Do you believe in ghosts? I'm not sure I do, but there was a time in my life I witnessed supernatural occurences that are not easily explained. The radio station where I began my career was a small family-owned and run operation. A gentleman named Sam Burk and his wife literally built the facilites with their own hands. When Sam Burk died in 1983, his wife, children, and grandchildren were left to carry on. But not alone, it would seem. Shortly after his death odd things began to happen -- piles of paper would fall mysteriously to the floor, the sound of a telephone would be heard, yet the indicator light showed no incoming call and no one would be there when the line was answered, Sam's former office would always be much colder than the rest of the building -- that sort of thing. By the time I started working there in early 1984 the legend of Sam's ghost was already well-established. At first I was quite the skeptic, until my first few overnight dj shifts when I was alone in the building and I too bore witness to certain oddities. Several nights I swore I heard a voice, or voices, in the stations front office/lobby yet by the time I made it there from the dj studio there was no one around, nor had been as the front door was still firmly locked. And I too experienced the 'mystery phone' events others had. A good friend and fellow dj had an even more bizarre experience. One early Sunday morning around 3 a.m. he used the photocopier in a small closet off the main office. Finishing his task, he turned the copier off, light in the closet off, and closed the door too the closet. About 90 minutes later he happened to pass thru the office area for a coffee refill to find the closet door open, light on, and copier on -- and yet again the building was locked up tight as Fort Knox, so no one else had been there to change things -- at least not anyone human. When I arrived at 6 a.m. to relieve him my friend Dave was still freaked out by the occurence and white as a sheet. A few months later I was by myself, working overnight babysitting a satellite broadcast. Seizing the opportunity to catch up on my college studies, I sat at one of the office desks with my textbooks, a typewriter, and a bottle of soda. Periodically I'd have to stop and go into the nearby dj studio to play local commercials during the satellite show. Upon coming back just two minutes later, I found the textbook I was using closed, the electric typewriter now turned off, and my soda bottle had moved from one corner of the desk to the other. Again, no one else was in the building at the time. These supernatural events continued to happen to me and others until the summer of 1985. It was at that time that Sam's wife sold the radio station to different owners -- and you guessed it, the strange occurances ceased. Sam's grandson, another good friend and fellow dj, swore it was his grandpa's spirit still wandering around the building making sure things were as they should be. Once his wife sold the business, his work done, Sam's ghost was free to move on to a different plane of existence. Like I said, I'm not sure I really believe in ghosts, but there are just some things in this world you can't explain. If nothing else, it gave new meaning to the broadcasting term of having "dead air".
Tags: Ghosts Holidays
