It's actually two or three events that a part of one, but you'll get the idea. It was shortly after my nan had passed away a couple of years ago. Now, i'll take the time to mention i felt guilty, still do, as i didn't get to talk to her before she passed. My little brother got to talk to her during the day, but for some reason, just after i got home from college, she took a turn for the worst. The doctors revived her once, even though we'd already said, and so had Nan, that if she went to just let her go. When i got to see her she was in a coma. I know she could hear me (and my boyfriend; this was the first time he'd properly met her and it was not how i'd planned it to go) but i still felt guilty. eventually myself, my brother and my boyfriend went back home (to mine - another first that wasn't what i'd planned) leaving the adults at the hospital. She held on until all her children were around her, three of them coming from the midlands (we live in the south west) and opened her eyes for the first time in twelve hours, smiled and faded away. This was at six or seven in the morning.
At the same time, me, my bro and bf were in the living room; none of us wanted to sleep in seperate rooms and had dragged everything in there. I was asleep and my boyfriend was watching me. To this day he swears blind that he saw an older woman who looked similar to me and mom but not (mothers and daughters look near identical in my family, so i look like mom, she looks like Nan and so on) sitting on the sofa arm near my head and stroking my hair, then she vanished. The next day the pain of her passing was made worse for me, as i had to call in to report my absence for an exam and the message didn't ge tpassed on. You can guess what happened.
A few weeks later, me, mom and Pops (mom's dad) were sitting in his car when we could all smell cigerette smoke. None of us smoke, and we were the only car in the road and had the windows down. As soon as the scent appeared, it was gone. I know she's still around and watching over me. I don't see her, but i feel her, and smell her.

This isn't really bad as such, but it was terrifying to experience. You'd only really understand Just how much if you experience something similar or the same. Again, it was after a loved one had passed. This time my grandad in 2003. His passing affected me badly enough that i can give you the date, time, the weather, the exact sequence of events, but i won't.
Anyway, it was a few months later, and i was sitting in my room reading. I'll admit, it was a book about ghosts, but you know when you know something is real and happening? This was like that. I was sitting by the window just after lunch, the door to my room was opposite where i sat. I happened to look up because i felt i was being watched, and i could see a face made of shadows on the wall opposite the door. It looked like grandad, so i smiled, said hello, returned to my book. Now i'll tell you, it looked 3D and away from the wall.
I looked up again because i suddenly got an uneasy prickle to see this face drifting closer, only it wasn't grandad anymore; the features were warping. I was terrified, but i stood, crossed to the door and said "You are not him. You're not wanted, go away." and closed the door, ran across my room to my seat and stared at the door hoping it wouldn't come through.
I didn't come out of that room until sunset, and for weeks i wouldn't go onto the hall without at least one bright light on.
I'll admit, i could have imagined it, it could have just been an interesting shadow, but i'm telling you, it was a face, it was 3D, it wasn't on the wall but in front of it, and it did start coming closer. This is the problem with spirits; it can be so easy for one to override another or for one to masquerade as another.

I'm not sure what to put; what constitutes as "ugly"? really this could jut be another "bad" as well, like Tai-chan's, but no matter. It's a lot more recent; happened during November or December last year, i think. I'll have to put some background in first, so you understand my way of thinking later.
As some of you know, up until March or april i did the tarot in a shop and also volunteered there to help out. I wasn't always the one to be doing the tarot thre; they had originally asked another woman, but she refused them. Something about not enough time on her hands.
When i found out they were struggling to find another, i told them i read the cards, that i was still at beginner level but would quickly learn and get better. I had picked up tarot in my easrly teens, had a bad experience when they told me several things i didn't want to know, all of which came true, and put them away after that. They agreed to let me do it, and so i started doing the tarot on an almost daily basis. I'm pretty good at reading them now, or so i get told. Scared one friend, but that's another story, funny really, and maybe if Tai-chan lets me i'll put it up some other time.
The woman, let's call her J, came straight in when they told her not to worry, and that they'd found someone else and said that she wanted to do it. Eventually we struck a deal so that we both did it, on the basis that i be allowed to learn from her. She was aptronising from the start, and a little arrogant, but she was a teacher and so i put up with it. At first.
When she started trying to push me out and get me to turn away from it, i refused to go. She wanted me to sell my craft for a start. I don't sell spells, and most people would come to me for hexes and curses anyway, besides it would give a bad reputation. She turned round to the owner (same guy i pity now) and said it was either her or me. He said that she had been given first refusal, refused, and i had offered my services to help and to further my learning. J stormed out in a huff.
She came back several times, trying to put me down in front of other customers and the likes of that. Let me tell you now, she is not a nice reader; she tells you what to do and how to live, which is not what the tarot is for at all.
Shortly after the second or third visit, around the time i told her to grow up because of something she said - can't remember it now - i started having problems. Little things like feeling uneasy, especially at night, and hearing odd noises and having trouble sleeping. Then, one night, i woke up in the early hours in a cold sweat. I sat up, looked around, saw something dark in the corner by the door, lay down. I couldn't move.
It was like someone was holding me down by putting all their weight on my chest and i felt heavy and terrified. I knew it was the thing in the corner. I started trying to visualise a bubble of the brightest white light i could imagine, but it just wouldn't hold in my mind. Eventually i called out for help - in my mind, not with my voice, i couldn't speak - and the spook that lives in my bathroom mirror (i kid you not, he's a perv, and i'm telling the truth) came to my rescue, and stayed in my room all night, which i found sweet and funny. He chased whatever it was away.
This is called a psychic attack, when someone loathes you enough to want to harm you for any or no reason. It is a scary situation to find yourself in, and sometimes the consequences are much worse. I've never been sure whether or not it was J, but i've always had a feeling that it was her doing in some way. I was lucky that one of the spirits that reside in my house heard/felt me when i needed help.
I recommend anyone to always wear/carry something on/near your person to protect you, not just relying on mental/spiritual protection, and to protect yourselves as well as possible. It is not a situationyou want to find yourself in. I found it terrifying, but some find it unbearable and don't hold out against it.

My friend would get free readings from me because for a start he's my friend, but also because i used his readings to practice, so i read the cards for him a lot before starting in the shop. Well, one day, after the proper readings have started, he comes in asks if i've got a min. So he cuts and shuffles the deck, picks out his ten and i lay them out in order.

I get to the fifth card, which is past influence. I look at the card, look at him, and say "So when were you gonna tell me that you were engaged hunni?"

His eyes bugged out like you wouldn't believe. He wasn't, yet, but he and his boyfriend had been thinking about it for the past three months! He is engaged now and i'm jealous, because they live in a castle for the gods' sakes! And it's haunted!!! Poor me (T.T) Ah well, was funny, he nearly fell off his seat, poor thing.

You get a lot of situations like that reading the cards, or in any divination. If you read for another, and just want to blurt something out, i say go for it. Usually it has some meaning.