Ever met a spook? What were they like? Growing up at the cottage there was

[applegrove]

and American man and his wife who had a cottage one away from ours on the lake in Quebec. They didn't have a motor boat so they rowed everywhere. This was the 1970s. His wife worked for the Smithsonian so I always figured them for crunchy granola types. He was pretty quiet and always smoked a pipe. He died when i was in my teens. Anyway, I was reading the book "Missing" that became the 1982 movie "Missing". And who turns up in the book talking to Henry Kissenger & plotting about Chili but this very same man. Turns out he was a very high level CIA. Creepy. But apparently he had been a freedom fighter in Greece after WWII and worked with America and that was the start of his career. Glad I never saw him once I knew. Not that I would have said anything to him I'm such a creampuff.

[kayakjohnny]

1. Yes, an x-one. He's a great guy. Funny as hell.

One of the best people I know.

Tough as nails too.

And very smart.

[applegrove]

3. Tough as nails and smart...thank god for them. There are some freaky evil people out

there.

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

2. There was one that worked with my mom at the Tx Dept of Human Services

Ages and ages ago. Everyone knew what he really did. He was officially in the National Guard, but the time he came back with shrapnel in his leg from an anti-aircraft gun told everyone that it was a cover story. He admitted he did stuff with high altitude surveillance and even got to fly in the SR-71. He would occasionally bring in photos of cool things like the hidden jump-jets located at the main airport in Belize (I was going there on a trip and he gave us the stuff so that I could try finding them as we flew in)

[MilesColtrane]

4. My political science professor in college was rumored to be ex-CIA.

He would only admit to having worked "near Washington" for some years.

I thought it was simply one of those silly stories you hear in school, but about four years after I graduated he was found murdered out in the middle of nowhere by some railroad tracks outside of town.

I believe the crime officially remains unsolved with no apparent motive.

[Morning Dew]

5. I met this guy's son one time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Buendorf

On September 5, 1975, President Gerald Ford, who had just given a speech at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, walked across a park where a crowd had gathered.<3> A woman in a red dress, who later was identified as Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, was seen following Ford while he was shaking hands.<4><3> Upon seeing a Colt M1911 pistol, Secret Service Special Agent Larry Buendorf stepped in front of Ford. Buendorf yelled "Gun!", alerting the other agents who evacuated Ford. He pulled the gun away and wrestled the woman to the ground, in the process slightly injuring his thumb and hand while placing the webbing of his thumb between the gun's cocked hammer and the slide of the pistol.<3>

For his role in preventing the assassination attempt on President Ford, Buendorf was awarded the U.S. Treasury Meritorious Service Award and the United States Secret Service Valor Award.<1>

During the years after the assassination attempt, Buendorf and President Ford maintained telephone contact every year on the September 5th anniversary of the attack. He also visited the former President and skied with him on occasion.<2><5>

I think the son was Secret Service at one time as well - he mentioned that he had traveled to India with Hillary and Chelsea Clinton.

[Chan790]

6. Yes, several. Lovely people all. n/t

[HipChick]

7. Pulled from my PC files..

umm...OP might want to revise the title...It's actually a A derogatory slur for a a black person...almost as bad as the N*word....

I used to date a guy whose father was MI-5...he was almost never home..worked out great for us as kids..

[Tuesday Afternoon]

8. too late for her to edit but, yeah

my first thought that she was talking about ghosts and then I realized it was not ghosts and I was somewhat taken aback because I thought she was using the derogatory slur -- wasn't until I started reading answers that I understood what the heck is this thread about.

chalk up another weird one.

[DebJ]

9. Yep I thought of BOTH of those alternate meanings and didn't

recall the third until I read the rest.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

10. still not sure I really understand what the heck is a spook?

an ex CIA operative??

if so, then, Yes. I know one.

[HipChick]

11. The reason I knew is because of MI5

The spy series...they were forced to change the name when it was shown in the US, but in the UK, it is still titled Spooks...it's purely a US centric issue

[applegrove]

12. Yes. I'm in Canada. My mom called them spooks. Did not know it was a bad word. Sorry.

[applegrove]

13. I'm in Canada spook means spy. At least to my parents' generation. Sorry if anyone was offended. I

did not know.

[HipChick]

14. No worries..more of a US-centric issue..

[Tom Ripley]

15. Yes, he was a kind and wonderful man (to me and others I know), but

he was involved with some very nasty people in the ME.

[NightWatcher]

16. giggles

[Kali]

17. always had some suspicions about my father's father

was in both Saigon and Tehran at kind of suspicious times.