There are moments that define our lives.  If only you had changed lanes like you wanted to, you may not have been hit by that car.  If you hadn't gone to that basketball game and volunteered to go get hot dogs for the gang, you may never have met your wife.  These moments come and go in a blink of an eye, yet they alter your life forever.  But every now and then, you actually realize that one of those moments is upon you.  In that split second, you are aware that your next decision can change everything for you.  This story is about one of the moments.  And, of course, the paranormal.

It was my freshman year at Michigan State University.  With 45,000 students, you get to meet a great variety of people.  There was one girl who stood out to me.  I shall call her Cassie (not her real name).  She was pretty, striking really.  Smart, articulate, funny.  But that isn't what interested me about her (I had a girlfriend at the time and I'm not the cheating sort).  She had a certain…darkness about her.  I couldn't really put my finger on it.  She lived in my dorm and on my floor (guys lived on west side, girls east).

One night, a few of us were in the "common study area."  One by one, people began to leave until only Cassie and I remained.  She asked me if I was leaving soon.  I told her no, not for at least a couple of more hours.  She said "good" and continued to study.

Another hour went by.  I was working on a fluid dynamics problem that was literally tearing my brain apart.  I looked over at Cassie just to clear my head and caught her just staring at the door.  In that instant, I realized something about her.  I had never seen her alone.  Not in the common area, not in the cafeteria, not even walking to class.  Her roommate left every weekend.  So every weekend, various young men would escort Cassie to her room…which gave her quite a nasty reputation.  It dawned on me, she's afraid to be alone.

So, I just asked her "Why are you afraid of being alone?"

She looked at me like I had hit her with a baseball bat.  She just stared at me for about two minutes.  Two minutes of someone that you don't know very well just staring at you is a long time.  She finally spoke and said "Because I am haunted."

THIS…is the moment that I was talking about.  I can read people pretty well.  Really well.  My friends call me the human lie detector test.  I realized that she wasn't joking.  She wasn't just being weird or coy or "different."  She knew I had seen past her guard, called her out, and she was responding honestly.  So…my two choices.  Walk away or talk to her.  If I walk away, I wouldn't have to deal with anything that I had no business dealing with.  If I talk to her, I get involved.  I chose.  I talked to her.

She told me about her parents.  When she was a little girl, a man entered her home.  Taking a long knife from the kitchen, he brutally slayed her parents.  She hid behind a couch while it happened.  She stayed behind the couch as the man searched the home, presumably for her.  He finally left.  (I did verify this story at the MSU library.)  The man was caught, convicted, jailed, and was himself killed in jail (also confirmed this.)

Since that time, she said that she could sometimes see her parents.  She said she also felt the presence of the man who murdered them as well and he was still searching for her.

What does a twenty year old kid say to that?  I decided to ask what her parent were like.  Get her to talk about happier memories.  She began telling me about her mom.  She was laughing a bit when she told a story about how much trouble she got into for using her mom's favorite perfume.  We both laughed…and suddenly heard a snapping noise.  We both instantly smelled perfume.  Cassie's purse was on a chair, about three feet from both of us.  We looked inside…her perfume bottle had cracked and spilled out within the purse.  She laughed and said "See?  She's still mad over that."

Swear to god…I almost had a "DUDE, RUN!" moment there.  How do I explain that?  I'm three feet away and right on cue…no strings, no smoke, no mirrors…just a cracked bottle of perfume.

After that, we "sort" of became friends.  Some days she would talk, other days…not so much.  I had talked her into getting some professional help, but she said it wasn't working out all that well.  The school year ended, we drifted apart, both moved off campus and rarely saw each other.  We would talk on the phone though every now and then.  

A couple of years past.  I picked up the school paper and saw that she had taken her own life.  It was so sad.  So smart and so much to offer.  Even to this day, I still think the world is a little less bright without her in it.  A little less colorful.

When you go through something like this, you're supposed to learn something.  What did I learn?  It's something that we talk about on this forum all the time actually.  Whether you believe or not, just try to be patient and tolerant of those around you.  Did I believe everything that she said?  Even then, I knew that maybe it was just important to listen and not try to solve it.  Even if I wanted to, I couldn't have solved it.  Could I have done more?  I don't know.  I wish I could have.  And lastly…do I believe that she was haunted?  I don't know what ghosts are.  I don't know what ghosts can do.  But I believed Cassie…and always will…      

What trust Cassie placed in you that night.  I have no doubt that it was a story she rarely shared.  You did all any human could do.  Most importantly, you believed her. 

Something was going on. . .what?, well, like you said, what is a ghost, what is a haunting?  We don't know.  Was what she was seeing a product of a child's mind that was terrified beyond its limits that night?  The broken perfume bottle a poltergeist-type of thing produced unwittingly by her?

So many questions, and no definitive answers.  I would think that her parents appearing to her would have been a comforting thing; the broken perfume bottle as an affirmation of her mother's love.   The 'bad' guy still looking for her, to me, would be a issue of some  sort like a post-traumatic stress disorder.  I separated the two: one a positive and one a negative, one psychological another paranormal, but is that logical?  I don't know. 

Thank you for sharing. . .I will be thinking about this for a long time. 

brookelloyd said:

Someone close to me has similar occurrences and your story helped me to understand that sometimes looking for the truth in a situation isn't always what we need to be doing.  Sometime we just need to trust the person who has chosen to confide in us.  I had no reason not to believe the person that confided in me, but I found myself questioning everything he told me.  I didn't want to be taken for a fool.  My preoccupation with that came before trusting someone I love very much.  I'm going to think of this story next time he chooses to talk about his experiences.

---

Well, yes and no. 

Yes, someone has come to you for help.  Whether the paranormal aspect is the true reason or a symptom of something else, it's hard to tell.  The main thing is that the first step has been taken.  Someone who needs and wants help is asking for help.  That, on itself, should always come first.  However…

No, no one wants to be taken for a fool.  You have to remember the qualities in which you possess that led that person to confide in you in the first place.  Cassie knew I was studying science.  She knew I wasn't likely to "fall" for "spooky tales" and would instead use logic, reasoning, and skepticism to understand particular events in her life.  She also knew that her normal "tricks" wouldn't work on me.  Like getting away with something just based on the fact that she was pretty.  Or that she was clever.  I was in a rock solid relationship at the time and…I'm a little clever myself.   

So, like I said, yes and no.  You want to help someone that you care about.  That's human nature.  But to do so, don't lose track of who you are and why that person chose you to help them.

Alicat- Thanks, I appreciate what you said.

Revenant, again thank you for sharing, and no, I do not think too "heavy" for this forum.  Cassie's story is sad, but also very, very thought provoking. 

In that time period (hey, I am familiar- writing in Fortran.  I am old as dirt, just ask my kids) there was not that much out there, no parapsychologists, nothing to the extent that is available today.  Thinking about it, I wonder if she was able to work with someone in therapy that was willing to accept the possibilty of the paranormal. 

The perfume bottle: I was assuming was just cracked, but three pieces.  Not questioning it happened, but the glass is thick on perfume bottles.  The force it would take to break it.  The story she chose to tell. 

I have the goosebumps.  What can one say?  This story has touched my heart in a way I can't really describe. 

There was once a man on a documentary about ghosts who said "There are no haunted houses, just haunted people".  I don't know if I agree with him about haunted houses, but I do believe in haunted people.  People who have gone through extreme events that we can only try to understand–what does something like this do to a person's mind?  Does it give them an ability beyond our understanding? 

My rational side wants to think that the trauma made her believe she could see her parents and the killer, and also that there was some kind of communication going on.  Perhaps it was her mind's way of coping with something that is so terrible.  But then the other side of me kicks in–how can one explain the perfume bottle and the scent?  Coincidence?  Perhaps, and yet….

Revenant, thank you so much for sharing something that most people will never, ever experience in a lifetime.  This experience was special and I am sure you will remember it always.  At least we can hope that she has finally found peace.

MissMissy:  It goes deeper than that.  Ryan Buell does not have a license as a psycho-therapist, or anything close.  He has no business doing what he is doing.  I have written A & E about this show and the fact that it needs to be taken off the air, as they did with Chip Coffey's kidfest "Psychic Kids".  And even so, one can still find that show's reruns on other A & E owned channels.

Can you imagine what Buell & his Magical Mystery Tour would have done with "Cassie"?  The abuse of people in pain is something I cannot stand for.  Even laying aside all the rumors circulating about Ryan, Chip etc., just taking what they do for the sake of $$$ and entertainment should be illegal.

I've got to stop writing about PRS or it will end up as a 3 page rant.  I've been against that show from the first episode, and the arrogance of not only airing Laura's first episode but daring to go back and continue this mistreatment is beyond belief.  That's why my initial post on the subject was so full of anger.