When Ghost Stories Come Out of the Woodwork

It's that creepy time of year when the nights are getting longer, there's a chill in the air, Halloween is just around the corner and ghost stories come out of the woodwork. And, as with most years, it's the time of year when I am busy collecting (and telling) ghost stories. I've picked up several stories over the past year. A house on 6 Avenue South where the owner found the name Julia written on the mirror in the mist. The Administration Building on the north side. The person telling me the story spoke of mischievous spirits who like to bother the cleaners and move objects -- often only to return them a short time later. To the Lethbridge Lodge and the report of a woman dancing in Anton's all by herself -- and when there shouldn't be anyone there. Or the Sandman Inn where the sounds of a young boy crying are heard. Or a residential location in Lethbridge where a "tallish Dutch woman" is seen to wander. To the Youth Treatment Centre where many strange things have been reported. Or the one hospital in southern Alberta where many of the residents seem to have the ability to know when someone is going to die. One resident, who herself passed away a few years ago, would try to get staff and visitors to leave when she knew the "man in black" was visiting. The staff from the institution reported this she "used to come into the room, into the hallway and she used to tell us to get out of this building, get out, you gotta get out of this building. And she’d be pushing us all towards the door. She was 100 or so years old then. Pretty much bed ridden but she’d get up on those days that she knew someone was going to die. She’d say that man in black is back. And she'd be pushing us out the doors, trying to protect all of us." It's been a good year of story collecting but I'd love to get even more. If you have some you want to share, send them my way. And, who knows what other stories will be created this Halloween season.

My Computer Talked to Me

Yes, as I type this I realize it sounds crazy. And I'm sure it has a plausible explanation. But it's also a fun story to share.

A few years ago my colleague and I were both sitting at our desks working. I was at my desk but working beside my computer (not actively using the computer at the time). All of a sudden my computer said "hello." Startled, I looked at my computer. My colleague called out (she was on the other side of a short wall), "was that your computer talking?" I told her, yes, and then we both heard it again call out "hello."

That was it. After that, nothing. Until recently.

Then just two weeks ago my computer did it again. I was logging out of my computer and after I logged out, my computer started talking. It was reciting some instructions on a computer program that I wasn't even aware was on my computer and which I never turned on (or at least I don't think I did). It kept talking for a few minutes (fortunately more my sanity, was heard by another colleague so I know it wasn't just me hearing it) telling me about buttons I should push on the computer (even though it was logged out).

I like to think it was someone in our IT department with either a wicked sense of humour or a wicked sense of timing. Or that I should more carefully read all of the instructions that come with my computers.

But I still haven't figured out what (if anything) made my computer talk to me on those two occasions. I do know it was weird. I also wish I had been smart enough the first time to say hello back. Who knows where that conversation could have led?