window thinking on him when his voice came to me like he was standing next to me. The voice had my uncle's southern accent, and it was him for sure. It said "Take care of George." George was his older brother, my father.

My mother died about 3 1/2 years ago at the age of 95, almost 96. I had to work the day she died, but I was to go visit her at 3:00 in the afternoon when I got off work. It was not to be; she passed at 12:15 pm. I had hoped that we could spend some time together, but this was thwarted - I did not know that she was so close to the end. In the following days, I was making funeral and burial arrangements. I should note that when mom was younger her favorite perfume was called "Heaven Scent." I was at the graveyard, and had just verified her burial plot next to my father with the graveyard employee. As we were walking back to the car, I glanced down at the ground, and a small glass bottle caught my eye. I looked at the label - you guessed it. "Heaven Scent." I still have that small bottle as a reminder of the incident.

We visit the old copper mining town of Bisbee, Arizona often; my maternal grandfather, grandmother, cousin and infant uncle are buried there. We often stay at the old Copper Queen Hotel, and there have been many ghost sightings there - the "Ghost Hunters" TV show did an episode on it. Just for the fun of it, my wife and I often request the Julia Lowell room. Julia was a lady of the evening who held sway in that room; she committed suicide in the room, despondent over being jilted by her lover. In later years, a criminal was shot and killed in the same room by the police. Guests there have experienced paranormal happenings from time to time. Several years ago, my wife and I were in the room. I had gotten up in the morning, and had gone into the bathroom and was preparing to shave when I looked down at the floor and realized I had been stepping in fresh blood. At first, I thought I had somehow cut my foot. I sat down on the bed and my wife and I examined my feet, but there was no cut to be found. Like a fool, I should have photographed the blood on the floor, but we wiped it up and chalked it up to just another weird happening at the Copper Queen. We documented it in the "Ghost book" kept at the main desk of the hotel, and the incident later appeared in the book "Ghosts of the Copper Queen Hotel."

John

 

[J. W.]

Very interesting thread and thanks to all that have posted.


While I can't say I believe in ghosts I'm also not willing to call folks who ahve had experiences crazy either!

 

[Thuer]

Back in 2000 we where on vacation in Britain in a place called Whitby.
I can tell you that was one of the best vacations ever. The kids mixt up with the locals and they tought that we where the new owners of the place we rented.
At Whitby you have the Whitby Cathedral. This is a ruin but worthy to visit.
When we visit it my wife sayd to me let get upstairs becouse there are some people overthere who have a great vieuw over Withby.

But the strange thing was there was no stairs to that place she pointed.
She has seen deffently people overthere.

My wife is no loneytic (exept the point that she maried my) and very down to earth. But we get the impression that she has seen real ghost.
Excuse me for my terrible English.

 

[The Last Standing Knight]

I have two expierences and both concerned recently departed loved ones. First was my father who had cancer. My family was called to his bedside at his home. My brother, sisters and I took turns staying by his bedside. Being that I worked midnight shifts I stayed the late shift. Dad passed away about 5am on my watch. Hospice Nurse was called and then funeral home came. My brother and I was in the front yard watching as the funeral home hearse drove away. We were greiving and embraceing each other. At 5am it was a dark cold February night. Suddenly a single dove flew over the top of the house. This dove fluttered over us and then left west. My brother and I were taken back and he said, "Did you see that". I said "Yeah". We both took it as a sign. The message was to calm down, that everything was OK. Doves mate for life and when one is seen alone it generally means its mate is deceased. This is the only time in my life I have seen a dove fly during night. Doves also mean peace and tranquility in our culture. So yes to this day my brother and I believe the Dove was sent. The second incident occurred when my 35 year old sister died of cancer. She was in the hospital 30 miles away. I was still working midnights and was spending allot of time at her bedside along with working. I spent from around 2pm to 10 pm by her bedside and then went to work. By 7am the next morning I was exhausted. I called the hospital room at 8am and talked with my brother in law. He reported that Brigitte was the same. I went to sleep. At around 1pm I suddenly awoke with the feeling that someone was touching the right side of my face. It was very light and soft and kind of felt like a feather was brushing against me. I looked at the clock and immediately called my sisters hospital room. My brother in law answered and he was crying. He told me that Brigitte had just passed away no less than a couple of minutes prior to my call. I strongly feel that Brigitte visited me for a few seconds on her out. Am I reading more into these incidents than it is? Has anyone else had similar expierences with death of loved ones?

No...no...you aren't reading anything into it. Take these events as what they are; a gift from the Almighty who is letting you know everything is okay.

There's a personal experience here and I'll leave it at that.

 

[The Last Standing Knight]

Very interesting thread and thanks to all that have posted.


While I can't say I believe in ghosts I'm also not willing to call folks who ahve had experiences crazy either!

I used to not believe in them, either...notice the word "USED". I did a short experiment into ghost hunting; I got a wake up call real quick that there are somethings that man is not meant to answer or deal with...although I had no "evil" experience involved...I found it is better to leave pandora's box closed. I do not do this anymore.

Some of the cases sadden me as I know I can do nothing to help. This is best left to God. In his infinite wisdom, he has some people remain behind to serve a specific purpose...a purpose we cannot answer or know.

There ARE ghosts...some good, some evil. They are there and all around us. Leave them be.

 

[CW Spook]

I've been on Cemetery Ridge, and Little Round Top, at Gettysburg at sunset. I'd believe anything anyone said about them.

 

[feralmerril]

Check out this article on the old foote masion at eureka wisconsin. I dont know who wrote the article, but probley had to know him years ago as I lived about a half mile from the old mansion. I knew the last family that lived in a wing of it back in the 50s. The boys told me of the tunnel under it where they could slip away under attack etc. There was lots of storys about that place!

Flickr: dtrannyman's Photostream

 

[K-Mart85]

Ive had alot of paranormal experiences in my life, heres a few of the ones that left a long lasting impression.

1) Me and my now Ex-wife were setting up her bedroom in her moms new house on the second floor. We were the only ones in the house. We heard footsteps below us and I called out her moms name and then her 2 brothers names, no answer. Then the unmistakeable sounds of someone coming up the stairs was all we heard. She was near hysterical and I drew my 1911 thinking I may have to shoot someone. The steps hit the top stair, which had a very distinctive groan and I pulled the door open, weapon at ready and saw nothing. I went downstairs and saw both doors still locked. Needless to say, alot of holy water and saint candles were strewn round the house.

2) My grandmother passed away when I was 14 of cancer. She went in her upper living room that had a clearview through the sliding glass door to her garden and huge backyard. Hours before she passed she was telling us that someone was having a big bonfire in the garden and they were dancing and her brother was there, Her father (Korean war vet, died of Cancer in 1985) her mother and some of her friends from school were there as well and were calling her to join them. Fast forward Ten years and now my Dads second youngest sister, my Aunt is sitting in the same chair losing her battle with Cancer that has claimed the bulk of my family on both sides. We were with her and she looked up out the same french doors and smiled. She described a bonfire in the garden and named the same people my grandmother had but also added my grandmother and my dads oldest brother who had passed 3 years before. She passed the following day. Now You could chalk this up to her being there with us when my grand mother passed but she wasnt even in the state when she passed and no one told her about my grandmothers mumbled words that we attributed to her medication. All I know is that when my time comes, Ihope to God to see a bonfire and my forebearers dancing and calling me to them.

 

[Doug.38PR]

Good stuff. Keep it coming.

I was attending a Sons of Confederate Veterans meeting tonight. Here in Louisiana they are having a big night time ghost walk over in Mansfield, LA at the Battle of Mansfield site. The speaker told us a few accounts of ghosts that have actually been seen over there. Men walking down trails and having ghosts walk right by and nod to them, ghosts enjoying guitar music near the campfire in the woods

 

[Wyatt Burp]

Ive had alot of paranormal experiences in my life, heres a few of the ones that left a long lasting impression.

1) Me and my now Ex-wife were setting up her bedroom in her moms new house on the second floor. We were the only ones in the house. We heard footsteps below us and I called out her moms name and then her 2 brothers names, no answer. Then the unmistakeable sounds of someone coming up the stairs was all we heard. She was near hysterical and I drew my 1911 thinking I may have to shoot someone. The steps hit the top stair, which had a very distinctive groan and I pulled the door open, weapon at ready and saw nothing. I went downstairs and saw both doors still locked. Needless to say, alot of holy water and saint candles were strewn round the house.

2) My grandmother passed away when I was 14 of cancer. She went in her upper living room that had a clearview through the sliding glass door to her garden and huge backyard. Hours before she passed she was telling us that someone was having a big bonfire in the garden and they were dancing and her brother was there, Her father (Korean war vet, died of Cancer in 1985) her mother and some of her friends from school were there as well and were calling her to join them. Fast forward Ten years and now my Dads second youngest sister, my Aunt is sitting in the same chair losing her battle with Cancer that has claimed the bulk of my family on both sides. We were with her and she looked up out the same french doors and smiled. She described a bonfire in the garden and named the same people my grandmother had but also added my grandmother and my dads oldest brother who had passed 3 years before. She passed the following day. Now You could chalk this up to her being there with us when my grand mother passed but she wasnt even in the state when she passed and no one told her about my grandmothers mumbled words that we attributed to her medication. All I know is that when my time comes, Ihope to God to see a bonfire and my forebearers dancing and calling me to them.

Two years ago a bunch of us spent about three weeks with our dad while he laid in bed dying of cancer at 82. The morphine we gave him didn't much effect his sharpness until he was getting real close. Your second story reminded me of a couple times he'd all of a sudden start talking to people he thought he saw at the end of the bed where no one was. Like you we attributed it to the morphine and delirium of someone about to die. I hoped he was getting welcomed by others, including my mom who died of cancer in that same bed 16 years before. Your story might give a hint that that was happening. He sure was thrilled to see whoever was there.

 

[BearBio]

While I was in college, we would go to my aunt's trailer at Topock, on the Arizona side of the Colorado River, across from Needles. We went several times a year but always on Memorial Day weekend. We'd party, raft the river, BBQ and drive out into the desert to shoot. One time, a girlfriend and I walked into the middle of a herd of wild mustangs. The next night, we had to disarm my youngest brother to keep him f4rom shooting the burros outside 'cuz of the racket they were making.

The old Mexicans in the southwest tell of what they call the "Devil's Headlights". Seems like they would see what appeared to be a set of headlights in the distance behind them, off in the distance, always on a deserted stretch of desert road. These stories go back, according to some of them, a hundred years or so, at least. And the lights never catch up with you.

Now remember, I'm a biologist and many of my friends were biology students. Well, one thing we'd always do is to go out at night, when it started to cool down, and go snake collecting. Never knew what we would find. From Topock, we'd drive up slow into Oatman and come back, picking up whatever we'd find in the headlights. Well, we'd always have some beer with us (If you haven't been along the Colorado in late May, the temps don't get below 95 or so until midnight).
I saw some headlights following us, so I had my buddy ditch the beer. Those lights must have followed us for forty miles. We could see them come over the crests and go into the dips but, no matter how many times we stopped, they never caught up with us. Remember, this is a deserted desert road, mostly straight and we're driving at 20-30 mph with frequent stops to check things out(During the daytime, we were young and foolish and would sometimes drive it at close to 100 mph)==a stop to catch a rattler might take 15-29 minutes to get him into a bag. Then we'd stop and have a beer. That "car" never got to us. We got about 20 miles past Oatman (Up by the old ghost town of Goldroad or Goldford). Turned around and came back=same thing. Those da... lights were always behind us but never caught up with us. This is a road when, on a big holiday weekend, you might see two cars on the 40 mile round trip from Topock to Oatman.

Later that summer, a friend of mine's dad (grew up in Sonora) told me about the "Devil's Headlights. I've gotten some weird radio signal "bounce" out in the desert and picked up strange radio programs, so I always figured it was some sort of "optical bounce".

 

[feralmerril]

I think a few of these storys just might have something to do with "will o` wisp". I remember seeing this phenominon as a boy in wisconsin around marshs and wet areas. Check this out.

Will-o'-the-wisp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Brian41]

My mother was bed ridden with a rare disorder, Shy-Drager. She had a hard time calling for my Dad's help so my wife and I bought her a fancy crystal and brass bell so she could get his attention and he grew to hate that bell.
The night she passed I took the bell from her room and asked my Dad if I could have it and he said sure. I put it in my dining room on a small table there. Soon after I heard a bell ringing in there deep in the night when only I was awake and up. Once I even answered the wall phone thinking it was from there but soon realized it was just Mom needing my attention.
For several months we attended grief counciling sessions with my Dad and he did well and lived a good life on his own again for ten years after she was gone. After those sessions ended the bell quit ringing.
It is to this day on my nightstand and for some odd reason the bell clapper fell off. Maybe Mom did that to let me know my job is done too.

 

[Doug.38PR]

I think a few of these storys just might have something to do with "will o` wisp". I remember seeing this phenominon as a boy in wisconsin around marshs and wet areas. Check this out.

Will-o'-the-wisp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

down here, across the state line in south Arkansas. We have the Crossett Light. A light that appears in the woods and on the road. A dim ball floating across the road and/or in the trees. Been seen since at least my mother's childhood in the 1950s. There used to be a railroad that went through where the light has been seen. (in fact it was still there when my mom saw the light, it was seen down the ROW). Legend has it a railroad worker walked the tracts at night checking the rails. One night he was hit by a train coming through. The light today is his ghost walking with a lantern light searching for his head

 

[Doug.38PR]

While I was in college, we would go to my aunt's trailer at Topock, on the Arizona side of the Colorado River, across from Needles. We went several times a year but always on Memorial Day weekend. We'd party, raft the river, BBQ and drive out into the desert to shoot. One time, a girlfriend and I walked into the middle of a herd of wild mustangs. The next night, we had to disarm my youngest brother to keep him f4rom shooting the burros outside 'cuz of the racket they were making.

The old Mexicans in the southwest tell of what they call the "Devil's Headlights". Seems like they would see what appeared to be a set of headlights in the distance behind them, off in the distance, always on a deserted stretch of desert road. These stories go back, according to some of them, a hundred years or so, at least. And the lights never catch up with you.

Now remember, I'm a biologist and many of my friends were biology students. Well, one thing we'd always do is to go out at night, when it started to cool down, and go snake collecting. Never knew what we would find. From Topock, we'd drive up slow into Oatman and come back, picking up whatever we'd find in the headlights. Well, we'd always have some beer with us (If you haven't been along the Colorado in late May, the temps don't get below 95 or so until midnight).
I saw some headlights following us, so I had my buddy ditch the beer. Those lights must have followed us for forty miles. We could see them come over the crests and go into the dips but, no matter how many times we stopped, they never caught up with us. Remember, this is a deserted desert road, mostly straight and we're driving at 20-30 mph with frequent stops to check things out(During the daytime, we were young and foolish and would sometimes drive it at close to 100 mph)==a stop to catch a rattler might take 15-29 minutes to get him into a bag. Then we'd stop and have a beer. That "car" never got to us. We got about 20 miles past Oatman (Up by the old ghost town of Goldroad or Goldford). Turned around and came back=same thing. Those da... lights were always behind us but never caught up with us. This is a road when, on a big holiday weekend, you might see two cars on the 40 mile round trip from Topock to Oatman.

Later that summer, a friend of mine's dad (grew up in Sonora) told me about the "Devil's Headlights. I've gotten some weird radio signal "bounce" out in the desert and picked up strange radio programs, so I always figured it was some sort of "optical bounce".

That almost sounds like something out of Rod Sterling