RE: Ghost stories from fellow officers

Sorry, Dave, I wish I could help you. I don't have any ghost stories or anything of that nature. I would love to see some of them and hope somebody will post it here in addition to sending them to you. Maybe a short summary here so you can keep the details for the book.

Spooky patrol

Ok...ok...I confess. I scared the shit outta myself one night. (Sigh...I'm gonna get harassed for this, but it's worth it!)

This is an actual patrol story back in October 2007. I was assigned to the second car with one of the part-time officers (who was my assigned FTO for that shift) on a Saturday night. It was my first night out with him (we never had the chance to patrol with each other before). We did our routine neighborhood patrols, and business checks, then a couple of traffic stops. Then we went back to check on the neighborhoods. It was a pretty quiet, chilly October night.

We get to the old elementary school now called the Ehman Center which houses various organizations. This is a school building built back in the early 1920 era. Well...we pull around the side of the building where all the juveniles are known to "cause trouble" (you know...smoke dope, have sex, and try to see if the can get into the building for a thrill). We have our spotlights on checking the grounds and we don't see nothing...but I have my window cracked and I hear this forceful coughing. Now...we are at the top of the hill. At the bottom is a playground and a set of wooden stairs takes you through some thick brush to get you to the playground. I told my partner"Hey...you hear that?" He tells me "What?" as he turns the radio down in the patrol car. The cough came again. I said, "That! You hear that coughing sound? It sounds like some one can't breathe". And it did. It sounded terrible.

My partner and I quickly got out of the car, got our flashlights out scanning the area, and started asking "Hello... Is everything alright?" as we approached the stairs. No response. The noise was loud when we heard it so we figured that the person was on the stairs. When we got there...nothing. It was empty. So my partner said to me, "Sounds like a bum underneath the stairs". I nodded and agreed. So down the stairs we go through the brush into the dark night. The playground isn't lit, and it sits at the bottom of the hill which collects the little bit of fog we were having. Visibility was relatively good still, but when the light from the flashlight hits it, things are a bit distorted to see.

My partner went around to check under the stairs, but I didn't like the vast dark playground being well...so open and the old barrel tunnel play structure wasn't too far away. I was concerned the person was running away from us and concealing themselves, and you never know who mightt be armed. We faintly heard some coughing again, but it wasn't under the stairs as my partner already checked."Well...it looks like some body has been here" said my partner. "Look at the trash". I spun around for just a second to shine my flashlight where he was. "Yup"...I said. But I just had the feeling I needed to concentrate ahead of me.

I walked about 15 feet in front of the stairs and checked the tunnle play structure. Nothing. No one was there. I heard movement out on the playground and I shined my flashlight around (starting from my left side going to the right scanning). The beam of my flashlight stopped (and I think my heart did too) once I shined it over by the swing set about 50 feet away from where I was. My flashlight beam was too weak to show what/who it was...but I got a outline of it. It was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and was a tall man, husky man...but with very unhuman eyes that were glowing in my dull flashlight beam....

"SOBILLIA!" I hollered..."Oh god..what IS THAT!" I said. The eyes on this man were abnormal I saw the very long legs and the silloutte of what looked like a man at 2330 in the night. I got goose bumps and put my hand on my weapon. The "man" didn't move. My partner was a bit concerned with the uh "Scared shitless" tone in my voice so he started to move towards me. That's when the friggin' dear moved and I realized it was a stupid mother flippin' dear...not some "guy" off of the twilight zone. I couldn't see the ears or the back legs. So it looked like a man in a hooded sweatshirt with very big abnormal eyes!

Boy did I feel stupid! What a great first impression for a rookie to have on her FTO huh?

We laughed about that one for a while...LOL. He told me to watch how much caffeine I drink...lol.

Ofc. R. Truesdell - Michigan

*name of the officer mentioned in the story has been changed to protect their identity.

"Is your number still 911?" - Ofc. Rachel T.

RE: Ghost stories from fellow officers

thank you Rachel for your story. Right now i'm still in the very early stages of collecting all the stories so I ask all the officers who have seen this post to spread the word to their fellow officers that i'm collecting these stories. Right now the very early title for the book is something like "The Graveyard Shift"

Spooky business

Cool Dave...

    I will see if I can recruit anybody. I am sure there are patrolmen out there who have chased after some one who vanished in "thin air" or tried to find the person crying but was never there.....

Come on police brothers and sisters...you gotta have a good story to tell. I had a deer get the best of me! That deer is lucky I didn't shoot it! I had never heard a deer cough in my life. I ned to get out more then huh?...lol.

The title sounds good Dave..."The Graveyard Shift" The other side of patrol...

Last edited @ 1/31/2008 4:33 AM

"Is your number still 911?" - Ofc. Rachel T.

RE: Ghost stories from fellow officers

Here's a short story that may interest you. Back in 81, for all you young ones that's 1981. I worked for a small department just north of Indianapolis. When I first started out as a Police Officer in 1980, the department I was with was located in the basement of the city building, which had been a church at one time. One night I had just come on duty around 11:00 PM and was BSing........I mean passing on important information....with the officer going off duty. All of a sudden there was a noise upstairs as if someone had thrown a chair across the room. We look at each other and headed outside. He went for the front door and I took the back door, both of which were still locked and we go in with guns drawn. Now the layout of the city building at that time was a large main room with 3 or 4 small offices off to the sides. Everything was normal, all chairs were upright where they should have been, nothing was found out of place.
I worked nights and swing shift for thirteen years, most of the time being the only one on duty, and every so often I'd hear what sounded like footsteps upstairs. There were a couple of times that I would be doing paperwork in my office and would get a feeling that I wasn't alone. After checking that everything was locked up, I'd go finish up my paperwork in my car. Now I can't say the building was haunted, but there were times that I wouldn't stay there by myself

and people think we have a boring job...LOL

Ok Dogman....I won't tell ya how young'un I was in '81, but the unexplained noises does make me wonder. Although we like having partners around, we prefer ones we can SEE. I don't know how old your building was, but I've cleared a basement of a building built back in 1881 (most buildings in my downtown area are over 100 years old). With the lights out and just your gun and flashlight makes for a real neat effect I'll tell you!...LOL. (but I love the rush you get...) ;-)

Neat story bro...Hey there's gotta be some other folks. We patrolmen have had at least something funny happen one time or another.

"Is your number still 911?" - Ofc. Rachel T.

RE: Ghost stories from fellow officers

Well, I don't know how old the city building is, but the town was part of the underground railroad before the civil war. From talking to some of the old timers around town, I know several buildings have passageways under them. Like I used to tell people police work is 95% boring but that other 5% makes up for it.

underground passages

"Is your number still 911?" - Ofc. Rachel T.

Ghost Stories

geez, being your partner for X number of years you would think you would of asked me first. i will even show you the brewery. it has tunnels underground most part of the city that were place in the early 1800's. you were lucky cause before they sealed that building up, we would take rookies in side on the night shift... and since the building is so big and dark and clamy.. we would try to seperate ourselfs and let the scared rookie walk aimlessly around inside while us senior officers make our way outside to laugh about it... hey it was done to me!

RE: Ghost stories from fellow officers

REACHING OUT FROM THE GRAVE? THIS STORY STILL RAISES THE HAIR ON THE BACK OF MY NECK.

WHILE I WAS A RESERVE, AND WORKING THE BUSINESS DESK ONE COLD, DREARY, RAINY NIGHT, AN ELDERLY MAN BROUGHT IN A WALLET HE FOUND IN A DUMPSTER NEAR SOME OCEAN FRONT APARTMENTS.

USUALLY, WALLETS THAT ARE FOUND, ARE WRITTEN UP ON FOUND PROPERTY FORMS, AND TUCKED AWAY IN THE EVIDENCE LOCKER, MAYBE NEVER TO SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN.

I PROCEEDED TO GET THE MAN'S INFORMATION AND LOG IT ON THE SHEET, THANK HIM AND SEND HIM ON HIS WAY. I HAD MADE SURE I ASKED THE LOCATION OF WHERE HE HAD FOUND IT. SINCE I WAS A RESERVE, AND NOT GETTING PAID, I DECIDED I WOULD TRY TO CONTACT THE OWNER OF THE WALLET. THERE WERE ONLY SOME LITTLE BITS OF PAPER WITH PHONE NUMBERS ON THEM, A DRIVER'S LICENSE, AND NO CASH OR CREDIT CARDS INSIDE.

I CALLED THE NUMBERS ON SOME OF THE BITS OF PAPER, TO NO AVAIL. I THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE WORTH A SHOT TO TRY THE CROSS-STREET INDEX AND GET A PHONE NUMBER FROM THE ADDRESS ON THE CDL. KEEP IN MIND I HAVE THOROUGHLY RANSACKED THIS WALLET IN ORDER TO FIND ANY FORM OR MEANS OF IDENTIFICATION.

I WENT BACK TO THE WARRANT OFFICE WHERE ONE OF THESE INDEX BOOKS WAS KEPT. I LOOKED UP THE ADDRESS, HOWEVER, THE NAME BELONGING TO THE PHONE NUMBER DID NOT MATCH UP WITH THE CDL.

GETTING A LITTLE BIT FRUSTRATED, I DECIDED TO GIVE THE PHONE NUMBER A SHOT AND SEE WHAT I COULD COME UP WITH. A MAN ANSWERED, AND I ASKED HIM WHERE MR. S0 AND SO WAS AFTER TELLING HIM WHO I WAS. HE ASKED ME AGAIN WHO I WAS. THE MAN ON THE OTHER END OF THE PHONE TOLD ME, THAT MR. SO AND SO, WAS FOUND MURDERED IN A PARK KNOWN FOR HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVITY.

I TOOK THE INFORMATION I HAD OUT TO THE DESK AND TOLD THE WATCH SERGEANT WHAT I HAD JUST DISCOVERED. HE WENT OVER TO MY DESK, SLID A PIECE OF PAPER UNDER THE WALLET, AND SAID WE WOULD HAVE TO GET IT PROCESSED FOR PRINTS. HE AND I THEN WENT TO THE WATCH COMMANDERS OFFICE. I TOLD HIM WHAT I HAD FOUND OUT ABOUT THE WALLET, AND HE IMMEDIATELY DISPATCHED UNITS OUT TO THE DUMPSTER'S LOCATION AND SURE ENOUGH THEY FOUND THE HOMICIDE VICTIM'S BACKPACK AND OTHER PROPERTY INSIDE OF IT. NEVER HEARD WHAT THE OUTCOME OF THE INVESTIGATION WAS THOUGH.

THIS IS JUST A LITTLE STORY TO SHOW THAT WHEN YOU GO BEYOND WHAT IS EXPECTED, YOU MIGHT HAVE SOME SURPRISES.