Nationality: African
Primary Language: English
Other language(s): N/A
Age: 27
Occupation: Nursing Student
Residence: Rohnert Park
Performance Date: 11/23/23

Tags: Ghost, Passing On, Caretaker, Friendly Ghost

Text : “I’ve actually been a caregiver the last 4 years. One time we had a patient pass away two days before I went to work and when I passed by her room I felt, like, her presence there very strongly. And actually when I passed that particular hallway the lights started flickering all of sudden, like a lot. And I felt that somebody was behind me, like a presence. And it felt really weird and I turned around and when I sensed that presence, my hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I whispered ‘I know that’s you, you’re coming in to check on me.’ And then the lights flickered again and that was the last time they flickered. I had a really good relationship with the person. And I was like, oh that’s just your way of letting me know that you’re here.”

Context : I heard this story at a family gathering in Rohnert Park, during Thanksgiving Holiday. J was the closest person to my age there so we naturally began talking about university and aspirations. The topic of ghosts came up and I asked her if she had any stories. She immediately clarified that the anomalies in the stories were not ghosts, but spirits.

My thoughts : I think this is a classic mix of many familiar ghost stories in that it surrounds a place where death is common (like a hospice center) and a lot of the signs she mentioned were classic, almost as if she’d seen it in a movie sometime. I also thought it was interesting that she chose to call the ghost in her experience a spirit, almost as if she felt it to be a more fitting term for a well-meaning visit from the dead.