"It was a dark and stormy night..."

This well-known lead in to the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest conjures up more than stories being told around a summer campfire or tales being published to entertain readers. Many people claim to have had experiences that cannot be explained.

For example, a few years ago, I worked with a young lady, whom I will call Marie. Marie told me about a most unusual situation she encountered in 1975 at the age of eight. One bright summer afternoon, she and her step-brother, Buddy, who was also eight years-old, were playing on the porch of their grandmother's old Victorian home in Temple, Texas, a small town between Waco and Austin. The home was located in an older, but nice part of town. It was a quiet street that suddenly came to a dead end against a field of high grass that had an old abandoned farmhouse on the property that could not be seen from the street.

As the day wore on, Buddy and Marie stopped to notice an old woman coming down the street headed in the direction of the field. There was something unusual about the woman that made them take special notice; she was wearing clothes that appeared to be very out-dated. They were clothes that looked like they might have been in style around the turn of the century (1900) or before.

They continued to stare at the old woman as she moved slowly and deliberately toward the field on this bright summer afternoon. As she passed by the house, the children noticed something that left them both speechless as they looked at each other in disbelief. Where were the old woman's feet? She did not have any feet! She was simply gliding above the ground by a foot or two. It was as if her legs had dissolved near the shins, but that certainly did not keep this lady from traveling. As the woman floated past the house, which was the last one on the block and next to the field, she disappeared into the high grass at the dead end. The grass did not move or part as she moved through. The old woman had literally faded away before their eyes. With disbelief, the children looked at each other to confirm what they had seen.

Now adults, Marie and Buddy still remember that incident as clearly as if it had happened yesterday. It only lasted a couple of minutes, but it was something they will never forget.

I would like to use this blog to record events that remain unexplained. If you - or if you know of someone who has had a paranormal experience to share, I encourage you to participate by posting that experience in the comments section of this blog.