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Thanks, LadySciFi! I agree, and I wonder why we don't hear more about it. Maybe, like myself, people are just hesitant about sharing that kind of story.

Maybe investigators get followed home all the time but most of them just don't notice it. Maybe most ghosts don't have the strength to make themselves noticed unless the person they follow is sensitive. For example, it would take a LOT of strength to create enough activity for my husband to notice a haunting. He can ignore a lot and reason away even more, believe me.

It might be a good idea for investigators to do an investigation of their own houses after they do one at another location. Who knows what they might have brought home with them? Interesting . . .

Awesome story, Jill. Thanks so much for sharing with us!

I guess this is something I really haven't given way too much thought. There is so much that has gone on at our house for almost 50 years I wouldn't think twice about whether someone would follow me home. The folks at Waverly Hills were extremely active. The Big Wolf and I were both surprised and ecstatic with the experiences we had there. But I never would have thought about anyone there following us out. You really don't get that feeling there. Maybe the fact that we were all going back to hotels and not homes had something to do with it.

We tried our best to be extremely respectful of the hospital while we were there...to the point of saying please and thank you to the air. (We recently discussed on chat how silly you feel the first time you conduct an EVP session. Over the 8 hours, we got used to it.)

I have to say I don't know if I would be disappointed if something followed me home and I helped them find their way as you did. Full marks.

Thanks for the comment, almosthunted! It's funny, I've been at haunted locations before, not "hunting" specifically, and I never thought about something coming home with me. I always had this foreboding feeling that if I went to purposefully seek it out, something would end up coming home with me. I wasn't even the fear of the child spirit as it was that my worst fear came true. If this child could follow me home, what else could.

Thanks for the kudos on handling it. It was pretty emotional, though. All through it, all I could think of was this poor child alone in this vast invisible world, not having their mother...it killed me.

Wonderful story Jilla. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. I think the incidents of spirits following people are more common than we know. And you handled the situation beautifully.

Thanks, LadySciFi! I agree, and I wonder why we don't hear more about it. Maybe, like myself, people are just hesitant about sharing that kind of story.

I guess this is something I really haven't given way too much thought. There is so much that has gone on at our house for almost 50 years I wouldn't think twice about whether someone would follow me home. The folks at Waverly Hills were extremely active. The Big Wolf and I were both surprised and ecstatic with the experiences we had there. But I never would have thought about anyone there following us out. You really don't get that feeling there. Maybe the fact that we were all going back to hotels and not homes had something to do with it.

We tried our best to be extremely respectful of the hospital while we were there...to the point of saying please and thank you to the air. (We recently discussed on chat how silly you feel the first time you conduct an EVP session. Over the 8 hours, we got used to it.)

I have to say I don't know if I would be disappointed if something followed me home and I helped them find their way as you did. Full marks.

I was followed home, and continue to be occasionally visited by a child ghost from a local haunted spot. I also go up there and visit quite regularly. I was aware that the child was there the whole time; however, and aware of him in the car. He makes himself known when he stops by the house from time to time, too. I suspect that some of us just give off a real "mother" vibe, and spirits of children recognize and react to it.

I agree with you on the mother vibe. I was once told I had a primarily purple aura- which means highly spiritual and maternal, which was why children and animals are so attracted to me. I'm not sure what I think of the whole aura thing, but it does seem to make sense. This might be your primary color, too. Of all the entities you came in contact with, that the child was the one to follow you. Definitely makes you think.

That is a good thing to do so far it has worked for me

It's good to know that I am not off base.

It's funny, because the prayer I said specifically said in it that no entity could follow any of us home. It must have been either that we didn't reiterate that point when we left for the bathroom trip or perhaps this child ghost just didn't get the concept of "no, don't follow me". My 2 year old certainly picks and chooses what to listen to or ignore all the time lol.

On a similar but different note- I've also heard in circumstances of the demonic, that evil entities will either pop up at your house before you go on an investigation or follow you home and mess with you for a few days after one. Anyone ever experience that??

That is a good thing to do so far it has worked for me

It's good to know that I am not off base.

Thanks for sharing. The idea of someone following me home has been something that has given me pause to consider when I think about investigating. I did go to Waverly recently, but I have different feelings about that place and in the end I don't believe that we/I was in a position where someone could or would follow me home. Although, I must admit, I did tell anyone at Waverly who was there to listen that they weren't allowed to follow me home.

That is a good thing to do so far it has worked for me

I might as well have been trying to convince myself a house wasn't on fire while watching firemen hosing it down.

Great quote!

Thanks for posting this. It took a yard of guts to tell this story when you know that many people won't believe it. I absolutely believe you. I have also had enough experiences in my own life to not need any additional evidence and my experiences make me extremely wary of attracting anything else. Maybe ghost hunting is fine for people who are not sensitive but it just makes sense to me that lost spirits are going to glom onto anyone who can sense them, and who can blame them if the alternative is wandering around in a cemetery for eternity?

It's interesting that you didn't sense the girl at the cemetery but you did sense her in the car. It makes me wonder if spirits can somehow blind you to them if they choose. It's pretty clear that had you been able to sense the little girl following you around you never would have let her get into the car with you when you left the cemetery. I'm not saying that spirits are evil - after all, until recently I never encountered anything except benevolent spirits, but it does make me wonder what they are capable of. My whole view of the paranormal has changed since I saw the manta thing. If that can exist, what else is out there?

IMHO you were very lucky that the spirit that followed you home was willing to leave. Some spirits are not so easy to get rid of. What if you had been investigating a maximum security prison, for example? I doubt that all the prayers and bible verses in the world would have much effect on a truly dangerous person, even if they are dead.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

I'd never gone on a "real" investigation, and for most of my life I'd never needed to since there was always so much activity in my own home. Going on a hunt was always in the back of my mind, and finally, from several conversations between my friends, old and new, we decided to go to a local cemetery and follow through. The main point of it was that my old friends knew my own home was haunted, and had their own personal experiences. My new friends had recently had experiences at my house, but one specifically was a non-believer to the core. We joked because our "team" was so stereotypical: we had the "tech guy", the "newbie", two "sensitives", the "goofball" and the "non-believer". I prepped and planned as much as I could. We had several cannon rebels, a sony handyman, a digital voice recorder with a mic and headphones and my "protection prayer" which was my biggest concern. The only thing over the years that ever held me back was the idea of something following me home. At the time I even emailed TAPS(they were still in my good graces), and the response was what I figured- just say a prayer of protection, ie a Prayer to St. Michael or anything that fit my spiritual views. I didn’t, however, get any advice on if one really DID follow any of us home.

We stopped outside the gates of this old cemetery where myself and the other sensitive had family buried(and yes, we had gotten permission from the groundskeeper) and I proceeded to say the prayer and sprinkle everyone with holy water. Being the leader of this investigation I felt personally responsible for trying to keep my crew safe on all levels, so even my agnostic non-believing Jewish friend chuckled and obliged to my blessing and protection ceremony. It was all with the best intentions. Of course the rest of the night would serve as evidence that even the best of intentions have loop holes.

The plan was to try and get back up evidence to support the two sensitives "feelings". I don't think we were fully prepared emotionally for the outcome we received. Almost immediately I felt a young man. Everyone stopped, looked where I pointed. You could clearly hear footsteps and rustling- then my tech guy with the mic and headphones turned white(dare I say "as a ghost" lol) He played back the EVP- a young mans voice saying "hello".

Then the "newbie" our youngest investigator and sister to the tech guy said "Jill, I totally feel like there's a little girl here". I honestly hadn't picked up on it at all. It was at that point people started getting a little freaked and "needed to pee". So we got in our cars, drove down the road to sensitive #2's house and used the facilities. This, I believe was where I made my fatal mistake.

We returned, and came up with some more interesting evidence, packed up, said our exit prayer, and went back to the house to discuss. In my car was sensitive #2 who had spent most of the night NOT being sensitive and, instead ogled her new boyfriend the "goofball" and next to me in the front was the "non-believer" who was looking rather peaked himself. Now, the drive there hours before we were all jovial and happy. The couple in the back were all hand-holdy and cuddly. Presently, this was not the case. They sat each pressed against their respective doors, leaving a large gap between them. And as I said, the non-believer looked pale and on edge. I, myself, felt unnerved and lightheaded. The air felt charged and cold in the car despite the air conditioning being off. We stepped out into the humid summers night, discussed the evening a bit and decided to call it a night and the tech guy would be over to review the evidence the next day at my house. But me, I just didn't want to go home- I especially didn't want to get into my car. Deep down I knew why, but I just kept shaking it off as nothing.

Once inside my car there was that super charged feeling again. That "being watched" feeling times 1000. I called sensitive #2(I know, bad me- this was before the no cell phone laws) and asked her "Why weren't you canoodling with your new man on the way home?" Her response- "Um, well, honestly- it felt like something was sitting between us. It freaked me out." Me- "Why didn't you say anything?" Sensitive #2-"I didn't want to freak everyone else out" she said sheepishly. I called her boyfriend- same response. The non-believer didn't believe in cell phones so I'd have to talk to him in the morning. I called the tech guy- "Ask your sister about that little girl". Tech guy-"She says the little girl seemed to follow you all night." Me-"Why the heck didn't anyone tell me any of this". Tech guy-"I don't know, don't you always have things around you? We figured you were just used to it." Me- "Well, I think she’s in my car. I don't know what to do." Tech guy-"Maybe it'll be gone by the time you get home. Call if anything else happens." And so I was there, alone in this super charged car. I pulled in the driveway, trying to ignore this overwhelming feeling I was not alone. “Ignore ignore ignore,” I thought. “This is not real. This cannot be real. I said the protection prayer. Nothing can follow me home.” I might as well have been trying to convince myself a house wasn't on fire while watching firemen hosing it down.

I got out of the car, walked to the house- footsteps clearly following me on the gravel driveway. Inside my mom and fiancé were, asleep. I dreaded this moment. Shaking, I managed to put my key into the door and turn the knob. I went inside, shut the door quick(like that would stop anything) and ran upstairs and got ready for bed. I knew my mom would not be okay with me hunkering down with my fiancé for the night, but sleeping alone in my own room was not an option. So I went into her room. I had barely gotten into bed when we heard the footsteps come up the stairs. My mom just looked at me and said "What did you bring home!" The room became icy with that same super charged feeling.

"Mamma..." a child's voice said. "Mamma..." this time closer to me, right in my ear. At this point my fiancé came in the room, he'd heard the footsteps, and now heard the second "Mamma". They both looked at me. "Jill," my mom said- “you have to fix this." I swear, the entire atmosphere felt so odd- like an icy cold fun house. I went for my bible, opened it at random- and read a passage(I don't remember which one, but I do remember it being oddly fitting to the situation) and just started praying and talking to the spirit, telling them they have to move on, that they aren't meant to be here, not just in my house, but stuck here on earth and especially that I wasn't their mamma. I just kept saying "Please leave, just go to the light, your mother is waiting for you there- In Jesus’s name I command you to leave" and as cliche as it sounded, in the intensity of the moment, that's the best I could conjure up. And then, just like that, the room went still. The temperature returned to normal, the super charged atmosphere went away. And that's when the nagging began from mother and fiance- "Don't you ever bring a ghost home again, we've got enough on this property, we don't need anymore!" Of course, they didn't need to make me promise to end my hunting career, after that experience I was officially retired all on my own.

I truly believe my fatal flaw was not saying the exit prayer and then another re-entry prayer when we left for our potty trip. The big question however still to this day is I don't understand why I didn't pick up on this little girl while at the cemetery and "the newbie" who had never thought of herself as a sensitive did. And the final nail in the coffin(I’m beginning to wonder if all these silly phrases were specifically coined as bad jokes in ghost stories lol!) was my conversation with the non-believer that next day. His response? “Yeah, it felt really weird in the car.” Me: “I noticed you seemed rather unnerved and looked pretty pale. Did you notice the lovebirds in the back weren’t cuddling and were on opposite sides of the seat?” The non-believer: “Yeah, I noticed. But, I don’t have an answer for you. It felt weird, but I don’t know what it was.”

Showing him the evidence and evps from that night confused him even more. That night changed his status from non-believer to skeptic, which, as some of you know, is one of the biggest leaps of all on the paranormal belief scale.

As for myself, that night changed my views as well. I’d spent so much time with my familiar ghosts, I never thought about the vastness of the spirit world. Something I thought I was comfortable with I learned I clearly was not. All these elusive strangers roaming around- these lost souls. It was terrifying, depressing, overwhelming… Hearing the whispers and feeling the tugs from my own resident ghosts were practically a comfort after that. The familiarity I could handle. The rest- well, it’s like being a kid and contemplating the universe. Me, in my bed, in my room, in my house, in my town, in my state, in my country, on the earth, in the galaxy, in the universe… Too much, too big, too many unknowns.