Ghost In The Laboratory

This is the story of my uncle, who worked as a renowned scientist in a prestigious university of Ottawa, Canada. The following narration is what he would tell to all his relatives in India, when he used to visit on regular visits. I do not want to name him since he is, by the grace of God, still going strong and active (though retired) in spite of his advancing years. This incident happened sometime during 1961-62. During this period, my uncle was working as a young researcher in the university in Ottawa, as part of post-doctoral research work, while still being a scientist in one of the government research laboratories in India. Later on he permanently shifted to the university as a scientist and did tremendous work and received numerous awards and world-wide recognition. Being a science graduate and a scientist himself, he never believed in the paranormal and in his own words 'this one incidence changed all that and that there are things in this world which we know nothing about!'

During the time mentioned, my uncle's work required a lot of experimentation in the chemical laboratory attached to the university. Being unmarried and no one to give him company in the quarters, he had a habit of carrying out his experimental work beyond the university hours and spend time late in the night writing notes, research papers, etc. My uncle is a teetotaller to this day and he says he never ever has touched intoxicating drinks or drugs!

One that fateful day, he was at his desk in the laboratory writing notes. Those were the days when fountain pens were only available and an ink bottle was always at hand to refill when required. There was nobody else in the laboratory building at that time of the night and my uncle was the only person working at his desk. While totally engrossed in writing notes on a sheet of paper, with many sheets of research papers as reference, he started feeling that the room had gone cold and he started to shiver. Initially, he attributed this to the extreme cold faced in that part of the world and ignored the signs. Suddenly, he saw all his reference research papers started levitating, moving up and circulating all around the room up until the roof. Funny thing was that the papers on which he was writing remained on the table not even moving a few millimeters! There were no open windows nor fans in that room. The only heater was of the passive type, not giving out any air. Then he saw to his horror, that the ink bottle levitated too and after raising a couple of feet off the table, the cap of the bottle unscrewed itself and the bottle flipped and all the ink in the bottle fell directly on the papers on which he was writing notes. He was not in anyway attacked. Totally scared with this experience, he quietly got up and left the lab in a hurry. From that time onwards, he stopped working late in the laboratory and would leave along with all other staff and fellow-mates. He never mentioned this to any of the university colleagues or professors as he as new from a distant land and a fresher at the university.