You Okay?

This experience was the reason why I got into ghost hunting. It was my very first time.

There is an old historical war marker that's just outside my town that I used to visit during childhood field trips. It always fascinated me. Years down the road I'm ghost hunting with friends at 18, when I finally broke free from my parent's grip and moved out. I guess you could say my "rebellious stage".

I had taken 2 of my friends, Kaitlyn and Patrick, to this old historical fort. I talked them into going with me because it was my first time going "hunting" also. I parked the car and we all walked through the gate. I remember getting so intrigued as I looked around at the chimneys, what was left of the old buildings, because it took me back to childhood. It hadn't changed a bit and I was hoping it wouldn't.

We walked around a bit, using our flashlights on our phones. It was a calm night. Nothing really going on. I was enjoying it, just walking around with my good friends.

We found the food storage building, which didn't have a chimney or roof but, still had it's walls and window holes. We noticed a sort of small campfire that was in the far corner of the building in the grass. It wasn't lit but, just alligned with rocks and had burnt wood in the center so, we knew that people had been there days prior.

We all scouted for some wood to renew the fire and once we lit it, we sat criss-crossed around it in the soft grass and told stories. No ghost stories though. Kaitlyn didn't like the fact of telling ghost stories in a haunted place in case it attracted any unwanted "attention" so we mainly stuck with childhood memories. We were vibing together and it was one of the times that I was truly at peace.

Once the fire went out, we turned back on our flashlights and started making our way back to the front gate. Now, the path that eventually shows up that LEADS to the gate is alligned with small bricks. All facing vertically and touching one another.

I've always been a kid at heart so, I decided to walk on these small bricks. Just to test my balance (and to avoid the "lava"). Some people will get that reference lol.

I was in the middle of my friends. Patrick was a ways behind me and Kaitlyn was behind. A bit more than an arms length away. She was buried in her phone, texting her upset mother because I had kept her out so late.

Now, as I was walking on these bricks, I finally lose my balance. I regained it by stepping off with one foot and stepping back on. I had my arms extended from my sides for the whole "maintaining your momentum" and what not.

When I had stepped off however, Kaitlyn had put her hand underneath my elbow to make sure I didn't fall. The bricks were the small rectangular bricks that had 2 holes in them so, there really wasn't a need for her to that. I thanked her anyway.

She replied "what?" And I repeated my thanks. Well... When she asked "for what?" Is when my heart sank into my stomach. Keeping composure, I calmy explained why I thanked her. "For making sure I was okay."

"What do you mean?"

At this point I told everyone to stop and explained to Kaitlyn that I had clearly felt her hand underneath my arm while I lost my balance a bit while I was on the bricks.

"But, I didn't touch you."

I started getting nauseous when she said that, as well as furious. I'm always skeptic when it comes to the paranormal. I always do my best to find the plausible solutions to strange activities. Such as this one apparently.

I asked angrily, "so, you DIDN'T touch me? At all? You don't recall you touching me?" She repeated herself and reminded me that she was texting her upset mother. I looked at the distance between us and there really was no way she could have. I could have reached my arm out and my hand would have to grow an extra arm and a half to touch her but, I wasn't accepting this. I started to get worried so, my logical thought was to now target Patrick, who was walking in front of me.

He reminded me of just that. That he had been in front of me the whole time and that it was impossible. Not only this but, he also walked on the opposite side me. Both friends did.

So yeah, I started losing my composure a bit I won't lie. I was feeling a mix of anger and fright but, because I didn't want to accept the thought that I had in my head. The way my friends were looking at me if I was going insane wasn't helping the situation either.

We just stood there in silence. They seemed like they were too afraid to come near me because I must have looked like I was about to throw up, which I was but, I didn't.

Kaitlyn broke the silence by accusing me that I was lying about being touched.

"There's no way you're telling us that you got touched by a ghost Michael."

I snapped. Not in anger but, fear. "But I DIDN'T say that. I'm saying it was one of YOU. And I think it was you Kaitlyn."

She told me to stop messing around and I told her the exact same thing. We had a back and forth argument about it because I really WASN'T lying and that I felt a hand. She was trying to say that it was a leaf that fell from one of the trees that was nearby so, I kept emphasizing that it was a hand and that I know what hands feel like.

Now, you guys are about to probably about to think that I'm a pansy at this point. I was going to keep this part of the story out but, I think I can put aside my pride to emphasize how serious I was at this point.

Patrick and I have been friends since elementary. He knows every little thing about me. The main thing is that I love hugs. When I hug someone, it's because I like the way it makes me feel more connected to the person. I've been hugging since I was little. Parents, siblings, teachers, co-workers, etc. I'm just a loving person and I love to make people feel loved.

So, with that being said, Patrick breaks the argument by simply walking up and hugging me and I bust out in tears. I hate crying. Hate. It makes me feel weak and I hated doing it in front of people but, I lost all my composure and was crying at this point. I honestly can't give you a pin point reason but it was mainly becsuse it was so unexpected and it frightened me. Bad apparently.

I did my best to quickly stop crying and Kaitlyn finally saw that this was messing with me. She assured me that I wasn't going crazy and that I had a kind of gift if I had just literally felt a human hand on my arm. To keep avoiding the fact that I was touched by a ghost, I went back to her theory that it was probably a leaf and they all chuckled at me. I did eventually give in.

After that day, I did some thinking and talking with them about it. Our best explanation is that we encountered a spirit that simply wanted to make sure that I was okay. When I had lost my balance on the bricks, they put their hand under my arm as if to say "You good? You got it?"

It's just crazy to think "wow...I was touched by a ghost." And "who was it?" "What kind of person where they?" To this day it still baffles me. It's like the spirit also made sure I wouldn't be able to decipher it, it seems like.

Thank you for reading this. If you have any thoughts or questions, I'll be happy to answer them😊