It's been a while since I've written anything. So, I was thinking. Why not ask you the reader to tell me your ghost stories.

When did this all start?

I've had a lot of people ask me, "Do you believe in ghosts?" and "When was your first experience?" Well, obviously, because of previous posts I believe in ghosts. My first experience that I remember would have been when I was about 19 years of age.

I was living in a small 2 room apartment. When you came in the front door, you walked into the kitchen, through a small hallway where the bathroom was to the right and then on into a bed/sitting room.

Early one morning when I woke up and looked into the kitchen, I could see an older couple just standing there looking in at me. They didn't speak. They just stood there and smiled at me. After a minute or two they disappeared. They seemed familiar but I couldn't place where or how I knew them.

One day a few months later, I was at my grandmothers and was asking her about it. I had described in quite a bit detail on how they looked and what they were wearing. My grandmother pointed to a picture and said, was it them. I said "yes". She went pale and said to me that it was impossible for me to know, or to have met them as it was her parents and they had passed away many years before I was even born. She also told me that the clothes I described them as wearing were the clothes that they were buried in.

I have seen them many times since that initial time. It's as if they show up every now and then just to check in on me and to let me know that they are still around.

And the Old Lady is.................

In a previous post I wrote "At other times, we'd see someone (a shadow) either climbing the stairs or sitting on the bed in the room at the top of the stairs or hear someone walking around upstairs when we would all be downstairs." This is what I would like to talk about today.

I think it is important to mention here that many people who work mines tend to develop respiratory problems. In the case of gold mine workers, this and other ailments are quite common. Perhaps not as commonly today as fifty years ago, but still, terminal illness unfortunately is a part of a miners life. Many may disagree with me, and that is fine. Many may agree with me, and that is fine. The point that I am making is that mine workers, and especially those from fifty years ago and longer quite often developed lung problems and other health issues associated with working in the mines. It never has been and never will be an acceptable fact.

Before I digress too much further, I'd best get back to my story.

The figure on the stairs (or shadow as it appeared) was never identified. And, I suppose, it really doesn't matter who she was. She was there. We heard her and smelled her, and I had seen her. As a shadow, but none the less had seen her. You will notice that when I speak of her, I always will refer to her as someone, a figure or shadow. I prefer these terms as opposed to apparition. To me, an apparition is a spirit or soul that one sees and can identify something about him or her. Such as what the clothing looks like, the colours/patterns/style or perhaps can describe what he/she looks like. Their hair colour, height, facial features, overall stature and so forth. To use figure or shadow indicates that very little in description can be used. Such is the case of my subject.

My description here of her is based on what I could see and sense. She was always a shadow. Always a black silhouette, yet I could still understand certain aspects. She was around 5 foot 6 inches in height, larger build but not plump, wore her hair up in a bun and was always wearing a dress, Victorian style. I sensed that she was an older woman, I'd say possibly in her late sixties maybe in her early seventies and I felt that she had been raised to be a proper Victorian lady.

I know she was married, but have never seen her husband. She nursed him at home until the end. I am not aware of any children, but since it was at one time, until the 1970's or so, a two bedroom house, I am assuming that they had at least one child.

From her disposition as a spirit, I'd say that she was a kindly woman. One that would help anyone who asked. Most likely a church going Christian and acted accordingly. And from the voices, it appears that they had many friends. At no time while we were there did we every feel threatened or in danger. In fact, most times we felt like she was there to protect us.

Her husband from what I gather, based on happenings in the house, in the end was a very ill man. And I was given the feeling that he may have had emphysema or other lung ailment.

You may recall in my previous post me mentioning "a horrendous smell... a cross between cancer and someone decomposing." This would be the husband during his last days alive. The smell would be stronger on certain days of the month and certainly around the anniversary of his death which I believe may have been in the Spring. Bear in mind now, I have no idea who these people were and that this information is what I sensed.

At times we would hear him coughing and there would be a voice that seemed to be calming, quiet yet indistinguishable. At other times, we would hear voiced coming from upstairs, as if people were up there visiting. Laughing and joking around. Again, these voices would be indistinguishable.

The voices would also be heard coming from the livingroom when we were in the kitchen. It sounded as if a party was going on complete with laughter and music. Yet, when we went to the livingroom, no one would be there and no radio would be playing.

Well, there you go. This is about all I know of the Old Lady in Deloro. I'd love to say more, but am afraid of repeating myself. She isn't the first experience with ghosts and I'm sure that she won't be the last. In fact, I know she won't be the last because since moving to where I am now in October 2007, I have had several other interesting experiences. Not with this particular Old Lady, but with other people.

Why GhostsofDeloro?

One of the most popular questions I've been asked is why GhostsofDeloro, or sometimes I have it as Ghosts_of_Deloro or GODeloro. The latter two are user names for game sites and the second one, Ghosts_of_Deloro, I have as an email address. The answer is quite simple, it comes from my past.

At one time I lived in a small town in North-Central Ontario called Deloro. It is about a 3 hour drive south west of Ottawa, just off highway #7, the Trans-Canada Highway.

Deloro is an old Gold Mining town. The mine was in operation from the 1800's to the mid 1950's. And as rumour and experience has it, there are many ghosts of former residents and employees of the town and mine that live on there. The house I lived in was just one of many such houses.

Before moving to Deloro, I had friends there who would tell me stories of their ghosts. I at that point had not experienced anything on any of my visits. My experiences would not begin until I had moved there. And boy, did I have some experiences.

The events started just a few weeks after moving in. And only once had I ever felt uncomfortable about what happened. It was the fall that I had moved in. I was at home alone one afternoon when it started. The windows started to shake and rattle. It was as if someone were standing there and rocking them back and forth. They were the old wooden sash type windows. The kind that you lift and put a stick underneath to hold up because the counter weights had long been removed.

Well, it was really starting to get to me. I was wishing that that wind would just die down. Or at least I thought that it was the wind blowing and shaking the windows. I looked out at the trees along the street, and not one tree was moving as they should have been for such a commotion with the window. I stepped out side and sure enough, there wasn't even a breeze. Well, I had had enough of the windows rattling so I got ready and went next door to my friends house. I had mentioned the wind and they said that there was no wind.

So, I had told them about the windows and how they were rattling and banging as if there was a wind. They then asked me if I had noticed any thing else. I said yes, I have noticed the smell of woman's perfume upstairs near the bathroom. A very sweet floral scent.

They then told me that this was not unusual. That anyone that has lived there has smelled that perfume and that 'things' went on in that house. I just shrugged it off. It didn't seem to bother me. I had had experiences in the past with ghosts.

During my 3 and a half year stay at that house, it was quite common for us to smell coffee, eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, eggs and toast being cooked and to hear dishes being rattled in the kitchen around 4:00 am. The dishes would rattle at other times of the day too, generally around meal time. We'd go to investigate and when we got to the kitchen, there would be no-one there. At times after we had cleaned the house from top to bottom, we would go upstairs and outside one of the bedrooms there would be the most horrendous smell. It would be a cross between cancer and someone decomposing. At other times, we'd see someone (a shadow) either climbing the stairs or sitting on the bed in the room at the top of the stairs or hear someone walking around upstairs when we would all be downstairs. On one occasion, I had seen a cat (not mine).

On one occasion, my son was in his room and was getting chilled. He decided to close the window. He took a step towards the window and the stick holding it open was knocked out and the window slammed shut, apparently on it's own. Other times, when all the windows were closed, we would hear a door being slammed shut, and when we'd go and look, sure enough, a bedroom door would be closed.

Now before you go asking, "How much had you had to drink when these things happened?", I must tell you, I drink very little. Only the occasional social drink. And many of our experiences in that house at one time or another had been witnessed by one friend or another.