I worked in the basement of a Caltech campus building, which was said to be haunted by the specter of a roofer who had fallen from the six-story roof twenty years earlier.
On the day of the 6.0 Whittier earthquake in 1987, I arrived at the building an hour early. I took the elevator to the top-floor snack bar, bought a coffee, and stepped onto the penthouse balcony. Just as I was about to take a sip, the entire building jolted upwards, nearly knocking me over. Fearing a larger quake might follow, I turned to find the stairwell. As I did, I was violently slammed to the floor, unable to break my fall.
Struggling to crawl, I felt a sharp pain in my left ankle. I descended the stairs, navigating past cracks and fallen plaster. In the lobby, I saw shattered marble panels. A few employees were huddled outside, afraid to enter. They called security, and I was taken to the campus clinic. My ankle was swollen and discolored, yet I couldn't explain how I was injured, as I had been in an open area with no objects around.
Driving home to Whittier, I saw extensive damage; the epicenter was there, and my neighborhood looked like a war zone. Expecting aftershocks, I decided to drive to Las Vegas to stay with a friend.
During my first night there, the doorbell rang repeatedly in the early morning. Each time we checked, no one was there. We turned off the circuit, but it rang again with an oddly hollow sound. I then realized something was trying to get our attention.
The next morning, I consulted a local spiritual practitioner. She suggested an "entity healing" session. During the session, one practitioner sensed a lost male entity in need of guidance. They directed prayers toward him, explaining that lost souls often seek out sensitive individuals.
Upon returning to my basement office, a longtime employee told me a story: shortly before the building's completion, a roofer had fallen to his death from the exact spot where I had been standing. His left ankle had been caught in a coiled rope. His ghost had been seen by several employees over the years.
Could I have attracted the roofer's spirit by standing where he died, especially during the building's major trauma—the earthquake?