Topic: Strange happenings after visiting BG in 2001... just sharing now...

[Nikki99]

I visited Bachelor's Grove Cemetery with my husband and my 5 year old son back in 2001 (I think that was the year because my son was about 5). We knew the history of Bachelor's Grove and I was intrigued, a little apprehensive, and anxious to see "some proof" of ghosts. It was a cold, dank, grey afternoon. The 3 of us walked in about 1/4 mile. We never saw the house, or any ghosts. We took some pictures, but I never saw anything paranormal in the photos. After about an hour (or less), we were cold and decided to go back to our rented SUV which was parked across the street in the parking lot.
The SUV we had rented was a Chevy Blazer. We were visiting my husband's family who lives in Oak Lawn. We are from the Tampa Bay area. We rented the SUV to drive up. So it was from one of the big rental companies near the Tampa Airport. Anyhow, when we exited the vehicle upon arriving to the cemetery, I am fairly certain we left the doors unlocked. I was driving. I didn't hit any funny buttons to set an alarm. And I remember, when we left the cemetery, I nervously joked to my husband that "At least whatever is in here can't follow us out through the gate!" But when we got to the SUV in the parking lot, and I opened the driver's door, the horn started to repeatedly BLARE and honk. I could not stop it. It would not stop until after I had gotten the car started and in gear. It was the damndest thing. We did not set an alarm or even lock the doors, so why was the horn going off??? Anyhow, we were a little shaken up, but whatever..... 2 days later, we drove back home to the Tampa area. Upon arriving, we kept the SUV in the driveway for about a day or two before returning it. While we had it, I remember my husband calling me from work. The connection on the phone was terribly rough static. It sounded very, very strange. It scared me. Like "snow" on the phone, and very crackly. I told him I had a bad feeling and wanted the SUV returned. We drove it back to the dealership in Tampa that night. When we arrived and turned into the parking lot of the dealership, (mind you, this is a huge auto rental dealership), EVERY LIGHT in the dealership went OUT. The hundreds of "street lights" in the parking area that made it look like daytime even at night all died at the same time. Their computers in the main front office went down as well.
I can't explain what happened. I only know that I respectfully asked that if "something" had come back with us, that it please not "haunt" us. We had no occurrences since, but we never forgot what happened.
I honestly believe, that because I sarcastically joked upon leaving the cemetery that "oh well, at least they can't follow us out of here!" - well, I believe that a spirit did just that.
Oh, we also asked the dealership about the alarm system in the SUV we rented.
There was none.
Thoughts?

[Ghost1]

First off to the forum, and thanks for sharing your story.

I don't know if what happened to you was just a odd set of events or in fact "something" had came back with you.  If it did come back with you thank goodness it stayed in the rental car. Things can and do follow people out of haunted places sometimes, there are quite a few documented stories about it.

Hard to tell if it happened to you for sure or not, but either way it makes for a great story!

[Rachael]

No alarm on the car?  That is too creepy!

[Nikki99]

Thanks for the welcome here.  
I should say that before, and after that event, we have experienced electronic "issues" in our home.
Our radio comes on and goes off by itself.
Our alarm clocks go off when they choose, and sometimes not when we set them.
And probably the oddest occurrence of all was the time I was alone at home.
I am not a TV watcher.  I walked into the kitchen to get a bite to eat.  Again, home alone.
Came out and looked in the living room and the TV was on.
Might not seem like much, but again, I'm in charge of my faculties, lol and i know it was NOT on a moment before.

This doesn't have to do with Bachelor's Grove, but I will share a couple of other odd things in our home.

We are the 3rd owners of this house.
First owners (a woman named Theresa and her husband) had it for about 15 years.
He died (not in the house, but in the hospital) and she sold the house to a young career-minded couple with no children.
After a few years, they sold to us.
I have been here 10 years.
The 1st night we got here, the house was empty and we were waiting for our furniture to arrive from the store van... we bought all new stuff.  We were sitting on the one loveseat we did have and talking, my husband and I, and we heard an ungodly crashing noise from above, which would be our attic.  It's not a huge "northern" attic.... remember we live in FL so it's just a regular attick with the crawlspace.  Anyhow, this noise sounded like a cross between a 500 lb elephant falling down a flight of stairs, an airplane crashing into our roof, and a thousand boxes full of bricks falling and crashing down.  The noise lasted about 3-5 seconds..... My husband and I looked at each other; we had both heard it.  We ran outside and looked on the roof.  Quiet night with stars in the sky.  We ran inside and he pulled down the attic ladder in the garage and climbed it.  He came down 2 minutes later scratching his head.  He said, "Nothing is up there.  Not even an animal.... nothing.  The dust isn't even disturbed!"  I said well, could it have some from another house?  He said, "No, it was IN our house, didn't you hear it??? It was right above us INSIDE!"  I had to agree.
As the years went on, we remodeled, pulled up carpet, laid tile, painted, changed the kitchen around.... lots of renovations.  THrough the years little things happened, but in 2004, we (husband and I) started to have some major marital problems.  One night, I was in .  It was about midnight.  He was up and shutting off the sofa table light, the last light on in the house.  He recanted to me that he looked up and to his right, and between our son and daughter's soom there is an open hallway area where it dead ends and you have to make a left or a right into the kids' bedrooms.  It's not a long hallway, but rather you leave the living room and make an immediate L or R.  In the middle you can see the pantry door which is simply a closet for towels.  Well, he looked up and said he saw a FULL APPARITION of a woman who he said looked to be about 55 or 60, with shoulder length brown hair, wearing a skirt, a collared shirt, and she had a sweater around her shoulders and knotted in the front.  She was just standing there for literally 3 seconds.  He said he was not scared when he saw her, but he was confused and curious so he looked at her and literally watched her disappear.
About 2 months later, our happy family dissolved and he moved out, due to gambling online, infidelity and some other sins by both of us..... I think whatever it was sensed some disarray in our family and it bothered her deeply.  I also feel that because he was not afraid, it was not a malovenant spirit but a protective one of our home and family, esp the kids.  My daughter's room is always a little colder... not so much lately but when we first moved in, those first 5-6 years it was always noticably colder, even though the main central AC unit is across the house, so OUR bedroom should be colder, but it was always hers.  Also, my mom slept in her one night and said she heard "a rat scratching" under the in the middle of the night.  She got out of and looked.  She said there was nothing there but it scared her.

Other than that, since my husband moved out, I have not seen anything or heard anything other than the radio which still turns on from time to time.  We have a lot of electrical problems here and our light bulbs burn out often.  I don't know why.

I have a boyfriend living with me now and the house is not the same.  The family unit if you will, is dissapated.  I think that the "ghost" was upset because she sensed or knew we were losing the family.... I don't kow.
Thoughts?

Also my father is 90 this September, and he is very lucid and sharp.  He never believed in ghosts but this past 5 years he has seen "normal people" in nightgowns, dogs, etc that are not there walking in the middle of the night to his bathroom.  Strange.  He is not afraid and he accepts it for what it is.  He does not know who the woman is but has seen her clearly and was very sure he was wide awake when it happened, to the point where he got up and went into the bathroom, fully expecting to see a woman in there.

So that's what has happened in our family.

[Nikki99]

No, there was not an alarm system even on that model vehicle, and certainly not on that particular rental.  We made the rental agent look up the vehicle and it specifically said there was nothing installed on it.
I know we left the car doors unlocked when we went to BG.  I also know when I came back, they were still unlocked and when I opened the door, the beeping started.  Even after I started the car it would not stop for about 5-6 beeps more.  Funny thing was there was a police officer in the parking lot watching me and it made me even more nervous.

There was no reason for that horn to be going off, over and over.
That, coupled with the static phone, and the lights all going down at once on the entire property right after we pulled in, was enough to convince me something was very "off".
I mean, when the parking lot rental car lights all went down at once, you could literally hear a "WOOSH" noise and the whole place went black.  People came out of offices.   computers went down.  We had to fill out paperwork the old fashioned way to turn the car in.  Someone had to pull a truck up with high beams on facing into the window of the office so we had light to do it! 

[Truckinjeff]

Hi Nikki! I'm also new to the Forum. I don't see the anomoly with the Chevy Blazer or the following events as Paranormal. Depending on the Year it may have been in fact equipped with a factory alarm and the rental agency may have not kept good records of the vehicles options (it's common). We have had a few GM vehicles with factory alarms and on almost all of our vehicles have had the alarm trip despite it not being locked. I have come to the conclusion that it may have happened because of:
1. Someone may have locked and immidiately unlocked the doors using the button on the door. (Door button can set the alarm but will not disarm it, only the keypad will disarm the alarm)
2. Excessively opening and closing of the doors in a short period of time. (May trigger an auto lock feature built into some GM alarms)
3. An auto locking system that may have armed the alarm but may have failed to lock the doors.

 Either that or you or someone may have accidently pressed the panic button on the remote while entering the Blazer. A panic button event is usually unable to be turned off by pressing the unlock button on the remote, the panic button has to be pressed again or the key has to be turned on to stop a panic alarm.

The Static over the phones. Common if you have DSL internet and a bad phone filter, the phone company running tests of the lines, faulty switching equipment at the phone company, or if the other party (your husband) was speaking through a cell phone.

The lights at the dealer may have gone off because of a power outage from an overheated substation that supplies the rental dealer.

[Aten]

Nikki I cant say about the car if it was paranormal but is sure a very interesting story.
Welcome to the board.