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Group Notes

Talismans and Protection

Written & Reported by Lynda Quirino

 A curious reader recently asked an interesting question of us. Apparently, her apartment is quite hauntingly active, and she noted that there were straight pins placed in the corners of the door frames and in the corners of the rooms where the ceilings meet the walls. She asked if this had any significance whatsoever, and whether we had heard of such a thing at any time in the past. My response was a resounding YES!

The pins in her doorway are definitely a sign that someone who once lived there attempted to dispel some "force" or haunting of some kind. Either iron nails or straight pins would be placed in doorways and window frames, and often where the ceiling meets the walls, in order to discourage the entry of any entities into the alleged haunted location. It was thought that these entities would be "wounded" by the offending sharp objects and would therefore be less prone to entering. There was also some belief that curses or deeds of witchcraft could not enter someone's place of residence because witches were afraid of pins and needles (especially iron). In some areas, where bodies were known to lie in state in residences, the same would be done to discourage other spirits from "robbing the soul" of the newly departed, since it was thought that the spirit would "hang around" for 3 days before moving on. It could be that either someone in the apartment was afraid of an existing entity and tried to discourage it from coming in altogether, or that someone had been "resting" in the apartment at some time and this was done, again, to discourage entry of some alien entity. If the pins are still there, then, it's difficult to know what to do since after the body had been taken to its intended burial site, the pins were then removed to "let go" of the spirit. It could be that perhaps someone had died in her apartment at some time and their soul is "trapped" there by the remaining pins. (If the pins prevent entities from getting in, it would prevent the ones already inside from getting out!)

What kinds of "things" are happening in this apartment? Many of the apparitions or sensations she is experiencing are familiar to most whose lives are invaded by unknown "visitors". In her own words, she is experiencing the following:

I had noticed odd things happening in the apartment when we had first moved in. As more things started to happen and still are, I started to think of the pins and if there was a tie in to them both. This also made me think back a few years to the noises that I heard (noises that had no reasoning to them) and thought that it may be possible that a ghost was haunting the place.

Here are some things which have happened in our apartment:

Occurrence: I was upstairs running the tub and my husband was with me at the time. When I went downstairs, the water in the laundry room was running (the tap was turned on full). Neither one of us were in this room prior to going upstairs, and had the water been running in the laundry room, we wouldn't have had any water pressure upstairs to run the bath.

Occurrence: While getting out of the shower one day, something as plain as day brushed across my back. I know it wasn't my towel as I hadn't got one yet and it wasn't my hair as it's not that long.

Occurrence: I often hear noises of someone walking in the hall, coming up our back stairs and turning the knob of the back door. I had thought it was someone trying to break in (several times)...but when I checked it out there was no one there. I could hear someone walking around upstairs late at night...my daughter and husband were both downstairs.

Sometimes in my room at night I get a weird cold chill...and to be honest, at those times I feel as if someone is in there. One night as I was just dozing off, I felt pressure around my throat. I was gasping for air and my heart was pounding fast. When I sat up, I was frightened by something but I don't know what. This may sound weird, but one night again in bed something woke me up and when I opened my eyes there was a quick flash of a very ugly face coming towards me very quickly. Again, my heart started pounding like crazy.

We used to have a dog who would sometimes go into the dining room and look up at the ceiling and whine. She would walk around looking up as if she was looking at something. And it was not a fly or a shadow.

Another occurrence: My sister and I were in the living room. There was a glass on the kitchen counter. We both heard a crash, and when we went into the kitchen the glass hadn't just fallen off the counter edge, it had flown across the room.

My 10 yr old niece said that while we were in the kitchen, she looked down the hall and saw someone as plain as day walk across the front room. I told her it was probably a shadow..she insisted that she saw a whole person. When she was telling me this, as the old saying goes...she looked like she saw a ghost. I have never mentioned the fact that I thought we may have a ghost in our place to her or my daughter.

On several occasions my daughter has asked me what I was doing upstairs late at night (this is where she sleeps). I hadn't gone upstairs at all.

At times I cannot sleep at night. Not because of coffee or a reckless day, but it feels as though something is keeping me up...or as soon as I start to fall asleep I will feel something tickling my hand or my face (not a pesky fly) or just feel afraid of something. I never have liked the dark but it hasn't made me lose sleep before.

I once did see a lighted figure at my bedroom door, and it wasn't the kind of light that you see when you close your eyes in the dark and open them quickly.


And there you have it! If anyone has experienced anything similar, know you're not alone and also know that we would welcome your retelling of the event(s). Any questions or comments are welcome as well, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.