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The Ghost Train of Highland Park
'Twas a dark and stormy night...
Well, actually it was only dark, and the closest it came to "stormy" was the last name of the author of the book I'd taken to bed that night: Hyemeyohsts Storm's Seven Arrows, about the spiritual traditions of the Plains Indian People (the Cheyenne, the Crow and the Sioux).
The half-Blackfoot friend whose copy it was had insisted I read Seven Arrows to "clear my head" of the "garbage" I'd learned about paganism from reading Morgan Llywelyn's Druids the previous week. (In reality, the belief systems of these two earth-based cultures are amazingly similar...)
Murphy, the Siamese-with-Attitude who'd adopted the kids and me earlier that year, was curled up at the foot of the bed, directly across from the window overlooking the front yard that sloped down to 24th Street twenty-some feet away.
The map at right doesn't tell you that 24th Street is a main artery between Indiana Ave on the west and California Ave on the east, where it ends at Highland Park High School. But because of this, during the school year it's a busy street during going-to and leaving-school hours.
Year round, 24th is also the quickest route, via 21st and then Indiana, from downtown Topeka to the honeycomb of dead-end streets tucked between 24th and 21st St. Every night from around 1:00 to 3 a.m., a steady stream of "Highlanders" heads home from the bars and/or "breakfast" at an all-night eatery.
That night, though, I was only vaguely aware that not a single car had gone by since around 1:30. This fact might've registered as the red flag it really was if I hadn't been so engrossed in Seven Arrows until my concentration was broken by the train.
I don't recall which registered first, the horrendously-loud "chug chug chug" outside getting louder by the second, or the house shaking from the rumbling. Maybe a combination of both.
But I do remember thinking, "Drats! I might as well put the book down until that blasted train gets past the house!".
Wait!
There can't be a train right outside my bedroom window!
There are no trains in this neighborhood!
The closest tracks are a mile away!
I must've transmitted these thoughts, or at least my alarm, to Murphy, because he instantly sat up ramrod straight, eyes glued to the curtains that covered the window, ready to pounce on the monster threatening his territory.
Right then, as if to say "Oh yeah? No train, huh?", a train whistle blasted.
Woooooooo!
Woooo!
It was the whistle that undid Murph.
Between the first and second "Woooooo!", he went airborne and buried himself and his claws in my chest. For all the years he was with us, this would be the only time I'd ever see Mr. Cool As A Cucumber totally terrified and shaking like a leaf. His eyes were as big as saucers - not easy for a Siamese. "Save me, Mom!" they seemed to say.
So we clung to each other for what seemed like hours but which was probably only a few minutes, my eyes also as big as saucers, heart pounding, Murph glued to my chest. (Thankfully, he'd withdrawn the claws.)
Little by little, the rumbling and "chug chug chug" grew fainter, then disappeared all together. The night was quiet again. A car went by. Huge sigh of relief!
So what IS the "Ghost Train of Highland Park"?
Good question.
If I tell you the area between 21st and 29th, and Indiana and California has a "distinctly positive, protective energy", and that before the white men arrived it was a neutral place for warring tribes to meet and smoke the peace pipe, you'd say the catalyst must have something to do with Indians, right?
But you would be wrong. This seems to have no bearing whatsoever on who has the Ghost Train Experience.
After I moved out the following spring, the half-Blackfoot friend who lent me Seven Arrows rented the house and never once heard the Ghost Train. But a friend who stayed with him for several months, a German-Irish farm "boy" from Nebraska with no Amer-Indian blood, did experience the same thing Murph and I did...also on a calm, quiet night.
And we aren't the only ones. According to old-timers who've lived on 24th for decades, the Ghost Train had been heard - but never seen - by many of them. And only at night.
Tradition dictated that to part the curtains and actually look at it would be suicidal. The more I learn, however, about the "ghost train" and time slips, I tend to think the "instant death" myth took root after someone with a weak heart did peek out and suffered a massive heart attack from the terror of seeing a freight train that shouldn't be there.
Evidence points to it not being "ghostly" at all, but a time slip.
Time slips are instances of the door between the present and past opening, allowing people to unwittingly return to how things were years or decades earlier. Nell Rose's hub on many such instances reported in Liverpool's Bold Street has a much more detailed explanation, so I won't repeat it here.
I'd never heard of "time slips" before I read Nell Rose's hub, and then Alastar Packer's about time slips. By the time I came across those hubs, I'd been pondering what the "ghost train" really was for almost 20 years.
I knew Highland Park wasn't originally part of the City of Topeka, that it began life as a "bedroom community" for the city's movers and shakers, and that there had once been regular train service to and from Highland Park and the City for their convenience.
For years I'd simply accepted what Murph and I heard that night was the "ghost" of one of those commuter trains. Until, that is, I came across a booklet about the history of Highland Park at a yard sale which said commuter trains never come as far as my part of 24th Street. Also that they were electric and therefore nearly silent, not the noisy steam-powered train we (and others) had heard.
All fine and dandy except some long-time residents along 24th clearly remember seeing train tracks under the pavement when it was dug up in preparation for a major resurfacing. Tracks that were simply left there and covered over...again.
Other residents found railroad ties buried in their yards when they had to be dug up to repair broken sewer lines. One home next to 24th, in fact, began as a "tar-paper shack" built from cast-off railroad ties.
So the history books have it wrong. At some point before 1903, when steam trains were replaced by engines powered by electricity, there was a spur line on 24th Street.
On old plat maps between the 1880s and early 1910s, it's the most logical route to run a dirty, noisy steam-powered freight train from Indiana Ave all the way out to C.W. Awent's rock quarry near the Vinewood Amusement Park. A train that carried food and supplies out to Vinewood's concession stands and returned with the gravel and rock used in the expansion of Kansas's capital city.
In the 1905 map of Topeka rail lines above, notice the odd southwesterly jog in the electric line from the north end of Vinewood Park to 28th St. Odd, because the point where the line begins at Vinewood lines up perfectly with 24th St, four blocks to the north. Most of the occupied residences in Highland Park at that time were at the south end. 24th St, on the other hand, was still virtually undeveloped.
What I think happened is steam trains did run along 24th, but they weren't commuter trains. When quieter, cleaner electric trains replaced them, residents living along 28th and on nearby blocks no longer minded - even welcomed - trains running right past their front doors to take them into the city to work or shop and out to Vinewood's pleasures.
But for me, the most compelling evidence for a time slip that night is how unnaturally quiet and devoid of automobile traffic 24th Street was for an hour or longer before the train rumbled up the hill in front of my house from the Indiana end. Precisely as quiet as it would've been before cars existed.
Had I known then what I know now - that being in a time slip isn't (normally) "dangerous" - I would've run to the window and watched the magnificent "beast" pass by. I might've even grabbed a camera, gone outside, and snapped a few pix!
What do YOU think?
Is the Ghost Train of Highland Park really "ghostly" or simply a time slip?
More on Time Slips
- The Liverpool Time Slips The True Story Of Mysterious Occurrences In Bold Street
The strange tale of the Bold Street Time Slips has intrigued many people over the years. Do people really slip back through time? And is Liverpool the centre of a weird time flux?
Related
Comments
Hiya, just came back to say hello and thanks for commenting on my timeslip hub, great to hear from you!
Wow I thoroughly enjoyed this eerie tale. So well told along with the reactions of Murphy. Brilliant hub and I now look forward to many more by you.
Eddy.
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agvulpes, thanks for a different perspective on what might've happened if I'd wandered outside. Endlessly traveling back and forth on a Ghost Train DOES have a certain appeal, especially getting to pull the rope for the Toot...Toot...! Glad to know you haven't lost your delightful Aussie sense of humor! That chill, though, that went "fair up your back" is the reason I ONLY read ghostly tales in broad daylight! ;D
Wow just when I was going to take the dog for a walk at 10pm I just had to read this ;)
I sent a chill fair up my back it did brrrrr....
I'm also glad you did not go outside !
You just may have been 'sucked' into the Ghost Train forever to travel back and forth. lol
Still you would get to pull the rope for the Toot... Toot :)
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@Sharkye11, the unusual things that happened on your family's farm sound fascinating! I'd lean to time slips as the explantion for weird events that occur over several miles of territory! That's not the M.O. for a single individual (or even a group of individuals) who died in a particular place. More like the Earth itself remembering and re-playing certain events.
I also agree that not every ghost or bump in the night is linked to murder or devastation. If ghosts I've encountered and/or lived with over the years are any indication, most simply aren't aware they've died, and continue the routines they carried on in life. Some of us just happen to be lucky enough to catch glimpses of them doing whatever they used to do in their former abodes. ;D
Thanks for sharing your story and your research! This is totally fascinating to me, since I have been trying for years to a decent explanation of unusual things that happened on our old family farm. Sure, there was a ghost, but ghosts don't cause really weird events over several miles of territory, that affected several non-related people. (just in bad Hollywood films.) I really appreciate reading any personal stories that are NOT claiming every paranormal experience to be "evil and demonic".
I've suspected time-slips for a long time, but haven't really read anyone else's accounts. Maybe because so many people were too terrified to really think about what happened. You know the kind...the people who assume that every paranormal glitch was the result of some horrific tragedy in the past. I personally don't think every ghost or bump in the night is linked to murder or devastation. Which is why I like investigating them too!
I'm headed over to read Nell's hub too, but wanted to stop and gush a moment here. A ghost train is a totally exciting thing to read about!
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Your fave, James Lee Burke, used time slips? Fascinating! Which books? Let me know so I can put them on my request list at the public library.
As for more of my paranormal events, I have three in the chute. "Just" ghosts, though. The one other time slip I witnessed requires more research. ;D
I had to read this again. I swear, I would love for this to happen to me. I do believe in the paranormal...and the concept of time slips is, to me, certainly possible. What a great experience. Now I want to hear more about your other paranormal events.
One of my favorite authors, James Lee Burke, will occasionally sprinkle in a "time slip." Fascinating reading.
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@Hankscita, glad you enjoyed this hub and also Nell Rose's hub on time slips that inspired it! I, too, think I've experienced time slips that I didn't recognize as such at the time, especially two incidents when I was in London on vacation many years ago.
Now I'm heading over to your hub of past lives. Those I DO recognize for what they are, and always have! ;D
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@Phyllis Doyle, as I've said in a previous comment, I only wish I'd known about times slips then and been able to recognize the appearance of a train where there shouldn't be one for what it really was. I pursued the historical and geographical possibilities as far as I could on the internet, but not the Native American connection. Yet. Living in Central Oklahoma, I'm surrounded by tribal culture and history centers where I might find the answers.
Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment! ;D
Wow, great Hub. I just recently read Nell's Hub on time slips. I think I always new they existed, because I believe I've experienced them, but I didn't know what it was called. So yes, I think it's a time slip.
I absolutely love stories like this. What convinces me that it is a "time slip" is that you wrote it was so quiet for about an hour before the train came, as quiet as it would have been in times before automobiles. Evidence of the rail tracks from the buried tracks, old railroad ties, and old folks memories, is very interesting and something I would pursue if I lived in that area. Fascinating story, JamaGenee. I have had pets that forewarned me of spirits or events of the past, and one pet, my little dog, warned me of an earthquake coming. Dogs and cats have an uncanny sense about these things. I agree that very young children can also sense these things.
I really enjoyed reading this story.
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@lisavanvorst, glad this strange tale kept you on the edge of your seat, and glad to know someone else believes in ghosts and time travel! Yes, a pet's senses ARE much sharper than ours. Very young children also have a heightened sense for such things. When my son was around 2 or 3, I'd find him in his room in broad daylight staring intently at something or someone, or he'd be moving his head as if watching someone walk across the room. He never seemed frightened, in fact by the expression on his face he seemed to be enjoying the experience.
I suspect it was the same ghost of a man I once saw enter the bedroom hallway from the living room and disappear into the bathroom, but Son doesn't remember having a Mystery Visitor, so who knows? ;D
Very interesting story. I do believe in ghosts and time travel. Also a pet's senses are very sharp compared to a human. This was one of those stories that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Well done and look forward to reading more of your hubs.
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@Adventuretravels, thank you for the kudos and for reminding me Halloween isn't far away! Guess I'd better get to publishing a couple more true, ghostly tales! ;D
choo choo! wooo wooo - definitely a ghost train - without a doubt -after all it's almost Halloween . What a scary story - love it.
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Thank you, Lizzy! Glad you enjoyed it! Where I live now, next to a main north-south thoroughfare, there's an hour or two in the wee hours every night where there's no traffic at all. Deathly quiet just like the night of "The Train". I'm used to it now, but the first few times it happened I'd peek out the windows to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be. lol
You bring up an interesting point about all time existing at the same time. Time slips would put the lie to the belief that only those who've passed into the spirit realm can visit other times. I personally have felt for a long time that I'm living an entirely different life in a parallel dimension. I believe I visit my "other life" now and again in what we call "dreams" but really aren't. Events that don't have that floating, fluid aspect real dreams have. Hard to explain to anyone whose concept of time is linear, but I suspect you understand perfectly.
Thanks for stopping by!
What a fascinating and well-researched and documented article! I, too, had been (somewhat) ignorant of time slips prior to reading Nell Rose's hubs on the topic.
I'm fascinated by this phenomenon, and who knows what causes it? Could the study of such things lead to the "how-to" for actual time travel? (Scary thought, really--what horrible changes might be wrought?!)
Then, there is the belief by some that all time exists at the same time, and can be visited by anyone who has passed into the spirit realm. This also might be accessible to anyone capable of "astral projection."
As for me, I'm with you--"Where's my camera?!"
Voted up, awesome, interesting and shared.
cool hub and fun story. I believe you.
I have not heard of a time slip before.
Great to see you, and good luck with your new project, nell
- Author
Yes, KoffeeKlatch Gals, I really wish I'd known there was nothing to fear from looking out the window when that train was rattling the windows. I would very much have loved to see my neighborhood as it was in the early 1900s! ;D
What a great experience. I had heard about time slips before and have been fascinated by the concept. Up and amazing. Too bad you didn't know early on that they were not dangerous.
Hi, thanks for the email, have sent you one, thanks so much, nell
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Nell, lately I've been obsessed with reading those odd things called books, which *somehow* - !!! - leaves very little time to visit Hubpages. No doubt the pendulum will swing the other direction SOON...it usually does. ;D
Nice to see you back! lol!
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Thanks, sgbrown! Time slips were new to me, too, until I read Nell Rose's hub, and realized they explain so many mysterious happenings that simply can't be attributed to "regular" hauntings and the like. (Perhaps even a few "abductions" by aliens??...)
One of these days, I'll write a hub about the haunted bar I managed for 3 years. It was in the basement of a hotel built in the 1860s or '70s, and the cast of left-behind spirits included a cowboy at the end of a cattle drive from that period, the ghosts of bachelor twin brothers who ran a barber shop for several decades in one half of the basement, the spirit of a ne'er do well killed in a bar fight in the other half, one ghost whose origins I never determined, and one who was totally invisible who not only liked to turn off the light over the pool table while I was opening up for the day (making me think the bulb needed changing!), but could somehow make the same song begin to play on the jukebox each day as soon as I opened the front door. Time slips weren't a factor, just your garden variety ghosts...but what a variety! ;D
This is a wonderful story! I was glued to it the entire time. I time-slip would explain a lot of things. I had not heard of such things until read the same hubs you had mentioned here. This is a very interesting possibility. Voting this up and sharing! :)
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Hi, GoGreen Tips. Time slips do provide an entirely different (and less frightening) take on "ghosts" and "hauntings"! ;D
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Thank YOU, old albion! It was scary at the time, but then the unknown is always scary, right?
I've also heard of the ghostly Roman Legion. Think I'd rather enjoy the sight if experiencing it *outdoors*, but NOT if I woke up to it marching through my bedroom in the wee hours!
Interesting story. I'll have to look into time slips as a possibility for "ghosts" Seems quite interesting and also your experience too.
Hi JG. A thrilling and exciting hub. As you say it is true, I find in scary to say the least. Another commenter mentioned a Roman Legion, I knew of that one as it is in the UK. Thank you.
Graham.
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Thank you, taazakhabar! It's a tale I'd find hard to believe if I (and the cat) hadn't experienced it personally. But really not all that "spooky" once you know about time slips. I suspect such things happen all over the world. ;D
A great tale and story well told... enjoyed reading your article through and through. It was really a gripping and haunting tale. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, just replied, good luck with it, nell
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Hi Nell. All is well, but the main character in a book I started writing three years ago has been bugging me to GET ON WITH IT. So I have. It's partly your fault, btw...you and the Liverpool Time Slip hub. I'll email you, okay? Thanks for wondering! ;D
Hi, we just wondered where you were? lol! hope you are well, nell
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Thanks, Peggy! Yes, tornadoes are NOT accompanied by the sound of a train whistle. And yes, tornadoes DO sound like freight trains, which I found out one stormy afternoon when one went over the house before touching down a few miles farther on and stayed on the ground for almost an hour.
When the "ghost train" went by, it was so close that had the noise and rumbling been from an approaching tornado, I doubt I'd be here to write this. ;D
How very interesting with the exception of the extended cat's claws digging into your chest and being frightened. Until you mentioned the train whistle, I was thinking that it was probably a tornedo since they can sometimes sound like the rumble of a train. But no tornedos have the sound of a train whistle! I wonder even if you had a camera handy and snapped a photo if it would have shown up? Hmmm... Voted up and interesting.
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Hello, 2patricias! Having one's sleep disturbed by a flock of "ghostly" sheep sounds perfectly charming to me - and perfectly British as well!
All gushing about the charms of rural England aside, in a time slip those sheep wouldn't be ghosts at all, as you'd be witnessing the time they were actually alive. Also, you'd be seeing your entire neighborhood as it looked like before your house was built. This is the reason I now regret being too frightened to look (or go) outside while the train-that-shouldn't-be-there was chugging past my house, thereby missing the opportunity to see what my own neighborhood looked like before houses were built along both sides of the street.
Thanks for stopping by! ;D
Very well written! I would have said that I don't believe in time slips, but your story is so convincing that I started to wonder what was on the land now occupied by my house. I know the answer, because the deeds to the house are in our safe. The land was a sheep meadow until about 1920. So maybe one night I will be disturbed by a flock of ghostly sheep. Maybe that's a good thing?
I would think your theory - that it's a time slip - would be the most likely, for the reason you stated and also because traditional hauntings are normally related to people, not things... but what do I know! Fascinating hub, just wish I wasn't at home alone tonight! (with my 5 cats!) Voted UP and AWESOME!
Your welcome JamaGenee, and that web site list everything about the series, and it's all inclusive.
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Thanks, goody7! I'll check it out. ;D
It was the very 1st show JamaGenee, and the show you were speaking of I remember well & it was the 5th show. Here's a link and a rundown of the show I was speaking about - http://www.innermind.com/myguides/guides/am_story.... Ghost Train
A grandfather has grave misgivings about the new country home
his son has built for the family: it's on the site of a train
accident that occurred 75 years before.
Directed by
Steven Spielberg
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Nell, it wouldn't be long enough to make a hub, that's for sure. 1) Get all of Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series, open the first to Page One. 2) Only stop reading when eyes refuse to stay open any longer. 3) Resume reading on awakening.
As you well know, the books are thick enough that it's nigh on impossible to cook or prepare food while reading. So unless you have someone to prepare your meals, better put the take out (take away) delivery places on speed dial, as it IS possible to put a DG book down JUST long enough to open the door and accept the delivery. ;D
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goody7, I watched "Amazing Stories" faithfully, but don't recall a "ghost train" episode. Would be interesting to know if Spielberg had even heard of Highland Park when he wrote it!
That said, I DO remember the episode where a WWII plane was coming back from a bombing run with damaged landing gear, meaning the bombadier in the "bubble" under the plane would be crushed if they did a belly landing. One of the men was a cartoonist and drew the plane with the landing gear extended, which allowed the plane to land normally. If memory serves, Kevin Costner was in that episode.
You will have to right a weight loss program about reading this series! lol!
I wonder if Steven Spielberg got the idea for his story from Highland Park. Years ago one of the shows in his series "Amazing Stories" was about a ghost train in the middle of the country. The old steam locomotive in this story was coming back to pick up a passenger that missed the train ride. The passenger was just a young boy when he originally missed the train ride, but when the train returned the second time to pick him up he was a very old man.
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xstatic, thanks so much for the kudos. Time slips (or whatever Murph and I experienced) are a fascinating phenomena that will probably never be fully understood, given modern humans' adherence to the concept of "fixed" time. ;D
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Nell, I didn't think I got through them "quickly" at all! Am I eating? Well, the scales say I've lost 5 lbs since I started the series. If there's a correlation, then this is THE most enjoyable weight loss program I've ever been on!
Fascinating story and very well wrtitten too! I have read those other Hubs you mentioned and saw your comment on of them.
You have got through them really quickly! lol! yes addiction has taken over, are you eating?! lol! seriously they are something else aren't they? I did comment on mine, but not sure if you saw it. have you heard the cd on Diana's homepage? the voice of 'Jamie' just makes me tingle! lol! amazing to think that the books seem so real, I remember Audrey Kirchner was an addict too!
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goody7, wow, you ARE a devoted fan! No, I have no problem with you adding a link to this hub on "Ghost Central". Thanks! Heading over there now to read your newest hub! ;D
I've read this hub at least 3 times now, and every time I read it I find something new that I didn't see before. It's beyond anything else on the hub pages. I put a link to it from my hub which has become known as "ghost central" here on the hub pages. If you don't like the link, then just please tell me & I'll remove it as you wish. Also when you have an extra moment please check out my newest hub - "The most unbelievable story on the hub pages". It's a true, true, true story, and I think you'll enjoy it.
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Nell, thanks for the info about the new Diana G book as well as the Lord John book. I was just at your Hellfire Club hub and tried to leave a comment, but for some reason it didn't "take". So I'll be back later. Now I'm going offline to finish reading "The Fiery Cross". ;D
Thanks for all your comments, I am going to look and see if I can find any Diana G books that I have missed! probably have, but I am glad you liked them, thought you would! lol! just jumped over to look and the Scottish Prisoner is just out, its the time when Jamie was in prison with lord john as his jailer, looks really good. its in the 'past' but its part of the main story so it should fit into place, now I got to go get it!
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Seeker7, no apology necessary for the "novel"...I LIKE long comments! But I LOVE your theory that "the person and the environment both contribute to the ability to be able to experience either a time slip or residual energy being played back".
That particular night, the key "elements" were:
1. a woman known to be sensitive to the paranormal,
2. a cat, and...
3. a book on Native American beliefs.
To me, that sounds like a perfect combination to "attract" a paranormal event!
Harry Martindale is my kinda guy! I can hear him saying something like 'History, schmistory - I KNOW what I saw, dammit!". lol!
I haven't actually proven (yet) that Topeka railway historians are wrong about the absence of a train on 24th, but do think I shot enough holes in claims that there wasn't to make someone dig deeper. Alas, I now live too far away to do it myself.
The Murphster was fully recovered by the next morning. Thanks for asking. I didn't mention it the hub, but my children were asleep in bedrooms on the back side of the house and were never aware that anything was amiss. (If they had been, they would've been in my bedroom in a flash!)
Thanks for stopping by!
Fascinating hub! The research you've carried out is awesome and adds so much detail to this wonderful encounter. Is it a time slip? Is it residual energy? The two phenomena can seem to overlap at times and for what I understand from investigators, one theory is that it's the properties within the environment that triggers the event rather than the person. I'm not sure I entirely agree with this 100% and I would tend to go with another school of thought that says the person and the environment both contribute to the ability to be able to experience either a time slip or residual energy being played back. Whatever the reason, this was an awesome encounter - I take it Murphy didn't have any lasting side-effects? I agree with Alastar that animals are so super-sensitive that sometimes it takes them longer to settle after a paranormal event. Also, I don't think you could have done any better than reading over Nell and Alastar's own hubs - these guys are phenomenal writers with a depth of insight not readily found anywhere. Having said that, with your own research and your finished article you do have the same level of thought and perception and this only adds to this fascinating hub.
I was very amused and interested that you proved the historians wrong - good for you!! It reminds me of the wonderful man - Harry Martindale - from York who had witnessed the ghosts of a Roman Legion in the vaults of the Treasurer's House. After getting over his shock, he clearly described the soldiers in detail. None of the colours, clothing or weapons that Harry describe matched what historians knew and so doubt was placed on his experience. However, one or two historians did more digging and after exhaustive research discovered that Harry was correct. He had been describing auxillary Roman soldiers as opposed to regular army, so he proved that historians are not always right.
This was a thoroughly absorbing and enjoyable hub and an awesome encounter with the ghost train! Voted up everything!
Ps - sorry for the novel! As I've said a hundred times before, fascinating and great hubs set me off on one and I forget to stop!!
thank you - i want to believe
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Thanks, girishpuri! "Time slip" was new to me, too, until just recently. ;D
wonderful and interesting story, and got new word ' time slip ', well written , keep writing
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Thanks, Bill! Yes, it really did happen. The terror and confusion wasn't any fun at the time, but knowing what I know now, I wouldn't mind a replay! But you? You'd grab a notepad or a tape recorder and run outside to interview the engineer for a "Human Experience" hub! lol! ;D
Whoa! That was freaky! For real? This really happened? I'm not sure what I would have done but I can sure associate with your initial reaction, the confusion, etc....I've never had something like this happen to me but man, after reading this, I would love it to happen. What a blast from the past.
Great hub!
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moonlake, wowwwww... I don't think that was a time slip, though. Sounds more like a garden-variety UFO. (UFOs don't always look like "space ships"...I believe I saw a Mother Ship once disguised as a weird-looking cloud. Only started watching it because the lights on what appeared to be jetliners at 20,000 feet or higher were flying into the "cloud" and NOT coming out the other side!)
Funny how dogs will growl at an unseen threat but cats will instantly turn into wimps! hehe ;D
Enjoyed your story. A friend of ours once told us he thought we had witnessed a time slip when we saw lights above our car that looked like window lights in some kind of space ship being turned on.
My cat is like yours he always hears and sees what I see. He will move closer to me for protection. Voted up.
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Nell, I'm 99.9% sure if you're in a time slip, everything you see is real. Si I wouldn't count on "running through" that train. More likely you'd run into it...as in "BLAP!". ;D
Look forward to reading it. I will go read more of your articles.
Hi Jama, that makes sense with the ley lines, they are supposed to produce a lot of earth energy, I wish I could sit there and wait for the train! maybe I would run though! lol!
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cbinder1, there are several more hubs about my paranormal experiences in the works. Tentatively, the next one will about a little girl named Amy who died around 1889 at a farmhouse a friend rented for a year or so. She'd been "stuck" there ever since, poor thing, and was only one of two resident ghosts in that house.
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Peg, I'm thrilled you found my tale "suspenseful" and "intriguing"! I thoroughly agree there needs to be a button for the latter! Thanks for stopping by and leaving such a flattering comment!
I have to say I enjoy these types of stories and yours kept me wanting more.
This was intriguing. There needs to be a button for that. I was captured by the descriptive nature of your writing and enjoyed every moment of the suspense. Sounds like this is an imprint as described by Sylvia Browne in her books. Very spooky indeed!
I must admit the mental image is hilarious :D
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It did, misty! I mean, think about it. You're in bed and out of nowhere a bunch of disembodied heads in those Roman helmets come bobbing across the bedroom floor. Okay, maybe it's just my warped sense of humor. I AM mostly English, after all. lol!
LOL, glad this gave you a laugh first thing in the morning :D
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Alastar, from the way the ground was rumbling and the house was shaking, I doubt this was a purely aural time slip. If I had gone outside, or even looked out the window, I've no doubt I would've seen a very real steam-powered train from the turn of the 20th century...but none of my neighbors' houses on either side of the street, as they were all built much, much later. In fact, the absence of those houses might've been more unsettling than the sight of a train "that shouldn't be there"! ;D
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Thanks, robie! A shame we weren't blessed with a time slip when we were in Burlingame, right? A certain millinery shop come to life again briefly, for instance? ;D
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christopheranton, being in an as-yet undeveloped part of town, I may not have met any people from earlier times, but surely would've have seen the train's engineer and crew, etc. Also the name of the railway company the train belonged to. That in itself would've been a great clue to research and possibly revise the history books! ;D
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mistyhorizon2003, that has to be THE absolute funniest ghost story I've ever heard! It'll be days before I get the image of the heads of Roman soldiers bobbing along the floor out of MY head! Thanks for a good laugh first thing in the morning!
But seriously now...that incident does make a case for events being recorded or 'etched' onto the place they happened. Several visitors to a building once used as a Civil War hospital here in the U.S. report entering one room where wounded soldiers were being treated, limbs amputated, etc, and the soldiers and doctors were totally oblivious to the visitors' presence. A scene too real to be a reenactment, which is what some thought it was at first.
I have heard of similar things that indicate it could be a 'recording' etched into the nearby stone etc. For instance there was a case of a man who was freaked out by seeing a troop of Roman soldiers marching through his bedroom on a regular basis. They were apparently totally unaware of his presence and would just vanish through the wall at the other side of the room. The man decided to have all his floors raised so the soldiers would no longer be visible, but he didn't raise them high enough, so all he ended up seeing were the heads of the soldiers bobbing along his floor and exiting the room through the wall instead.
This seems typical of a 'recording' scenario because the recording was playing out exactly where the marching would have happened originally, and the soldiers positions did not change to allow for the new height of the floors.
Back again JamaGenee. Back pain, writing and Mother's Day can temp put one out of one's element. Read the comments so far and Nell's is quite interesting in that she states you may not have seen anything if you had looked. Nell would know of what she speaks and a purely aural timeslip is intriguing enough to ponder on. A great comment from mistyhorizon, she is obviously knowledgeable on the possibilities- like the granite being conducive to the super-normal. Very fine to see this has sparked the interest of the other hubbers as well. Do look forward to reading further posts and more on your experiences.
ooooh Jama-- I've never heard of a time slip either and as soon as I do this comment, I am going over to Nell Rose and read up on them-- but I love a good ghost story and having been to Topeka and even to Highland Park, I really enjoyed this one to the max-- you weave a wonderful tale here--up and awesome.
I think you may be right about a time slip. It's a pity that you didn't go for a walk outside. You might have met some people from earlier times.
Fascinating story and really well written.
Lovely cat as well.
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phoenix, thanks for the kudos and the share! Time slips are a topic I want to know more about, too! ;D
Fantastic hub. I've heard of time slips before but didn't really understand what they were. Thanks for the links to Nell Rose and Alastar Packer's hubs.
Voted up, interesting and awesome. Socially shared.
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Hi again, Alastar. Thanks for the link! Yes, I think there was a reason the time was never "right" until now to write this. As for the ley lines, as I mentioned in the reply to Marsei, that part of Highland Park has a special energy, so much that a ley line isn't particularly noteworthy. ;D
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cruelkindness, glad you enjoy it! And yes, there IS a lot to ponder! ;D
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Ardie, I knew *nothing* about time slips until I read Nell's hub, so you were way ahead of me already! Don't know how I lived this long, though, without knowing about them considering I thought I was well versed in the gamut of paranormal experiences. Even had what I believe now was one other time slip experience in London, but not on the scale of the Ghost Train! And thanks so much for the fan mail! ;D
Hi JamaG- just put a link to your story on the timeslip hub. Very happy you were finally able to tell the story with the new info and that in itself may be of note about the waiting. And Jama, how come i'm not surprised about the energy- ley lines! Toot toot!
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Marsei, yours is certainly THE most unusual compliment I've ever received for something I've written! But I have to admit I'm exceedingly flattered to have "annoyed" you that way. It's how I feel, too, when a writer has drawn me into a story that ends "too soon".
That section of Highland Park had an "aura" that gave one a sense that nothing "bad" could happen there. Bad things did happen, of course, but they always had a humorous twist, if that makes any sense.
Thanks for stopping by. I have many more paranormal experiences I've been reluctant to share until now. ;D
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mistyhorizon, thanks for the kudos! And what an interesting theory about a repetitive event (like the daily runs of a train on the same route) being recorded on nearby stone! That could very well be part of the explanation for time slips...i.e. an area's memory goes into "replay" mode when conditions are "right". A hundred years from now, perhaps scientists will have figured out which conditions trigger such "replays".
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Nell and Alastar, your time slip hubs were the inspiration I needed to write this. I've been wanting to tell this story for years, but had I written it before I knew about time slips, it would've come out as little more than a scary story to tell around a campfire on a moonless night. Thanks so much for providing the information that made it so much more!
Alastar, I forgot to include I was told a ley line runs along the front of that house. That makes three ley lines I'm aware of in that part of town. Considering how I always felt the change in energy as soon as I turned onto 24th from Indiana Ave, I suspect there are several more. ;D
Love this piece. Lot to ponder on...
Cruelkindness (Subliminally Thoughtless)
Oh wow - what a great tale! I don't know much about time slips so I will be heading to Nell Rose and Alastar Packer's Hubs. I do love a great ghost story - I wish I could've been there to experience the train with you!!!
I completely enjoyed this hub! What an engaging tale. I was totally lost in it and annoyed when it ended, so must be some excellent writing. I like the way it flows.
Voted up.
marsei
Hmm, first thing ouch! with Murphey's claws. Not surprising though as animals are highly sensitive to unusual phenomena. And then Topeka! Eureka! Somehow Kansas and railroads just seem to fit together in the mind. Your detective work and story were fascinating to read Jama and in my humble opinion you and all the rest did indeed witness and hear a timeslip train or at least something imprinted on the very fabric of time itself. Wonder about any ley lines or vortex spots in the area? At any rate a well told and very intriguing case. The Amerindian friend's lack of any experience is perhaps something to ponder on as well. Shall link to Timeslip Experience directly JamaGenee!
Great Hub Joanna, I am always intrigued by these kinds of experiences. I had to opt for 'don't know, can't decide' in your poll, but if I had to lean one way or the other I would tend to suspect the time slip theory, or possibly even one of those incidents where it is believed that if an event happened often enough in the same location the nearby stone etc (if it was of a suitable type like granite) acted as a 'recording' type device, that given the right conditions on another occasion would replay the 'video' to anyone nearby :) If the latter is true then I am guessing that in the future science will work out how this is possible and how it happens.
Hi, I was looking forward to reading this, and it definitely didn't disappoint! lol! I think I would have gone to take a look as I am so curious it would have got me to the window before I had time to think! then I would have jumped! seriously though, I do believe you are right, you said it was so quite for at least an hour before, so something was definitely 'wrong' outside. I suspect if you did look out the window you may not of actually seen anything, but the sound would have been louder as you looked out. Either way that's a great story, and I like it when it happens to someone trustworthy who is a good judge of what is happening, that way it proves that something definitely did happen, oh and next time, grab the camera! lol!
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