“All a skeptic is is someone who hasn’t had an experience yet.” Jason Hawes, Ghost Hunters

If you read my blog post, “How to Survive Your Next Vacation, Literally,” you’ll remember I referenced having a ghostly experience on a vacation to Folly Beach, South Carolina. If you haven’t read it, go do it NOW to fully grasp the utter craziness of my experience.

Let me be clear and upfront for the skeptics. I don’t do drugs. I wasn’t intoxicated in any way, shape, or form the night I saw the ghost. I’ve never been a patient of a mental hospital or psych ward, and I’m not a liar. So–now that we cleared THAT up, who doesn’t love a good ghost story?! Especially when it’s the real deal.

Back in our newlywed pre-kid days, my husband and I took a trip to Charleston, South Carolina. Regardless of what happened to us there, that city is still one of my favorites. I love the history. I love the gorgeous homes. The food is amazing. And I’ve always had a soft-spot for Folly Beach, which is where we rented a charming, historic cottage near the ocean.

The home was built in the 1920’s and had been gutted and remodeled by the current owners into an adorable yellow cottage with a wrap-around porch, a hammock facing the ocean, and hardwood floors throughout. There were beautiful Oriental rugs in the living room and master bedroom that made the house feel exceptionally cozy. I loved its charm.

Our first night there, I kept hearing soft footsteps in the living room that resembled the sound of bare feet moving on a rug. Slightly eerie but quickly dismissed, we soon went to bed.

During that night, I dreamed of a man in Victorian clothing standing over me while I was lying on my back in the bed. He wore a black suit with a white shirt and a ribbon-type bowtie. His dark hair was parted down the middle and slicked down, and he had a mustache that turned up on the ends. He kinda looked like this guy.

I was wearing a nightgown, and he was running his index finger up my right shin. He never spoke a word but was staring at me in a curious sort of manner.

I was uncovered, which I never do since my sister told me as a kid that someone would chop my feet off during the night with an ax if I kicked the covers off. Old habits die hard, so you seriously won’t catch me being uncovered during the night. This alone was out of the ordinary for me.

Even more unusual was that I was alone when this took place because my husband had gotten up to use the bathroom. In a semi-dreamlike state at the time, the intensity and realness of the experience made me completely wake up as my husband was coming back to bed. At that point, I truly felt like we weren’t alone there.

Have you ever felt like you’re being watched? Well, that was the feeling I had the entire week that we were in the house. It was more than the run of the mill “getting spooked” type-feeling. It was continuous. I’ve always considered myself open to the possibility of the supernatural and seem to be sensitive to a certain extent, having had several unique and unexplainable experiences in my lifetime. This may have made me more susceptible to what happened later that week.

On the third day of our trip, we toured the USS Yorktown naval ship in Charleston. So much history in this area from the Yorktown to the Battle of Fort Sumter to having Federal troops inhabit Folly Beach during the Civil War, there are endless possibilities for ghosts to remain in the area. The man I saw in my dream in his Victorian clothing could have easily been from the days of the Civil War, and possibly one of the soldiers inhabiting Folly Beach at that time. I would love to know more about him.

The night after our visit to the Yorktown was one I’ll never forget. We had gone to bed with my husband falling asleep first while I stayed up later reading. Not long after I went down, I heard a buzzing “zzzzip” sound and a cobalt blue, glowing figure in the shape of a featureless man zipped into our bedroom at the speed of lightning and stood at my husband’s side of the bed. My best analogy for it is that it resembled the blue glow of a welding torch but in the shape of a man. While I held my breath and lied absolutely motionless, he pushed the bed two times.

Again to be clear, my eyes were open during the entire experience and I SAW the apparition and I FELT the bed move twice. This was not a dream. After the second push, I began to shake my husband to awaken him. While I was doing so, I heard and saw static, like that from a TV, as the figure instantly disappeared.

At this point, my husband woke up, and the entire house was humming with a surge of electricity. My computer and all the electronics in the home were beeping and going crazy. As we were processing this, there was a utility pole with a transformer nearby and visible from our bedroom. The transformer made explosive, popping sounds and sparks like that of fireworks began flying out of it and sprinkling onto the street below. There was no storm. No lightning. No bird that was electrocuted. No explanation and everything occurred back to back to back over a matter of a couple of minutes.

Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well during the rest of our stay. On our last night, we had an attempted home invasion after we had gone to bed. Had I not had the experience with the ghost, I likely would’ve been sleeping soundly and dismissed any of the sounds I was hearing as the intruders were trying to get in. Because of the ghost, I wasn’t sleeping well and was on edge about each noise I heard. That likely saved our lives that night.

In retrospect, I truly believe with all my heart that the ghost was trying to warn me that it wasn’t safe there. When it pushed the bed, I believe it was an attempt to get my attention and cause me to be on guard during our stay. If it hadn’t been for the apparition, I cringe to think what could’ve happened there on our last night. I’ll forever be grateful to this otherworldly spirit and have learned that sometimes the living are scarier than the dead.

Hope you enjoyed my real-life ghost story and would love to hear if you’ve had any supernatural experiences yourself! Thanks for stopping in! xo