Girl in the Gingham Dress

I was visiting a friend in Oregon in March of 1988. It wasn't frigid outside, but cold enough to require a nice, warm fire with lots of firewood. While my friend did the dishes, I went outside to the shed to get wood for the fire. It was a long walk, long because my friend, whose husband was away for the weekend, lives in a very large home. When I reached the shed, there was a small girl seated on the woodpile. She had long auburn hair and was wearing an old-fashioned gingham dress. I babbled to her, complaining about spiders, telling her I hoped I didn't see any, blah, blah, blah.

I finally gathered the wood and went back inside, but only after I told the child, whom I believed to be from the neighborhood, to go home because it was getting late. When I entered the house, my friend asked me whom I was talking to. I told her. She asked me to describe the child. When I did, she told me to follow her.

She lead me to the family library, where there was a large book containing information about the first family who lived there (in the 1800's, it was an old house!). In the book was a picture of the child I had just spoken to. She had died of small pox at the age of seven. According to my friend, I was the first person she had visited in years. She stopped appearing when my friend's daughters graduated from high school and she only appeared when their father was not home. I guess she was attracted to me. Or maybe she was lonely. Either way, I laugh at others who say that ghosts do not exist. I also feel sorry, because before I met Rebecca (that was her name, according to the family album), I did not believe either. I do now!

Charles (12/28/97)

I have often wondered why some people are able to see ghosts while others are not. Or, maybe more precisely, what attracts spirits to certain individuals. Anyone want to discuss his or her ideas on this?

I've done a lot of research on spirit/ghost behavior and had my share of experiences, and from what I've gathered, the following is a very probable reason why certain people are more sensitive to psychic activity than others.

People's senses have different levels of sensitivity. Some people can hear things better than others, some are more sensitive to smells than others are, etc. There are also some who's senses are sensitive to the supernatural world, this is looked as either being the Sixth sense, or a higher level of all five. Almost everyone has the "Sixth Sense" when they're born, but as children get older, they're either told that it's nothing more than "imaginary friends," "their imagination running away with them," etc. The supernatural contact is then brushed of as being silly/unlikely, or they just grow out of the concept. Most people hold onto this gift within their subconscious, which is why it resurfaces from time to time (the length of time varies for each individual). I believe that supernatural beings can pick up on one's gift through the subconscious mind, sometimes helping one to bring out the gift, which helps paranormal contact to happen.

Also, another reason why a spirit may appear to some but not others is because of what they see in the individual. Since they can communicate with you and/or your subconscious mind, they can also see what background you come from, how accepting you are to the spiritual world, or maybe even something as simple as what sparks the spirit's interest in the individual (maybe because of something in common). For whatever reason, this would encourage the spirit to help trigger the gift in the individual's subconscious mind. I hope I've helped.

Shawna (8/1/99)

If you have any comments or similar stories to share, PLEASEdo so by sending mail to my email address: schorr@cems.umn.edu OR by clicking on the spinning skull icon on my home page! THANK YOU!