What Was Waiting Inside the Mirror? | Real Ghost Stories

0:00Today on Real Go Stories Online, she never looks into mirrors at night and that all goes back to a conversation she overheard when she was just a child. Hey there, it's Real Go Stories Online and we really appreciate you listening, so thank you very much. If you are listening and if you have a ghost story, we would love for you to share it with us and you can do that a couple of ways. Leave us a voicemail by calling 855-853-4802. You can always write it down at RealGoStoriesOnline.com. You can have a premium subscriber if you'd like, get the advanced episodes access to the archive. No commercials. Sign up through Apple Podcasts or patreon.com-sensual-goStories. Hello, Kathy Gordon. How are you today? Well, okay, I'm a little bit just kind of shaken. Why? Okay, so yesterday morning I'm out walking my dog and you know how you're just kind of

1:07space and off and whatever. And I thought about this man that I used to work with at Colby Community College and he taught in the English department and I taught in the art department, of course. And you know, he was this kind of big gruff guy and he was a heavy smoker, so he had that kind of smoker's voice about him and stuff. And he was the quintessential English college professor, gruffy kind of guy, right? And he had, I believe it was three kids. They were kind of the same age as my kids and so they were in my kids classes and stuff. And he and I used to talk and chat a lot and you know, he was a colleague. I don't know why he crossed my mind yesterday, but I was thinking about the fact that when he was teaching there, he had a book published and that book was called Crofton's Fire.

2:09And it was a book about the, it was a civil war, but it was a fictional story about the civil war. And I remembered really liking it when I read it. I bought a copy, he signed it for me and I really liked it a lot. And at the time I remember thinking this would be a great movie. It was kind of one of those, you know, like little big man or at the time they do these historical movies that were kind of funny and had a lot of humor in them. And this was kind of along that line and I was thinking, you know, I need to get my hands on that book again and listen to it and or I say listen, thinking I hope it's an audio book, but if it's not, maybe I get it and read it again because I do remember really liking that. Then I thought, you know, I should dig around on social media and see if I can find it. His name was Keith Copeland, so if you're interested in the books or whatever, I got on my Facebook page just, I don't know, 10 minutes before we started this and something is daughter posted, he died yesterday.

3:11Really? See, I don't think that's it. And I was like that you would have had that thought about him. Well, I have a years. Right. And to me, that's all. I think about him and thinking about the book and yeah, and the whole way I'm walking, I'm thinking about it and I should get my hands on that again because I really remember liking it. I'd like to read it again. And then I thought, you know, I should get in touch with him, just say hi. I hope you think. And he passed away like yesterday or maybe it doesn't say the date he passed away, but I assume it was very recently the way it's written on there. Yeah. Well, she just posted yesterday. It's pretty recent. Yeah. But I thought, I don't think that's coincidental by any means. But I think that it's kind of like, I don't know how you know stuff like that, how you get those little feelings.

4:13And I get them, you know, and I always say that, you know, when you think of somebody, there's a reason you're thinking about, you know, like especially these out of the blue people, right? And you think about that person back in high school, that person here or a teacher you had or something. And you go, why is it they're crossing your mind? Maybe if they are, you need to reach out and just say, hey, been thinking about you, hope you're well, you know, or whatever. And so I was thinking about actually doing that. And he must have died about the same time. But I just thought that was odd. I don't know. It's his little way of like leaving this earth. And saying goodbye to me and touching the people he cared about. Yeah, it's weird. It is weird. I don't know how that sort of thing happens. But you know, we hear about it all the time. But I think if people go with that little feeling they have so often, there's a reason why

5:15he popped into your head. Oh, gosh. Yeah. And he really popped into bed like I'm thinking about the books and thinking about things and, you know, stuff. And he did leave a very interesting life. He wrote two other books. And he also had articles published in like The New Yorker and Playboy. And I think The Atlantic or whatever. I mean, you know, he actually was a good writer. But anyway, I don't touch my heart. Yeah. Well, let's go to our first caller of the day. Hi guys. This is Sue from Springfield, Illinois. So I've gone through. I'm a child of the 60s. I was born in 61 and a little tiny background. As I was growing up, I would. I was the kid that received for birthday gifts. The Magic 8 Ball. The Gypsy Witch Tarot telling, um, tarot fortune telling cards and the Ouija board.

6:21Interestingly enough, when those gifts that I received, I had never asked for nor did I know what they were used for. And they were given sending by an aunt that was in a town that I don't even know that they had those type of items to even purchase to give of gifts. So I always thought it was very interesting that those type of tools or whatever you want to call them, they were given to me whether I asked for them or not. I've had a lot of paranormal experiences, good and bad. A lot of really wonderful things. I've had interesting things happen to my life. I lost the son in Afghanistan and my husband two years later and I have been contacted

7:24by them from the other side. However, the story tells me is when about shadow people and mirrors. I hear that a lot. I'm your podcast and how you don't purchase antique mirrors. The story relates back to as a small child. I would see shadow people. I didn't know what they were at the time. I would play in our garage, which my dad built. It was like a two and a half car garage. Back in the 60s, this is probably 63, 64. It was unusual to have that big of a garage. He had done that because he had put a office in our garage. Our garage double doors had windows in them. I loved Barbie and I would set up during rainy days or if it was cold out in fall or early

8:31spring. I would set up a whole town in the garage and play. I would get at times where I felt like I was being watched and I looked up really quick. I would see the shadow of somebody. One time I thought it was my grandpa pulling the joke on me because it had a figure of a man. It was during the daytime. I would kind of bring any in and clothe out. He had a have on, kind of like a fedora. My grandpa would sometimes wear. I even ran outside. I was probably six looking all over farm. As soon as I turned to look at him, my yelled, grandpa Ernie and the head went down. As I grew older, I always preferred the company of adults to listen to and talk to. During the 60s, there were a lot of small business owners.

9:35My dad had his own real estate business and had a lot of friends who had their own real estate business too. They would get together and unwitting and all the families would. I was usually the only girl in our age group. I would find myself gravitating towards the women and the talks that they were having. My mom, one night, I was probably 12 or 13. I was sitting off the sides of, I wasn't interfering with them and they sent me out to play with the boys. But my mom was telling the story about, it was the eve of my dad's birthday. She had woke up to see him sitting on the edge of the bed next to her. Her side of the bed faced the wall where there were two dressers and there was a large

10:40mirror there. She said to my dad, Jim, what's wrong? She said he just sat there and kept staring us into the mirror. He wouldn't say anything. He wouldn't acknowledge her. She asked him again, Jim, what's wrong? Is there something wrong? Which at that point my dad stood up and walked towards the dressers. He stood there a few minutes. She thought he was doing something with something on the dresser and she said he walked forward and went into the mirror. Which just took her breath away and when she turned over, my dad was laying there the whole time, entire time. At this point of her telling the group of ladies that this happened, and this is probably

11:401968, 1969, the one, the other ladies gassed and her name was Judy also. And she said, oh my god, and she had just turned completely white. And she said that had just happened several months ago with her husband, Conran. And she said he was doing the same thing. He was in the bedroom standing in front of a mirror in the bedroom. She spoke to him, asked him what he was doing. Again, repeated what she had said and he walked towards the mirror and just disappeared. She felt over to the side of the bed and when she turned over, he was laying next to her also. I've always been intrigued and fascinated by that story.

12:49Since a day or that evening, really, I have never looked in the mirror at night time. I've always been frightened. I too am very strange about mirrors and antique ones. My grandmother had one in a antique vanity that I used to at three and four just stand and stare at and make up songs and sing. It just, it entranced me. So with age and the internet and hearing these stories and podcasts that you so kindly put out, I wonder what these shadow people are, why they would have walked towards the mirror and have disappeared into the mirror. I know why the over centuries have covered mirrors when someone has passed and find very,

13:55very interesting. The shadow people, I've always understood them to not necessarily be of a good nature, which I find interesting to hear others say that they don't think that there is anything frightening about them. I didn't have anything frightening happen with them, but I just find a fascinating subject on both counts. I would love to call back with other stories. I've had phone calls from heaven and my son, when he was on a mission in Afghanistan, what happened with that? And there are loved ones all around us and it is a gift to know that. Have a good easy fight.

14:56I would love to, when she said phone call from heaven, I'm intrigued. I would love to hear that. Me too. The story about the mom and then Judy both having the same experience. It felt a little like something out of a creepy stepford wives time. I thought the same thing. I thought the same thing. And because why are two people in the same town having this bizarrely same experience? Exactly. The only thing I could think was that her mom tells this creepy ass story that really happened to her. And Judy is one of those people where yeah, it will happen to me too. There is that. I mean, that actually crossed my mind as well as Judy just as a little attention. She's a one-up or we all know that person. And it's like everybody was so fascinated by her mom's story that she's like, yeah, well, same thing happened to me.

15:58And my husband was having a sleep next to me and he tried to enter a mirror. I didn't know what it was. So much so that I have the same name as you. Like I've been made up that I even have your same name. My name is Judy too. She's like, yeah, I'm Judy. Nobody actually, nobody actually knew her. She just was new to the coffee that night or whatever. She got invited for the first time. It's so funny because I'm listening to her talk and I thought, you know, we used to do the same thing as kids. Like try to sit outside of the circle and or it may be even just in the other room so we could listen to them talk. Oh, of course. What do you think about this story? Now, I agree that I'm all about avoiding mirrors at night. Like I see why after hearing that she does. Hell yeah. You know, I can remember as a kid living in a haunted house and being scared to death to brush my teeth and look into the mirror. Because I just knew if I looked up something would be there behind me.

17:04So I know that feeling like mirrors are frightening. I have it like I said, I have a hard time still to this day at night looking into a mirror. Not as bad as it used to be but I still crosses my mind. I don't feel like that at my house but I have been to different places like hotels or different people's houses. Right. Do get that feeling. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. And then there's other mirrors that make you feel more so that way. I don't know what to say about the other woman having the same story. I think that might be weird. Well, I don't know how you explained that. It's two different houses. I don't have an explanation for that at all. It feels very like you said weirdly steppered wives. Yeah. It's a combination of like a Rosemary's baby steppered wives type of era movie. Yeah. Okay. So it kind of reminds me of it. But if we just take the mom story, okay.

18:07Leave Judy out of it. Let's take Judy out of the scenario for a second because I feel like I can talk more about just the mom and what she saw. So her husband is actually a sleepy cider. But she wakes up. Right. This is not a dream. She wakes up. She sees her husband sitting kind of on the side of the bed, acting catatonic. Like he's he doesn't she's talking to him. She's saying, what are you doing? I don't like the way you look. You're creeping me out, you know, all the things. And then he just gets up walks towards the dresser and into the mirror. Yeah. Okay. She flip rolls over. He's still there. Okay. Now, I probably would have sat up. Okay. But she just rolled over. Either way, you're going to see him. I was questioning that it was actually him or somebody or something that, you know,

19:14took his look. Well, here's the thing too. In the middle of the night, you wake up to see an apparition. It's a man at the foot of your bed. It is your husband because there's no other man that should be in the house and it's dark. So I could see how you would assume that's your husband. Okay. Because we could do that. You're not going to see him that well. It's dark or is something mimicking the look of your husband and isn't your husband? I don't think you can tell because it's dark in a room. I could just see her waking up. That's my husband. He's sitting right there. It looks like my husband, about the same size as my husband. It all happens so fast that I just think you would assume it's your husband. I don't know that it's a doppelganger thing that it's definitely a shadow person thing. Well, or I have said this before and I still truly believe that that I think sometimes we project what we think it is. Well, exactly. Yeah, because you wake up in the middle of the night, man there, who else could it be?

20:16It's your husband. It's your husband, right? You just project it. You know, our brains went to go the quickest path to resolve anything. And it's, it's Bill, right? What else would it be? So there's that. Sometimes I think something very scary could be there and your brain compensates by putting something in this place, right? So I think there's different things our own brains can do to kind of cover it up. I think it was a bizarre, weird shadow figure that went into the mirror. Exactly. It wasn't her husband. No, it never was her husband. He's laying right there next to her. Right. I mean, I don't think there's a part of Bill that's separating off and going to visit this other world or something, you know, like a wrinkle in time kind of thing going on or whatever. I don't think that we have that kind of stuff going on. I think she saw a shadow person assumed it was Bill or projected onto this thing.

21:24It was him. I'm calling him Bill. I don't know what his name was. And then the thing got up and went and got in the mirror. Well, yeah, that's been established. I don't know why. I don't know. Yeah, no, no, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how that happens. I don't know how. Well, here's the creepier part. This could be happening nightly. Couple times a week. This thing comes out of the mirror, goes around the house. This just happened to be the time she woke up and saw it. It could be, it could be a haunted mirror. It could be a haunted house. It could be one time thing. Yeah. And we have this is Sue, right? I think it's Sue from Springfield. She says she's been seeing shadow figures in the house or in the garage or around. So I think whatever this is is coming out, it's going around. It's doing seven and then it's going back into the mirror. I don't think this is an isolated incident or it was.

22:28Well, and then there's Judy like me too. Judy. Judy. So I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. I don't know if that, you know, and if that is happening, you know, did they live close by? I do have some questions that only Judy and Judy could answer. Judy. Judy. I. It's very complicated. It's a weird voodoo heck spell on Judy's from Springfield at this time. I just think that's strange. So this next story is kind of a little strange like that. There's kind of some similarities here. Yeah, they're very different. So this one says, my name has been Kayla. When I was growing up, my family lived in a house in Akrono, Ohio. We moved in when I was 16. Everything was completely normal. If someone had asked me back then, if the house was haunted, I would have laughed. Looking back though, whatever happened only last, it may be a couple of weeks. The house itself wasn't unusual.

23:31My parents loved it. It had enough room for all of us. My bedroom was upstairs at the end of the hallway. My sister's, my little sister's room was directly across from mine. She was seven years old at the time. So there was a pretty big age difference between us. I loved her to death, but I was 16. I went in my own space while she wanted to be wherever I was. The first time something happened, I got out of bed to use the bathroom. As I stepped into the hallway, I thought I saw someone near the top of the stairs. My first thought, it was my dad. It happened so quickly that I didn't even stop to think about it. I took another step into the hallway, looked again. There was no one there. I stood there for a few seconds, listening, expecting to hear footsteps down stairs or a bedroom door close. But the whole house was quiet. It scared me enough that I hurried back to my room, but by the next morning, I completely convinced myself I must have been half asleep and imagined it. The unites later, it happened again. I was still awake, reading before turning out my light.

24:34When I happened in glance toward my open bedroom door, this is a good reason why you don't leave your door open. Once again, I got that same feeling that someone was standing in the hallway. I looked up and I didn't see anything there, but it bothered me a lot more than the first time because now it had happened twice. That time that she didn't see anything, I guess that was just a feeling. Yeah, but you know, it's creepy to feel like somebody's watching you in your bed. And suddenly, that came on very suddenly. She's fine and boom. When I happened one more time, same hallway, split second where I was convinced somebody was standing there. And that really shook me. I remember lying awake afterward thinking I should probably tell my parents, but every time I imagined saying the words out loud, they sounded ridiculous. I kept telling myself there had to be an explanation. And that I was letting my imagination get away from me. I decided if it happened again, I would say something.

25:37But I never got the chance. Couple of nights later, we were sitting around the dinner table with my little sister asked if she could sleep in my room that night. My mom asked if she'd been having bad dreams. She shook her head. Dad said, have you not been feeling good? Again, she said no. Finally, she said, why do you want to sleep with your sister? She looked around the table, almost like she couldn't believe she had to explain it. And she said she didn't like the man who kept standing in her doorway at night. My parents looked very confused. Dad asked her what man? She said the man who came after everyone goes to bed. Mom said, well, what does he do in my sister just shrugged? Nothing just stands there. She wasn't crying. She wasn't super upset. She wasn't trying to tell a scary story. She just sounded confused and really confused that none of us seemed to know what she was talking about. I don't remember much after that because my mind was racing. Up until then, I'd been trying to convince myself I had imagined everything I had seen.

26:41Hearing my little sister describe a man standing in her doorway made every hair on my arm stand up. My sister slept with me that night. The next afternoon, she was out riding her bike while my parents were in the kitchen. I remember standing there for a minute trying to decide whether to say anything. Finally, I said, I wanted to talk to them. But I didn't want my sister to hear it. I told them about the three times over the last couple of weeks that I thought I'd seen someone standing in the upstairs hallway. I admitted I hadn't said anything because I thought I'd been imagining it. But after what my sister had said the night before, I didn't think I could keep talking myself out of it anymore. My dad reacted just like you would expect. He didn't start talking about ghosts or anything like that. He wanted to make sure there wasn't an actual person getting into the house sometime. So that evening, he checked every window, every door, the basement, the attic, even walked around outside with a flashlight. Everything was locked up tight.

27:42My mom let my sister keep sleeping in my room for the next several nights. And then it just stopped. My sister decided she wanted to sleep in her own room again. Neither of us ever mentioned seeing the man after that. We lived in that house a couple more years. Nothing else happened. The house never felt different before those couple of weeks. And it never felt different afterward. My parents never had any experiences, at least that they told us about. And my sister and I never saw the man again. Even though it was over, it stayed with me for a long time. For months after that, if I woke up in the middle of the night, I wouldn't leave my room. If I needed a drink of water, I waited until morning. If I had to use a bathroom, I would lie there trying to convince myself I could wait until daylight. I'm in my 40s now. My sister and I have talked about, have talked about it as adults. Our memories have never changed. She still remembers asking to sleep in my room because of the man who stood in her doorway.

28:43I still remember sitting at that dinner table, realizing she had just described what I had been seeing. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. All the best to you, love the show. And I'm not sure who wrote that in. Michaela from... Oh, it was at the beginning, wasn't it? Yeah. I think that is interesting because it is kind of like the other story. They both see a very similar thing. But I think it's interesting that everything's fine in the house. Weird things happen. Everything's fine. So what if here's just a random theory? Okay. What if a little bit older house have no idea. A lot of houses are older. Like somebody who had lived in that house before loved the house and moved out for whatever reason, maybe that person passed away. And he went back to that house. You absolutely read my mind. That is exactly what I was thinking too.

29:44Yep. Because it just felt like somebody came back. You know, I always say there's that little window when somebody passes away that I believe that oftentimes their spirit is still here for a little bit. And it took him back to the house. Maybe they'd raised their family there. You know, he wanted to go back and see it. Maybe he, you know, was confused, thought he was still living there, went back and, you know, was there often on for a few days and then gone. And you know, I think you would maybe if you can go back, like that was probably a place that he would have loved. And that was his house and he belonged there, you know, raised the family. Maybe he was raised in the house. I don't know. But it was a place that he loved. Anyone should be there one more time. That kind of makes some sense to me. Well, and similar in the story I was telling about the colleague that died, that, you know, you can pass away, you can touch some people, go back and, and, you know, kind of touch

30:50them before you pass on. Or in this case, go back to the house that you loved. Yeah. And it doesn't surprise me. The kids would see it but not the parents. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'm with you. I think that's exactly what happened. And that would explain why it didn't happen again. He comes back. He sees another family there. Okay, the house has moved on. It's seeming loved. It seems like it's a good family. I'm good with this. And then gone. And, you know, it wasn't like she was constantly experiencing it. It was two nights she thought she saw something super fast. One night, everything's fine, reading a book or whatever. Boom. She feels like somebody's outside the bedroom door. Mm-hmm. And yeah, that's, I mean, it's creepy, but at the same time, it could have been kind of a beautiful thing. That's what I think happened to. I'm with you. I appreciate that. Well, yeah, yeah. It's for figuring that out, solving the mystery. Well, if you have a real ghost story, let us hear about it.

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