Uninvited Guests (Part 1)

I have always had a secret fascination with spirits and ghosts. I know there are many people who consider a ghost to be nothing more than a kid with a sheet over his head at Halloween. For many people seeing is believing, and if they never actually saw a genuine spirit they simply don’t believe that they exist. My last few posts have been about astral projection and if you have any experience in the astral you have seen and possibly interacted with spirits. If people can travel on the astral planes, it’s logical to assume that spirits can sometimes manifest themselves on the mundane or material plane. Personally I have never seen a ghost but I have experienced many odd occurrences and I've also had the feeling of being watched. When I was a kid my friends and I used to explore the Eastern Military Academy located in the Cold Spring Hills of Huntington, New York (now known as OHEKA Castle). The place used to be completely dilapidated and abandoned so it wasn’t difficult to find a way in. So many strange incidents happened in that building that I wouldn’t be surprised if strange occurrences are still happening there today. We would walk around exploring demolished classrooms, the abandoned bowling alley, the rifle range in the basement and endless, pitch black corridors. The place was absolutely magnificent but I would usually find myself running out of there as fast as I could with all my friends right beside me!

One night we formed a rather large group and went exploring the castle. Of course there was no electricity so we would have to walk through the halls with candles and flashlights. At one point we were in the basement and all the candles blew out simultaneously. This would have been odd enough in itself, and could possibly be explained had there been a breeze or a draft, but that wouldn’t have explained why the flashlights all went off as well! For a short time (which felt like an eternity) we stood in the pitch black hallway trying to re-light the candles or turn a flashlight back on. But lighters didn’t work and the flashlights wouldn’t turn back on either. We were ready to run for our lives but as fast as they went off, the flashlights came back on and the lighters worked again. This incident was just one of many strange things that happened inside that building. I had a friend who was attacked and bitten by a bat up on the top floor, near one of the towers. On another occasion several of my friends decided to visit the castle during the day. While they were there a cadet hat flew down from the top of the large spiral staircase in the grand entrance. Of course this was a very large building and we would sometimes hear or come across other groups of people doing the same thing we were. I suppose it’s possible that some of these strange happenings were carried out by other explorers (vandals), but in a building that size it would have been difficult to get close to us or run away without making any noise. Below is an image of the grand staircase before the castle was renovated. There are also pictures of one of the hallways, a bathroom and the front entrance just after workers arrived to begin the renovations. Enjoy the pictures and thanks for reading. "Uninvited Guests" will continue in the next post.