About fifteen years ago, I worked in a factory. We built customized orthotics. Overall, it was a pretty good job at the time. We made a decent wage, we had benefits, the management was impeccable and we had a wonderful crew. We were renting out a part of a building and our company was able to purchase their own building. It wasn’t until about a year later I started having an experience. I worked in various areas such as the assembly line and shipping and receiving depending where my boss wanted me. In one area we had a prefab machine that one person worked to make general orthotics. The whole building except for the office was buzzing with grinders, polishers, and bevel tools.

While working in shipping, we would get casts from doctors and we would start the process of building by order. While unpacking casts from receiving, I heard my name being called right behind me. The voice sounded pretty much like my manager. I turned around and expected to see him, but no one was there but the prefab machine. I looked around to see if my manager walked away but then I spotted him on the assembly line two conveyor belts down. I dismissed what I though I heard and just went back to work.

After that day, I would constantly hear my name being called and I would turn around thinking it was my boss and he would be some place else. It drove me absolutely nuts. Occasionally, I would flirt with the idea that it could possibly be a ghost. I wouldn’t dare tell any of my coworkers for risking to look like a nut. I just kept the thought to myself and sought out a logical explanation for what I was hearing.

Finally, one day I was by a scanning tool that would take exact measurements of the orthotics. The machine was by shipping and receiving area and behind me was the prefab machine. It was just an ordinary day when the voice spoke behind me again. I turned around and no one was there again. This time I was going to put my mind to it and figure out why I was hearing my name being called. I looked at my surroundings and the prefab machine was making its usual pop and hissing machine. I finally came to the conclusion that with all the pops and hisses the machine was making my mind would sometimes interpret that someone was calling my name. I laughed to myself while working on how ridiculous I was for thinking it was a ghost and at the same time that I was proud of my own discovery. For weeks I didn’t mention anything and there were times I would still here my name being called. When I did hear the voice I would just smile to myself knowing it was the prefab machine. At least I thought it was the machine.

One afternoon, I was having lunch with my coworkers and the subject of ghosts came up. Some of the workers were sharing their stories and I listened with a skeptic’s ear. I finally shared my story and left them with the logical conclusion that it was the prefab machine. When I finished, everybody was silent and staring at me. This made me feel real uncomfortable because I thought I must have offended everybody. I apologized for being a nut to think it was a ghost and it turned out to be the prefab machine. This time everybody was looking at each other. I finally asked if I had offended anybody. A close coworker of mine flat out told me that I didn’t offend anybody but what I heard was indeed a ghost.

She had shared her story that she and another manager were inspecting the orthotics when she heard her name Virg shouted out. She and the other manager both heard it and no one was around them.

Another coworker was in using the restroom when she heard a male voice call out her name. She was afraid to get out of the stall and didn’t move until one of the coworkers came in. She thought there was a man in the restroom.

My manager was closing the factory and was locking the facility up. His buddy was coming later on to pick him up so they can go hang out. While waiting for his buddy he heard his name shouted out in the factory. He thought for sure that he locked up the garage door and he thought his buddy called for him on the factory floor. He was expecting to see his buddy, but no one was around. He was completely startled and had to make a brave move to make sure everything was locked up and that no one was in the building. Since then, he has always made sure there was one person was with him so that he was never alone again. My manager was the most skeptic person anyone could ever meet. Everything had to have concrete evidence to make him believe in anything.

Our crew tried to figure out who it was. We already knew what it was. We thought it might have been a person who died in the area of the building before it was built. However, it just didn’t make since that whoever it was knew our names.