In a previous post I wrote about a visit to the abandoned cemetery Bachelor’s Grove, joined by some other ghost enthusiasts. I did a tarot card reading on a tombstone, attempting to communicate with any entities in the infamous graveyard. Not really a good idea. Afterwards I experienced a bout of bad luck, and I alluded to the idea that something might have followed me home.
http://occultview.com/2009/01/11/tarot-reading-at-bachelors-grove/
Bachelors Grove
A couple of months after my visit to the graveyard, I had an unnerving experience. I was asleep in my bed when I was awakened by a sound…a growling sound, loud enough to stir me from my sleep. It sounded like there was a growling dog in my bedroom and close to my bed. I don’t own pets. I became wide-awake; it was not a lucid dream or anything like that. I laid face away from the sound, and I did not move…I stayed perfectly still and listened to this low growl. I was afraid to turn and look at what was in my room. Instead I said a mental prayer for God to protect me from whatever was there and send it away. After the prayer…the growling just…stopped. Yet I still did not turn to see what could have been there. Afterwards, I wondered what I might have seen had I turned around…anything? Or maybe I’d be discovered the next day in my bed, dead from a failed heart.
I know someone who had her own personal encounter with a growling ghost. Once, seemingly from nowhere, this lady’s home began to experience a haunting. She knew of nothing that would have provoked this to happen. But she said, there came strange sounds like footsteps on the stairway. Her daughter caught a brief glimpse of someone in the house, who then disappeared. Her microwave oven would turn itself on spontaneously. The final straw was after an incident with the microwave oven in the kitchen, she heard a loud growling outside her open kitchen window. She went to the window to look outside…and there was absolutely nothing out there. She had enough. Being a Catholic, she lit candles every night for a week and prayed to God that whatever was in her home would leave. After a week of this…she never experienced any sign of a haunting again.
What to make of this growling ghost? Ghosts don’t growl. Ghosts are deceased human beings and a ghost of a human is still human and humans don’t growl. These growling ghosts are not ghosts, but inhuman spirits.
There is the folklore of the Black Dog, or Barghest. This spectral hound with glowing eyes is said to prowl cemeteries at night. It is considered an evil omen to see one, an omen of death, and is said to be associated with the Devil. There are many legends concerning these Hell Hounds who haunt the graveyards. They are not considered to be the ghosts of men or even dogs. But the spirits of something inhuman. To encounter one is to bring doom. According to demonology, demons cannot take human form, but appear as grotesques, human/animal hybrids and monstrosities.
When I visited Bachelor’s Grove, maybe a “black dog” of that sad, haunted cemetery did follow me home. Maybe the Black Dog is not only folklore. Beware of the Growling Ghost.
February 21st, 2009 at 8:12 am
Very interesting, but I think you are tainting your observations with your preconcievd ideas.
If you are into understanding the supernatural you have to start with a clean mind, more astude observation and less fear and emotional interference.
Just a sugestion
February 21st, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Hi buddha,
Those are good points. When someone experiences a ghost event, those are usually genuine experiences. If we know someone we personally trust, they won’t just make up these stories. Now, what is the reality behind these experiences? Are they hallucinations or the genuinely paranormal? That is where speculation comes in.
A haunting could be a trick of the mind, or seeing what we want to imagine. However, the tricky part about the hallucination answer is when someone who experiences this is a practical type of person, and several members of a household experience this stuff too.
As for trying to explain these events, that is speculation. Which is what my blog is about, speculating about the spiritual realm. Occult tradition has a coherent approach to this speculation, but it is still speculation. For instance, with the story about the growling ghost, what I find most interesting is that a religious ritual can easily banish a haunting. It seems the type of ritual, or the theology of the person does not really matter. Is it the power of the individual who believes something is banished, gets it banished? Or does a Higher Power intervene? The answer is nobody knows, so we rely on our own personal beliefs.
February 22nd, 2009 at 8:04 am
I would not do a tarot card reading on a grave stone.
February 22nd, 2009 at 8:28 am
I agree with you. It was treating a real person’s final resting place as a game…and bad Karma.
February 25th, 2009 at 1:04 am
Wow, I read both your posts on this cemetry. I think you are pushing the limits here. I hope you have a spiritual guide or some lucky charm or handy prayers to keep you safe.
February 25th, 2009 at 2:55 am
Hi Nayna,
Yeah…channeling, even by accident, in a graveyard like Bachelor’s Grove is not wise. The hobby of ghost hunting is mostly harmless, but there are exceptions.
February 27th, 2009 at 3:59 am
Next time if you do hear it again, maybe you should apoligise for interupting it in the graveyard and ask it to go back home..
I also think maybe the dog growling represents the real spirit of a dead dog that is protecting its previous owners spirit in the afterlife, and maybe in this case at the graveyard..
February 27th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
I believe aniimals have a spirit. In near-death out-of-body experiences, people have reported being visited by their pet along with their deceased relatives as they enter the tunnel of light on the way to the “Other Side”. That is a comforting thought for people who love their pets. But as for this growling spirit…I don’t think it was anyone’s pet. It was something dark.
April 6th, 2009 at 3:41 am
Great post, thanks for the info
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:24 pm
I really enjoyed your post, this was spooky!!
June 16th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
This is a very interesting story whether you are reading it as a way to find answers or look at hauntings in a spiritual or just curious nature or if are looking for a great “scary story”. I love it for both reasons and because it is about Bachelors Grove Graveyard. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:34 am
Hi Colleen,
I love your site! http://www.bachelors-grove.com/ Your forum is a great place to examine the abandoned Bachelor’s Grove cemetery and the paranormal in general. People outside the Chicago area don’t know much about what Bachelor’s Grove is, but its reputation has spread. Chicago has a lot of great haunted locations. In my opinion Bachelor’s Grove is at the top of the list.
July 26th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
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November 23rd, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Hi David,
I’m the exc. dir. of the Paranormal Studies & Investigative Group we’re based in Tx. (sigh) Dude, lol! You know what you were doing and yet… ouch same happened to me and like you said easy to despense with BUT, … if you are a paranormalist/ghosthunter you will notice that where you go the activity increases, (at least that is what happened to me.), now I am back in the field again instead of behind a desk! So hey for me it was a good thing but try not to antagonize any demons they never forget or forgive.
Thanx,
Bill
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Hi Dr. Deason,
Yes, exploring the paranormal can lead to unwanted consequences. Is there really any way to be careful when dealing with the unseen world? Maybe if someone is a natural clairvoyant they can sidestep dark spirits. The rest of us we are blind. The lesson is to avoid channeling anything. I learned my lesson.
Dave
November 30th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
My boyfriend and I are laying in bed freaked out!!!
We just heard a loud growling outside our bedroom window.
It then stopped, then started again, fainter.
It stopped again, then was at the bedroom window again.
We then heard what sounded Luke a door opening.
All our doors are locked.
We then heard noises in the hallway that I cannot describe..
The noises have all stopped again bur I don’t know if they will come back…
Fuck! More noises!!! Like, umm, a wooden sliding door kind of..
I am not making this shit up!
I am really scared!
we don’t have wooden sliding doors..
I have no idea what to do..
Can someone please write back to this asap!!
December 1st, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Hi TrashyVanitu,
If a wandering entity was paying you a visit, the best way to keep them away is to practice whatever spiritual beliefs you have (light candles, say a prayer). Doing that will put you in touch with a higher power, or with your higher self (same result0. This will drive away anything wicked. But before you do that…try to take some pictures around where you live and see if you capture any anomaly. It’d be interesting if you actually caught something in an image!
Dave
December 7th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Thanks David. I’m actually an atheist. So I don’t do any if that. It scared the crap outta me!! I have never been that scared in my life. I absolutley plan to take some photos… When I’m ready to take in what those pictures might reveal. We do have a ghost in our house, her name is tegan. I have spoken to her twice through oijia board. She died in the house next door. She said she means no one in the house harm and doesn’t want us to go. I fear tht while speaking to her, and trying to find other spirits to talk to I have let something else in. I went to bed the other night and I have a whiteboard next to my bed. I heard the sound of tapping fingers on it. Just thought I’d let you know.
February 4th, 2010 at 6:21 am
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March 2nd, 2010 at 4:49 pm
I’m from vietnamese… i can use tarot to read for anyone. I don’t need know their face. I only think about thing can connection with their such as a their pics or a ring, or a name. Now, i can use tarot to see your mind.
Sorry, i not good at english. I can development my skill ???
March 2nd, 2010 at 5:08 pm
I use tarot for tegan’s ghost and 1 ghost girl in Lion Red. The first Card is same “The Hanged Man”. They are ghost ? Realy ?. I never use oijia board to talk with ghost. i don’t know law, and some infor about oijia board and my friends talk with me is danger when you use in your home. That true ??? Please contact me. With my skill i speak, i only need think about ghost i want, i can talk with them by oijia board ????????
March 2nd, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Hi Thanh,
I personally believe that Tarot cards and Ouija boards can be a tool to contact spirits. Can it be dangerous? Yeah. I think we need to limit our contact with spirits. Like humanity, spirits can be good, destructive and indifferent. The problem is we really don’t know what we are dealing with, unless we have some psychic ability to discern that. Otherwise we are blind, and inviting random spirits to connect with us can be unwise. Yet, curiosity gets the better of me and I like to try sometimes anyway. Sort of like an experiment to see what happens.
Dave
March 3rd, 2010 at 2:07 pm
I don’t understand and know much about “myth” of Tarot and Ouija boads. Please send to some information important about it. I don’t use Ouija board, only use Tarot. And i use it to contact my sprit, my friends and use for some ghosts in my home and i think they good. I have researched about astrology and I know i have “Spirit Energy” skill. So i can use tarot for anyone in anywhere. That true ???. Now, I don’t believe have ghosts. Only use tarot as the same as curiosity. That is interesting !. If Tarot is a tool to contact, when you don’t use that tools, i guess you can contact with spirits. Yet, when i use tarot, i ask my spirit contact with other spirits, and use my spirit to draw cards. i think i don’t invite spirits. There are two spirits, of humans and of ghosts.
September 27th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
Hello, My son is fifteen years old and his father and I are divorced. apparently this past Friday night my son was awoken to a horrible growling noise. At first he thought it was a truck coming down the street but then it just kept getting closer and was doing so very fast. He was suddenly frozen in place unable to look behind him and was very cold but he said this thing was at his head growling and he could feel its breath from the growl on his neck. He tried to call for his dad but he couldnt. he said he just laid there and it eventually went away. He went and got his dad to check the house and nothing. He has not slept in three nights. he said he is so uncomfortable at the house that he is constantly looking over his shoulders. when he told me about what happened he looked calm enough but the hairs on his arms were standing up like he had goose bumps all over, so I know he is telling the truth and terrified at the moment. Im not sure what to do to help thru this. He will be staying at my house this week at least. Hopefully this will allow him some rest and to get the feelings out of his system.. Any suggestions would be great…
September 28th, 2010 at 2:46 am
Hi Dee,
Thank your for your story. The growling spirit is not something good. I had my brief encounter with it, and my solution was asking for spiritual protection, depending on our belief system. Growling ghosts are not human. But the answer is not hard. Prayers, candles, just seek protection from a higher power. The worst thing to is to have passive acceptance of the situation. Dark spirits only have power over those who are allow them. Human beings are powerful spiritual beings in our own, barely below the angels. No dark spirit can harm us unless we invite them to. Add to that inviting the power of heaven to protect us, and no dark spirit has a chance.
Dave
February 1st, 2011 at 9:14 pm
Never had growling but all threw my life and familys we had ecounters some bad some were good spirits.Now i feel some one may have open a door.my sister says that her boyfriends mom be doing rituals wich aint good. I think she had put a course on the family cause things disseapering around the house. I hear knocking on the walls some times. I was never attacked though. My sister woke up with bruises on her back like she got beat up she still dont believe. One day my brother went to white castle late at night about 2 or so at night.I went to bed and woke up with him stair up at me at the foot of my bed houched over or kneeling position.I felt like i couldn’t move, or i felt if i did something would happend.felt electricity go threw my back bone paralyzing me.Felt like my body was getting lifted off my bed.Then I heard a car door slamn it was my brother retuning from white castle .then it dissapeared. i never prayed so much in my life to god.
February 2nd, 2011 at 2:00 am
Hi Dan,
Thanks for your story. It reminds a bit of someone’s alien abduction experience:
http://occultview.com/2009/05/25/an-alien-abduction-story-extraterrestrials-spirit-abduction-or-sleep-paralysis/
I think spirits and “aliens” as being part of the same phenomena. Sometimes a door to “their world” opens. Yes, it is very scary.
Dave
April 18th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
My mom has experienced paranormal activity since she moved into her house about 6 years ago. It first started with an apportion that appeared as a Victorian dressed little girl. She took an interest in my young nieces and would only be seen at night while they were sleeping. Then the same spirit or a new one took the physical shape of my mother. My brother followed “her” into my moms room and vanished. My mom had been at work for 3 hours prior to my brothers experience. Thanks for following this far. This is where my story ties into the subject. Last weekend my Mom and my brother and his family returned home from dinner. My mom was walking into her room, and my brother was headed towards the bathroom when a very loud growling sound that my mother described as that of Big Cat. Almost like a cougar. It was loud enough to where my sis-in-law heard it in the kitchen on the opposite end of the house. Needless to say, there wasn’t a Cougar in the house. My niece will sometimes sleep with my mom, but hides under the blankets when she see’s “The Cat”.
April 19th, 2011 at 2:38 pm
Hi Rick,
Thanks for the story! Very interesting. I’ve not heard of the ghost of pets visiting people. So if we hear a ghost growl, then it is an inhuman spirit, and something we really don’t want hanging around. You might want to try a smudging in your home, just in case.
Dave
September 27th, 2011 at 10:09 pm
I think the attic at my work has something lurking up there. Several of my fellow employees have seen or heard ghost, such as figures walking around or child laughter. I’ve spent a lot of time up there in the last six months and things have gotten weird. It started with a friend taking a picture up there and having an orb show up in every one of them. The next day I went up there and the things he had taken pictures of had been scattered across the room ranging from 5 to 15 feet. I hadn’t seen or heard anything up there until this Saturday I was putting a shelf in the attic and when I put it down something started growling at me. I stood there in disbelief because I’ve heard every noise possible up there and never heard anything that sounded like a growl. I stood there for another minute trying to rationalize what I had just heard when I heard an even closer and louder growl at which point I backed up and walked down stairs. I went back in the attic two days later to put another shelf up there it was a heavier shelf so I had someone help me bring it up. We put it down and started to talk. Out of the corner of my eye I saw what looked like movement I turned to see what looked like the bending of light as if something invisible was standing in front of the light. At that same instance the person up there with me heard footsteps. I’m just wondering if anyone could tell me what I’m dealing with?
September 28th, 2011 at 12:59 am
Hi Robert,
Thanks for the account; it was intriguing. In my opinion, ghosts of human beings don’t growl. And ghosts of animals, if such exist, wouldn’t have much interest in human beings. I feel ghosts that growl or act in inhuman ways are exactly that…non-human spirits, neither man nor animal. Human ghosts are ok…they are just us but know yet they are dead. But these infernal spirits are something else entirely and need to be banished.
Dave
October 9th, 2011 at 2:56 am
i looked this up because i wanted to find out if anyone else had experienced the same thing. years ago i awoke to a growl that seemed to be right in my face. so close i could feel its presence next to me. frozen scared stiff, trying not to even breathe, i laid there praying to god for protection. afraid that if i were to move i would not be here today. i often wonder how something like that could physically hurt me. it probably would have given me a heart attack or something. i imagine that could be the only way. that was the first and only time that i have encountered this. although, there were other paranormal activities in my home. i often wonder if it had something to do with the ouija board my mother owned.
October 9th, 2011 at 4:36 am
Lynn,
It is very interesting you had the same experience with a growling ghost. This may happen more often then we think! I suspect these are inhuman, infernal spirits manifesting into the physical world. They may be all around us but can’t break thru, unless we somehow open the door, intentionally or not.
Dave
October 11th, 2011 at 7:26 am
The same thing happened to me at Bachelor’s Grove. With the growling I mean. Except it didn’t follow me home.
November 1st, 2011 at 1:55 am
Iv got paranormal stuff happening all around me-nothing new, my whole life its been like this. The latest is setting up my macbook iSight in my room to watch and record me sleep-it was a nap. An hour and a half total time. I haven’t heard/watched the whole thing but there’s quite a few disturbing things that happen. The end, which is why Im here, there was growling right before me waking up. This is certainly not a nice ghost-or a ghost at all. I don’t even want to call it what I know it is.
The other day I recorded over 7 hours of footage while I was gone. (security reasons) This led me to record my nap, plus an hour plus trick or treating with my kids*(who I have partial visitation with and don’t formally live here). I have a ‘ghost’ calling my name and when reversed its FUCK YOU! The voice doesn’t sound happy neither, but I don’t know, how do normal ghosts talk? Its just way too Hollywood though meaning, you expect a demon to sound real scary in the movies but in real life that maybe its different and not so dramatically frightening. In this case, it is everything that and more!
Im trying to figure out and find out what to do. I don’t know what Iv done to have this but its here. Im about 85% somethings here and almost afraid to listen to more footage I have stored on my computer. Iv prayed and rebuked it before leaving to meet my kids outside with their mom to trick or treat. So IM hoping this new footage will be empty of any of this.
Thanks for listening and Im all for advice at this point! (Yes, to make it worse this started happening around Holloween)
November 1st, 2011 at 2:17 am
Hi MBC,
Thanks for your story. I am ever more convinced that animalistic sounding spirits are inhuman/demonic and not playful trickster ghosts or the spirits of animals. I think your prayers and rebuking may banish it. However, it might not work right away. This lady who had a growling ghost did a Catholic novena over a number of days and it worked. But banishing will require seriousness of intent along with requesting the help of a Higher Power.
Dave