The UFO and Supernatural thread

All right, so here's a real ghost story, such as it is...

When I was about 33, my wife and I decided to buy the photography shop
where she worked. She had overheard the owners discussing selling the
business. This was like 1981. She already knew how the place worked, and
knew she could run it. So we scurried about among both our families and
raised enough capital to make a credible offer.

Our offer was accepted. We bought the whole shebang, the business, the
name, the antique and obsolete (but serviceable) equipment AND the building.
The business, called Ivory Photo, had been founded in 1925 by Mr. Mel Ivory.
We bought it from his daughter and her husband. Mr. Ivory had passed away
in the middle seventies.

In the process of remodeling parts of the building, we discovered a door that
had been bricked up, at some time in the past, by person or persons unknown.
Everyone thought that bricked up door was pretty creepy, so we called it
Mel's door.

We always had an interesting crew at Ivory Photo. The people we hired to work
for us were mostly College Students, since Ann Arbor is a college town. They
were all unique in their own way, and sometimes would ask if they could work
after hours on their own photography. We usually allowed it.

Once in a while, one of our employees would see something. Usually a person
standing nearby, seen in peripheral vision. When you snap your head around to
focus on him, he isn't there. We had three dark rooms, two of which had 'safe lights"
inside, and one which needed total darkness. I was a dark room guy, and worked in
all of them, but mostly in total darkness, with maybe a few glow tabs stuck here and
there to keep me oriented.

Personally, I never saw anything uncanny. But I worked there from 1981 through 2013
(when we sold that building) and sometimes overheard employees discussing what they
had seen. They wouldn't have spoken to me or to my wife about it, because we were
the owners. But if we brought it up, sometimes they would. Nobody ever felt that the
ghost made any threatening moves or gestures. But women working by themselves in
a closed photo shop, in a dark room, after hours... are easily spooked. Men too.
Creepy Stairway_drybrush@100.jpg
This is the basement stair... photo taken by my step daughter, who thought it was
extreeeeemly creepy. I never thought so, and went up and down this many times.
I was there a lot, and I never saw anything. But here is what I observed, and can't explain:

IMHO, the ghost had a sense of humor. Most of the employees thought it was a male
figure. The way our shop operated was the same as when Mel was running it. Customer
orders were taken in at the front counter by the person working there. Then they were taken
back to the appropriate dark room for processing. When complete, they were brought up front
and filed alphabetically in one large filing bin.

Of course, sometimes orders were mis-filed. So the customer would come in on their due date,
and ask for their order, and the counter person couldn't find it. Standard procedure in such
cases was for the counter person to ask another employee to help find it. And this was usually
effective.

But it's my belief that there were more situations like that than there should have been, allowing for
normal human error, and air-headedness. And almost every person who ever worked at my shop
experienced something like this: You are on counter duty, and a customer comes in and asks for
their completed order. You look in the file under their name where it should be, and it isn't there.
You buzz through all the other letter sections, to see if it's mis-filed. Nothing...
You go find another employee to help you look, and that person comes up front, looks in the correct
place, and there it is. Right where it should be. Right where it wasn't, a few minutes before.

Our stock explanation for this scenario, which happened more often than it should, was that Mel had
a sense of humor, and since he had worked there all his life, and organized all the procedures, he had
his own way of messing with us. He was not a scary ghost. He was a prankster. He'd be standing there
invisible when the customer came in, or when the order was filed. As soon as the customer gave their
name, he would swipe it. And as soon as the counter person went for help in finding it, Mel would put
it back in the right place. We don't think he intentionally misfiled orders. He just enjoyed seeing the
customer look at us like we were morons. Which we were not. *grins
Oh yeah, and a lot of the customers who supported us had been coming there for years, so they
remembered Mel, and he probably knew them too. So maybe he was messing with THEM, for
his own reasons. *shrugs

There you have it. I never saw any apparition out of the corner of my eye. Others did, but weren't very
scared, only startled briefly. Mel might have thought that was funny too. He liked pretty women. But he
never did any harm, or seemed really evil. We always spoke of him as if he owned the place. We all
thought we should.

I'll tell you one more thing: We sold that property in 2013, and the building was demolished along with
almost every other building on that block. The buyer was an investment company that rounded up enough
capital to build a seven story apartment complex on the site, taking up almost the whole block.
We all figure that they got the ghost as well, and he's in there still, playing pranks on the high-rent
tenants. Sounds like the beginning of a movie I'd like to see. *grins
 
Last edited:
Col Mustard said:
All right, so here's a real ghost story, such as it is...

When I was about 33, my wife and I decided to buy the photography shop
where she worked. She had overheard the owners discussing selling the
business. This was like 1981. She already knew how the place worked, and
knew she could run it. So we scurried about among both our families and
raised enough capital to make a credible offer.

Our offer was accepted. We bought the whole shebang, the business, the
name, the antique and obsolete (but serviceable) equipment AND the building.
The business, called Ivory Photo, had been founded in 1925 by Mr. Mel Ivory.
We bought it from his daughter and her husband. Mr. Ivory had passed away
in the middle seventies.

In the process of remodeling parts of the building, we discovered a door that
had been bricked up, at some time in the past, by person or persons unknown.
Everyone thought that bricked up door was pretty creepy, so we called it
Mel's door.

We always had an interesting crew at Ivory Photo. The people we hired to work
for us were mostly College Students, since Ann Arbor is a college town. They
were all unique in their own way, and sometimes would ask if they could work
after hours on their own photography. We usually allowed it.

Once in a while, one of our employees would see something. Usually a person
standing nearby, seen in peripheral vision. When you snap your head around to
focus on him, he isn't there. We had three dark rooms, two of which had 'safe lights"
inside, and one which needed total darkness. I was a dark room guy, and worked in
all of them, but mostly in total darkness, with maybe a few glow tabs stuck here and
there to keep me oriented.

Personally, I never saw anything uncanny. But I worked there from 1981 through 2013
(when we sold that building) and sometimes overheard employees discussing what they
had seen. They wouldn't have spoken to me or to my wife about it, because we were
the owners. But if we brought it up, sometimes they would. Nobody ever felt that the
ghost made any threatening moves or gestures. But women working by themselves in
a closed photo shop, in a dark room, after hours... are easily spooked. Men too.
View attachment 30662
This is the basement stair... photo taken by my step daughter, who thought it was
extreeeeemly creepy. I never thought so, and went up and down this many times.
I was there a lot, and I never saw anything. But here is what I observed, and can't explain:

IMHO, the ghost had a sense of humor. Most of the employees thought it was a male
figure. The way our shop operated was the same as when Mel was running it. Customer
orders were taken in at the front counter by the person working there. Then they were taken
back to the appropriate dark room for processing. When complete, they were brought up front
and filed alphabetically in one large filing bin.

Of course, sometimes orders were mis-filed. So the customer would come in on their due date,
and ask for their order, and the counter person couldn't find it. Standard procedure in such
cases was for the counter person to ask another employee to help find it. And this was usually
effective.

But it's my belief that there were more situations like that than there should have been, allowing for
normal human error, and air-headedness. And almost every person who ever worked at my shop
experienced something like this: You are on counter duty, and a customer comes in and asks for
their completed order. You look in the file under their name where it should be, and it isn't there.
You buzz through all the other letter sections, to see if it's mis-filed. Nothing...
You go find another employee to help you look, and that person comes up front, looks in the correct
place, and there it is. Right where it should be. Right where it wasn't, a few minutes before.

Our stock explanation for this scenario, which happened more often than it should, was that Mel had
a sense of humor, and since he had worked there all his life, and organized all the procedures, he had
his own way of messing with us. He was not a scary ghost. He was a prankster. He'd be standing there
invisible when the customer came in, or when the order was filed. As soon as the customer gave their
name, he would swipe it. And as soon as the counter person went for help in finding it, Mel would put
it back in the right place. We don't think he intentionally misfiled orders. He just enjoyed seeing the
customer look at us like we were morons. Which we were not. *grins
Oh yeah, and a lot of the customers who supported us had been coming there for years, so they
remembered Mel, and he probably knew them too. So maybe he was messing with THEM, for
his own reasons. *shrugs

There you have it. I never saw any apparition out of the corner of my eye. Others did, but weren't very
scared, only startled briefly. Mel might have thought that was funny too. He liked pretty women. But he
never did any harm, or seemed really evil. We always spoke of him as if he owned the place. We all
thought we should.

I'll tell you one more thing: We sold that property in 2013, and the building was demolished along with
almost every other building on that block. The buyer was an investment company that rounded up enough
capital to build a seven story apartment complex on the site, taking up almost the whole block.
We all figure that they got the ghost as well, and he's in there still, playing pranks on the high-rent
tenants. Sounds like the beginning of a movie I'd like to see. *grins
Click to expand...
Very cool story. The wife and I are strong believers.
 
Me personally, when it comes right down to it, I could care if aliens exist or not. We'd be aliens to the aliens - lol. But seriously, the UFO sightings that are supposedly 'real' could originate from earth. If time isn't constant (which is supposedly true)... If there are multiple dimensions that our senses don't allow us to perceive (which some argue is true)... And, don't forget, that present tech could be farther along than we are lead to believe (which, again, some argue is true)... Long story short, a well played Les Paul will over come most any of this and if that doesn't work a well made Les Paul makes for a good bonker - lol... I don't fear aliens - if anything, maybe they should fear us ;)

Must say I do enjoy a good alien movie though...
 
Now hang on a second, the article I posted said nothing of aliens...only that the Navy has finally confirmed that they don't know what the heck they are, but that they are legit.

No cover ups, no tall tales of balloons, no dis/misinfo, no outright lies. They're referring to them as UnID'd Aerial Phenomena (not as UFOs, flying saucers or anything panic inducing like that) and I for one, am glad to see it.

Speaking of aliens though, I feel like mankind would be beyond arrogant to think that we're the only life out there in this whole vast and ever growing universe. It's only a matter of time.
 
mcblink said:
To be frankly honest; I can't believe that the US Navy confirming that there are UFOs isn't bigger news than it is...
Click to expand...

They may be breaking the news to us in gradual stages, to lessen the shock when the full truth comes out.

I have no doubt that technology is actually far ahead of what the public knows. And it's pretty clear that over the years many UFO sightings have coincided with times when experimental aircraft were being tested. I assume that still holds true.

However as the number of UFO sightings worldwide explodes, I also have little doubt that many of the ones which appear to defy the laws of physics altogether are not of present-day earthly manufacture. That doesn't mean they couldn't possibly be visitors from the future or another dimension, or be alive themselves, or robotic probes, as well as perhaps being vehickes for beings from other planets.

It's just that some possibilities seem less likely than others.
 
I'm going to be very guarded in what I am about to say. During my military service, I saw things - some through the official course of my duties - and some in an unofficial capacity, that reluctantly convinced me that extra terrestrial beings not only exist, but they are far more prevalent than we have been led to believe.

The military often launched what we called 'disinformation campaigns,' which are official communications, designed to confuse and conceal factual circumstance, through the release of intentionally false statements. It is almost always justified as a matter of national security.

Much of the advanced experimental aviation technology our government is testing, through its various sub contractors, is not of terrestrial origin.
 
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