Spooky Saviors: Ghosts Who May Have Saved Lives

Ghosts. Maybe they don’t mean to be terrifying, but often, they are. Think about it: if you wanted someone to do you a favor, wouldn’t you just walk up to them nicely in a well-lit public space and ask? Is it really necessary to suddenly appear in a horrifying way, or, in one famous example, throw up all over someone’s tent before grabbing them from under the bed?

Ghosts were once human, right? Did they just forget all basic human interactions?

However, while ghosts can be scary, I don’t think they’re all harmful. Sure, you have the malevolent entities out there, but maybe most just want to be left alone. There are even accounts from people who believe that ghosts went as far as saving lives. Here are four accounts that are tough to explain.

1. The Gray Man

The small town of Pawleys Island in South Carolina is known for its beautiful beaches, historic homes, and, apparently, quite a few ghosts. The most famous is known as the Gray Man.

For 200 years, there have been numerous sightings of this mysterious gray figure, typically appearing right before a major hurricane hits the area. According to local lore, seeing the Gray Man could not only save your life but also save your home.

Sounds like an urban legend, right? Not according to Jim and Clara Moore, who had an encounter two days before the devastating Hurricane Hugo struck in 1989. They shared their story on the show Unsolved Mysteries.

Jim recounted, “We were taking a walk late in the afternoon, which we usually do. You see so many people walking on the beach at this time of day. That particular afternoon, we only saw one, and he was coming directly toward us. When I got within speaking distance, I raised my hand to say hi or beautiful evening or whatever, and he disappeared.”

Although the hurricane wreaked havoc in the Moores’ neighborhood, their home was somehow the only one to escape the storm unscathed.

No one really knows who the Gray Man was. Some say he was a pirate. Others claim he was a young man who died in quicksand while on the way to see the woman he loved. Not long after his death, he appeared before his lover and warned her to leave the island. She and her family did, right before a deadly hurricane struck.

It’s possible he loved the woman so much that he returned to warn her, but was somehow cursed in the process to wander throughout eternity, warning others of impending doom. Kind of like a helpful version of the Flying Dutchman.

2. The Wife with a Warning

According to an old story in the Chicago Tribune, a farmer named Charles Henry Durand was heading home late one evening when his horse stopped in the middle of the road. (Yes, this happened back when people still rode horses.) The horse wouldn’t move any further and began to tremble.

Suddenly, the air grew oppressive, and a faint light appeared, gradually taking the shape of a woman right beside his wagon. Durand said he was “scared stiff” and wanted to run.

The white figure then spoke in a whisper, saying, “There is danger at home. Stay away till morning.” It was then that Durand realized he recognized the voice of his late wife. As soon as the warning was uttered, the figure disappeared.

If that happened to me, even if I didn’t believe in ghosts, I’d probably think, “That was pretty strange. I think I’ll stay away from home for tonight.” But Durand went straight home, though he kept the ghost’s words in mind.

When he reached home, he was cautious. He noticed that a window he had locked before was now open, and there were muddy footprints inside his house. He carefully walked inside and noticed a string on the ground, which he pulled with his umbrella. Right then, a gun went off. The bullets would have hit Durand straight in the chest if he hadn’t noticed the string, which was hard to see in the dark.

Durand told the paper he would have died if not for the warning of his late wife. Apparently, the police even investigated the incident and used his story as clues to look for his potential assassin.

3. The Woman Who Was Gone for 56 Minutes

Fifty-year-old Sonia Burden considers herself a living miracle, and for good reason, too, because she was technically dead for almost an hour following a massive heart attack.

Sonia’s day started just like any other. She showed up for work at a bingo hall, but as her shift started, she felt a pain in her chest and then collapsed. Paramedics were on the scene quickly and worked for the next 56 minutes to try to save Sonia as she was being transported to the hospital.

It was during this time that Sonia claims she received a message from her late husband, John, who died of a heart attack in 2004. She said, “The only thing I remember is my late husband coming to me and saying, ‘It’s not your time, Sonia. Go back to the children.’ Then I woke up in a hospital.”

4. The Mother’s Ghost

This one is truly incredible. In March 2015, in Utah, a call came in reporting an overturned car in an icy river. When emergency responders arrived on the scene, they saw a woman and a small baby strapped into a car seat in the back of the vehicle, which was hanging upside down in the freezing cold water.

Here’s where it gets unsettling: when the rescuers entered the water, they swore they heard a voice calling for help. The 25-year-old mother in the car was, unfortunately, already dead, but the officers swear they heard an adult voice calling out to them for help.

Officer Jared Warner of the Spanish Fork Police Department was one of the first to reach the vehicle. He told the local media that, “We’ve gotten together and just talked about it, and all four of us can swear that we heard someone inside the car saying, ‘Help.’”

Officer Brian Dwit, who was also on the scene, confirmed that the only people in there were the deceased mother and the child. Officer Tyler Beddes, another responder, said they can’t explain it, but they have no doubt they heard it. “It wasn’t just something that was in our heads. To me, it was plain as day, 'cause I remember hearing a voice. I think it was Dwit who said, ‘We’re trying. We’re trying our best to get in there.’”

How do you explain that?

It was also a miracle that little baby Lily survived, as she was hanging upside down for almost 14 hours in her car seat with no food or water, with the icy river flowing right below her head and temperatures dropping to near freezing throughout the night.

In regard to mysterious voices, has this ever happened to you? Sometimes, when I’m half-asleep or just about to fall asleep, I swear I’ll hear a voice call out my name. It jolts me awake, and I’ll even answer back because it sounds like it’s coming from just outside my room. It feels distinct, not like a dream.