Pennies From Heaven?
Kurstin Finch Gnehm, IL, USA
October 2001
Almost everyone begins their story on this site stating that they do, or do not, believe in spirits despite or because of their story to follow. I believe in spirits during the day and try not to at night.
Late one evening, probably around midnight, I was in my dorm room my freshman year of college at a small college in Oregon. The college had its ghost stories, including the obligatory theater ghost, but the dorm was relatively new and, if it did engender ghost stories, it kept them well.
This evening, I was changing clothes to go visit my boyfriend on the floor below. I had recently moved into this single room to escape my vacuum- obsessed roommate, and usually loved being alone. I hated the overhead light in my room, so I had a small floor lamp and some candles lit -- I could still see well, but it was shadowy. I was totally alone and the door to my small room was locked, as were the windows. I was in the middle of unbuttoning my jeans when a nickel flew from the upper right corner of the room (above my head), hit the glass pain on the window, and fell about three feet away from me. I didn't have change in my pockets and certainly wasn't throwing money at myself.
Too bizarre to even wonder at. With more speed, I pulled on my sweats and went for my shoes -- I was pretty freaked out, but I could hardly leave the room immediately (not being dressed). Another coin, this time a penny, flew at me from another upper corner of the room (trajectory suggests that it came from well above my head) and actually HIT me. It landed at my feet. I had clearly irritated someone in the room. I have to repeat -- door locked, windows shut and locked, very small room, no change in my pockets.
With shoes in hand, I galloped downstairs and insisted that my boyfriend check the room. He left and I sat on his bed, terrified that the money-throwing WHATEVER had followed me. My boyfriend found the two coins, nothing else. I was scared half to death and never went in my room at night again. I moved out a couple of months later.
I was young enough to have possibly stimulated the poltergeist activity that young women sometimes cause, but never really gave it much thought until I saw two other stories on this website about coins falling or being thrown from nowhere. Perhaps it is a gentle spirit trying to help poor college students.