Hello from Florida

Not long after moving in, I was told about an old "slave" cemetery a few miles from my home in central Florida. I have an interest in the paranormal but at the same time I am a serious skeptic when it comes to actual experiences. Frankly, after being under fire in combat, ghosts don't particularly frighten me as much as a nut with an AK47 aiming at my head. Anyway, I was invited to visit the site with some fellow enthusiasts who had gone there before and was told in advance that it would be like nothing I had ever experienced before...yeah, sure...
Well, back in the middle of a swampy area at the end of a rather treacherous dirt/sand road there was this open, circular area surrounded by live oaks and swamp brush with no visible headstones. This was at night, mind you, so visibility wasn't the best and the mosquitoes were in abundance. It was very quiet, with the exception of the occasional swamp bird cry (spooky in itself). My associates suggested that I just walk around and get a feel for the place and so I did.
After a few minutes I came across several patches of ground that were devoid of grass. I noted that in several places my footfalls had sounded almost as if the ground were hollow...which is kind of strange in Florida and especially in a swampy area...well, these were some of the graves.
I later found out that the local Ku Klux Klan had taken major steps to wipe out any hint of the place, going so far as to demolish what stones had been present and actually using a backhoe to unearth remains.
I stumbled across several bones, obviously human, and found a grave with a large hole in it (which I almost fell into)...talk about Night of the Living Dead! This was admittedly spooky, but only in an atmospheric sense...no indication of ghosts or paranormal activity...OK, so my friends had dragged me out to a swamp in the middle of the night to play a prank on me...I half expected Scooby Doo to show up at any minute and I was getting fed up with the mosquitoes...I was ready to pack it in when I happened to glance up at Spanish moss covered tree and saw what could only have been a hazy silhouette of a figure hanging from a noose...I did the famous double take and it remained in my view for at least a minute...from that point on I admit that things got freaky...
I'm no fool, mind you, and I wasn't about to be spooked by some practical joke.
I knew where my friends were, expecting one of them to try and scare me...then I saw a child sized shape peak around a tree at me just a few yards away. I walked quickly to the spot but found nothing...and felt something hit me in the back, not painful but a solid hit nonetheless. Now I was beginning to wonder what the hell was going on. When a bush nearby began shaking violently for no apparent reason (no wind) I again moved to the spot to investigate and found nothing. You might say that an animal shook the bush, but it would have to have been at least as big as me to do it and not just a quick shake, but a prolonged one...like someone grabbing and shaking the bush by hand rather than merely disturbing it in passing.
The mosquitoes were getting worse by the minute and we finally decided to pack it up. My friends who had been there before asked me what I had experienced, telling me that the hanging man and the child (whom they called the Indian boy) were resident spirits along with several others. The touch I had felt and the shaking bush were interpreted as the 'Indian Boy' trying to get me to play with him...I can't honestly say what I experienced was genuine, but it was certainly disturbing...and on a final note, as we left the area a hand print appeared on the rear window of the car as if someone had blown their breath there and pressed their hand in it...a child-sized hand...
You can believe this or not...I know it happened. Peace.

That's pretty freaky docjest.

Visual manifestations would be one thing, but once they start making contact with me I think I'd have a code brown for sure.

Welcome to the forum.

Yeah...I think I would have coded when I stumbled into the hole...OF A GRAVE!

Good story. More please.

Docjest. This is certainly very interesting. I think I would of screamed though. Unlike you, I never had the experience of someone trying to kill me. Is there any way you can find out more information about the grounds? It was a slave cemetary, but did they actually hang people in there? The native boy may be a spirit from before it was a cemetary. He would have been from a tribe that resided in that area. That information would be easy to find out. At least then you would know what tribe he could possibly be from.[/QUOTE]

Very cool experience. Sounds like that boy was drawn to you for some reason. Keep us informed.

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Admittedly, the experiences I have had at the cemetery might be construed as disturbing or terrifying, but I never really felt threatened. The visual manifestations were never solid, rather hazy shadows at best, but I could tell they were humanoid. Almost falling into the open grave was probably the most unnerving incident mostly because I didnt want to be impaled by bone shards!
I have visited the cemetery alone and with friends about a dozen times. On some visits absolutely nothing happened, other times it seemed like the area was brimming with activity...
The 'Indian Boy', so I was told by a presumed psychic, was a friendly spirit who apparently enjoyed making physical contact with males in an attempt to get them to chase or play tag...that is what I was told...I saw the child-sized shadow peaking around trees and seeming to run from one tree to another around the periphery of the site...
And yes, to my knowledge, at least one person was lynched on the site long ago...the local Klan tried to burn down the tree but it is still there...I touched it once and it felt warm...that was weird!
Other spirits I saw, aside from the stationary hanging man, appeared in groups of up to a dozen figures that always remained out of reach no matter how I moved myself. One shadowy form seemed to fly around above my head, what I first had thought was a bat, until I made an effort to see what it was...Something I found humorous was one spirit who would circle bits of trash until I picked them up and moved them out of the circle...I left it a pack of cigarettes because I just felt that it was thing to do at the time...it didnt circle the cigarettes...
I accept now that this place is "haunted" but I dont like that word for it...there is information on the site, available at the county courthouse so I understand...an old building that is itself purportedly haunted...
Thanks for your interest, I will post some more of my encounters at the cemetery soon...

Cool stories. Keep posting, please.

Look forward to hearing more of your stories. I just wish I had some, but there does not seem to be any real haunted places in Tucson that will let you just walk around and investigate freely. The haunted tours leave a lot to be desired as they stand out side of the buildings and tell stories but no actual investigating takes place. Man I need to find someoe to hook up with that can do investigations.

Now I done heard of a place out near Denver called cheeseman or cheesman or chessman that sounds real scary. A friend of mine was telling me about it and I got real scared. She had done lived out in Denver for a while. She said she was walking round this park real late. I think she said it was near ten or so, and she stumbled on a grave and bout near fell down. When she got to standing, a man was there and was just a grinnin at her. But the scary thing was, he didn't have no legs! No bottom half at all! I asked her "well what in the world were ya doin walking round a graveyard at night?" She said it weren't no graveyard, it's a park. Did you ever hear about this place? Course, I wouldn't never go there. I'd be scared.

Hey everyone!! I'm new to the boards and while all of this is interesting- this post caught my attention because I grew up in central Florida. Cocoa to be precise. Where's the area that you're talking about docjest???

Hey ya'll,

Docjest I'm interested in where that might be also as I live in Winter Haven and I've never heard about any place like that in this area.

I have a story for you too and after you read it please don't say it was the Morphine talking like some folks have.

The night my son was born the nurses brought him in to me so I could feed him. I'd had him with me for about 20 min. or so when the door to the hall opened and closed. I sat up and said,"hello", thinking it was the nurse coming to take him back to the nursery.

Well, nobody answered, but I heard soft footsteps on the other side of the curtin. Now, I was alone in a closed room with a new born and I'm hearing footsteps. I still thought it was the nurse, until the bed next to where I was lying sank down like someone had just sat down on it.

There was nobody that I could see, so I just sat up straighter and said, "I know you didn't come here to see me, so here's the new baby". I then turned him around facing where the bed had shifted and toward the foot just in case there was more than one of them.

To this day I don't know who came and will probably never know, but I have an idea that it was my grandmother because she lived with us while I was growing up and died before my son was born. I think she just wanted me to know she was there admiring my new son. Goodness knows who she might have brought with her, cause we're a vwery close family and some of my other family membewrs might have come too.

One thing...I was never scared for 1 min. and I never felt them leave. I wish the had let me know who was there.

Hi everyone, I just joined and love this board. I have been a sensitive all my life but for years just ignored my feelings. I started really listening to them a few years ago after starting genealogy, I got interested in my ancestors and man some of the dreams I had were amazing. Sorry, didn't mean to get off topic. I was looking for a grave of my great-grandfather who committed suicide. I knew he wasn't suppose to be buried with his wife because they were catholic and he couldn't be buried in consecrated ground. I found a cemetery connected to the catholic cemetery and went exploring. I had barely stepped inside when I had the creepiest feelings I have ever had, up to this point cemeteries never bothered me. All the stones were lined up perfectly even and they were so close together you could barely sqeeze between them. I noticed all the names were in another language so I started leaving. I kept looking back and felt like I should be running but due to arthritis that is no longer an option. Another strange thing happened at the same time. When I was in the catholic part of the cemetery at my great-grandmothers grave the sun was shining an not a cloud in the sky. When I got near this other cemetery it started sleeting and got real windy, after I left and half way back to the other cemetery it was sunny, I looked back and there was no sleet or wind. To this day I have not went back to that cemetery, just to creepy. If anyone wants to explore this come to Johnstown PA and go to the St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery in Geistown. When you are on the back road look back behind the mausoleum and you will see this "creepy" cemetery. I can't even find a name for it.