I See Some Ghosts at Storytelling

Full transcript of the My True Ghost Stories episode “I See Some Ghosts at Storytelling.” Listen to this episode.

A vision before an event, truth revealed by the end. Sometimes, the other side speaks quietly, waiting to be discovered. Welcome to episode 24 of My True Ghost Stories. This past October, I was invited to tell a ghost story at an in-person Halloween-themed storytelling event. I was invited by the host of this event, who was a professional storyteller herself.

She had been listening to my podcast and was looking for some ghost stories for an evening of stories called Ghosties Galore. And it was going to be two professional storytellers and me. So, three storytellers in all. She told me that the stories had to be true and had to be personal and had to be around but no more than 30 minutes. Now, I am obviously a storyteller.

I mean, look at me right now, telling you this story. I love telling stories. But I had no experience with this form of storytelling. Live in-person, in front of an audience. Now, I do not have anything like stage fright or fear of public speaking, like not at all.

But the idea of this live event made me pretty nervous because despite no fear of public speaking, I do like to do things right. And I do get very nervous trying new things. And this was definitely a new thing. I said, yes, despite my nervousness and fear of doing it wrong and possibly making a fool of myself. And it did sound from the description.

She gave me of the event and what I read on her website. It sounded like a pretty chill event with a supportive storytelling community. So my making a fool of myself worries were pretty fleeting but the doing it wrong fear was intense. But I did have about three weeks to prepare. After I said yes and started thinking about how I would prepare, I got almost immediately a vision of this upcoming storytelling event.

In this vision that I had, I was facing a crowd of about 30 people. They were sitting in chairs in front of me. It was dimly lit and I couldn't see their faces, but I could tell that they were facing me. And in this vision, behind them, the people in the chairs were four ghosts. The ghosts were spread out in a semicircle around the back of the little audience that I was facing.

And the ghosts were facing me and they were in the dark too. I couldn't see their faces and they weren't next to each other. They were standing directly behind different seated audience members chairs. And the ghosts were from my left to the right around the back. It was three men and then one woman all the way on the right.

And that was the vision, an audience of about 30 sitting people in a dimly lit space with four ghosts behind their chairs in a semicircle. Three men and then one woman. The woman holding the event gave me the address and asked me for a bio. And she said that she was going to use Halloween scary pictures for our individual bios in the promotions. And she asked me which picture would I prefer to represent myself.

She said, I could be a ghoul, a ghost or a witch. And I said a gorgeous witch, of course. And I started to prepare. I had to choose an outfit, something comfortable and flattering. And I had to practice which meant I had to pick a story, something scary, something funny, something heartfelt.

I eventually landed on the story of the haunted basement, which also happens to be episode one of this here podcast. I chose it because it's kind of all three scary, funny and heartfelt. And then for the next three weeks until the event, I practiced. I walked around the house practicing and timing it in the mirror, quietly to myself at the gym while alone in the sauna at the gym. I was constantly practicing.

And every time I practiced, I saw clearly in my mind the crowd of sitting people with the four ghosts behind them. I was told that storytellers do not read their stories from a piece of paper or anything like that. So I knew I had to sort of memorize the story. So I listened to the previously mentioned episode one of my own podcast. And I listened to it over and over again, which was a little hard hearing my own voice for that long.

But it did help me memorize the story somewhat. And then the day came, the day of the event. It was on a Sunday night and I was so nervous. I had the outfit picked out. I had chosen a story.

I had listened to myself, tell it over and over again on my podcast. I had practiced in the mirror and I was as ready as I could be. Then I agonized on how to get there. I was checking Google Maps. It was a 25 minute walk, but I didn't want to be tired.

And it was a little cold and it was a three minute drive. But possibly there would be no parking and I didn't want to be searching for a spot. The searching for a spot is really stressful and I would already be stressed. And so no extra stress. So it didn't want to drive.

So I finally decided on the bus. There's this thing, this thing where you can text this number and it tells you exactly when the bus is coming and it is surprisingly accurate. So I used that and it was just one short bus ride and then a three block walk to the address. And I got there so early. I was so early that I hung out on the corner, a block away, so I would not be the first one there.

I don't like to be the first guest at a gathering. And I knew that this event starts with a gathering like a party before the storytelling. And while I stood there, a block away, I noticed that there were parking spots everywhere. So I could have driven, but oh well. Eventually enough time had passed, so I figured I wouldn't be the first one there.

And I walked down the block to the address and I went in and I joined the pre-event party. And there were some people there, so I was successful at not being the first. And they had refreshments and really friendly people. There's like this whole storytelling community. Who knew?

And they're really nice. There was some discussion among the guests and hosts about whether the storytelling would happen outdoors or indoors. It was originally planned for outdoors. There were about 30 chairs set up outside in rows, but it was getting colder as it was getting darker, so they decided to move it indoors. Where they set up the chairs in a semicircle.

I met the other two storytellers and they were very supportive when I admitted to being a basket case of nervousness. And I told them that I had never told a story at one of these events before. And they gave me some pointers on things, some specifics, like how to circle back if you realized you forgot to tell apart. But mostly just be yourself and have a good time. About 45 minutes after I had arrived, the host started announcing that we were beginning and everyone should come and take a seat.

And even right now, as I'm telling this story to you, I'm getting a knot in my stomach at the memory of that, oh my God moment I had when everyone started sitting down in that semicircle of chairs. The host announced that since this was a spooky Halloween event, she was going to turn off the lights and light some candles. The first storyteller began in the candlelight. I had sat on what would be house right if you were in a theater. And she began.

It was a wonderful story about an experience and a graveyard in France with a real true interaction with the ghost. I tried to just enjoy the story and not compare what I was going to do with this because this fabulous story had like blocking. And it was really linear and I don't think that she was doing any circling back because she had forgot apart or anything like that. And next up was another pro and she told a hilarious story about her grandmother. Her grandmother's funny personality and a sign of support that she got from her grandmother's spirit years after her grandmother had passed away.

And this story was also fabulous. And her telling of it was so polished that I was sure I could not follow this successfully. And to add to the terror, the host had told me before the show, maybe jokingly, that I was going last because I was the main event. Yikes. So I mustered up my strength and I remembered my favorite personal show business experience that I call upon when I'm feeling unprepared.

I was performing a Joseph and the amazing technical dream code as a dancer. And I was in this scene called those Canaan days. The link to the songs and the show notes. And in this scene, I'm supposed to give the 11 brothers a flask of alcohol. And in this particular production, it was important to the scene that they pass it around and make toasts with it.

And I, for some reason, had wound up on the stage without the flask. Either it hadn't been there on the prop table or I forgot it. It's very possible that I forgot it. So I did some quick, no panic thinking while the music played and the brothers stared at me waiting. And I went over to the side of the stage at this dinner theater.

I leaned over the side and took a cup off of one of the tables that were right up against the stage. And I handed it to the brothers and they proceeded to make their toasts. Showbiz situation handled. So I knew here at this storytelling event that I would probably rise to the occasion as I always do. And I was realizing this as the host read my bio to the crowd and announced me.

I stood up from my chair on house right and I walked the five feet to the center of the room to face. The 30 seated people in a semicircle in this dimly lit room. And there were the four ghosts from my left to right. Around the back three men and one woman. I told my story.

I rocked that flaskless dancer from Joseph and the amazing technical dream coat came through. I remember the whole story. I got laughs. I could feel the focus of this audience, even though I couldn't see their faces at all. And I finished up my story 25 minutes.

The requested length. There was applause. And then the host asked the audience if they had any questions for Jennifer me. And about 30 handshot up. So I said, well, I guess you do have questions.

And it wound up being sort of a Q&A for a little while. And I refrained from letting it turn into a group reading, which I could have because those four ghosts were very, very present. And I did not tell the people about them. The three ghost men and the one ghost woman. And I was using a lot of my energy blocking all the other ghosts that were trying to get my attention.

And then after probably 20 minutes of answering questions to people I couldn't see. At all, still only candlelight, I became exhausted. And the host was a good host and she sensed that. So she said, okay, one last question. And a man asked, how can I tell if someone is watching over me?

And he said that he's pretty sure someone from the other side. He didn't say who had saved him from a few bike accidents recently. I gave him my ideas on guardian angels and things like that. And then the host smoothly ended the professional storytelling section. And it came time for the second part of the evening on Open Mike.

Where audience members have a timed five minutes to tell a story of their own. And tonight it had to be a ghost story. And the lights stayed down. Still only candlelight very dark. This Open Mike section was really cool because most of these people were storytellers and they knew how to fit the whole thing into exactly five minutes.

And a whole bunch of people told their stories. And the ones that stood out to me were. A woman got up and told a story about her brother who had passed away a few years ago and signed she gets from him that he is with her. And a second woman told the story of her father who she feels is watching over her and an experience that she had right after he passed. After the Open Mike, the host made sure everyone had told a story that had wanted to.

And then she turned up the lights. And now with the lights up, I saw where everyone was sitting. And where those ghosts were standing. From my left, the first male ghost was standing behind the woman who had told the story about her brother who had passed away. The second male ghost was behind the woman who had told the story about her father.

The third male ghost was standing behind the man who said that he had been saved from a few bike accidents recently. And the fourth ghost, the woman ghost, the woman ghost was standing behind that second professional storyteller. The one who went right before me, the one who had told the story about her grandmother. So those ghosts, those spirits who I saw in advance were guardian angels. They were standing behind the chairs of their loved ones watching over them.

After the show, there was a continuation of the party from before the show. People discussed the stories, asked questions of the storytellers. And I told the four people about the four ghosts. They were not surprised and very pleased, all of them, to find out that they were being watched over. And I think it was a continual thing.

These ghosts were guardians watching over these people. I think I had seen in my vision something that was constant. These guardians were always behind these people. And I think the powers that be wanted them to know it. So they sent me that vision so I could tell them.

As things wound down at the party, I gave out my car to a few people. I actually got paid from a tip jar that the host had passed around. And I will say that the storytelling community is extremely generous. I say goodbye to everyone that was left at the party. And like I was not the first person there, I was not the last to leave.

I also don't like being the last to leave. I chose to take the 25 minute walk home in the cold autumn air. I was so happy to have risen to the occasion, told a good story, gotten some laughs, answered some questions, made some friends. And most of all, I was so happy to have helped loved ones from both sides of the veil, connect. If you've enjoyed this episode, please take a second to subscribe, like and share it with a friend.

To help this show grow. And that's all for today. Thank you for listening to today's episode. And if you think your house is haunted, want energy cleared from your space or need a custom spiritual ritual, I'm here to help. Visit jpclearing.com or email me at jpclearing60 at gmail.com.

Don't forget to join me here every Tuesday for a new episode. Until next time.