Ghosts

I love paranormal tv shows and it was on one of these shows that the phenomena of "orbs" was presented to me. As they showed the video and I saw the "orb," I gasped. That is what I used to see when I was a little kid! But I didn't just see ONE of them, I saw a bunch of them and they would come to me in the night. They were little colored sparks of light that floated around me. I could gather them up with my hands and they would scatter and then come together again. This occured when I was very young maybe 4 years old, but I remember it clearly and as I got older, the visits were fewer and fewer. Years and years later when I was in my early 50's I had just been hired as a visual designer at IBM. I was so grateful because I had been unemployed for a long time and this was an amazing opportunity and quite a milestone in my life. I was happy and excited and that night, guess who came to visit. The colored lights crept up and over the blankets and greeted me.

We had a ghost in the house I grew up in.

I saw it once pass by the doorway to a walk in closet that had closets on both sides. The apparation that was white and as clear as can be quickly passed from one closet to the other. My brother Brad stood, mouth agape as I ran downstairs more excited than scared.

My Mother and sister saw an apparition step up from our sunken living room, turn and ascend the mahogany staircase leading to the second floor.

As I got older and ventured into adulthood and had homes of my own, I would sense things. I always felt like I wasn't alone in the room.

One time I was at the Fine Arts building, an historic old landmark in Chicago. As I was coming around the stairs I saw a man in 19th century clothes and a hat walk out from the door to the elevator, cross the hall and disappear into the doorway to an office. It was exactly what you would expect. It was transparent and ghostly. I swear it was real. It was real as can be. And I just stood there looking and then shrugged it off. This kind of stuff never scared me.

One time I was washing the dishes and the cupboard door just opened on its own.

I walked into the bedroom once and heard my deceased cat, Sam meow a cheery hello. It was him. It was a full on meow and it made me smile. I have also seen shadow pets walk around my legs.

Fortunately I have never conjured up evil spirits. Mine are peaceful. They just pass through just as curious of me as I am of them.

The only time I was ever scared, I was staying at someones home in Nashville and he told me the house was haunted. Intrigued I asked him about it and he said that there was the spirit of a young girl with a blue face. He said that she would come up to you and just stare at you. Well, I can tell you that when I went to bed (in the room where she was frequently seen) I was nervous. I really didn't want to turn my head and see her looking down at me while I laid in bed.

Most people don't believe it. And I guess they aren't hardwired to believe it. And I bet they would say that my wires were definitely crossed or altogether unplugged for that matter.

Crying

(Getty Image)

I love singing Roy Orbison's song, "Crying," and one time I had the opportunity to sing it in Roy's hometown in Texas. I was touring with my vocal group, "Three Hits and a Miss." We were performing onstage in the old high school auditorium. I assumed this to be the same High School Orbison attended and I imagined that he very well may have performed on this very stage.

After the show we did a meet and greet and as we were greeting the guests and signing CD's, I noticed an older guy, stereotypical 70 something Texas dude with a cowboy hat walking over to me. I thought for sure he had gone to high school with Roy and was going to tell this to me. He walked up, introduced himself and then he said,

"That song you sang... 'Crying?'"

(Yes... yes.... are you going to tell me you were pals with good ole' Roy?)

"Did you WRITE that song?"

Utter confusion. What? No! Totally blew the dream out of my brain.

Next song I should have sung was Orbison's "In Dreams..."

Click the link to hear a live recording of me singing, "Crying."

https://soundcloud.com/robdorn/03-crying-live?si=ab2bb3e75fcd459a92ae562aa92ec6a5&utm_source=clipboa

Do people still go to websites?

I updated my website after about what seems like 27 years.

Do people still go to websites? This is a day and age of social media and apps. I spend so much time on TikTok, X and instagram that I have been overlooking my website. I decided to go in and see what was in there.

I felt like I was going into a locked room that would be filled with dusty junk and old memories. My site was out of date and I realized it wasn't as organized as it could be. I spent years at IBM focusing on user friendliness and my website was scowling in a corner looking at me, angry that I had neglected it for so long.

So, I rolled up my sleeves and polished it up.

Go to my site and see for yourself. Well, if you are reading this, you are already there. Look around. Have fun. Click buttons and come back for another visit.